Yahoo - The Chinese Basketball Association is showing no inclination to let unhappy NBA players out of their contracts for the 2011-12 season, and will likely mandate they not receive clearance letters to return to the NBA until the Chinese season ends in March, sources told Yahoo! Sports. Wilson Chandler, Kenyon Martin, J.R. Smith and Aaron Brooks are the four top NBA players under contract in China, and several sources involved in those contract entanglements said escape clauses won’t be allowed with the impending end of the NBA lockout. Team officials have prepared for the possibility some players could try to force their way out of deals, but their contracts give teams the latitude to fine and suspend players without pay. Chinese teams invested heavily when they signed NBA players, also providing hotel suites, personal drivers and chefs to make the players more comfortable. “They can play, get paid [in China] and return to the NBA in March,” one Chinese team official said. “Or they can not get paid, and return to the NBA in March.” “If they think that they’re going to make things difficult, not play, create problems, what’s going to happen is that the teams will not release their letters of clearance they’ll need to sign in the NBA,” a Chinese Basketball Association official told Yahoo! Sports. “There’s no way out.” So far, Chandler – averaging 33 points for the Zhejiang Guangsha Lions – has been the most dominant player in the Chinese Basketball Association. On and off the floor, Chandler has required far less maintenance than his two former Nuggets teammates. Smith has constantly clashed with Zhejiang Chouzhou Golden Bulls officials since arriving in China.
Memo to David Stern: This is how you running a professional basketball league filled with hoodlums. With an iron fucking fist. Quotes like "They can play, get paid and return to the NBA in March, or they can not get paid and return to the NBA in March," and "There's no way out," are exactly what you needed to be throwing around during that lockout. Bullying is the only thing these fellas respond to, and yes you eventually broke their will, but it took like 6 months, I wouldn't exactly pat myself on the back after China figured out to handle 2 of your biggest malcontents (JR, Kenyon) in like 3 weeks of playing time.
And Wilson Chandler, maybe you should just stay in the Land of China...I mean 33 pts a night is nothing to sneeze at, bro, not for nothing, but you half suck over here. Not suck like you have no skill, but on a relative scale in the NBA kind of suck, decent but by no means a star worthy of teams putting you up in hotels, and driving you around in limos for your pick of the Geishas type stuff. I don't know what the fuck is wrong with ya boy JR, but if I were you guys I'd 100% stay and live like kings.
PS: How excited are the citizens of Denver with JR and Kenyon out of the country? There's no way in hell they're being allowed back here, I'm 90% certain the NBA is supplementing their Chinese salary as we speak, just begging Chinese officials not to deport them.
Double PS: Rapid Fire, 3 Really Strange Things About that Picture Above:
1. Kenyon and JR played together on Denver for a number of season, this is the only picture of the two on google images together...not one chest bump photo, primal scream duette photo, 15 step hand shake photo, or photo of the two mugging some innocent person in a downtown Denver mall...mildly shocking, do they not like each other, or prefer not to be photo'd together to throw off Denver Vice cops?
2. I don't know what this man is possibly giving these two individuals an award for, outside of "most offensive looking tattoo's to white people by NBA teammates," so that's what we're going to assume it is.
