Regular Season Games to be Cancelled Next Week
By Josh Hill
NEW YORK — Sources close to the NBA have said that should a deal not get done this weekend we should all expect regular season games to begin being cancelled next week. You don’t even have to go that deep into the NBA to hear these rumblings as David Stern has said that the entire regular season may be cancelled as early as next week.
“Either we’ll make very good progress — and we know what that would mean,” said Stern. “We know how good that would be, without putting dates to it — or we won’t make any progress and then it won’t be a question of just starting the season on time, there will be a lot at risk because of the absence of progress.”
Am I the only one who feels like I’m watching Star Wars? Isn’t there a scene where somebody evil is trying to force a settlement between Naboo and the Trade Federation?
These latest statements by Stern must be chalked up to him attempting desperately to make his sport relevant at a time when the NFL has never been more popular. To his credit, it is working to an extent as the basketball community is in a fevered panic after his announcement. But that panic is quickly turning to rage and hate.
Like with me.
How, if you’re David Stern, do you threaten to cancel your season before the deadline is even close? The scheduled start of the season is November 1st, so by that standard of time you have at minimum until the first weekend of October to begin creating panic in order to force a settlement.
Talk about jumping the gun.
I do understand why he might feel compelled to throw out the mother of all threats now. This weekend, and this whole week
for that matter, marks the most time spent by both sides negotiating and meeting about a new CBA. Stern likes the positioning and would love for it all to be over this weekend. It has long been seen as the deadline for a handshake deal but still, why threaten to cancel the whole thing now?
I’ll stop short of name calling, but going all in this weekend isn’t a good move for Stern or the NBA. Perhpas he wants to put all the pressure he can at one time on Billy Hunter, who is also dealing with intense heat from a group of player agents. Maybe the thinking is Hunter will buckle and make the best offer he can and then a deal.
A lot of this has to be viewed as a relevancy issue. The NFL is the talk of the town and not as many people are caring about the NBA lockout as Stern had hoped. It’s like the kid trying to get attention from his parents who are otherwise preoccupied with the new baby in the house by doing outrageous things. The NBA is never at the height of it’s popularity in November or December but the sport has never been faced with a situation of whether or not people actually care.
It’s like the saying, it’s a lot better not knowing so don’t put yourself in that situation.
The NBA had it’s chances to get out of said situation and failed to do so, no they’re miffed they have to face it and are making outrageous threats to garner attention?
When did the NBA become Fox News?
Manufacturing media attention by throwing out a headline grabbing quote like Stern has done is not the way a deal gets done. It’s only adding pressure to an otherwise tense situation that doesn’t need to be ‘roided up with artificial drama. I understand Stern wants a deal done, but he’s not the NFL and he’s not the comissioner of a sport where games cancelled means lost interest.
The interest for a lot is already gone or otherwise preoccupied on a little thing we call football.