DigSportsDesk News

NYK: Economist position filled; New job opening for Chemist

Lin Gets "Lin-doctrination" against NJ Nets' Deron Williams

By Josh Rosenfeld

NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 20, 2012 -- On a night when the Knicks hailed the return of Carmelo Anthony and welcomed the debut of Baron Davis, “Linsanity” has been replaced by a new theme: “Lin-doctrination.”

And while Jeremy Lin continued his surprisingly strong play and flirted with a triple-double posting a team-leading 21 points, seven rebounds and nine assists, he was clearly the second best point guard on the Madison Square Garden court on Monday evening.

Deron Williams, admittedly motivated by Lin's breakout 25-point outing at his expense 16 days ago, delivered a season-high 38 points before fouling out with three minutes to play in leading the New Jersey Nets to a 99-92 victory over the Knicks.

Williams admitted that Linsanity “started on me” after the former Harvard guard's breakout performance, saying, “I am competitive, and when somebody destroys you...”

Williams erupted for 18 points in a 32-22 third quarter that gave the Nets an 82-64 advantage entering the final stanza. The Knicks couldn't reduce the deficit to a single digit until the final minute, and by then it was too late.

“It's not a good feeling sitting over there, especially when you're hot,” Williams said of watching the final moments from the bench after fouling out. “Any time you get going like that you feel like you can't miss.”

Williams, who drained 8-of-14 3-pointers, had some kind words for Lin despite hearing about the Knicks' new star “every day, everbody's taking about him.”

“It's an amazing story that he was going to be cut the next day then come out and play the way he did against us and keep going the way he has,” Williams said. “Even tonight he had a great game. It was overshadowed because of mine, but he's playing great basketball. It is definitely a tremendous story.”

An optimist would note that the Knicks have won eight of their last 10 outings while a pessimist would note they have lost two of their last three. Now comes the hard part as D'Antoni tries to incorporate Anthony, Davis and recently-acquired J.R. Smith into a suddenly crowded rotation.

“One knock on us before was that we weren't really deep,” D'Antoni said before the game. “Now we're really deep.”

D'Antoni reinserted Anthony, who had missed the prior seven games with a strained right groin, into the starting lineup, and used nine players, including Davis (herniated disc) in the first quarter. Iman Shumpert, who has averaged 10.3 points and made 17 starts in a solid rookie campaign, was deactivated with left patella tendinitis but gives the team a solid 10-man rotation.

Now it's up to D'Antoni to figure it all out and make it work.

“We have to get some things sorted out and we know that,” D'Antoni said. “We have to figure out the type of team and the identity we have to have. We have two more games (before the All-Star break) and we have to get them and retool and see what we got.”

And some of that burden falls upon Lin, a non-entity less than three weeks ago who, as point guard, must take a lead role in bringing this team together.

“I think anytime you have three new players, people coming back, your identity as a team is going to change with the personnel,” said Lin, who committed just three turnovers after averaging seven over his prior six outings. “We are not in panic mode because it is not like people show up and you have great chemistry. We have to work through some struggles but as long as we are all committed we will be fine.”

Anthony finished with 11 points in 37 minutes while Davis scored three in nearly 10 minutes of action. Marshon Brooks added 18 points for the Nets while Kris Humphries delivered a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds.

NFL's Goodell to Earn $20 Mil a Year

Extension to deliver nearly $122 Million to NFL Chief between 2013-2019

Special to DIGITALSPORTSDESK.com

NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 3, 2012 -- The NFL has rewarded Commissioner Roger Goodell with a five year extension that will pay him $20 million dollars per year, according to sources close to the NFL's compensation committee. Goodell now holds a seven-year package that will pay him nearly $122 million dollars if he stays on as NFL Commissioner until March 31, 2019. Goodell will become the highest paid commissioner in sports history, surpassing baseball's Bud Selig.

