Days of NBA Lives: Wherein Marshon Brooks has an easy lockout solution

At this point, seemingly half the NBA is on Twitter. It's a wild world of training updates, questions as to which movies they should go see, and explanations of their Call of Duty prowess. Every so often, though, you also get a picture into the more interesting aspects of NBA life. This feature is your window into that world.

Nazr Mohammed: As soon as I realize that the DOW is over 12k....It takes a nose dive. SMH! That's why I try not to follow it, and invest long term#Stocks

Andre Iguodala: Hard work hurts so good! I'm gone treat myself to a burger! Aint had one of those in a long time

Evan Turner: I think I'm going to participate in no shave November even tho my mom will be really upset lol. I'm bout to look like a Philly bul for real!

Mo Williams: Tweeters. Im 6'1 and 187lbs. What the hell I need with some weight lost. I need steroids instead of weight lost.

Marshon Brooks: Wow 500,000 fine, they trying to make ends meet anyway possible I see...

You can also follow Eric Freeman on Twitter at @freemaneric.

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Jerry Stackhouse pretty much wants David Stern to draw up the NBA?s agreement himself

Jerry Stackhouse doesn't trust NBA Players Association president Derek Fisher as far as he can throw him, it seems.

Stackhouse is a longtime NBA vet, he's been an All-Star, a scoring leader, and he's worked as an analyst on cable TV for NBA broadcasts. He last played, very briefly, for the Miami Heat last season. He's also been watching the NBA's labor negotiations with its players, led by NBA PA executive director Billy Hunter and Fisher, with a keen eye. We think.

Because it appears as if Stackhouse doesn't believe Fisher should be negotiating billion-dollar deals, he's just a lowly point guard after all, and that David Stern should have the run of things because "he's made the league what it is." Sounds like either Stackhouse is off his rocker, or he'd really, really like a gig with NBA TV next year.

From Rome Is Burning, as thankfully transcribed by Ben Golliver at Eye on Basketball on Wednesday night:

"Not to say anything against Derek Fisher, it's not that I don't think he's a great guy," Stackhouse said. "But I don't want him negotiating my contract. I want an agent who knows the lingo negotiating my contract. Derek Fisher, he doesn't negotiate his own contract. He has an agent. So why would I want him negotiating something even bigger than his contract? This [Collective Bargaining Agreement] is something more important to everybody." [...]

"David Stern, he's made this league what it is," Stackhouse said. "He's one of the greatest commissioners in sports. He's got that title, he's got the NBA at the place where it is because he's a shrewd businessman and knows how to work his way, play the media, play things up to get what he wants. We don't do that. Players are emotional. Players get emotional. So no, I don't necessarily, particularly want Derek Fisher or any of the executive committee negotiating a contract for me."

Of course Fisher didn't negotiate the terms of his last, or any, NBA contract. He allowed an agent to take over the negotiations for a fee. This is why the NBA PA has legal counsel on hand, to say nothing of economists, capologists, and all manner of expertly trained employees on retainer. To act like Fisher is up front with his green visor and calculator in hand is ridiculous.

Secondly, putting this negotiation in the hand of player agents? Are you mad?

Talk about bias. Player agents work for those fees, and they have no use for any of their old clients once those clients stop bringing in those percentage points. They'll leak things to the media, attempt to insidiously break things down from the inside-out ? as they should! This is their livelihood, and they should do everything in their power to sustain that livelihood. Their livelihood, though, isn't always in the best interest of both sides, nor the league, nor the game, nor other players that they don't represent. They'll use the players for that percentage until their careers are finished, then hoping to glom on to the next batch of talent.

Like, say, the owners do.

We're not going to tell you that this entire process hasn't been terribly mismanaged by both sides, and that we should accept the status quo, or that the NBA PA isn't getting its tail handed to them day after day while they hopelessly attempt to save a face that was never going to be saved even back in June. No, this has been a failure of epic proportions, even if a hurried-up 75-game season still happens in 2011-12.

But to suggest that agents or David Stern should be listened to three times before Derek Fisher gets a word in? It's preposterous and smacks of ignorance regarding the 2011 process. Since 1999 the players have been on a roll, taking advantage of ownership stupidity and arrogance and cashing in on fabulous deals sent to players making eight figures, the "average" players working with six-year deals, and even the minimum-salaried guys. Do we need to remind Stackhouse of the litany of very-good and above-average players that were working for the veteran's minimum of $247,500 from 1995 through 1998 because the 1995 CBA made no room for a middle class? It's been more than made up in the years since, with even lesser players making $36 million over six years.

And as Stackhouse complains that "it seems like the executive committee is always making concessions. More concessions, more concessions in each collective bargaining agreement," understand that it was "concessions" in the 1999 CBA that stopped then-free agent Stackhouse from signing the massive, cap-busting max deal he thought he was going to get under the pre-1999 terms following the 1998-99 lockout. Stack instead signed for seven years and $37 million, and was never happy that players like Kevin Garnett, Allen Iverson, Ray Allen and Kobe Bryant were making much, much more.

We don't know if Stack wanted to stand out on Rome, we're not sure what his agenda is, or even if he really feels the way he feels. Either way, it's not coming off all that well. And that's in comparison to Derek Fisher and the NBA PA, who haven't looked good in ages.

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Spoelstra shadows school principal (AP)

Erik Spoelstra went to a social media class, scribbled his signature on the back of a few shirts, shook outstretched hands and happily posed for photographs. The schedule says Spoelstra should have been leading the Miami Heat against the Orlando Magic on Thursday night. Instead, he spent the day at middle school, trying to glean something positive from just another day in the ongoing NBA lockout.

