NBA Lockout: Do Owners and Players Care About Missing Season?

I can’t be the only person that gets this troublesome and bone chilling vibe from the NBA owners and players.

Seriously, do these men even care about missing the 2011-2012 NBA season?

Where is the sense of urgency?

That one thing has been missing from the current NBA lockout. When compared to the NFL lockout, this lockout seems like an afterthought.

I didn’t know the basketball was so similar to hockey. Not many cared about the NHL lockout and had to miss an entire season.

We’re on pace for the same with the NBA and it’s as if nobody but Derek Fisher really cares.

We received updates nearly every hour on the NFL lockout on the top sports programs. We were “blessed” with nonstop coverage and even a countdown. You knew exactly what was going on with the mumbo-jumbo. You also knew how many days, hours, minutes and seconds the lockout was in effect.

With the NBA, you might get an update on ESPN’s SportsCenter—you might not. Why?

It’s not just because the NFL is the biggest sports league in America.

Nope.

It’s because the players were fighting tooth and nail to get something done with the owners. You knew the players desperately wanted to play football this season and you never forgot that. No matter what happened, the fans knew the players had the best interest in the league in their minds.

The top NFL players participated in the events to ensure fans action would be taken every day.

Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Takeo Spikes and many others were prominent figures during the lockout. If the best of the best were willing to throw down for their fans fellow players, you knew there was a sense of urgency and willingness to guarantee the lockout would be lifted.

I never doubted the NFL lockout would end, but I have serious concerns with the NBA.

We’ve already seen training camp and some preseason games postponed.

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“Out of time to keep everything intact, the NBA postponed training camps indefinitely and canceled 43 preseason games Friday because it has not reached an agreement with players.

All games from Oct. 9-15 are off, the league said. Camps were expected to open Oct. 3.

‘We have regretfully reached the point on the calendar where we are not able to open training camps on time and need to cancel the first week of preseason games,’ deputy commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. ‘We will make further decisions as warranted,’” said Silver according to ESPN’s Ric Bucher.

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Who else besides Fisher seems to be taking such a stance?

You have LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony double dating in New York and playing in amateur leagues. Kevin Durant and Brandon Jennings are doing the same.

We have athletes playing overseas.

Do I care that they want to spend their offseason playing basketball in these organizations? Yes and no.

It would be nice to see some of them willing to step up to the plate to help D-Fish once a week or so. These men also have a right to play ball and it’s nice to see they are still playing to keep themselves in shape.

The problem, which is most disconcerting, is that our favorite superstars have these outlets to continue playing ball all year long. They have no reason to fight the owners and ensure the lockout will end.

Basketball is not like the NFL.

Manning, Brees, Brady and Spikes aren’t going to the Arena League, UFL, CFL or any other league. They aren’t going to knock down Vince McMahon’s door to resurrect the XFL either. There was only one league for them and that was the NFL.

This isn’t the case for James, Anthony, Durant, Dirk Nowitzki, Kobe Bryant and our favorite ballers. They can play ball across the country or go overseas. It won’t be the same, but they’ll still play basketball and they’ll still make money. With YouTube and pay-per-view services, fans can still get their basketball fix.

This is why the NBA lockout is a far scarier situation than the NFL lockout. The NBA superstars have no sense of urgency to get a new deal done because they don’t care as much. They have their outlets and a lot of them are already participating.  

I’m begging the players to show me something, but they never will. It seems our favorite ballers already know the lockout is here to stay and moved on to other endeavors for now. Until we see a sense of urgency to get a deal done, don’t expect to see the NBA start anytime soon.