On January 25th, the news of a Goodell extension was  reported by the Sports Business Daily, an industry bible for sports executives.  Daniel Kaplan, the NFL reporter for Sports Business Daily and Sports Business Journal, the weekly trade magazine, stated in a posting, that "the NFL has extended Commissioner Roger Goodell’s contract another five years to March '19, a development that comes at the conclusion of perhaps the most successful season in NFL history. His contract had been due to expire on March '14."

Goodell's current salary of $10.9 million per year, a figure widely published in previous media accounts, will bridge the two-year gap until the extension and raise to $20 million per year begins in 2014. The Sports Business Daily report and the NFL's announcement did not include financial information.

"I am grateful for the contributions and counsel of NFL owners in managing our league, the talented staff that supports us, and the players and coaches that perform their magic on the field. It is truly a team effort," Goodell said to the Associated Press. "I am eagerly looking ahead to the challenge of building on our momentum and doing all we can to improve our game for the fans and everyone that is part of our league."

Aside from Goodell, extensions and salary increases for many of sports most senior executives have been on a rise, despite the challenging economy.  Tim Finchem reportedly received a four-year extension as commissioner of the PGA Tour earlier this month, soon after negotiating a nine-year television agreement for the men's golf circuit. Finchem's extension, through 2016, was approved by the tour’s Policy Board and announced in a statement issued on January 11, 2012. Although the financial terms of the extension were not disclosed, Finchem's most recent pay was recorded as $4.7 million in salary and benefits, according to tax forms obtained by Bloomberg News and filed by the tour for the year 2009. Finchem, 64, has been the PGA Tour's commissioner since 1994. The tour's TV agreements are with Comcast (NBC Sports) and CBS Sports. Jacksonville.com has previously reported IRS sources to place Finchem's salary as chief executive of a 501 (c)(6) nonprofit organization, as "fluctuating between just under $5 million and as high as $5.3 million" in the past five years, according to the Tour’s filing with the IRS.

Finchem's salary, according a comprehensive Golf Digest report in 2011, was below MLB Commissioner Selig (then-$18.3 million), Goodell ($10.9 million) through 2014, David Stern of the NBA ($10 million) and the NHL's Gary Bettman ($7.2 million).  During the recently concluded NBA lockout, erroneous media reports claimed Stern's salary and benefits topped $23 million, but two league sources told the Associated Press that Stern earned far less than the reported figure and fewer dollars than both Selig and Goodell. Baseball's Selig accepted a two-year extension that was ratified on January 23rd when the San Diego Padres cast the final affirmative vote to make the extension official by the unanimous vote it required. Selig's deal runs through December 31, 2014.

When the Goodell extension report surfaced this week, the Sports Business Daily noted many of Goodell's accomplishments, noting, "In the last year, he negotiated a new 10-year CBA that triggered an economic shift to the owners, and recently completed lucrative new TV deals that mirror the length of the labor deal. Twenty-three of the top 25 rated TV programs in the current TV season have been NFL games,' wrote Kaplan.

Also on the record in the NFL's announcement was Atlanta Falcons team owner Arthur Blank. “I speak on behalf of 32 NFL club owners in saying we are fortunate to have Roger Goodell as our commissioner,” said the Falcons' Blank, chair of the league’s compensation committee. “Since becoming commissioner in 2006, the NFL, already the leader in professional sports, has gotten even stronger. As evidenced by this contract extension, we have great confidence in Roger’s vision and leadership of the NFL. Our clubs, players and fans could not ask for a better CEO,” stated the report which was syndicated by the Associated Press on Thursday.

The NFL team owners had authorized the league's compensation committee to begin contract renewal talks in December with the goal to have the extension offer completed before the Super Bowl in Indianapolis, scheduled for Sunday, February 5th.

The NFL, through a spokesperson, would not provide details and stated, "it is not accurate." The DigitalSportsDesk stands by the report and its NFL sources.

