NBA Lockout Update: A Super Mega Important Weekend Ahead
by Wil Cantrell on Sep 29, 2011 8:43 AM MST
in Phoenix Suns: Daily Links
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PrintAs a habitual antagonist, when people tell me I have to do something immediately, I usually get to it when I feel like it. Just to show 'em.
Of course when it means money, perhaps I put aside my pride and do what it takes to fill my pockets.
This weekend the old boys and the younger boys plan to get back together in what David Stern says are vital meetings, with "enormous consequences at play here on the basis of the weekend." And perhaps it's true. Stern also recently stated, "the calendar is not our friend." Derek Fisher adds a more believable slant on the situation:
"It points to the realities that we face with our calendar and that if we can't find a way to get some common ground really, really soon, then the time of starting the regular season at its scheduled date is going to be in jeopardy big-time."
Perhaps it was a foregone conclusion that the NBA would lose a chunk of the season, and perhaps if they are united with such reality, that this weekend is more important to Stern and the owners than it is for the players.
Nah, I don't really believe that either.
Said an anonymous owner:
"Stern's going to make a real hard push to get a deal this weekend. If the union makes a slight move, David will move....But the players have to blink first."
What does this spell for union chief Billy Hunter? Perhaps a small victory, a season, his players paid. The agents will be pissed, but who really gives a crap about what they think? They've been pining to de-certify the union all Summer.
Will the players "blink?" I don't see why not. Hunter has nowhere to go, no power in this situation. He resembles a tired, graying man, a politician whose suffered the slings and arrows of two sets of ravenous vultures. My guess is he's cashed in his 401k and purchased a small cabin in the woods where he can write poetry and swig moonshine on a porch. Any kind of peace is better than being stuck in the middle of a bunch of angry millionaires who WANT THEIR FREAKIN' MONEY.
The threats of marquee players going abroad to play didn't work. The angry discourse did little. As much as we all dislike Stern and ownership, they've won. The question is how much are they willing to give Hunter and the players so they can walk away with a modicum of success.
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as of 1:02 Az time, the vote is even 20-20
Blogging Suns Basketball. Twitter: @willcantrellphx
by Wil Cantrell on Sep 29, 2011 1:02 PM MST up reply actions
As far as my vote counts...
The poll could have been:
“Do you hope world hunger ends?”
If the yes answer involved “What Stern wants, Stern gets”, I would have chosen “Let ’em starve.”
It was only called the mildly irritated house on McDowell until I showed up.
by Jim Coughenour on Sep 30, 2011 12:07 PM MST up reply actions 3 recs
This quote from Derek Fisher is highly discouraging.
“We are a group of some of the most talented, savvy businessmen and business owners in the world,” Fisher wrote. “We have built our own brands, launched our own and other people’s companies, helped our communities. I keep that in the forefront of my mind each time we go into a negotiating session.
If a Bill Gates, Warren Buffett or Russell Simmons were in this, there is no way they would take a deal that is unfair. Not when we are the talent, the most coveted asset, the most valuable resource that drives this business. Keep that in your mind as we walk down this road shoulder to shoulder.”
From Sam Amick on SI.com. Because, yeah, when I think of talented savvy businessmen, I think of Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and…..Le Bron James? If this is the players’ view, we are in for a long absence of NBA basketball.
Blogging Suns basketball for Bright Side of the Sun from California wine country.
Twitter: @EastBayRaymundo
by East Bay Ray on Sep 29, 2011 1:06 PM MST reply actions 1 recs
you know, ray, im asking myself whose side im on here. and one would think i wouldn’t take a side, I’d just want basketball.
But honestly, I really want David Stern to suffer. I want these owners to suffer. On the same note, I’m taking sides of millionaires getting paid to play a game.
Unfortunately if this continues then little people like arena workers and on the cusp and rooks are stuck without jobs and $$$.
My mind’s in a bottle.
And my mouth is full of Novocaine.
Blogging Suns Basketball. Twitter: @willcantrellphx
by Wil Cantrell on Sep 29, 2011 1:38 PM MST up reply actions 2 recs
but more importantly, Delonte West has taken a job from someone who probably needs it much worse than he does.
Blogging Suns Basketball. Twitter: @willcantrellphx
by Wil Cantrell on Sep 29, 2011 1:44 PM MST up reply actions
I couldn't help but notice this admission from you, Wil.
