By Chris Sheridan NEW YORK — OK, so it’s going to get real, real serious Tuesday at the NBA lockout talks. And then … Well, then we’ll have Wednesday, which will be real serious, too. And then there’s Thursday, and Friday. At some point, there is doomsday. We still don’t know when that date is. Or whether it was already mentioned above. Only the commish knows. NBA commissioner David Stern emerged from five hours of talks Monday saying it was time to get down to business, time
Hubbard column: A calm David Stern is an effective David Stern
A note to readers: Mark Heisler is on vacation this week in Paris. Debuting in Heisler’s usual Monday slot is our newest contributor, Jan Hubbard, who has worked at NBA headquarters and in the media. He came aboard as a guest columnist, and that arrangement lasted about 45 minutes before we both decided it was best that he be permanent. Jan will be writing every Tuesday (in Peter May’s old spot), and he’ll be as enlightening of a basketball columnist as you’ve ever read. By
NBA Lockout Talks Have Resumed (With Video)
By Chris Sheridan NEW YORK — Here is the NBA lockout in a nutshell as Monday morning becomes Monday afternoon. _ There is a small group meeting ongoing right now. Only the heavy hitters are in attendance, including David Stern and Adam Silver from the league office, Derek Fisher and Billy Hunter from the Players Association, plus some support staff on both sides. There will be a larger meting Tuesday with the negotiating committees from both sides. Hunter is encouraging extra players
Lockout update: Links from around the Web
By Chris Sheridan “If we didn’t think there was any hope, we wouldn’t be scheduling the meetings. But that’s the best I would say right now.” — David Stern, Oct. 1. That was about the best thing the commish did say — although he threw in a line about wrestling Dwyane Wade to the ground — Saturday night when collective bargaining talks adjourned and the sides said they would reconvene Monday. Getting a deal done in the upcoming week is imperative to keeping the scheduled Nov. 1
Lockout talks to resume Monday (unless something secret happens Sunday)
By Chris Sheridan NEW YORK — They spent seven hours in the room together Saturday, and they didn’t even talk about the split of revenues. Instead, owners and players trying to negotiate an end to the NBA lockout discussed aspects of the soft cap system they will operate under once they get a deal done. And when might that be? It is now looking like the latter part of next week is the drop dead date for saving the scheduled Nov. 1 start
Stern: Owners will quadruple revenue sharing by Year 4
csprtContainer(); By Chris Sheridan NEW YORK — NBA owners told nearly two dozen players Friday they plan to quadruple their revenue sharing by Year 4 of a new collective bargaining agreement, and commissioner David Stern went so far as to say that one of the three remaining items of contention has effectively been settled. “The three big things are the system, the economics, and revenue sharing, and we’ve taken care of one,” Stern said after the sides met for 4 1/2 hours and agreed to
Lockout update: Talks to resume this afternoon
By Chris Sheridan NEW YORK — NBA labor talks will resume this afternoon in New York, and they are expected to last through the weekend — if not longer. Prior to today’s bargaining session, there will be a player meeting including some of the league’s biggest superstars. If you believe Virtus Bologna owner Claudio Sabatini, Kobe Bryant will be among them. There is some news out there this morning on a few of the details of what the owners are seeking, some of which
NBA Lockout: Where the settlement lies, dollar-wise
By Chris Sheridan NEW YORK — From what I can gather, it is looking more and more like a deal is going to be cut in the 51/49 or 50/50 range when it comes to the split of basketball related income. It’ll probably take the sides a couple of days to get to that point when negotiations resume Friday, with the owners currently offering only 46-48 percent (down from 57 percent in the last deal) and the players at 54 (but having