NBA Lockout: Is David Stern Constructing Secret Blueprints for NBA Schedule?

Unlike the NFL lockout of 2011, this current NBA lockout isn't getting much attention. But perhaps all of that is about to change.

Until now the NBA lockout has remained somewhat irrelevant to the sports world in general. With the NFL in mid season and the MLB deep in the postseason, basketball has been seemingly brushed aside.

Some of the best players in the game have considered going overseas to play, and some already have; yet how many sports fans are actually clued into that fact or even interested in it?

The sad truth is, not many care. The even sadder truth is, this is actually a huge deal.

The lockout has already destroyed the first two weeks of the NBA regular season, and commissioner David Stern has threatened that the entire 2011-2012 could be in jeopardy if the two sides don't find a resolution.

It's quite a bold statement from a commissioner who has already ruled over one lockout, which ended up with the season starting in February back in the 1998-1999 season.

A very shortened schedule apparently didn't bother him back then, so why would Stern take such an all-or-nothing approach this time around?

Is he just trying to scare the league into resolution, or is there perhaps something else up his sleeve?

Commissioner stern may be bluffing.

Check out this question and answer piece by Marc Stein of ESPN. Here is the question:

"How real is David Stern's suggestion that the entire 2011-12 season is in jeopardy if significant progress isn't made in next week's session?"

Here is a very interesting segment of the answer:

"So no matter how many 'I'm turning this car around right now!' threats Stern issues, union officials will always believe that the only true deadline in this saga doesn't arrive until the calendar flips to 2012. The union's only discernible strategy to this point, in fact, is the highly optimistic notion that NBA owners will start turning on each other if the players can just hang tough and stand united through the rest of 2011.

"The real worry there, of course, is the more believable threat of neither side harboring any intention to introduce its best offer to proceedings until around Jan. 1. Injecting urgency in these talks has been a constant problem since the lockout started July 1.

"And that's where you can understand why Stern has been making these claims. Widely broadcasting an unfiltered message to try to influence the rank and file to put pressure on Hunter is part of it, but Stern is likewise clearly in no mood to play out the exact same script that unfolded in Lockout '98-99. This is a commish, remember, who absolutely revels in his rep for innovation. No surprise, then, that he quickly diverted from the lockout script of 13 years ago to announce that to "have a season or not have a season" was at risk as early as Sept. 28.

"As reassurance for those of you who, like us, will be reduced to unspeakable misery (and probably worse) if there isn't an NBA game until after the 2012 Olympics in London, be advised that strong rumblings continue to be conveyed to ESPN.com about the league preparing a secret schedule that starts Dec. 1 and still manages to pump out 82 games. The New York Post has likewise reported that NBA schedule-maker, Matt Winick, has quietly drafted a variety of contingency plans spanning anywhere from 50 to 74 games."

Based on this answer and the "rumblings" that ESPN has received, commissioner Stern may just be bluffing in his statements saying that the season could be lost, all the while secretly drafting a variety of plans that would allow for the season to be played in a condensed version.

While this may not seem like a big revelation, this changes everything about the lockout.

Stern was essentially putting a ton of pressure on both the owners and the players to get a deal done quick, or they would lose the one thing they both need: The NBA.

His threats were based off the assumption that he would actually cancel the season though, which would make the need to compromise a very strong one.

If he is bluffing though, which it looks like he is, this lockout could very well rage on through the New Year, and neither side would have to budge, knowing that there is a contingency plan for the season.

If this is indeed true, Stern's bluff will most likely instigate a longer lockout.

This is not good news for the few loyal fans that the NBA has left.

That's the problem with bluffing. When you get called out, you are usually left with an empty hand and a lot to lose.