A great game at Florida International last night, a game put together by the big three of the Miami Heat and FIU, offered free as it was available online. The stars came to ball, as Paul, Rondo, Durant, Westbrook, among others put on a good game that featured Team Lebron take on Team Wade.
A sold out crowed witnessed a game that went overtime, with team Wade getting the win, which also raised money for charity. The game also made all watching have the same reaction, are we going to miss out on NBA calibre basketball?
The clock is ticking and it’s not looking good for the season to start on time. Taking a look from the sideline, as most of us do, without access to any specific numbers, both sides could handle things better, but the onus is on the owners to compromise.
The argument, to bring the players to accept a hard cap and a BRI of 50 percent, as of this writing, is that small market teams have a hard time making profit, have a hard time recovering from committing to contracts to players who end up on the overpaid list. However, it doesn’t appear that teams such as the Spurs, Jazz, and Thunder have problems filling seats, or have had an unfair advantage recruiting players, or having them stick around. As Duncan and Robinson proudly represented San Antonio, Stockton, Malone and Hornacek with Utah, and Durant and Westbrook currently represent Oklahoma City.
A good solution for the league, to profit as a whole, would be to setup TV revenue sharing. However, there has been no mention to put this in place. Thus we sit and wait, as both sides negotiate with the goal to agree on a deal.
In 2010/11 the NBA had one of its best seasons. The league had veterans playing at a high level, marketable players in the prime of their career, and the up and comers assuring a solid future. Yet despite this news casual fans are always the majority, that will no doubt jump ship with a lockout that lasts a few months or a season, let’s get a deal done.