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Create-a-Caption: Kyrie Irving is a pretty crappy Viking

Don't you give me that "Oh, really?" face, Kyrie Irving. You knew that Viking helmet was stone-cold busted the minute you picked it up at the 99-cent store, but you were like, "It'll be funny, because, like, I'm only half-horny." And then you high-fived a dude named Bryse or whatever and headed to Cameron Indoor for the epic tilt against Shaw. I know you're not getting NBA paper yet, dude, but you're the No. 1 pick. Act as if and get your helmet game right, pronto.

Best caption wins the kind of helmet that Kyrie should be wearing, all things considered. Good luck.

In our last adventure: INTO THE PAST! Pro tip: When Stephon Marbury tells you that he "sees the big picture," double-check real quick to see if he is holding a novelty-size magnifying glass behind his back.

Winner, Ian: Caution: May stick hand to face.

Runner-up, Seb, Sebass: "Circle? No. Square? No. Star? No. Pentagon? No ... wait ... 'Starbury.' Yes, a star on my head would look sick."

Second runner-up, BaileyC: "I can't believe I traded my Venusaur for a shiny Ditto ..."

NOTE: If you guys need me, I'll be spending the rest of the day imagining Stephon Marbury heatedly discussing Pokemon with a group of 11-year-olds, thanks.

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Terrence Williams is tired of the union ?stare off?

On Tuesday, Yahoo!'s own Adrian Wojanarowski published a column about schisms and dissension within the players' union. The argument, effectively, was that there's more support for accepting a deal with a 50-50 split of basketball-related income than Billy Hunter seems willing to admit, and that his failure to reach an agreement has angered many of the rank-and-file players he's supposed to represent. From Woj's informed vantage, this problem will only get worse as more of the season is missed.

It's unknown exactly how many players have a problem with Hunter, but at least one does. Terrence Williams, a swingman who would very much like to be playing for the Houston Rockets right now, had some choice words for the union (i.e. Billy Hunter) on his Twitter account Wednesday afternoon:

Hey�@TheNBPA Let's play BALL enough with the stare off

The football players leader took 1 dollar when they was in lockout hmmmmm

I'm united but also I'm in love with the sport not the money "@Hugsis:�@TheAkronHammer @TheRealTWill @TheNBPA #Standunited?�#No?"

Everyone has their own opinion on this lockout I don't believe s--- no one says no so called leader I only believe@Derekfisher words

I'm def united and I'm with�@derekfisher and the players it's easier to listen to others when their job is to dribble a ball also

It's telling here that Williams doesn't consider Derek Fisher to be an outsider -- he's a representative who knows what it's like to be in the position of Williams and others. Hunter, on the other hand, is spoken of in terms that suggest he doesn't understand the situation at all.

That's unfair, because if Hunter has any capacity for empathy whatsoever then he would have picked up some knowledge of what these players go through since he became the NBPA's executive director in 1996. But Williams' reaction is also fairly natural. In a fight where divisions between "us" and "them" are spoken of often, it makes sense that any delays in getting a deal done could be directed at a person without firsthand experience of the players' situation. It's unfortunate that Williams acted out in this way, but his feelings aren't entirely surprising.

Whether they're helpful is another question. The last thing the union needs right now is an internal fight between its president and executive director. If Williams wants a deal to get done, he'd be better off voicing this anger in private, not in a way that makes the argument public. The weaker the union appears, the less likely it is�to receive an offer that anyone likes.

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Michael Beasley and his PR firm part ways after three weeks

Is it better for someone to remain a screwup or try to improve and regularly fall short? It's a question of expectations, not results. The former involves so much disappointment that eventually it's impossible to expect anything of the person, while the latter is all about getting hopes up and continually being disappointed. Is the effort even worth it?

I have no easy answers to these questions, but I can offer a test case for study. Michael Beasley, the enigmatic forward currently unemployed by the Minnesota Timberwolves, recently hired a PR firm to handle his media image. It was a smart move for a player who has proven mostly incapable of presenting himself to the world. This wasn't a case of a player hiring people to spin his image beyond all recognition; instead, he needed their services to show the world that he has more positive aspects than people give him credit for.

PR firms tend to stick with their clients through all kinds of messes -- that's why they exist. So it comes as something of a shock that Beasley and S & S Associates have parted ways after three weeks. Ben Golliver spoke to the company for Eye on Basketball:

"Please be advised that S&S Associates is no longer affiliated with Michael Beasley," the statement read. "Please refer all inquiries to 'Shooter'."

Shooter's email address was listed as "unknown," although a contact phone number was included.

"We think that Michael is a great kid, and we're wishing the best for him, but he was just not a good fit for our firm," S & S Associates' Tonya Payton told CBSSports.com on Wednesday.�"Michael is at the stage in his life and his career where he just needs to take a step back and reevaluate a lot of things in his life."

In the three weeks since he hired the P.R. firm, Beasley threw an "All-Star" charity game in which�all the All-Stars bailed out and�said that the ongoing labor negotiations are "kind of retarded." But that was the petty stuff.

The real bombshell came when Beasley�launched explosive lawsuits against his former agent, Joel Bell, and his former AAU coach, Curtis Malone, in which he and his mother admitted to receiving thousands of dollars of illegal benefits while he was in high school and college. The lawsuit is personal, too, as Malone reportedly�served as a surrogate father to Beasley, allowing him to live with his family during his high school years.

PR firms can help present an idealized image to the world, but in order to do so they need to have a sense of which image the client wants to present. From what Payton says, it seems as if Beasley is just too disorganized to know what he wants. This company helps a client work towards a goal -- they don't work miracles.