-- Report by Terry Lyons with staff contributions.  It includes information published by the Associated Press and Sports Business Journal

USA Basketball: Olympic Team Finalists Announced
 

JANUARY 16, 2012 -- (From DigitalSportsDesk Staff and wire reports) -- USA Basketball announced 20 finalists for spots on the official senior national team roster that will represent the United States at the London Olympics next summer.  As of last February, 2011, there were 34 players listed on the national team roster. Only a small handful will not be considered for a place on the official 12-man roster for the Olympics, but that list is not submitted until June 18th, according to USA Basketball Chairman Jerry Colangelo, the Managing Director of the senior national team program. Then, the roster is actually finalized two days before the Opening Ceremonies of the London Games at a technical meeting of the team managers.  The games run from July 27-August 12, 2012.

"The finalists represent 14 different teams, and when we talk about the international experience, it's really key to being successful in international play," said Colangelo. "Eighteen finalists have a lot of experience led by Carmelo Anthony with 59 games; LeBron James, 55; Deron Williams 47; Dwyane Wade, 40; Dwight Howard 38; Chris Paul, 37; Chris Bosh, 32; Chauncey Billups, 30; Lamar Odom, 28; Tyson Chandler, 25; Kobe Bryant, 24; Rudy Gay, 23 and Kevin Durant 17 to begin.

"Griffin, let's talk about him for a moment," added Colangelo anticipating the questions from the national and international media on a special USA Basketball Conference call.  "He's the youngest finalist at 22, has not played an international game, but very much was in the mix to play in the world championship, but he had that serious injury that kept him out. LaMarcus Aldridge was on the select team in 2008 and then circumstances did not allow him to participate in the 2010 world championship."

***

"We are excited about this group and the opportunities that are in front of us. The timing for announcing the 12-man roster is not until June, I believe it's June 18, at which time we have to select 12.
Our training camp is scheduled to begin right after the 4th of July, right on the 5th, maybe the first practice on the 6th, so that will start everything going for us.

The list of finalists blends the older veterans who played in 2004 and 2008 along with 10 players from the 2010 world championship team that won gold in Istanbul, seemingly a perfect blend of old and new, especially since the elder statesmen are pretty young and only Billups and Odom are nearing NBA retirement age.

"One of the things we have really harped on is that we have a program; it's not a team. So it's important to have that blending of youth, and those who are coming up and those veterans who have been there and done it, and that just keeps it going in the right direction. Because when all of us are gone, we want this program to have the momentum, to have the pipeline really greased so that it just perpetuates itself," said Colangelo.

Players not among the finalists:

Carlos Boozer
Stephen Curry
Tyreke Evans
Danny Granger
Jeff Green (surgery)
Al Jefferson
David Lee
Brook Lopez (injured)
Robin Lopez
OJ Mayo
Kendrick Perkins
Tayshaun Prince
Rajon Rondo
Amare Stoudemire
Gerald Wallace

Here is the DigitalSportsDesk.com prediction for the 12-man roster for London:

Point Guards
Derrick Rose
Deron Williams
Chris Paul

Bigs
Dwight Howard
Kevin Love
LaMarcus Aldridge

Forwards
Carmelo Anthony
Kevin Durant

Swingmen
Kobe Bryant
Lebron James
Dwyane Wade

Battling for last spot...Depending on the health, contract status (free agents include Howard, Billups, among others), the last spot or two will come from the group below, depending on the needs of the team by positon.

Tyson Chandler (C/ C/F)
Chris Bosh (PF)

Blake Griffin (F)

Rudy Gay (G/F)
Russell Westbrook (PG)
Andre Iguodala (F/G)

Chauncey Billups (PG)

Lamar Odom (PF/C)

Lone Missing element - Outside shooting

To address missing element? - Monitor 3-pt shooting progress of Andre Iguodala.

Get Well Soon: Jeff Green is recovering from successful heart surgery and is targeting October, 2012 for NBA comeback.

NT program members that don't have much chance at representing the USA in future international competition:  Amare Stoudemire, Rajon Rondo, Tayshaun Prince, Brook and Robin Lopez, Kendrick Perkins and Danny Granger.