Don’t bet on the 2011-12 NBA season getting underway on November 1st.
No progress was made in the labor talks last week, and the media days that are supposed to be held on October 3rd- are probably not going to happen. Training camps were supposed to open a week or so after that date, but don’t hold your breath.
Like the NFL lockout, nothing will come close to getting done until the season is upon us. Well, we’re at the juncture now where time will be lost if no progress is made. And yet, nothing. This is actually a world of difference from the NFL, where no one was ready to cook and serve the golden goose.
Here, we have some teams bleeding money, so there is no sense of urgency for those owners.
The salary cap structure is still providing the biggest rift right now, as players and owners don’t have any meetings scheduled in the short term to try and get closer to common ground. I won’t bore you with any more talk of hard cap vs. soft cap and any collective bargaining snoozefest.
Labor law is BORING! And it’s painful to discuss when you see how greed on both sides has led to all this wasted potential. If another major portion of another NBA season is lost, think of how that will permanently damage the game. Remember what a crapfest that 1999 NBA Finals series was?
Actually, it’s the league that should think about the permanent damage. Maybe self-reflection will bring them closer to the coming-to-Jesus moment required to get a deal done?
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site that generates millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, and Fox Sports
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