A Win For Hawks' Owners: The Atlanta Hawks' ownership group, led by Michael Gearon and Rutherford Seydel in Atlanta and by Washington businessmen Bruce Levenson and Ed Peskowitz won a critical court ruling in Maryland yesterday, where a judge ruled that the operating agreement between the Hawks partners including disgruntled partner Steve Belkin was binding and that the partners should revisit buyout talks among themselves without the advice of investment bankers.

"We won on every single point," Gearon said. "The court did exactly what we asked it to do. We are back under the operating agreement which we think is a good agreement. We no longer have any obligation to buy out Belkin nor does Belkin have any right to purchase the Hawks and Thrashers."

The ownership dispute began in 2005 over Steve Belkin's objections to the Hawks' decision to acquire Joe Johnson in a sign and trade deal with the Suns in which the Hawks sent Boris Diaw, two first-round draft picks and a $4.9 million trade exception to Phoenix. Belkin objected to giving up that much value for Johnson.

Belkin can still appeal the judge's decision, but sources close to the situation say that buying out Belkin still remains the goal and that those talks could pick up pace. Belkin is said to own 30% of Atlanta Spirit LLC., which owns the Hawks, the NHL Thrashers and operating rights to Phillips Arena in downtown Atlanta.

Watson Staying With Golden State?:  The Golden State Warriors have been turning away offers for restricted free agent C.J. Watson, including overtures from the Orlando Magic that were said to have included all manner of assets including first-round draft picks, J.J. Redick and/or Anthony Johnson to no avail.

According to Magic sources, talks have been dead for several days but Watson basically shut the door this week on landing in Orlando and is now weighing whether to sign the Warriors' three-year, $4.5 million offer on the table or pick up the $1 million qualifying offer.

Warriors' GM Larry Riley remains committed to Watson being on the roster next season and says despite interest from a few teams, he hasn't been offered enough value to consider a deal.

"We've had substantial interest for C.J. Watson in regards to sign-and-trades," Riley said to Marcus Thompson of the Oakland Tribune. "We haven't had an offer that's exceeded C.J.'s value. We like C.J., and we'll be working toward bringing him back."

Keep in mind that any deal over the $800,000 Watson earned last season makes him a Base Year Compensation player, and in a sign-and-trade deal the Warriors could only take back 50% of Watson's first year salary, meaning to have any real value to the Warriors, Watson's first year salary would have to be north of $4 million. A Trade Player Exception has no real asset value unless it's over $2 million. A deal involving Anthony Johnson at $1.9 million means a first year salary of almost $4 million; a deal involving J.J. Reddick means a first year salary of almost $6 million - astronomical numbers for C.J. Watson.

Interesting Product: We get all manner of press and product releases at HOOPSWORLD and every so often one of them will feature a product or tool that simply deserves some press.

Nfinity is a new sports footwear company designed specifically for high impact female athletes. They have recently launched products for both basketball and volleyball that are catered towards the different angle between the hip and knee, which increases the likelihood of ACL injuries found in women athletes. It remains to be seen how effective this product really is, but it is an interesting concept in performance design, it will be interesting to see how successful the brand becomes.

Another Year In Europe: In 2006 and 2007 the Florida Gators achieved the improbable winning back-to-back championships in college basketball. Joakim Noah and Al Horford were destined to be NBA stars and are well on their way; however fellow teammates Taurean Green and Corey Brewer have not been as fortunate. Brewer is returning from a torn ACL that cost him almost all of last season in Minnesota and was not overly impressive in Vegas this summer (42% from the field, 0-for-4 from three-point range). Corey will be working with the coaches at IMG in a few weeks to prepare for what could be his make or break season as a pro.

Taurean Green was with the Chicago Bulls this summer in Las Vegas after small stints with Portland and Denver before landing in Spain last year. Green was passable in summer play despite a horrid 29% from the field, likely opening the door for a Training Camp invite, although it seems he's more likely to sign for another year in Europe according to sources close to the situation. Taurean is talking with a small handful of international teams and is still holding open the option for a NBA camp invite, but with guaranteed dollars awaiting in Europe holding out for a non-guaranteed NBA camp invite might be unrealistic.

Not Feeling Marbury: Even the most ardent Marbury supporters have to admit that what free agent Stephon Marbury has done to his own image this summer is disturbing. If you have missed it and really want to subject yourself to the bizarre check out these two clips - Clip #1 and Clip #2

There were rumors that Marbury had some interest from the Washington Wizards on a minimum contract deal, however after Marbury webcasted melt-downs and brutally honest confessions the consensus is Marbury has committed career suicide.

Wizards' center Brendan Haywood said in an interview with Hardcore Sports Radio, that he didn't think Marbury could fit into a locker room after his "questionable" antics.

"At first it was cool, but after a while it just became disturbing," admitted Haywood. "He's on YouTube crying with no shirt on for no reason, sweating while his boy's rubbing his shoulders. What's that about? That's like gay porn. I don't understand it. He's dancing to a song called 'Barbie Doll', doing like stripper moves. I have no idea what's going on with the guy, it's almost like he's trying to end his own career. There's not a GM out there that would touch Marbury right now… Have you seen the 'Barbie Doll' clip? Click on YouTube and go to Barbie Doll. There's no way any other professional athletes would wanna get dressed around this guy, because you gotta think something is a little, he's swinging from both sides of the fence."

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HOOPSWORLD got a sneak peak at the newest installment of NBA Live, which will feature more refinements to last year's Dynamic DNA system powered by Synergy Sports. NBA Live 09, which marketed the concept of "Made Fresh Daily", used the daily Synergy game data as more of a reference point for game play, where the new installment uses the data more aggressively to generate a more realistic and updated game play based on actual performances each night. As the players get hot and cold throughout the season, the game updates its player data to match the actual performances, so it's not just about up-to-date rosters, it's about improving the players as they play the season. Last year's version was reasonable in this regard; however NBA Live 10 will use this feature more aggressively in the new installment.

In addition to dozens of game play enhancements, the EA folks have added tons of new design features such as over a hundred custom sound effects to tied to marquee players such as Chris Paul's "Wooo!" sound effect when he makes a play in New Orleans. The hostile crowd in Toronto when Vince Carter plays there, complete with crowd "Boos" when he touches the ball.

EA has remapped all of the NBA arenas to give more detail to each team's venue; there are more than two dozen custom game intros, such as LeBron's powder toss, Dwight Howard's Dream Shake and Dwyane Wade's chin-ups on the rim. You'll even notice the coaches pacing the sidelines have mannerisms reflective of their real-life counter parts.

Neither game publisher will say exactly how much is at stake each season in the NBA gaming world, but seeing how much attention to detail both companies put into "ultra-realism" in their games the number is obviously pretty significant.