Florida Sentinel Bulletin

What the Chinese government – which is what really runs the Chinese Basketball Association – did not want was teams to rent an NBA player during the lockout. So they only allowed their teams to sign NBA free agents and no opt-out clause for when the lockout ended.

But even as seemingly half the Denver Nuggets signed in China – Wilson Chandler, Kenyon Martin and J.R. Smith – there was speculation they would be back when the NBA season eventually started.

China has the highest turnover of foreign players of any league in the world, and already this year Earl Clark has been released by his Chinese team.

Not only is the basketball different, it’s a huge culture change with the language, food and customs. Last season only a couple of teams in the Chinese league didn’t have player turnover.

HOUSTON – The Galveston County medical examiner’s office has ruled the death of a man at the home of Texans defensive end Antonio Smith an accidental drowning.

The body of Engram Lamar Crenshaw, 37, was discovered in the pool behind Smith’s home following a party on Sept. 3. Crenshaw was a friend of Smith’s, and not affiliated with the team.

The NBA will play a shortened season — if it plays at all — after labor negotiations broke down for the second time in a week.

NBA Commissioner David Stern canceled all November games on Friday, the 120th day of the lockout.

“It’s not practical, possible or prudent to have a full season now,” said Stern, who previously canceled the first two weeks of the season.

Just a day earlier, Stern had said he would consider it a failure if the two sides didn’t reach a deal in the next few days and vowed they would take “one heck of a shot” to get it done.

Owners are insistent on a 50-50 split of revenues, while players last formally proposed they get 52.5 percent, leaving them about $100 million apart annually. Players were guaranteed 57 percent in the previous collective bargaining agreement.

This week’s issue of Sports Illustrated contains a profile of former Raiders QB JaMarcus Russell, the top pick of the 2007 draft and arguably the biggest Round 1 bust in NFL history.

Yet according to Russell, he was dealing with matters the public was unaware of while masking his issues with former Oakland coach Tom Cable.

“I stuck my neck out for him,” Russell says of Cable, who parted with the then Russell-less Raiders following the 2010 season.

The Raiders let Russell go after acquiring QB Jason Campbell in 2010. In three seasons, Russell won just seven of 25 starts, completed 52.1% of his passes and managed just 18 TD passes (or roughly $2 million per).

LAS VEGAS — A judge has found boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. not guilty on misdemeanor charges accusing him of threatening two homeowner association security guards outside his Las Vegas home.

Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Diana Sullivan said Wednesday that she was not convinced the guards feared for their safety in the October 2010 confrontation over parking tickets.

The 34-year-old boxer faced up to a year in jail and a $2,000 fine if the judge found him guilty of both harassment charges.

He was accused of threatening to summon “homies” with guns to handle a dispute after the guards ticketed several of his vehicles that were parked near his house in violation of association rules.

PHILADELPHIA — Julius Erving has denied an upcoming auction of his personal basketball memorabilia collection is tied to a lawsuit filed against him by a Georgia bank.

Known on the hardwood as Dr. J, Erving said on Wednesday he’s never been a “hoarder or collector,” and plans to donate a portion of the auction proceeds to the Salvation Army.

It has been reported that Erving owes more than $200,000 on a loan with Georgia Primary Bank, according to a lawsuit filed in Fulton Superior Court.

The lawsuit was reported only hours after SCP Auctions announced that bidding would be open to registered bidders on Friday. Not true, he said.

“That irony actually gave me a sleepless night last night,” he said. “I had to laugh at it and cringe at it that these stories would run concurrent with one another.”

The 61-year-old Erving said the auction was part of a long-planned celebration of his career. He said most of his cherished possessions were in storage and that he rarely looked at his collection. He said he occasionally wore his 1983 ring and never his ABA rings. Erving said he will keep his Hall of Fame ring. His induction into the Hall of Fame came in 1993.

“My family is 100 percent behind it,” he said. “We decided to do it a long time ago. To claim it’s a firesale or to clear up some debt, I don’t think so. You don’t do an auction overnight. This has been long planned. We had 4,000 catalogs that have been mailed already to people who buy this kind of stuff.”

Businessman extraordinaire Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson has taken to the Internet to promote his latest venture, Street King energy shots. In a web video currently going viral (amassing over 80,000 views in less than four days), 50 chooses a somewhat unlikely celebrity to star — Mike Tyson.

In the nearly 2 minute video, viewers see a The Hangover-esque plot unfold, in which 50 and boxer Floyd Mayweather are recapped on a forgotten night of wild partying from a very hyper Mike Tyson, who was secretly, um, drugged on the energy shot.

Though the plot certainly isn’t original, the video’s gone viral for a clear reason — Tyson steals the show as a hilarious leading man.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers officially announced that tailback Earnest Graham has been placed on injured reserve, ending his 2011 season.

Graham, viewed by his teammates as a leader, played in all seven games this season and started in the last two. He injured his knee in the first quarter of the game against the Chicago Bears.

Graham recorded 37 rushes for 206 yards and also had 26 receptions for 163 yards.

With starter LeGarrett Blount still on the mend with a knee injury, the Bucs are left with Kregg Lumpkin as their only healthy tailback.

Rumors have surfaced that Tiki Barber was being considered, but those rumors were not confirmed.

The Bucs also announced they waived long snapper Christian Yount. Yount signed with the Bucs July 27th and played in the first seven games this season.

The Bucs hope their bye week will give several players a chance to heal and be ready for their trip to New Orleans to face the Saints.

When Al Davis hired Art Shell as the head coach of the Los Angeles Raiders in 1989, Clarence Shelmon was a 37-year-old running backs coach at the University of Southern California.

Shell became the first African-American head coach in the modern NFL. For Shelmon, now the offensive coordinator for the San Diego Chargers, Shell’s hiring opened up possibilities he had dreamed of but never seriously imagined while growing up in Bossier City, La., in the 1950s.

For many aspiring African-American coaches, becoming a head coach in the NFL seemed an insurmountable mountain.

“When you’re young, you think anything is possible, but you also look at what history had unfolded before,” Shelmon said in a phone interview last week. “Back then, there were not a lot of men of color in coordinators’ positions and head coaches, so while you knew it was a possibility, you didn’t see anyone in those positions. In the back of your mind, you’re wondering if you’ll ever have an opportunity.”