Of course when it means money, perhaps I put aside my pride and do what it takes to fill my pockets.
This is so, so true. I can’t give any more details than that.
Blogging Suns basketball for Bright Side of the Sun from California wine country.
Twitter: @EastBayRaymundo
by East Bay Ray on Sep 29, 2011 3:31 PM MST up reply actions
right
I’m siding with the lower level employees. F the owners and players – just agree to split the rich pie and move on.
Nash recc’d a Malcolm Gladwell piece on grantland.com that painted the owners as the neuvo riche (sp?) of America and how they fight so hard for every penny while letting the middle and lower classes struggle. As recently as the 1960s, rich people paid 90% income tax and never complained about it because they were rich and they didn’t know any better. Now they’ve got congressmen fighting to keep their taxes LOWER than everyone else. Ugh. I hate this.
Agree 100% on the OWNERS deserving to suffer for their greed.
Yet Gladwell forgot to mention that the PLAYERS are also part of that same blood-sucking rich who fight for every little penny even though their penny is 1000 times bigger than my penny.
F them all. Just agree to a damn deal, play the damn game, and put the middle and lower classes back to work in the arenas.
Blogging Suns Basketball at Bright Side of the Sun
by Alex Laugan on Sep 30, 2011 7:11 AM MST up reply actions 3 recs
Word
To all of that. Wouldn’t it be great if the sides would agree to let an independent mediator come in and settle this thing right now? I know it will never happen, but it would be the fairest and quickest way to a solution.
Blogging Suns basketball for Bright Side of the Sun from California wine country.
Twitter: @EastBayRaymundo
by East Bay Ray on Sep 30, 2011 9:03 AM MST up reply actions
What stage are we at now Brightsiders?
Denial
Anger
Bargaining
Depression
Acceptance
It was only called the mildly irritated house on McDowell until I showed up.
by Jim Coughenour on Sep 30, 2011 12:08 PM MST up reply actions
im pissed.
and i realized it on this thread.
no one side is asking for my support, but still i feel like im in a tug of war between these people who have too much money.
see Alex’s quote above, I’m with him.
Blogging Suns Basketball. Twitter: @willcantrellphx
by Wil Cantrell on Sep 30, 2011 2:29 PM MST up reply actions
I always thought we operated by Blissful Ignorance...
and heavy doses of Cringing DooOOoomm-ness
by SteveNash, QuantumPhysicist on Sep 30, 2011 9:40 PM MST up reply actions
Great piece by Gladwell...
also…. fucking this
Yet Gladwell forgot to mention that the PLAYERS are also part of that same blood-sucking rich who fight for every little penny even though their penny is 1000 times bigger than my penny.
"We never tried Amar'e, Nash, and a live Grizzly bear." -Scott Howard, January 18, 2010
This.
Everything about this.
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"Great things come to those who work."
by Dragic_is_Magic on Sep 30, 2011 10:13 PM MST up reply actions
Everytime..
i check updates on Bsots and there is a poll i would vote on one thing then again i check back would vote on the other side of the poll, or i would just go for the unpopular vote. Just to keep things interesting. Yep, this lockout needs to end. I’m on the NBA fans side and the people working behind the scenes. Lets get this orange rubber ball rolling.
"Who are we kidding?..."
The Threat of a Rival League
would do the trick. But who would be willing to bankroll such a thing when the NBA will break its lockout the instant it becomes feasible?
Voted most likely to say "I told you so"
I got 40 bucks on it
"Maybe I’m old school," Nash said, "but I signed a contract to play here and I want to honor it. I feel like I owe it to my teammates and the city and everybody to keep battling until they tell me it’s time to go." STEVE (God of Basketball) NASH
Instead of a jump ball, we could have an MMA fight between the 2 centers.
Winner starts out with the ball.
Plus, how sweet would it be to actually see BAMF on the back of Grant Hill’s jersey?
Re-sign BAMF.
LOL at Rival League
Though I suppose that would finally decide the players v. laundry debate. (Spoiler alert: It’s laundry in a rout)
Founder of the Coalition to Light Vince Carter On Fire (CTLVCOF)
RIP Seasons of Discontent
by Scott Howard on Sep 30, 2011 10:00 AM MST up reply actions
And what pray tell may that be?
