Hall of Fame a ‘Safe Zone’ for NBA Players, Team Executives

It seems that the NBA is giving its team executives the right to engage in conversation with locked out players during the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame celebration weekend (which will begin on August 11.) From the Chicago Sun-Times: “We have been declared a ‘safe zone’ in terms of current players interacting with NBA team managers,’ Hall of Fame president and CEO John Doleva said in an interview Thursday. ‘We’re a separate entity from the NBA anyway. Our program is to always honor basketball at every level and the individuals who make it great. ‘So we have not been told there will be any restrictions about [management] and current players interacting or any seating restrictions at our reunion banquet, our pre-enshrinement cocktail and the enshrinement ceremony itself. NBA-TV cameras will be free to interview people, including current players.’ Doleva added that former Bulls assistant coach Tex Winter, severely hampered after a stroke in 2009, has said he will attend. The three-day ceremonies in Springfield, Mass., will start Aug. 11, and three members of the Class of 2011 have ties with the Bulls: former players Dennis Rodman and Artis Gilmore and Winter. Also, former Bulls publicist Brian McIntyre will receive the John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award, and former Bulls play-by-play announcer Jim Durham will receive the Curt Gowdy Media Award. A delegation from Bulls management will attend.”