It's nice that Beasley is trying to improve his public image, but actions like the ones he took over the past few weeks suggest he still has a lot of growing up to do. His reputation is poor, and in some ways unfair. But, barring a total resurgence for the Wolves or saving four kittens from a fire, that image rehab is going to take some time. Beasley needs a long-term plan, not quick fixes. Those don't exist.

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Video: Dwight Howard comes out firing in new ?Call of Duty? ad

On Tuesday, video game publisher Activision will release "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3," the eighth installment in its wildly successful first-person shooter�series. As they did before releasing its predecessor, "Call of Duty: Black Ops," in November 2010, the game's makers aimed to stoke consumer interest by airing a slick live-action commercial for the new title during Sunday's NFL slate.

Just like last year's model, the highly stylized ad features a raft of explosions (including a rocket-propelled grenade decimating a high-rise office building), Hollywood stars blasting their way through chaos (goodbye, Jimmy Kimmel; hello, Jonah Hill and Sam Worthington) and a recognizable stomp-rock soundtrack ("Shoot to Thrill" replaces "Gimme Shelter").

You know what else was brought back from last year's spot? An NBA superstar making a cameo appearance. Last year, it was Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers; this year, it's Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic.

Here's the spot, courtesy of the official "Call of Duty" YouTube channel:

My first thought after seeing the commercial echoed one forwarded by Brian Sipple at the gaming site StickSkills: It'll be interesting to see if one other element of last year's ad ? the loud media backlash that Bryant faced for firing a machine gun in a major national commercial ? carries over, too.

The new commercial carries over last year's theme of there being "a soldier in all of us," though this time that message abandons the framing device of random civilians walking around and firing assault rifles.�Instead, Worthington and Hill play camo-clad soldiers working their way through bombed-out cityscapes to represent the evolution of a gamer from Hill's unskilled newcomer ("n00b") to Worthington's experienced player ("vet").

Howard shows up at the 1:20 mark of the ad, spraying wide fields of fire and letting lose a Ric Flair-style "Woo!" before running off-screen as newly-minted vet Hill smirks at his exuberance. The life cycle continues; n00bs spring eternal.

The Magic star will also reportedly participate in "Friday Night Fights," an "original TV series created exclusively for the 'Call of Duty' community" that will feature "real world rivals from all walks of life ? including celebrities in head-to-head competitions playing 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.'" Howard will appear alongside the likes of Michelle Rodriguez ("Lost," "The Fast and the Furious"), Jack Osborne ("The Osbornes") and Good Charlotte (Your Nightmares) in the subscription-only series.

After his appearance in the "Black Ops" ad last November, Bryant got filleted in the press, most notably by ESPN, which devoted a fair amount of column space and airtime to discussions of whether or not (but, mostly, by exactly how much) Bryant had crossed the line by aiming and firing on the small screen. As I wrote then, provided the obvious safety issues surrounding someone firing live weapons have been addressed and all the relevant parties have signed off on it, I think a grown man who likes playing video games should be allowed to endorse the video games he likes to play. I understand why some people have a problem with it; I just disagree with them.

The more interesting issue to me here is whether or not Dwight Howard ? Superman 2.0, publicly devout Christian, he of the beaming smile and purveyor of all things light-hearted comedy ? will get raked over the coals the same way that Kobe Bryant ? he of the jutting jaw and polarizing persona, forever hearing snarling invocations of Eagle, Colo., as evidence that he's a bad guy whose every action is tainted ? was after his commercial aired.

If I was a betting man, I'd lay odds that there won't be quite the same level of vitriol for Howard as there was for Bryant, despite the fact that we can watch Dwight donning battle gear and gleefully spraying bullets, too. On one hand, it'd be cool with me for people to decide that they don't actually care about stuff like this; on the other, it'd be pretty hypocritical to decide that they don't care about it because they like the guy who's in the ad.

Maybe I'm wrong; maybe this will be the kind of thing that tarnishes Howard's image in the eyes of wholesome fans. We should know a lot more about whether or not my read's right before the end of the week, by which time "Modern Warfare 3" will have probably sold about 75 million copies to people who were going to buy the game no matter who was lobbing the grenades in the commercial.

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C-a-C Past Lives: Stephon Marbury does not like being a photo editor

Gotta get�back in time ... Welcome to another edition of�Create-a-Caption Past Lives. Frightened by that which you do not understand? Awwww. Buck up, chum, and don't lash out in a blind rage. Instead, go�read the opening salvo in this epic saga and your fear will turn into mild indifference!

The next time someone asks you what being bored looks like, after you are done making the best face you can think of, point them toward this picture of Stephon Marbury joylessly serving as guest photo editor of Inside Stuff Magazine in the year 2000. (Also, re-evaluate your whole conversational situation if you find yourself having chats with people who don't know what being bored looks like.)

This is the Platonic form of "bored." This is the definition of "bored" you see in a really good dictionary, the kind that's thick enough to kill really big bugs. If you were playing some sort of Family Game Night contest and you had to make a rebus that would get your partner to shout out the name of the HBO show "Bored to Death," you would start with this picture of young Steph, and then you would probably use somebody flashing the peace sign and a skull and crossbones or something? I'm not good at rebii.

Actually, if you took a picture of your face after reading that last paragraph, it might give this picture of Starbury a run for its money. Oh, well. At least now you have options. You're welcome, everyone!

Best caption wins a pretty great Twitter conversation primarily about learning how to wield a sword, which is decidedly not boring. Good luck.

In our last adventure: J.J. Barea and Renaldo Balkman love each other very much and are extremely happy that their team won. (Surely you guys did better than that.)

Winner, Matt: Balkman: "That's it ? I'm taking my J.J. and going home!"

