What NBA lockout? There's still basketball to be enjoyed.

The San Antonio Spurs' D-League affiliate Austin Toros (unaffected by the labor impasse) will be kicking off their 2011-2012 season soon which should give fans thirsting for some hard court action something to drink in.

Making their return to Austin are Leo Lyons, Lance Thomas and mainstay "Squeaky" Johnson. But the Toros have fresh new faces dotting the roster.

Check out video of squad including footage of an open practice.

In an interview with GrungyGentleman.com (via Hoopsworld.com) San Antonio Spurs' Tony Parker discussed some questions regarding his career with the Spurs and who he finds is the most challenging point guard to guard on the basketball court.

GG: Ok, back to hoops. Who is your favorite teammate ever?

(Parker) Picking one favorite teammate is hard. I have enjoyed playing with Tim Duncan, Bruce Bowen, and Manu Ginobli.

GG: How is it playing for Coach Pop?

(Parker) I love playing for Gregg Popovich. We have the best coaching staff in the NBA.

GG: Toughest player to guard?

(Parker) The toughest players to guard are Derrick Rose and Chris Paul.

It's easy to see why Parker not only mentioned his other members of the "Big 3" but former Spur Bruce Bowen as well. For every championship ring that Parker has, Bowen was always the forward on the team known for hitting the dangerous three from the corner and stopping some of the leagues' best scorers at the time. no comments

Don't check your iTunes feed or double check the date, yes we are back with yet another Spurscast, but we're trying something new. In an effort to add more multimedia content to our site, we are trying out 1-2 shorter form versions of the podcast during the week to compliment our much longer regular show.

These shows will typically be less than 10 minutes long, although we went a little longer on this first one. We'll either be bringing you some of the latest San Antonio Spurs news that is usually old and stale by the time the regular show comes around or will have interviews with different guests and any time big news comes around, we'll be sure to do that through these shows as well. no comments

I am sure Valencia Basket wished they had soon-to-be new big man Tiago Splitter in game one of the Eurocup to patrol the paint against San Antonio Spurs' Tony Parker.

Parker led Asvel-Villeurbanne to a 87-78 win over Valencia where he absolutely anihilated Valencia. Parker finished with 34 points off 8/15 shooting, 3/4 three pointers, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists.

Check out Parker doing whatever he wanted to do against Valencia. Seriously, where was the defense? 

While San Antonio Spurs' Tiago Splitter initially said he would not sign for a team overseas and then all signs pointed to him going to Unicaja Malaga, Splitter pulled another 180 by surprising everyone with his signing with Valencia.

While Splitter was set to make a hefty sum from Unicaja, Valencia obviously had something to say about Splitter's value.

According to a report from lasprovincias.es, translated through Gogle Translate,  along with having an escape clause should the season be salvaged, Splitter will be earning $140,000 euros per month for his new Spanish team. That translates into just over $188,000 American dollars. If Splitter stays the entire season, which could very well could be the case, Splitter stands to earn somewhere in the range of $1.3 million dollars.

Juan Roig would be happy to pay that amount reaching the ultimate goal though that would require putting in your pocket more than one million gross of the initial budget and remaining in cash the remaining EUR 200,000 initial season.

$1.3 million isn't a shabby fallback, considering Splitter would have earned $3.6 million with the Spurs this season. It also works well for Valencia, who just lost one of their bigs to injury. Splitter is also very comfortable playing in the ACB and that style suits him better. no comments

Blame it on the NBA lockout, or a long absence away from the court but Miami Heat's LeBron James seems like he is itching for some hardwood action and doesn't care who gets in his way.

Even children.

While James was in London making an appearance at the London School of Basketball, James was asked if he can show his jump-shot to the audience. After James clanks a couple of shots, he goes one-on-one with a kid and proceeds to take him to the rim and dunk on him (via hoopsfix.com).

Aside from the obvious hook James gave the kid to get around him, what gets me is how smug James acts after the throw down. James just stares down the kid, and smiles to the crowd.

LeBron, you dunked on a kid! Where is that type of intensity in the fourth quarter of high-pressure games?

OK I get it, it was all in fun but James could have thrown the kid a bone and let him steal the ball, and finish with a layup. Heck, lift the kid up to the rim so he can dunk. Give the little guy some time in the spotlight. It's bad enough his reputation isn't what it used to be. Besides, this wasn't the first time James crushed one on a kid.

By the way, what is it with NBA players abusing children on the court? Dwayne Wayne had his moment when he blocked a kid's shot and went on to taunt him.

The NBA lockout is still marching on and more December games have been canceled. To make maters worse, the entire NBA season on the brink of being axed.

So with the extra time for locked-out NBA players, what has San Antonio Spurs' Richard Jefferson been up to? Taking part in a free-throw contest of course.

RJ recently paid a visit to the PlayUp offices where he was asked to give the employees some pointers on free-throw shooting and took part in a free-throw shooting contest.

Jefferson opted to go with the Rick Barry style of free-throw shooting.

Hey, at least he is doing something to work on his game right Spurs fans? OK Spurs fans, let the RJ jokes begin.

We still don't know if there will be a San Antonio Spurs season let alone an NBA season, but the odds are looking very grim. SeveralNBA bloggers, rooting for an end to the lockout prepares season previews in case the season is salvaged. So here is your one-stop guide to getting ready for that season. All the NBA Blog Previews linked in one place. Enjoy!

Southwest

• Mavericks - MavsMoneyball
• Spurs - Project Spurs
• Rockets - The Dream Shake
• Hornets - At The Hive
• Grizzlies - Straight Outta Vancouver

Southeast

• Wizards - Bullets Forever
• Magic - Orlando Magic Daily
• Heat - Sports Agent Blog
• Hawks - Peachtree Hoops
• Bobcats - Rufus on Fire

Pacific no comments

It's true, we'd all be better off with NBA basketball back in our lives (though ESPN and the NCAA has done a nice job putting some nice matchups together to kick off their season). But no one needs basketball back more than Sacramento Kings' Jimmer Fredette.

Larry Brown Sports posted the definitive picture of a guy being whipped by his Lady Friend.

That's Fredette's fiance Whitney Wonnacott dressed as Cruela Deville sitting on top of Fredette who is dressed like one of the 101 Dalmatians. The look on his face says it all. Seriously bro, you couldn't have been the Prince Charming to her Snow White? You couldn't have been Aladdin to her Princess Jasmine? You couldn't have been the Macho Man Randy Savage to her Miss Elizabeth?

Anyways, this is easily my favorite picture of the lockout. Keep up the good work, Jimmer.

I was contacted by the BBC News for an interview on the NBA lockout for their "The World Today" program.

Co-host Mark Whittaker asked me several questions regarding where my sympathies lie in this dispute, how the lockout and potentially the season being cancelled will affect the city of San Antonio.

You can listen to the full interview, which aired on the BBC this morning, by pressing play or downloading the mp3 below. You can also listen via the BBC's iPlayer. The interview is right around the 40 minute mark.

Thanks to the BBC and The World Today for the interview and the opportunity to speak on behalf of San Antonio Spurs fans.



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