NBA Lockout: Will Tuesday Meeting Save Us from Basketball Armageddon?
The NBA players will meet Tuesday in what seems like the final chance to save the world from NBA annihilation.
Yahoo Sports reports player representatives from every team will meet on Tuesday to discuss the state of negotiations. The hope is that they come to terms with how to deal with an ultimatum set for Wednesday by the owners.
Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant has been ever more vocal in his pleas for the players to accept the deal currently on the table. He would rather have a less than savory set of CBA sticking points be accepted than see the season go up in a plume of smoke.
Yahoo Sports quotes a fiery Bryant ahead of the Tuesday meeting amongst players.
""We need for the two sides to get together again before Wednesday, because we’re too close to getting a deal done. We need to iron out the last system items and save this from spiraling into a nuclear winter," Bryant said.
"
The report cites Steve Blake as one player who is fond of accepting the current offer on the table. The troubling part for fans is that he is only part of one faction. There is an ever-growing movement of players that want to discuss the possibility of decertifying.
It is those players who want no more concessions to be made on the part of the players. The owners' ultimatum would mandate that a great deal more be given back by the players. So if there is a deal by Wednesday that has more concessions, you can bet most of the players will move to usurp union delegates and decertify.
That leaves us in a situation with two organizations with hands on the big red button. If a deal is not good enough for either the players or owners, both will hit that button and not think twice about it.
Tuesday's meeting will give us some more insight into the temperature in the room, and I am confident that it is heating to a fever pitch.
The owners will not budge even a little, and many of them want even more concessions on the part of the players. Meanwhile the players are splitting off into various factions.
If harmony is to be had in a boardroom, this is not the time nor the place. There are far too many differences of opinion to have a resolution. With no resolution, the season is simply doomed.