Barea: (gleefully squeals)

Runner-up, Russell S: What Renaldo Balkman didn't realize was that performing the Heimlich maneuver worked best when the choking person was facing AWAY from him ...

Second runner-up, E-Dub: Barea: "Hey, I can see my mom from up here!"

A Special Commendation in Ruling, Appropriate Responses Division, goes out to LanaeH, who commented thusly: "hahahahaha."

Thank you, LanaeH, for nailing it and making an addled C-a-C writer feel special all day long.

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Videos: On a big Wednesday and ?a sad day?: Stern, Fisher spin their stories

NEW YORK ? We'll have more coming on the marathon Saturday-into-early-Sunday meeting between negotiators for the NBA and the National Basketball Player's Association (NBPA). But considering that the flashing-lights, Drudge-siren headlines are that A) the latest round of labor talks didn't produce an agreement that would end the four-month-long NBA lockout and B) NBA Commissioner David Stern and the owners he represents gave union leadership a close-of-business Wednesday deadline to accept their most recent proposal, we thought you might like to see and hear the particulars straight from the respective horses' mouths.

Here, from NBA TV's feed of the wee-hours press conferences, is Stern explaining the league's position. The commissioner's opening comments refer to a handful of proposals that the commissioner said federal mediator George Cohen advanced to try to bridge the gap separating ownership and players on adjustments to the league's economic system (proposals which the union says were never really formally advanced, but hang on, we'll get there eventually):

The deal that the owners have put on the table for the players to consider includes compromises on the length of mid-level exception contracts, the introduction of a new "mini" mid-level exception and the elimination of sign-and-trade agreements for teams that pay the luxury tax, among other items.

But the league is also insisting on a division of basketball-related income (BRI) that would allegedly allow the players to take home between 49 percent and 51 percent of BRI, depending on how league revenues compare to projections. If the league underperforms, the lowest the players' take would go is 49 percent; if NBA income increases, the most players could get is 51 percent.

Following the NBPA's presser, union attorney Jeffrey Kessler strongly disputed the legitimacy of the 51 percent offer. An agitated Kessler said that the way the proposal is structured would make it essentially impossible for the players to ever get past 50.2 percent of revenues, and said that the only way the players would agree to meet the league at its proposed BRI split is if owners came the other way and met the players on adjustments to the system issues. The present proposal, he said, does not meet that criterion.

The players have until Wednesday to accept the deal the owners have proposed; if they don't, as Stern describes in the video above, the next offer will be worse. As NBPA President Derek Fisher of the Los Angeles Lakers describes in the video below,�that makes today "another very sad day" for many people, including the players:

"We just did not get the sense that [ownership] really had the intent coming in here tonight to get this deal done," Fisher said. "Because there was every opportunity to do it. We were prepared to stay here until the sun came up to get this deal done.

"We will, obviously, as a group, assess our situation, assess where we are, and make sure that we're communicating clearly to our players where things stand," Fisher continued. "But right now, you know, we've been given the ultimatum. And our answer is, that's not acceptable to us."

No meetings have yet been scheduled before the close-of-business Wednesday deadline.

Video courtesy of Ben Golliver.

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J.R. Smith has a personal luggage room, hates Chinese internet policy

When free agent J.R. Smith signed with Zhejiang of the China Basketball Association last month, I lamented his departure from the NBA landscape. Few players fascinate like Smith -- he frustrates fans like no other, but he's also a threat to drop seven 3-pointers in any game he plays. The upside of his move, of course, was that we'd get to read lots of interesting stories about J.R.'s successes, trials, and tribulations in a country absolutely crazy about basketball.

The first one does not disappointment. At Sheridan Hoops, columnist Guan Weijia explains what Smith has been up to in China. It is very much worth reading the whole thing, but here's a sample:

Smith's initial experience in China was not that good. The first problem was the time difference. On his first day in China, Smith woke up at 2 a.m. and found himself in such a strange environment, he didn't know what to do.

He wanted to send a Twitter update, but encountered problems because Twitter is blocked in China. At last, he found a way to tweet through his Blackberry: "Dear China, the fact that u won't let me work my Skype on my desktop or twitter is really pissing me off." Then�another one: "Not even YouTube wow this is ass!"

As the biggest name in team history, Smith also gets the best treatment. The team has hired a cook and two translators especially for him. For his relocation, Smith brought about 20 pieces of luggage, and the club arranged a room especially for those bags.

There's much more in the piece, including Smith's attempts to get his teammates involved in the offense and what he hopes to accomplish over the full season. Again, it's worth your time to read the whole thing.

The top stories, though, are in the pull-quote. I don't know how much luggage someone would need to necessitate an entire room, but presumably the total is more than a dozen bags. Which makes me wonder if Smith knows that laundry exists in China. Hopefully his two translators can help him out there.

Unfortunately, it looks as if more stories like this one will need to come from reporters and not Smith himself. It's a loss for all of us that he can't use Twitter with ease. I was really looking forward to his thoughts on the Chinese version of "Everybody Loves Raymond."

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With no candy on hand, Memphis guard Tony Allen gives kids ramen for Halloween

On Monday night, caught without candy to give away to local children as they trick or treated on Halloween, Memphis Grizzlies guard Tony Allen instead handed out packages of beef and chicken Ramen noodles to whoever dared show up at his door. We've no doubt that the kids were angry, especially when a millionaire athlete is well within means to load up their candy bags is instead giving away processed noodle packets that cost anywhere between a dime or a quarter a bag.

Allen, though, was not swayed. In his own inimitable manner, on Twitter, and via Yardbarker:

We're fans, and we proudly wear our Tony Allen T-shirt, courtesy "The Chris Vernon Show." And Tony Allen, in BDL's opinion, should be able to get away with this.

