Somebody needs to step in and take control of the NBA lockout.

As Ken Berger of CBSSports.com reported on Tuesday, that somebody could be proven deal-maker Jim Quinn, who has recently spoken with both sides and offered up his services as an intermediary in getting the negotiations back on track.

Also on Tuesday, Billy Hunter, executive director of the now disbanded National Basketball Players Association, said that sombody could be a mediator who could begin overseeing talks as early as next week.

The catch? Federal Mediator George Cohen, who participated in two rounds of discussions earlier this fall, could be replaced by someone else, a decision left to the judge who was appointed the players' consolidated antitrust lawsuit against the NBA filed in Minnesota on Monday.

The Associated Press has more.

Union executive director Billy Hunter said Tuesday he expected that a Minnesota magistrate judge would mediate the players' lawsuit against the NBA, as the court did in the NFL's labor dispute.

Hunter specifically mentioned U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan, the court-appointed mediator in the NFL talks. Boylan is not the magistrate assigned to the NBA antitrust suit, although the district judge has the discretion to appoint a different magistrate to mediate.

"What may very well be is the judge there directs the magistrate, as they did in the NFLPA case, to host a settlement conference, and that could possibly occur as early as next week," Hunter said.

One reason the players' lawyers decided to consolidate two suits against the NBA in Minnesota, he said, was that the district court there routinely uses magistrates to mediate cases.

Hunter said Tuesday that the possibility of having a magistrate mediate also played into the decision, with the same goal in mind: resolving the labor strife quickly.

"It makes it easier for the parties to get together when the court is involved," he said.

A mediator is a great idea, but he or she wouldn't have much time to work with. The NBA faces an assumed drop-dead date of early-January to reach a deal before the entire 2011-2012 season would need to be canceled. The two sides haven't met face-to-face in nearly two weeks as the players opted to file their antitrust lawsuit rather than respond to the league's most recent collective bargaining agreement proposal.

http://eye-on-basketball.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/22748484/33464298?source=rss_blogs_NBA

Just like I don't take Stern's word for gospel you also should not take Hunter's for gospel.

CrushAlot wrote:

Childs2Dudley wrote:I don't have a 'boy', it's just that nothing will happen from this.

Just like I don't take Stern's word for gospel you also should not take Hunter's for gospel.

I think Hunter has been way overmatched in this whole thing and I question his decision making. I don't feel that way about Boies however and I do think something will come out of the Minny anti trust suit. From what I have read neither side is close to being guaranteed a victory in an anti trust suit and that could possibly cost the players billions or possibly cost the owners 3x what it would cost the players. I think that is motivation to try and work things out. I am not a fan of Hunters by any means but Stern has frustrated me in these negotiations.

I think Hunter's strength is that people under estimate him- he come across as being very casual, and people seem to think he's an idiot because of it. Both Hunter and Stern are very intelligent people, and I can't help but wonder if this was Hunters plan- he kept making big concessions until Stern started getting ****y and eventually issued the ultimatum- now Hunter has a much better case to present to the courts that the collective bargaining broke down (something they couldn't claim if they had disclaimed back in July as most people seem to think he should have). At first I thought he just got blind-sided by the agents the day they disclaimed, but he already had Bois in place as his lawyer which must have taken some time to do.

But yeah, they may be smart but they are also extremely frustrating...