Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.
Players Association officials disputed NBA commissioner David Stern’s contention that the union canceled a scheduled negotiating session Wednesday with the league.
Union sources said the players didn’t have a meeting scheduled with Stern and his negotiating team.
“The NBA refused to have a staff meeting [Thursday],” a union official said. “Billy Hunter has been with the [National Labor Relations Board] the entire week, including Thursday, and the NBPA was told that Stern would be completely unavailable to meet for the next two weeks.”
Lockout, smockout. Even evil dictators need a vacation.
Whether Stern's availability is in question or not, I'm glad to see the NBPA sling some arrows in this fight. Their PR campaign during this lockout has been flat embarassing. The owners are taking away the players' livelihood. Act like it.
The commish did offer an ounce of optimism:
Commissioner David Stern, despite NBA owners and players being far apart in reaching a labor accord, told the Globe tonight that he "expects" an eventual agreement that would prevent cancellation of the season.
“I would say that we have very smart players who recognize that this system is very good to them,'' he said. "You've got 13 players on a roster averaging $5 million apiece, that’s $65 million and what the owners have said is, ‘we’re going to try very hard as we reset this thing to keep you as close to that number as we can.’
Translation: The players can't be dumb enough to screw this up, can they?
The rest of the links:
Herald – Satch Sanders says old Celts could compete today | CSNNE – Friday FTs: Pierce next YouTube sensation? | CeltKicks – Rondo SLAM present Kicks 14 cover | Yahoo! Sports – Rodman, Mullin head HOF class |
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