Schuster: Will The NBA Return Next Week Or Are We Being Teased Again?
By: David Schuster
If any of you have followed me on the station, or Facebook or Twitter you know that I am a die hard hoops junkie. All levels of the sport are cool but the ultimate for me is the NBA and I have been going crazy without it during this prolonged lockout.
Well, one way or another, we are going to find out very shortly if there is going to be a 2011/12 season. Not only are the 30 different player reps headed to New York for a big pow wow on Monday but we're led to believe that numerous other players want to sit in on the meeting with Derrick Fisher and Billy Hunter to hear first hand what the league's latest offer is.
If you follow as many NBA experts as I do on Twitter you'll see that there is a big difference of opinion as to what the players will now decide to do. Some think the players will again thumb down the proposal and push for de-certification (almost certain death for the whole season) but others think it has a pretty good chance of passing by the rank and file.
The puzzling thing is that very few are really in the know when it comes to the specifics of the owners latest proposal. There have been some leaks that the owners will be able to drop high priced bums down to the Developmental league and pay them much less but that hasn't been made official. There also have been reports that the league (trying to entice the players) will pay them for the full 82 game schedule even though the maximum amount they can now play is 72.
There is no question that the Owners still remain in the cat bird seat and (no matter what) will win this deal whenever it is consummated. The in-fighting has been incredible on both sides and whenever a deal is announced I can't wait to see the fake smiles on David Stern's and Billy Hunter's faces as they will attempt to make Kumba Yah.
I've been the ever eternal optimist during this whole mess and never thought it would get to this point so I'm probably the wrong person to make predictions. But what the heck, I'll do it one more time. I think if the players find out that they will get all their paychecks for this season and not have to play the full schedule, they'll bite on this deal and ratify it. And if that is indeed the case then the NBA will be open for business as soon as this coming Wednesday.......(maybe)