Why?

When Food Network presenter Paula Deen was caught by cameras handing out bags of Ramen noodles to underprivileged kids last month, the reaction was obvious and correct. Someone who knows (and, apparently, ignores) as much about nutrition as Deen does should know much, much better than to give a packet to children that contains 380 calories (we're going per-package, because nobody splits a Ramen package in half to adhere to serving size), 70 percent of your daily sodium intake, and 36 percent of your daily recommended fat intake.

But mask that Ramen giveaway with the wonders of Halloween and trick or treating? When you ring on every doorbell hoping for a full-sized Snickers bar or Reese's Cup? Well, then you can get away with it. This is the genius of Tony Allen.

After all, what would you rather your kids come home with? Another nougat-filled candy bar? Or a bag of something salty that you could possibly dress up with egg, scallions and mixed vegetables?

No regrets, Tony Allen.

Other popular stories on Yahoo! Sports:
? NHL player's racially insensitive Halloween outfit
? NFL player accused of sexual assault at Halloween party
? DaJuan Summers' cautionary tale about life overseas during NBA lockout

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Video: Nike says ?Basketball Never Stops,? makes ad to prove it

There's no NBA right now, but the lockout hasn't exactly lacked for basketball. If anything, the various summer league and exhibition contests around the country have provided fans more glimpses at the best players in the world than they'd get during the summer prior to the Olympics. Basketball has not stopped.

Shoe companies, however, tend to base their ad campaigns around basketball played at the highest level. They usually need players in NBA uniforms, or at least in a setting where hard work and determination matters. Without the NBA infrastructure, their usual commercials don't make a lot of sense.

Nike still wants to sell shoes, of course, and thereby acknowledged that a change was needed. What it ended up with, a new 90-second spot called "Basketball Never Stops," debuted over the weekend via the company's YouTube page. It has quickly amassed more than 500,000 views. If you missed it, you can check it out above. If you want an opinion on it, read after the jump.

What's notable about the commercial, in addition to the stellar lighting and general craft, is its lack of reliance on the NBA. There are clips of people playing pop-a-shot, Dirk Nowitzki working out in an otherwise empty gym, Kevin Durant playing in a rec-league game, and all manner of other basketball that's not played in front of 20,000 people who paid high prices for their tickets. Like a recent Jordan Brand ad, it's about love of basketball.

It's also probably more effective than a spot about Durant beating NBA defenses in an important moment. Everyone can aspire to be a great basketball player, but they can't necessarily identify with their situations on the court. Yet everyone who buys Nike basketball shoes knows what it's like to play on a city blacktop or in a small gym. It's a setting everyone understands.

Other popular stories on Yahoo! Sports:
? The Forde-Yard Dash: Pat Forde's take on college football
? L.A. Sports Museum's lost treasures of sports
? NASCAR owner Hendrick OK after plane crash

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A reminder that the NBA lockout takes place in a historical context

There's a tendency in lockout coverage to look at the issues on the table as if they can be solved by rational argument. If one side is asking for 50 percent of basketball-related income and another wants 52.5 percent, then surely they can't be too far apart. The problem with that reasoning, though, is that labor issues are largely defined by each side's will power. As in any negotiation, the owners may claim that 50 percent is their best offer but change their approach at the next collective bargaining session. The lockout is a gambit as much as a debate of principles.

Part of that battle of wills is based on the historical context of the lockout. From the 1964 All-Star game to "The Decision," there's a long history of players attempting to take control of their destinies and gain a measure of control over their employment. The lockout is just the latest such incident.

Matt Moore understands this context and wrote about it in a very long, very great piece for ProBasketballTalk. Read the whole thing if you have the time. Here's an especially important passage:

The shortening of players' contracts, the extreme luxury tax penalties, the Bird rights reforms, the pursuit of the elimination of the sign-and-trade, where do you think these things come from on the owners' part? They're trying to stabilize their economic model, that's certain. But to do so, they know they have to regain power. They can't sit by and watch a league that became driven by superstars starting with Magic and Bird, the only way the league survived, much less flourished, be�controlled by those superstars. It's fine to market those stars, to demand they smile for promos, do all the appearances, act and dress the way the owners need them to in order to make the league more popular. But those same players can't control what happens in the league. That has to be the owners' prerogative, in their minds. [...]

This has been going on since before 1964. From All-Star boycotts to antitrust suits to threats and Garnett all the way to "The Decision" and the looming force of�Dwight Howard threatening to once again render the league's landscape entirely reformed in the summer of 2012, this is about money, it's about economics, it's about labor law, it's certainly about ego (past: Dan Gilbert, and future: the Orlando Magic). But it's also about the power of the man who owns the floor, the ball, the court, the logo (but not the arena!) vs. the man who controls the hand that dribbles, passes, defends, and scores.

What Matt captures well here, more than anything else, is the sense that the lockout is a power issue before it's an economic one. Whichever side "wins" the lockout won't just have helped themselves economically. They will also have ended the lockout in a way that shows they were the strongest party. That's why the players can't really afford to concede even more BRI points, or why the league may try to figure out a way to play close to 82 games even though they've technically canceled a month of the season already. It's a battle of wills. It's not enough for the owners to get what they want -- they need to do it in a way that proves they have the upper hand.

It's hard to forgive fans for thinking that's a childish approach, especially if it hurts the league's popularity in the short term. But, logical or not, this history informs every negotiation between the union and the league. The more we acknowledge it, the better we'll understand what's at stake in these negotiations. It's about much more than economics.

