anyway, it's been gone for a while now due to some labor issues, but apparently, the hot rumors are that it's coming back. would you guys know anything about this?

http://sheridanhoops.com/2011/09/05/nba-lockout-update-sides-are-closer-than-theyre-saying/

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/08/sports/basketball/nba-and-players-are-willing-to-talk-extensively.html?_r=2&ref=sports

http://www.slcdunk.com/2011/9/7/2411440/roger-mason-jr-and-the-case-of-40404-not-found

They are a lot closer to a settlement than most people realize....

Right now, the owners have offered the players slightly more than $12 billion in total compensation over the next six seasons. The players are seeking just under $15 billion.

Somewhere in between $12 and $15 billion lies the settlement number, and they’ll get there one way or another. Once that happens, it’ll take only a few days to tweak other aspects of the CBA – pensions, the anti-drug policy, the draft, the age limit, group licensing — that have barely even been touched upon in negotiating sessions thus far. It would then take approximately two weeks to put the agreement into writing, and then the business would reopen.

So what does that mean in terms of a deadline to save the current 82-game schedule?

Here is a projected timeline that pushes things about as far as you can push them:

Oct. 1: An agreement is reached on aggregate dollars.

Oct. 4: All remaining issues are settled.

Oct. 5-19: The agreement is put into writing.

Oct. 20: Free agency opens and players already under contract are allowed to report to their teams.

Oct. 21-31: Training camps are held, and each team plays two exhibition games.

Nov. 1: The season opens on time, with three games: Bulls-Mavericks and Thunder-Lakers in a TNT doubleheader, along with Rockets-Jazz.

I have been saying all along that there is too much to be lost by having a work stoppage that extends into the fall and forces the cancellation of games. And with the NBA coming off a fantastic season in which attendance, ratings and merchandise sales all skyrocketed, there is too much risk of punishing the product to go too far down the bumpy road the owners have chosen to take.

At the end of the day, they have too much to gain by making a deal that gives them a significantly larger share of the pie that what they were getting under the old deal. And lastly, all of the principle players in the negotiations are reasonable and rational men. They are not interested in destroying what they’ve built up over the past several seasons, especially in 2010-11.

So a settlement is coming, and I am here to tell you that it’ll likely come a lot sooner than most everyone else has been predicting. It’ll take a lot of back-and-forth over the remainder of September, but it can certainly get done when both sides can identify the middle ground and move there simultaneously.

http://sheridanhoops.com/2011/09/05/nba-lockout-update-sides-are-closer-than-theyre-saying/

jrodmc wrote:This thread should be deleted solely on the basis of the mention of comparing the greatest sport in the world to some stupid babysitter hobby like soccer.

As far as I remember, "soccer" is a bigger sport than bball.. just not in the US.

jrodmc wrote:

skeng wrote:

jrodmc wrote:This thread should be deleted solely on the basis of the mention of comparing the greatest sport in the world to some stupid babysitter hobby like soccer.

As far as I remember, "soccer" is a bigger sport than bball.. just not in the US.

Yes, I certainly enjoyed all those fabulous noise makers and watching those tremendous atheletes faking injuries to eat up time on the clock.
And never confuse "bigness" with "greatness". Yao Ming is big. Michael Jordan is great.

GOOOOOAAALL! Nice one, J.

I like to describe soccer as the game where people get really excited about things almost happening. Zzzzz....

Vmart wrote:Definitely not missing Basketball as much as Football.

hatter!

markvmc wrote:Always fun to see folk from the country that gave baseball to the world complaining about how soccer is boring...

hahaha... true that. i like soccer, but i don't care if anyone dislikes it. in fact, if your funny about then keep it up. baseball to me is by far the worst popular sport. and whether or not you like soccer, there's no denying there are similar elements strategically. steve nash came from a soccer background. started in soccer, then said when he began playing basketball, there were so many little similarities, that it felt like cheating that he could use his hands.

BasketballJones wrote:

loweyecue wrote:

BasketballJones wrote:"Basket" what?

Balljones!

Hey! That's my name! Is that relevant to the subject somehow?

No, we were talking about soccer, the greatest pastime the world has ever known.
Mostly because it's big in the third world.