David Stern: 2011-’12 NBA Season Won’t Be Canceled
by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni
There’s good news, and there’s bad news.
The somewhat positive news is that, unlike Billy Hunter, NBA commissioner David Stern expects owners and players to reach a deal, thereby preventing the cancellation of the 2011-’12 season.
The bad news is that both sides are too busy arguing about when to meet so as to actually get anything done.
From the Boston Globe:
“I would say that we have very smart players who recognize that this system is very good to them,” he said. “You’ve got 13 players on a roster averaging $5 million apiece, that’s $65 million and what the owners have said is, ’we’re going to try very hard as we reset this thing to keep you as close to that number as we can. The NFL, which is usually profitable as opposed to the NBA, which isn’t, got the double-digit [revenue] reductions from their players. Our players will understand that when the rhetoric stops and they will understand that the owners are trying to do the right thing and our players always try to do the right thing.”
“I expect that we’ll make a deal because the alternative is very destructive,” he said. “It’s destructive of $2 billion worth of player salaries and it’s destructive most important to our fans of the game. And if it spirals badly everyone gets hurt. But in some ways I worry because the players have more to lose, especially those in the later stages of their career. So we’re going to do everything we can when the rhetoric slows down to get this thing back on track.”
What is getting canceled are crucial negotiation meetings, and naturally, the two sides blame one another for this fiasco. Awesome job, guys.
So, all in all, we’re still stuck in the same place we’ve been in since July 1st.
This lockout thing will eventually get resolved; at this point, there’s just no telling who will be proven right when it comes to the season happening or not: Hunter or Stern.
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