I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this yet, but there isn’t going to be a NBA season this year. The NBA owners locked out the players on July 1, and as those two months have passed, the owners, David Stern and the players’ union have met just two times. It’s important to note that they promised to meet three times in August, but they instead played a nice round of “It’s their fault.” But they all finally met for a whopping six hours yesterday, and I am pleased to report that this thing is still a big f*cking joke.
Players union executive director Billy Hunter delivered the season’s poor prognosis to the New York Daily News, and at this point it’s like all sides could give two Hershey squirts if the season happens or not. Let’s send it over to the BS cliché bad news quote machine:
“We haven’t had a breakthrough yet. We both realize that we need to continue to sit down and meet and talk to get the kind of breakthrough… to make a deal. We have to get that breakthrough, somehow.”
I’d make a smartass comment here about Hunter being promoted to Captain Obvious, but I have a feeling he’s going to follow this quote up with something so much more remarkably stupid.
“I wouldn’t say the fact that we’ve decided to meet again is a sign of progress. What I would suggest is that we need more meetings for that to happen.”
Before I upload a picture of the fireballs that just shot out of my ears upon reading that quote, let me point out something that nobody from the league, players or owners seems to be talking about – if the lockout isn’t settled by September 15, the preseason will be cancelled. Hunter says they need to schedule more meetings after they spent the past two months pointing fingers and playing the absolute worst PR game I’ve ever seen. So unless they’re planning to meet every day for the next two weeks for at least 10 hours a day to bridge the $7.8 billion gap that they’re currently facing, it’s a joke to think that this will even be settled in time for next season.
At least players rep Derek Fisher also chimed in with his opinion on this slow and steady approach:
“Everyone loses if we don’t reach an agreement. That’s something that I think has always been understood. But as we approach Sept. 1 and obviously the training camp schedule to start on Oct. 1, the urgency is just continuing to build and increase on both sides, and we’re going to remain focused on finding a way to get this done.”
I want to be very blunt about something – the owners are going to win this battle. The results are going to be pathetic and depressing from the players’ standpoint, and the biggest problem is that they are doing nothing to even remotely sway the PR in their favor. At this point, the PR battle doesn’t even matter anymore. The NBA is going to lose so many fans if this season doesn’t start on time, let alone at all. Every day the players maintain whatever terrible strategy it is that they are employing is costing them. There aren’t enough Kardashians in the world to save these guys’ financial futures.
