Spirit of '99: 2011 Lockout Discussion

[Andrew]

Yep, pretty much.

With these lengthy meetings and the presence of the mediator, I was hoping things would be moving along (though a deal getting done this week would've been a bit overly optimistic). Sadly, that's not the case.

[shadowgrin]

I want this lockout to last a season just to see how it will turn out and affect future CBA negotiations.

[Andrew]

I'm hoping it doesn't come to that, but it would be interesting to see just how many players are willing to make good on the claim they're prepared to sit out the season if need be.

[NovU]

I heard from my friend that Deron Williams has been like an ultimate disaster in Europe. Does anyone have more info on this guy or a clip?

[shadowgrin]

http://www.eurobasket.com/team.asp?Cntr ... 035&Page=3

He's stinking it up with his shooting percentage.

[Andrew]

Bill Simmons' 56 things he's mourning in the event the season is cancelled.

[Mavs4Life]

In that event, I hope the NLSC leauge gets popular. We could have our own little fake NBA . I do hope we see basketball at some place & time, but I just don't see nit, not until next year.

[The X]

Lockout must be having its effect, I've only played NBA 2K12 once since I got it last week. No motivation.

[Mavs4Life]

I'd think it weould only wanna make you play it more, that's what it's done to me

[Andrew]

Labor talks have passed the seven hour mark today. Woj tweeted this:

A league source wired into bargaining session tells Y!: "There's a deal to be had if everyone shows a little flexibility."

Not getting my hopes up but at least they're talking again.

[Mavs4Life]

To think in less than a week, the Mavs should be getting their rings... but they won't be

[benji]

Gives them time to add the asterisk.

[Andrew]

NBA, players make progress toward deal

The NBA and Players Association are pushing hard to reach the framework of an agreement to end the league-imposed lockout after moving closer to consensus on several important issues, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Negotiators met for more than 15 hours, finishing past 3 a.m. ET Thursday, and sources said talks centering on the system issues resulted in significant progress on one of the labor fight’s most vexing obstacles: the luxury tax teams would have to pay for going over the salary. Negotiations will resume at 2 p.m. ET Thursday.

“They need [Thursday] to punch it over end line,” one source briefed on the talks told Y! Sports.

Via Woj:

Hunter: "if deal can be achieved by Sunday, Monday...." 82 game schedule still possible.

Bill Simmons noted earlier:

82-game NBA reg season + full playoffs still in play. Need done deal by weekend. Lots of optimism now. I'd be surprised if this fell apart.

Sounds good, but it's difficult to be more than cautiously optimistic just yet.

[NovU]

Fantastic news.

I am interested to see how Deron will play next season too, since he was so horrible in Europe.

[Andrew]

I'd say he'll be fine. Different team, different style of basketball and he probably doesn't care that much if he puts up ordinary numbers.

[benji]

Simmons is delusional, we already have a delay, they don't have the schedule to do 82 games. These arenas are already booked, they have to cut games.

[Lamrock]

The schedule has already been scrapped. The NBA was never going to just cancel the first two weeks without re-doing the schedule. Would reflect more poorly on the league than the players if it ends up like some of the later PC NBA Lives where some teams play more games than others.

I haven't looked into just how booked the arenas are, but adding three games a month or so could be doable.

[Andrew]

Supposedly there's a contingency plan in place for an 82 game schedule beginning December 1st, but that's just a rumour.

[Andrew]

Talks break down again and the rest of November's games are cancelled. If there was in fact a secret contingency plan for a delayed 82 game schedule, it too is out the window at this point. So much for progress.

[koberulz]

And we still don't get a tour because the promoter doesn't want to risk players being advertised but not showing up. Bullshit.

[Andrew]

Guess we've got our DVDs, tapes, video games and other leagues. Seems we'll be relying on them for a while yet after all.

[The X]

I'm swinging back from owner's camp to player's camp based on what I'm reading. If NBA is getting system concessions & able to get the BRI down to 48-52 (owners-players) split, make the damn deal. If Stern really dropped his offer back to 53-47 in favour of owners after previously going to 50-50, no wonder the talks broke down. Even if they went back to 50-50.

Either way, I'm in favour of shortening of seasons to between 50-60 games over the same period so it's only about 2 games per week & playoffs reduced to 5-5-7-7 format at very most.

[Andrew]

Agreed. 50-50 still strikes me as the fairest deal to everyone but as you said, 52-48 and system concessions doesn't leave the owners in too bad shape and gives them a pretty big win over the players if that's what they want, having brought them down from 57%.

[_Steve_]

Everything between 50-50 or 52.5-47.5 should be debatable.
I'm still in lack of information concerning the "system issues". When it comes to that topic it's getting diffuse.
Well as players are seriously losing money now, I think progress will be made sooner or later.
Maybe we'll get tip off in mid December...

[NovU]

Sucks. Are they at least negotiating in good faith for the long term success?