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Raptors fan sues the team for making his front row seat a second row seat

A Toronto Raptors fan is suing the Raptors' ownership group for $1.6 million because�it constructed a new row of front-row seats directly in front of what used to be his front-row seats in 2007.

The Raptors? They claim that Mark Michalkoff isn't so much a "Raptors fan" as he is a "Raptors season-ticket holder." The team hasn't responded to Michalkoff's complaints personally, while contending that he essentially purchased the ducats to re-sell through his ticket brokering business.

The Toronto Star, via SB J.E. Skeets, has the story:

After a flurry of court filings, unsuccessful mediation and a lengthy discovery process over the past four years, Toronto businessman Mark Michalkoff's complaint against MLSE is heading to a courtroom.

A trial over the dispute is scheduled to start Nov. 15 in Ontario Superior Court in Toronto and is expected to last a week.

"All we were looking for was for MLSE to say they were sorry, but they didn't even answer us," said Michalkoff, who is suing MLSE for $1.6 million.

"Then they insult us by calling us scalpers in a counterclaim," he told the Star. "I'm ready to go to court and have it out. I don't think there's anything they can do to stop it now."

Rajani Kamath, an MLSE spokesperson, declined to comment."

Both sides, apparently, are going to have their work cut out for them.

Michalkoff may run a sort of ticket brokering program, but it seems pretty legal under his claims (which are more than likely bogus) that the�5 percent charge he takes from the companies that buy his Raptor tickets is just in place to cover the cost of shipping the tickets to the new buyers within the company gift cards his business creates. To the dollar, he claims, which makes this exercise (on paper, at least) a non-profit venture.

If this can be documented, and you've got to be pretty sure it can be (there�is a reason these ticket brokers, illegal on some levels, stay in business for decades), then this can be explained away in court and the Raptors won't have much to support their claim that Michalkoff's reselling of Raptor tickets "was deliberate, intentional and done in blatant disregard for MLSE's rights."

Then again, there is no way that Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment put any sort of language into its contract with Michalkoff that guaranteed that these seats would stay in the front row and/or unobstructed for the length of their deal.

The hack-y sports writer take would be to ask an Ontario judge to review the 41 home games a year the Raptors played during Michalkoff's time as a season-ticket holder. If he's present for, say, 21 of those? Then he makes the cut as a fan. Anything less and he's a broker. Also, this is a terrible idea.

Michalkoff is probably going to be on the outside (or second row) looking-in with this case, especially after he predated his demand for $1.6 million with a vague demand for "justice and a public apology" from MLSE.

You can't blame the Raptors or any other team from attempting to shoehorn more profits into their massive arenas. After all, even with the fans so close to the action and high-definition cameras at every turn, how many regulars do you see time and time again in front row seats at NBA games? Every night, there are new faces, even if the owners of those seats stay the same.

Which is why it isn't difficult to understand why the Raptors put the new front row in. They weren't really screwing over Raptor fans. They were screwing over the people that bought Raptor tickets as an investment.

(Note, the above picture does not include an image of Michalkoff. In fact, we're pretty sure that's Steve Schirripa, flanked by a person Steve probably thinks is Tom Arnold, Charlie Sheen in his "Iron Chef" costume, a young Justin Bieber, an old Mark-Paul Gosslear wondering how mobile phones got so small, and obviously Mike D'Antoni. Also seated in the front row is author J.D. Salinger, in a photo taken before his death in January of 2010, wearing some sort of felt dinosaur costume in order to preserve his anonymity.)

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China courted both Glen ?Big Baby? Davis, and the NBA?s top dunker

This report is anonymously sourced, but NIUBball.com has proven to be right on more than its fair share of occasions regarding the NBA-to-China pipeline, and what it's discussing on this otherwise NBA-less Wednesday morning should at least be considered.

Two more NBA free agents are being courted by the Chinese Basketball Association's Zhejiang Guangsha, the team that made waves last summer by hiring Wilson Chandler to a guaranteed contract (guaranteed on Wilson's end, but also on the CBA's end -- no breaking it even if the NBA does come back), is looking to add two more names of some renown.

One of whom, former Boston Celtics forward Glen Davis, is known to fair-weather fans the world over for his rotund frame and ability to accidentally if not joyfully push unsuspecting teenagers back into their seats. �The other, Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan, is a favorite of the League Pass junkies who delight in his massive dunks 'round midnight in the Eastern time zone.

Both would fit overseas, but even with the NBA and its players at a stalemate, would they make the jump?

Here's part of the report from NIUBBall.com:

According to the source, the team had entered negotiations�with several NBA free-agent big men over the past two weeks, including Los Angeles Clippers center, DeAndre Jordan, and Boston Celtics forward, Glen Davis. Though there was enough interest on the player side to have back-and-forth talks, the two ultimately walked away from Guangsha due increased optimism back in the United States that there will be an NBA season this year.

So, no. They wouldn't make the jump.

Davis is an unrestricted free agent, and likely to split from the Celtics to less-green pastures.

Jordan, while technically a free agent, is a trickier case.

The Clippers can either offer him a qualifying offer of $1.1 million, incredibly cheap for his production, or they could let him explore the free-agent market and match whatever offer sheet he signs. Though Clippers owner Donald Sterling is well known for his miserly ways, the latter option might be in both the best interest of his team, and his pocketbook -- as Jordan can sign with any team that courts him for whatever price in 2012 if he signs the QO of $1.1 million. And with plenty of teams clearing cap space in 2012 for superstars, he will be a sought-after fallback option.

This is where the CBA and NBA could clash, though. Jordan is technically a free agent; but the CBA wants to do right by David Stern, hence the edict that no NBA player under contract can sign with a CBA team. For a non-free agent free agent like Jordan? It would be interesting to see just how cutthroat the CBA would let its teams, especially the proactive Zhejiang Guangsha squad, work under these hard and fast rules.

