NEW YORK — The NBA lockout did not end Wednesday. The only thing that ended was Wednesday itself.
As the clock moved past midnight and Wednesday turned into Thursday, NBA owners and players were still meeting at a posh midtown Manhattan hotel whose lobby had turned into something resembling an Occupy The Lockout gathering of ink-stained wretches.
No information was being released by the league or the union, but both sides had press conference rooms at the ready if circumstances called for them to be used. That was also the case last week, when the side-by-side mini-studios sat idle for two days until the talks broke off acrimoniously and the sides lit into one another once mediator George Cohen bailed out and took his gag order with him.
Some writers reported via Twitter that the sides were focusing on system issues rather than the financial split, which makes sense because the system issues — everything from maximum raises to mid-level exceptions to on-court disciple rules to veterans’ minimum salaries — are far more numerous than the other half of the equation.
Regarding that other half, the owners began the day (the meeting began at noon EDT) offering the players a 50-50 split, while the players were seeking 52.5 percent of revenues after earning at least 57 percent every season since 1995. An agreement on the financial split could very well end up being the last thing decided, and a compromise on the percentage could literally be reached in less than a minute if both sides were willing to meet somewhere near the middle.
This marathon meeting was the second-longest since the lockout began on July 1, trailing only the 14 1/2 hour session the sides put in a week earlier at a different Manhattan hotel.
It bears repeating that a full 82-game schedule can still be salvaged if an agreement is reached this week, as teams would have to make up 9 or 10 canceled games apiece — a task that would be made easier if the end of the regular season was pushed back from mid-April to late April.
One piece of positive news: The media gambling pool of $16 was won by SheridanHoops with a guestimate that David Stern would speak at 12:21 a.m. No one else guessed later than 11:18 p.m.
Hey Chris, is George Cohen going to be back involved in the talks at any point? Or is the whole mediation thing done with?