Who's Killing the NBA Season?

Last night, the Chicago Bulls and Dallas Mavericks opened the NBA season in one of the most anticipated matchups of the year. The reigning champs had all their stars back on the court and the Bulls, defeated by the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals, were hungry to show they had taken the next step.

It was a classic opening night battle. "Dizzy" Dirk Nowitzki made his usual flurry of awkward fadeaways, turnaround jumpers and hopsteps to the hole; Derrick Rose swooped and spun his way faster than DeShawn Stevenson could talk trash; Rick Carlisle's part was skillfully played by his body-double, Jim Carrey; and in a stunning move, Tom Thibodeau lost his voice before the game even started after one of his kids nearly ran out into traffic.

Seriously, I can't make this up.

The game was tied at 94-all with two minutes left in the fourth quarter. The fans in Dallas had whited-out the entire building; no one had been sitting since the start of the final stanza. Reggie Miller and Steve Kerr were fighting over the seat next to Marv Albert so they could do color for every D. Rose play. Caron Butler was still ugly, but shooting up a storm.

The stage was set: twenty seconds to go. Dallas with the ball, and Taj Gibson guarding the German. Carlos Boozer on the bench with his leg wrapped like a mummy (he got injured on the jump ball because his shoes were untied), screaming encouragement...

...while Joakim Noah and Mark Cuban were trading insults about each other's mothers.

Suddenly, the ball's in Dirk's hands. 10 seconds on the clock. Low post, one on one with Taj. No fouls to give, seven seconds. Dirk turns right, he turns left, six. Fakes right again, five, steps back, Taj steps with him, four, leans back and falls away, three, the shot goes up in an impossible arc, two, floats to the rim, one. And as the buzzer sounds, the ball touches the front rim...

Then I woke up. Another cloudy day in a basketball-free world.

I want myyyyyy, I want my N-B-A....

Last season was the best for the NBA since 2007-08. Not too long of a time span for sure, but you have to understand: that the season the Celtics created the first "Semi-Artificial Nucleus" in the history of the League (being that only one of the players was drafted by that team), leading to the Celtics and Lakers meeting in the Finals for the first time since 1987.

The two teams did not disappoint, even though the Celtics blew out Los Angeles in Game 6, as the series was a solid fight between storied franchises. The highlight was Paul Pierce faking his way to legendary status in Beantown after returning from a leg injury in Game 1. Oops, did I say faking? My fault, let Kenny and Charles say it for me:

"Oh, is this the fake Willis Reed moment?"

That Finals put the NBA solidly at the forefront of professional winter sports. Hockey will continue to jockey (ooh, rhyme) with the hardwood for prominence, but the NBA was back. Then last season, You-Know-Who took his talents to South Beach and put the bullseye on Miami for years to come, and that was before a raucous playoffs that saw:

-A #8 seed defeat a #1 seed for only the fourth time in history (Grizzlies over the Spurs);

-The Nuggets reach the playoffs without Carmelo;

-The Mavericks, long regarded as "soft", finally win their elusive ring;

-The Bulls-Heat begin what should be a long battle for Eastern dominance;

-The Hawks pull off a surprising victory over the Magic, fueling reports that Dwight may leave town;

-The possible final death knell of the Kobe Bryant-era in Lakerland after an embarrassing defeat to Dallas.

All that meant this season of the National Basketball Association was going to be rife with storylines, headlines and for once, not many punchlines (mostly how long Mike Brown was going to stay in L.A.). Forget the teams I named above: Ricky Rubio was finally coming to Minnesota, Blake Griffin had to following his ridiculous rookie season, the Cavs had Kyrie Irving and a small shot at redemption, the Pacers turned heads last year and New York would have 'Melo, Amare and Chauncey for a full season.

This season was going to be YUGE. An absolute financial waterfall for the money men involved. Then, someone turned off the faucet. The question is, who?

The unusual suspects

For once, I can't blame David Stern for this one. He's the commissioner, yes, and he does have final say, but I doubt King David is throwing a wrench into these labor talks. However, the possible culprits are out there.

The owners

'Woe is me' is the call from the lofty perch of NBA ownership. According to the espn.com synopsis of the work stoppage, the owners say they're losing money due to high player salaries and a soft salary cap. I'm not one for business sense at all, but it seems to me that sports franchise owners are the ones who started this trend of paying ridiculous amounts of money for players to come to their teams (George Steinbrenner, rest in peace). That's my opinion, though, and the owners want a hard cap to stop their money losses. Seeing as they don't play the game and usually are earning capital outside of their franchises (see: Jay-Z/Mikhail Prokhorov, Jerry Reinsdorf, Clayton Bennett), the owners have no problem standing pat until a solution is reached—even if the season has to be cancelled.

The NBPA (the players union)

The players say the owners get enough cash from ticket and TV revenues and that revenue sharing would solve many teams problems. They also want a short collective bargaining agreement (the owners want 10 years; the players want less).

Now, if you think of the NBA as America, specifically this "1% vs. the 99%" argument, the 99% of players earn less than $500,000 dollars a year, give or take. Many of these guys are rookies, backups, 10th-and-11th men, or career D-leaguers. The 1% are your Kobes, LBJs, D-Wades, Steve Nashes, D-Roses and so on. The problem is all of those guys really do love basketball and are hurting themselves by not playing. A few have gone overseas (check the video below of Brian Scalabrine tearing up the Italian league), but the majority are working out and killing time. NBPA president Derek Fisher is taking the hard line on this issue, but the players seemingly have more at stake.

The NFL

Didn't see this one coming, did you? Not only was the NFL lockout during the same period as the NBA labor trouble, it was more newsworthy when football finally did return. I wrote that it was disgusting how fans just forgave and forgot since their beloved NFL was back, but a side effect of it was that people didn't seem to really care about no basketball. With fans firmly set in their armchairs for a considerably weak football season, the NBA will take a backseat on the sports pages and in the minds of fans around the country.

The culprit is....

Really, all three are to blame. Derrick Rose has said that it's silly for players and owners to be arguing over millions of dollars during the U.S. economic hardship, and he's right. For both sides to be contending over this much money really is silly, especially when both will benefit no matter what. The days of owners shorting players so badly they have to get second jobs in the offseason are long gone.

The first two weeks of the season have been cancelled, and the lockout has no end in sight. With the Blackhawks stumbling out of the gate and the Bears mediocre once again, it would be very nice to watch D-Rose and Co. flying up and down the court each night. So, someone, please, end the lockout. I think I've run out of Bulls clips to watch on YouTube...

Okay, now I have.

See you in the cheap seats.

JS