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Wade looks for edge with lab tests (AP)

Dwyane Wade's body is spent. He's in absolute agony. He's gritting his teeth and taking huge gasps of air as the clock is ticking down, all while people surround and implore him to keep going all the way to the finish. This isn't a 48-minute NBA game watched by thousands of fans. It's a 30-second stationary bike ride watched by a few scientists.

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Hawks won't be sold to Meruelo after all (AP)

The Atlanta Hawks will not be sold to California developer and pizza chain owner Alex Meruelo. In fact, the NBA team is no longer on the market. The Hawks' ownership group, headed by Bruce Levenson and Michael Gearon Jr., said Friday that the agreement for Meruelo to buy the team had been mutually terminated by both sides.

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Brian Shaw?s time with Phil Jackson hasn?t helped his head coaching chances

I will fully admit to being biased about the triangle offense. It had produced the most engaging and aesthetically pleasing brand of offensive basketball I have seen in my lifetime, as tweeters who breathlessly followed NBA TV's re-showing of the 1993 NBA Finals last week can attest to, and it has been the driving force between 11 of the last 20 NBA championships. Of course, there are those who will tell you that Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol were the driving forces behind those winners, and they wouldn't be wrong.

The offense, to me, allows for perfect spacing and a single-mindedness that allows for players to think for themselves and react in the moment without having to have a play for every single situation or defensive reaction. The biggest playbook in the game, with hundreds of counters for every defense's reaction, will never be able to compete with an active and focused mind, which is why I'm constantly disappointed when more teams don't attempt to work penny-foolish and pound-wise with the exacting offense.

Or, disappointed when they slough it off while using words we can't fully print here. Brian Shaw worked under the triangle as a player and then coach with the Los Angeles Lakers from 2000 until earlier this year, and he's found a stiff resistance to Phil Jackson's former go-to offense in his short stint as associate head coach with the Indiana Pacers. From Ian Thomsen's fascinating profile of Shaw, from SI.com:

Yet [Shaw's] time with the Lakers hasn't been the boon he assumed it would be, which is one of the reasons he has come to Indiana. By helping the Pacers this season, he may be able to distance himself from Jackson's triangle offense.

"I talked to him last week," Shaw said of Jackson. "I said to him, 'I never realized how many detractors you have out there.' Because when I go out on head-coaching interviews and if I mention the word 'triangle,' it makes general managers and owners cringe. They don't want to hear about the triangle offense, they don't want to hear about Phil Jackson. It was funny, even when I came here and I sat down with them, jokingly Larry [Bird, the Pacers' president] was like, 'I don't want to hear anything about that triangle bull----.' And that's kind of the attitude that everybody has."

Yeah, you know we're going here: COUNT THA RINGZZZ, LB.

Having perhaps the two best players in the game on the court at the same time? Probably helps. But the triangle isn't made for them. It's made for continuity and spacing, and so the two best players (provided one of them is actually running the offense, Kobe) cannot have their moves anticipated by a locked-in defense when things get close toward the end of the game, or (as is often the case) when bench help mixes with the superstars as they put things away midway through the third quarter.

And the Pacers? A team with a center in Roy Hibbert who is used to finding cutters off the ball at both the high and low post, along with a litany of subpar-to-just-about great wings? With no point guard? This would be a team well suited to adopt its principals.

Those days are over, though. No NBA coach is devoid of ego enough to not look like a lapping Jackson acolyte, so it's just more orthodoxy for you, the NBA fan. Assuming there will be games.

This isn't all Shaw, our new favorite perhaps-too-candid coach. I'm hesitant to quote too much from Thomsen's column but I do so knowing full well that the rest of this piece is well worth your time. Here's Shaw's take on the Jackson fallout in Los Angeles:

"The negativity toward Phil didn't come from Mitch [Kupchak,GM]," Shaw said. "It was more from Jimmy Buss just doubting some of the decisions he made in terms of how he was handling and running the team and coaching the team on the sidelines, and sitting down instead of getting up. People look at coaches and want them to pace up and down the sidelines and bark instructions to the guys. That's not Phil's demeanor. That was viewed as a negative in my estimation -- but it won him five championships with the Lakers and six with the Bulls, and that was his coaching style when he won, so why was that not acceptable now?"

Shaw goes on to tell Thomsen that it took the Lakers a full three weeks to even contact him following the hiring of Mike Brown as the newest Laker coach, while going on to detail the decades-long employees that were let go once Jerry Buss gave his son Jimmy full control of the Los Angeles Lakers.

The younger Buss has been handed that rarest of commodities, a young and franchise-level center that can score and defend, the league's most versatile big man, and the last few years of Kobe Bryant's brilliant NBA run. He has a former Coach of the Year on his sideline and money to burn in the NBA's most lucrative market.

Let's see how this goes.

UPDATE: If you need another voice arguing on Shaw's behalf, look no further than Shaquille O'Neal, who offers this in his new book, "Shaq Uncut: My Story."

Via HoopsWorld:

Somehow Kobe and I made it through the rest of the year without any major issues. BShaw managed to get us back on track. It's kind of funny when you think about it. All of these supposed Lakers leaders who care so much about the franchise, all these Lakers legends, none of them ever had the courage to say anything to Kobe and me. Not Kareem, not Magic, not Mitch Kupchak, none of them. Only Brian Shaw took us on. Yet when the Lakers job came up in 2011 they didn't give Brian Shaw a chance by looking right past him. Go figure.

