NBA Season in Jeopardy: What Will Happen to the League?
Here we go again! Another league is in a flux and an entire season is now in jeopardy for the NBA.
After one of the most memorable seasons that started with "The Decision" and ended with the Miami Heat threesome of Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh losing to a veteran-ladened Mavericks team in the finals, the momentum is completely gone.
As you may know, the players decided to disband the union, which most likely means an anti-trust lawsuit is coming. Maybe the players had enough. They were not getting the deal they had hoped for and, to be honest, what is a negotiation that says, "Take this deal or else"?
I asked the question in my first article last week, is it good for the game?
Simply put, no, it's not. It kills the game that has us begging for its return. Nope! Sorry, NBA fans, the season is most likely done before it has started.
Before Dirk Nowitzki can get his ring (Fed-Ex may be able to deliver it by January), before we can see if Kevin Garnett's knees can hold up, we must see if anything can be salvaged. Most of us are settling for college hoops to feed our basketball jones—North Carolina looks awesome right about now. The NFL is in the midst of separating the contenders from the pretenders. Hockey? The NHL has been back since the Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup. Baseball has been revitalized by the World Series.
But what happens to the NBA if it doesn't play this season, especially now that we have options?
Revenue that the owners locked out the players over, lost. If the team is your cash cow, you're not making any money. The economy for several cities will be crippled without the attraction of the league, which will cost jobs. Typical for what is going on with the country going through a recession.
It was a gamble. A gamble that the players will bend to your demands blew up in your face.
Some players—if not all the players—want to play. They didn't ask to be locked out. The owners gambled on the rank-and-file players not being unified with the stars and it seems they were wrong.
The players have lost patience, not with each other, but with not being able to get to work. Players like Wilson Chandler and Deron Williams have taken their talents overseas with more sure to follow. If I were a star player in my prime I would strongly consider playing elsewhere. Tax-free, housing included and I get to work on my game while the NBA dies a slow and painful death.
The owners didn't anticipate this and it's bad timing because again, as we are begging for the game to return, sadly, it will not. The line is drawn in the sand, and who knows if the NBA will be the same again. I think after "Doomsday" last week and the players disbanding this week, it will be a long road back.
Memo to David Stern and the NBA owners: It took hockey three years to matter again, and with the league already having a shaky reputation, three years might make us remember that basketball used to matter.
Remember the names Harrison Barnes and Jared Sullinger from North Carolina and Ohio State respectively because they're the closest we're going to get to seeing the pros.