It was only called the mildly irritated house on McDowell until I showed up.
by Jim Coughenour on Sep 30, 2011 12:10 PM MST up reply actions 2 recs
Kobe Bryant with the transparent negotiating ploy
Of threatening to play for the Oscar Mayer Virtus Bologna team just as negotiations are hitting this boiling point.
We don’t need no stinking NBA! We can just go play in Europe for a fraction of the salary! That’ll show ’em!
Blogging Suns basketball for Bright Side of the Sun from California wine country.
Twitter: @EastBayRaymundo
by East Bay Ray on Sep 30, 2011 10:41 AM MST reply actions 1 recs
see this is what sickens me. I’m not for the players OR the owners. I’m just for sanity. And all these people are too damn rich to be fighting so long that middle and lower class can’t work the stadium/FO jobs like they should be able to.
Who the F cares if Kobe plays some games in Italy. More power to him. But that’s all it is – a ransom. He’s just playing a game, for chrissakes.
And if THAT is a “scare” tactic, these boys need to face real life.
Blogging Suns Basketball at Bright Side of the Sun
by Alex Laugan on Sep 30, 2011 12:16 PM MST up reply actions 4 recs
alex, i’ve never felt so close to you than on this thread. were brothers of the same cloth.
er you know, rec.
Blogging Suns Basketball. Twitter: @willcantrellphx
by Wil Cantrell on Sep 30, 2011 2:31 PM MST up reply actions
Yeah I could never understand all this seriousness over a game
When I play basketball sometimes (and pretty often) I think “hey, I’m pushing a spherical leather object towards the ground and it bounces back in my hands, and sometimes I push it up in the air and hope it goes through an iron ring”.
And because of this ^ there’s so much discussion, approaches, plans, concepts, talks, sarcasm, irony, fights and so on and so forth? And more than anything, so much money that create all this ^
The F word comes to mind.
here’s the scouting report from David Thorpe on Gortat.
Scouting take: Gortat is the classic opposite of the guy who passes the eye test but cannot play. He’s awkward-looking, walks funny, and looks more ready to be a feature star in a pro wrestling event than an NBA player.
That is, until he steps onto the basketball court. He is an agile and explosive athlete who has talent as a shot blocker and a paint enforcer. He has been expertly schooled in the art of overall team defense, thanks to his time enrolled at Stan Van Gundy University, where his personal tutor was Dwight Howard.
Gortat rebounds as if his life depends on it. Quick, who is the second-best defensive rebounding center in the NBA, behind Howard? Had I not been writing about Gortat, I bet you would get at least five guesses in before you came up with him. But it’s true. Now that he’s in Phoenix and has proven to be better than Robin Lopez, his chance to be a long-term starting center will be realized. (Which makes us wonder: What if Orlando hadn’t matched the offer from Dallas? Would Gortat have started for the Mavs? Would they still have won a ring? I’d say yes.)
All of this is to say that Gortat will easily cruise up this list, perhaps into the top 70. —David Thorpe
Well, “top 70” isn’t exactly all-star caliber. But at $7 mil a year, he’s a great value.
Blogging Suns Basketball at Bright Side of the Sun
David Stern mocks bloggers.
Asked if he can see a framework of a deal, Stern said, “We leave that to the bloggers.”
http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/22748484/32394504
Sounds like Stern isn’t a big fan of us bloggers. I can assure you, Mr. Stern, the feeling is mutual.
Perfect rebuttal here:
@basketballtalk Kurt Helin
Frankly David Stern, I think we bloggers could have hammered out a deal close to where you guys will land in about three hours.
Blogging Suns basketball for Bright Side of the Sun from California wine country.
Twitter: @EastBayRaymundo
by East Bay Ray on Oct 1, 2011 9:46 AM MST reply actions 1 recs
I just read
That Robert Sarver was, “as usual”, the most vocal for the owner’s case during the meeting.
A source in the room also said that “Sarver told the players in the room that he hadn’t been able to get the return on buying the Suns that he had hoped.”
Joe Saunders: "They played a really good game, so hats off to us"
hello friends
My attendance has been turrible during this lockout,Am I the only one who feels the longer this thing drags out the more I dont shiver at nash trade suggestions? especialy if Bamf jumps ship.
"BALL"- Turkish poet Hedo Turkeyglue
Nah, I still shake uncontrollably at the slightest mention of a Nash tarde.
Go Suns, Packers, Jays, and Huskers!
Green Bay Packers: Super Bowl XLV Champions!!!!
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