Team USA dominated FIBA world championship basketball with it's roster full of NBA talent. Lebron James announced on live TV that he would be leaving the reborn Cleveland Cavaliers for the sunny beaches of Miami. John Wall and Blake Griffin were the rookies to watch. All-Star weekend had Griffin dunk over a car with an entire choir singing behind him earning the Dunk Contest title. Would the Lakers make it 3 championships in a row? Would Phil Jackson return or retire? Could the Celtics veteran Big 3 beat out their younger Miami clones? Derrick Rose played like an MVP and earned the award while his Chicago Bulls held the best record in the NBA. Carmelo Anthony left the Nuggets to join Amar'e Stoudamire with the now relevant New York Knicks. And, finally, the Heat would do what most expected, reach the the finals, only to lose to Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks, earning his and the franchise's first ever championship.
With what was arguably the most popular NBA season in recent history, it's with a great deal of frustration and confusion that I sit here and write that the NBA is currently locked out pending and agreement of terms between the player's union and owners. The possibility of a lock was predicted for the past few years and it seems that there is now no way to avoid it.
What all this means is that no basketball operations in the NBA can take place. No schedules, no pay checks for players, no use of NBA facilities, no contact with coaches or training staff, but most importantly, no pre-season or regular season games until this is resolved.
In short, owners say they are losing money and that the gap between successful teams and struggling teams is too reliant on the the owner's ability to get players and pay the luxury tax. Owners want to cap players salary avoiding inflated contracts for players and improved revenue sharing amongst all 30 teams.
The players on the other hand, have no interest on having their salaries capped or having the length of time they must remain on a team extended, among many other things.
The NHL lost a full season of games due to a lock out in the 2004-05 season and the NBA can ill afford the same fate if money is the root of the disagreement between the players and owners.
As a fan, as frustrating as it is, the reality is that professional sports is more business than it has been in the past, or maybe it just seems that way because information is so much more readily available to fans than ever before. If you ask for my opinion, it's really hard to side with the players or owners. Owners are investors and players are the stock, maybe that is a cruel way to look at it, but that's the way I see it. One cannot survive without the other. Players however can choose to play overseas, but there is no league comparable to NBA anywhere in the world. I love Euro Basketball and FIBA as well, but besides that, international basketball will be difficult for North America to swallow.
The real losers in the end are the fans. Fans who have no say in the matter. The fans that may or may not be able to afford tickets to games. Fans who buy jerseys and sneakers. Fans who keep the TV ratings coming in. If the owners are the boss and the players are the employees, they should remember that the fans are the customers, and if the store is closed, customers will shop somewhere else.
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