Last week, NBA commissioner David Stern said that the owners were making their final offer to the players before they would really begin to turn the knife on them. The offer featured a core basketball related income split of 50-50, which is, of course, down from the 57-43 split that the players enjoyed under the last CBA. The players were already willing to give money back to the owners, as the union stood firm with an offer of 53-47. That’s why it really came as no surprise today that the union rejected that offer and will now disband.

Long story short, the season is basically over.

“The players feel they’re not prepared to accept any ultimatum,” NBPA executive director Billy Hunter said. “We think it’s extremely unfair to give (players the ultimatum) that they accept (the owners’) proposal or roll back to 47%” from a 50-50 split of basketball-related income.

“We have negotiated in good faith for over two years,” Hunter said. “But the players just felt they have given enough, that the NBA was not prepared to negotiate, that things were not going to get better.”

(Via USA Today)

It’s going to take a miracle for there to be a season now, which is very unfortunate for the fans, arena employees and people in hospitality jobs that are directly linked to the existence of these franchises. I wouldn’t say it’s out of the realm of possibility that a “hero” will step forward and save this thing in dramatic fashion, but the owners and Stern certainly don’t care. They just want what they’ve wanted all along – to take the players out behind the woodshed. As for the players, it’s very disappointing how poorly they’ve handled the PR all this time. I mean, look at this interview that Larry Hughes just did for Delux Magazine. Am I supposed to feel bad for that?

I might be burying this season a little prematurely, but I doubt it. It’s a shame, because I was really looking forward to making fun of the Miami Heat soon. :(

"But he told me they were magic beans..."

David Stern was on ESPN to discuss the latest on his league’s embarrassing lockout earlier this week, and while I don’t remember what he said verbatim, I can basically paraphrase it: “The owners have been so fair and generous in demanding that the players come down from the 57% of basketball related income in the last CBA to a 50-50 split now. The players are just being greedy and unreasonable.” Then he winked at the camera and said, “Thanks, ESPN” and he floated back to his home realm of Satania.

You see, Stern has been the king of fair and generous during the 134 days that this lockout has now lasted and it appears that he is making his final “generous offer” – if the players accept the 50-50 offer that the owners made very minor changes to yesterday, they can have a 72-game season.

“There comes a time when you have to be through negotiating, and we are,” Stern said. “We have made our revised proposal,” Stern said, “and we’re not planning to make another one.”

(Via CBS*)

Because he’s also a total hard ass, you see. Word is that the players will make a decision by Monday, but if they reject this deal then the owners will stand firm at 47% for the players and we won’t see any NBA action this season because the union will decertify and then all hell will break loose. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves, because players union executive director Billy Hunter is the hard ass of all hard asses. Tell ‘em how it’s done, BH!

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For the first time since the NBA lockout began on July 1, it actually seems like we’re going to have a season. After canceling the first two weeks of the season and then bluffing that he would cancel an additional two weeks and then all of the games leading up to and including Christmas day, NBA commissioner David Stern conducted a 15-hour meeting yesterday that lasted until 3 a.m.

It was reported that Stern and players union executive director Billy Hunter were seen laughing together at certain points during the negotiating session, and when a reporter asked Stern when he expected a deal, he smiled and yelled, “Tomorrow!” Seeing as it was 3 a.m., I’m not sure if he meant today or tomorrow. Hell, I’m surprised he didn’t shout, “Bring on the whores!”

Now, it seems that Stern, despite all of his arrogant bluffing, believes that there will be an entire season. And why wouldn’t there be?

“We’ll try to schedule as many games as possible if we can make a deal this week,” Stern, the NBA Commissioner, said early Thursday. “Until we have an overall deal we don’t have a deal on anything.”

“There’s no question today was a better day than last Thursday,” said NBA Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver. “We made progress on significant issues. But there are still some very significant issues left.”

(Via the New York Daily News)

The players have reportedly dropped their stalemate demand of 53% of basketball related income to 52.5% and that might be good enough to work a deal, seeing as they’ve still voluntarily surrendered 4.5% of the money they received in the last collective bargaining agreement. But none of that matters right now, because I’m starting to think this whole thing was just an elaborate scheme, at least from Stern.

The man notoriously tries to schedule league announcements and major events so they overshadow other leagues. This is routine from him, and it almost always works. So why on Earth would he suddenly change his tune about the status of the 2011-12 season? Because we’re witnessing an amazing World Series that included the most incredible Game 6 since Joe Carter galloped around the bases like he won the lottery.

