NBA Lockout: Operation Save the Season Goes into Critical Stage
It is now or it may as well be never in the eyes of many fans, when it comes to resolving the NBA Lockout. Many wait anxiously to hear if there will be a resolution to the NBA labor dispute.
We are already past the 100-day mark, and the preseason has been lost. In a last-ditch effort to save the NBA season, both sides met late Sunday night to hammer out a deal. Though there was no deal reached, both sides agreed to reconvene Monday afternoon.
The meeting itself was a great sign, as the players and owners had declined to meet just three days before when they couldn't come to an agreement on the share of the BRI (Basketball Related Income).
The mere fact that impediment seems to be at least up for discussion does bring about some hope. The bending appears to be almost exclusively related to the NBA owners. That tells me the financial peril they claim to be experiencing as it relates to these investments is nothing but positioning.
If you have truly drawn a line in the sand based on your drop-dead figures to be profitable in this situation, the wavering on terms makes your previous overtures seem empty.
I believe players like Kobe Bryant, Derrick Fisher and LeBron James who say this deal is not as much for them as it is for the players who will come behind them.
Those players are either on their last big contract, or on a contract large enough and long enough that the specifics of this deal won't effect them as much. That is nearly indisputable. What is disputable is whether the owners can "live" with less than a 50 percent split of the BRI.
If the NBA owners and it's players are able to save the season at the buzzer, the moment will create heroes out of the players on the front line.
Namely Derrick Fisher, who throughout this process has almost positively confirmed his future as a NBA analyst, future NBA Players union chief or a politician.
Fish has been unwavering and rock-solid in his representation of the players. Hopefully, the players and the owners have a clutch fourth-quarter performance in them to save the 2011-2012 NBA season.
