NBA Lockout: Game of Chicken Begins

by Michael Levin on Jul 1, 2011 6:01 AM PDT in Philadelphia 76ers News

It's a lockout. The NBA, which hasn't locked out since the 1998-99 season, and its owners have told the players to bugger off until they reach a deal with the Players Association, which doesn't seem remotely close to going through. It looks like there's a good chance we won't be seeing basketball at the end of October like we are accustomed to seeing.

And for fans of basketball, that's disappointing. But you can be sure of a few things. And I will provide those things to you in numbered format.

We at Liberty Ballers will not be locking out any of you....if you behave!
We will be fighting through the Lockout with more just-barely-basketball-related things than you've ever seen. LB Drinking Game, Sixers as LOST characters, Basketball Sense Mathematical Formulas - the whole shebang.
We'll always have the WNBA!

With the NFL locked up (but progressing!), the nation is going to have to adopt another sport for the contingent of people who think baseball is too boring to watch religiously. Maybe Extreme Foot Massaging will catch on. Jan DuMoncrieffe is an EFM prodigy. Any other sports I'm forgetting that could nab the spotlight in these uncertain times?

Poll

Do you think there will be some basketball played next season?

Yes

79 votes

No

50 votes

129 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

I think just for the fact that they didn’t decertify as a union might speed this process along a little bit longer than the NFL did.

xEgan on Twitter

by xEgan on Jul 1, 2011 7:28 AM PDT reply actions

The NFL players decertified for a very strategic legal reason and it worked well for them. While it is impossible to know I think their decert actually might have saved the season because otherwise they would have been powerless in negotiations. Their only option would have been to withhold their labor (miss a season).

Peace

by Snowflakejr on Jul 1, 2011 3:59 PM PDT up reply actions

Can we just lockout the players we don’t like?

Sergio qualified for the U.S. Open!!!

by chillicothe20 on Jul 1, 2011 7:59 AM PDT reply actions

Sources tell me yes, we can.

Liberty Ballers / Ridiculous Upside / Twitter

The Artist Formerly Known As The Artist Formerly Known As Michael Bourn

by Michael Levin on Jul 1, 2011 8:05 AM PDT up reply actions

Im wondering

If in fact there is a lockout next season and no basketball is played…how is the 2011-2012 draft order determined?

by anjru on Jul 1, 2011 8:20 AM PDT reply actions

Fight to the death, I’d assume.

Liberty Ballers / Ridiculous Upside / Twitter

The Artist Formerly Known As The Artist Formerly Known As Michael Bourn

by Michael Levin on Jul 1, 2011 8:26 AM PDT up reply actions

Thunderdome.

I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, there will be no trade for Monta!

by dweebowitz on Jul 1, 2011 9:54 AM PDT up reply actions

epic game of battleship.

by anjru on Jul 1, 2011 1:49 PM PDT up reply actions

Also, do players contracts progress? If a player had a 3 year contract and we lockout for a year is it now 2 years or still 3? I assume its still 3.

by Nature on Jul 1, 2011 9:48 AM PDT up reply actions

This would have to be determined in negotiations and put in the cba.

Peace

by Snowflakejr on Jul 1, 2011 3:54 PM PDT up reply actions

The current deal was unsustainable so this was inevitable. NBA players make so much money, that it’s hard to have sympathy for them. Particularly when they take more than 50% of the money! It seems to me that if the players get that percentage then they should also face some of the risk. Should a player get paid, when he can’t get fans into the building? Why should the owner pay and have to lose money on the deal? To a certain degree both parties are responsible, the players have to be good and the team has to have enough good players to be able to compete, but the players should have to face the risk of revenue short-falls just as the owners do.

Considering that they are all rich entertainers, I don’t think it’s too much to ask or expect of them to work things out. The worst thing the basketball players can do is not play. The owners are businessmen and there’s no reason to own a team that loses money so someone can get paid gobs of money to play basketball in an empty arena.

They should all take a 30% pay cut, and reduce ticket prices so an average family can afford to go. That would show me that they’re at least committed to their fans.

by RickoT on Jul 1, 2011 8:25 AM PDT reply actions