I’m not predicting that it will happen, but if you think it’s out of the realm of possibility that Stern issues an announcement at 8:04 p.m. tonight that the NBA season has been saved, then you just don’t know him.

Two more weeks of the 2011-12 NBA season were canceled yesterday because the owners and players are still so far apart in their current labor negotiations. I’m confused, though, because David Stern has already made so many empty threats that I can’t remember if this is another two weeks on top of the first two weeks that were canceled, or if this is two weeks after Christmas day, since he said that games were going to be canceled through that after he left last week’s meetings with “the flu.”

Either way, instead of trying to actually reach an agreement, the league and owners are still engaged in a greater game of finger pointing. Today’s latest blame game involves Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and players union executive director Billy Hunter. The players and Hunter are saying that Cuban proposed a new deal that eliminated the salary cap completely, instead increasing taxes on teams that spend beyond a certain amount. Cuban can’t comment, so of course we’re going to get some mumbo jumbo from NBA senior vice president Mike Bass.

“On behalf of the league, Mark Cuban proposed adding a new salary cap exception, not eliminating the salary cap,” Bass said. “It was the union that, in response, proposed eliminating the salary cap, a proposal that was even worse for the NBA than the union’s prior proposals.”

(Via the Wall Street Journal)

I assume that Bass is explaining things now because Stern’s flu got so bad that he slipped into a coma. Wait, was his eye just open? I could have sworn it looked like his eye was open. Oh no, NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver has the flu, too, and now he’s slipped into a coma. Man, it’s only a matter of time before the whole league is sick and dying from this outbreak.

In the meantime, you can listen to Hunter’s comments on Bill Simmon’s podcast if you’re brave enough. Bass claims that Hunter was spreading a lot of misinformation in it, while Hunter claims that he’s spot on. I guess what I’m trying to say is, who’s ready for some NHL posts?

The NBA owners and players union met for three days this week with a federal mediator, including almost 20 hours on Tuesday and Wednesday alone. And while that sounds like both sides were super serious about agreeing on a new collective bargaining agreement and ending this obnoxious lockout, it’s the opposite. How far apart are both sides? So far that the federal mediator left and won’t meet with them again.

So long, season.

With no further meetings scheduled, it’s likely more games will be canceled, though Mr. Silver said Thursday the league won’t take any more steps until meeting with owners as early as Friday.

“Our discussions did break off,” Mr. Silver said. “We are saddened on behalf of the game. We understand we’re disappointing millions of fans.”

(Via the Wall Street Journal)

The latest word is that the owners want a salary system that mirrors the NHL, but I won’t get into what both sides are still demanding from the other because that’s boring and we don’t really care anymore because innocent, hard-working people are now out of jobs as the holiday season approaches and David Stern cares so little that he thinks we’ll believe that he actually had a flu when he walked out of a meeting this week.

The real comedy now comes from Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, who told players union executive director Billy Hunter that he could design a brand new system that would benefit everyone, and to “trust him.” I want to make a quick list of people off the top of my head that I would trust more to solve the lockout than Gilbert:

Anyone.

"Ooooooooooo, I don't know, the rest of October is going to be pretty tight..."

After Tuesday’s all-important, ultimate decision-making meeting between the NBA owners and players, we were treated not only to another deadline threat from commissioner David Stern, but also a statement by union director Billy Hunter that he and the players just don’t have time to meet this month. Stern, of course, said that if a deal isn’t reached by Monday, the first series of regular season games will be canceled, and neither side bothered to set up a follow-up meeting for today, tomorrow, or Saturday.

Naturally, we can blame Yom Kippur for the lack of meetings tomorrow and Saturday, as Stern, Jordan Farmar and Amar’e Stoudemire have plans. But the lack of urgency for meeting today has now left Sunday as the super duper spectacular in-your-face most important meeting ever. So how’s that gonna go?

Before they walked away from each other and plunged the N.B.A. into limbo, owners and players discussed the most basic, equitable-sounding solution to their conflict: a 50-50 split of league revenue.

The players rejected the offer — which was made in an informal side session at Tuesday’s bargaining meeting — because it represented a 7 percent, or $280 million, reduction from the current level. Their last offer was 53 percent, with indications they would go to 52.

(Via the New York Times)

Player rep Derek Fisher, seen above whistling “Winds of Change,” said that this was a move by the owners to give the players a chance to back down. And they didn’t. Good for them. Because what’s going to come next will be a worse offer from the owners. Then an even worse offer. Then decertification of the union. Then the season is gone. And at this point, nobody should care about the players anymore, because regular people are being affected.

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