It’s looking more evident than ever before that the National Basketball Association will be cancelling the third and fourth weeks of the season this week after cancelling the first two weeks last week.

The Oshawa Power are about to embark upon their inaugural season in the National Basketball League of Canada which means the coaching staff has to get a group of players who have never played together before all on the same page. Throw into the mix that training camp will only stretch over a few weeks and it is clear Mark Strickland and his coaching staff have their work cut out for them.

I was able to chat with Oshawa Power point guard Tut Rauch about how tough it is to learn the tendencies of new teammates, why living together has helped build camaraderie among teammates, how the NBA lockout effected his chances of playing in Europe this season and what it’s like playing on a team that is being built from scratch.

Want to win a free t-shirt courtesy of the fine folks at Basketball Stripes? All you need to do is submit your “Dream Team” of NBA players along with a team name in the comments section of this post.

I know the players don’t want to sign a new CBA after a year which saw the NBA’s popularity rise to new levels, but the time has come for the players to swallow their pride and look at the big picture.

In a change of pace, I was able to chat with Mark Stoddard about his art exhibit called “Voices From The Past” that is currently on display until October 30th, 2011, in Toronto, Ontario. Some of the topics during our chat include what inspired this exhibit, why he chose the athletes he used in his exhibit, and why he used Sport Magazine as his inspiration.