Kareem Abdul Jabbar Nate Archibald Paul Arizin Charles Barkley Rick Barry

Brian Shaw?s time with Phil Jackson hasn?t helped his head coaching chances

I will fully admit to being biased about the triangle offense. It had produced the most engaging and aesthetically pleasing brand of offensive basketball I have seen in my lifetime, as tweeters who breathlessly followed NBA TV's re-showing of the 1993 NBA Finals last week can attest to, and it has been the driving force between 11 of the last 20 NBA championships. Of course, there are those who will tell you that Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol were the driving forces behind those winners, and they wouldn't be wrong.

The offense, to me, allows for perfect spacing and a single-mindedness that allows for players to think for themselves and react in the moment without having to have a play for every single situation or defensive reaction. The biggest playbook in the game, with hundreds of counters for every defense's reaction, will never be able to compete with an active and focused mind, which is why I'm constantly disappointed when more teams don't attempt to work penny-foolish and pound-wise with the exacting offense.

Or, disappointed when they slough it off while using words we can't fully print here. Brian Shaw worked under the triangle as a player and then coach with the Los Angeles Lakers from 2000 until earlier this year, and he's found a stiff resistance to Phil Jackson's former go-to offense in his short stint as associate head coach with the Indiana Pacers. From Ian Thomsen's fascinating profile of Shaw, from SI.com:

Yet [Shaw's] time with the Lakers hasn't been the boon he assumed it would be, which is one of the reasons he has come to Indiana. By helping the Pacers this season, he may be able to distance himself from Jackson's triangle offense.

"I talked to him last week," Shaw said of Jackson. "I said to him, 'I never realized how many detractors you have out there.' Because when I go out on head-coaching interviews and if I mention the word 'triangle,' it makes general managers and owners cringe. They don't want to hear about the triangle offense, they don't want to hear about Phil Jackson. It was funny, even when I came here and I sat down with them, jokingly Larry [Bird, the Pacers' president] was like, 'I don't want to hear anything about that triangle bull----.' And that's kind of the attitude that everybody has."

Yeah, you know we're going here: COUNT THA RINGZZZ, LB.

Having perhaps the two best players in the game on the court at the same time? Probably helps. But the triangle isn't made for them. It's made for continuity and spacing, and so the two best players (provided one of them is actually running the offense, Kobe) cannot have their moves anticipated by a locked-in defense when things get close toward the end of the game, or (as is often the case) when bench help mixes with the superstars as they put things away midway through the third quarter.

And the Pacers? A team with a center in Roy Hibbert who is used to finding cutters off the ball at both the high and low post, along with a litany of subpar-to-just-about great wings? With no point guard? This would be a team well suited to adopt its principals.

Those days are over, though. No NBA coach is devoid of ego enough to not look like a lapping Jackson acolyte, so it's just more orthodoxy for you, the NBA fan. Assuming there will be games.

This isn't all Shaw, our new favorite perhaps-too-candid coach. I'm hesitant to quote too much from Thomsen's column but I do so knowing full well that the rest of this piece is well worth your time. Here's Shaw's take on the Jackson fallout in Los Angeles:

"The negativity toward Phil didn't come from Mitch [Kupchak,GM]," Shaw said. "It was more from Jimmy Buss just doubting some of the decisions he made in terms of how he was handling and running the team and coaching the team on the sidelines, and sitting down instead of getting up. People look at coaches and want them to pace up and down the sidelines and bark instructions to the guys. That's not Phil's demeanor. That was viewed as a negative in my estimation -- but it won him five championships with the Lakers and six with the Bulls, and that was his coaching style when he won, so why was that not acceptable now?"

Shaw goes on to tell Thomsen that it took the Lakers a full three weeks to even contact him following the hiring of Mike Brown as the newest Laker coach, while going on to detail the decades-long employees that were let go once Jerry Buss gave his son Jimmy full control of the Los Angeles Lakers.

The younger Buss has been handed that rarest of commodities, a young and franchise-level center that can score and defend, the league's most versatile big man, and the last few years of Kobe Bryant's brilliant NBA run. He has a former Coach of the Year on his sideline and money to burn in the NBA's most lucrative market.

Let's see how this goes.

UPDATE: If you need another voice arguing on Shaw's behalf, look no further than Shaquille O'Neal, who offers this in his new book, "Shaq Uncut: My Story."

Via HoopsWorld:

Somehow Kobe and I made it through the rest of the year without any major issues. BShaw managed to get us back on track. It's kind of funny when you think about it. All of these supposed Lakers leaders who care so much about the franchise, all these Lakers legends, none of them ever had the courage to say anything to Kobe and me. Not Kareem, not Magic, not Mitch Kupchak, none of them. Only Brian Shaw took us on. Yet when the Lakers job came up in 2011 they didn't give Brian Shaw a chance by looking right past him. Go figure.

Robert Parish Bob Pettit Scottie Pippen Willis Reed Oscar Robertson

On His Airness being His Airness

As you have likely heard, Bobcats owner and former NBA warrior-king Michael Jordan now leads a group of 10 to 14 owners who will not except anything worse than a 50-50 split of basketball-related income in collective bargaining negotiations. Given that the union has as yet refused to back off of 52.5 percent, we may be heading for a very long stalemate.

It's a huge reversal of course for a man who as a player balked at any restrictions on player salaries. At SB Nation, Tom Ziller has noted several of MJ's pro-player quotes from the past, including this delightful nugget directed at then-Wizards owner (and future employer) Abe Pollin during the 1998-99 lockout, as quoted in the book "Just Ballin'" by Mike Wise and Frank Isola:

During an early October meeting in Manhattan, Jordan sparred with�Wizards�owner Abe Pollin in front of Stern, other owners and more than 100 players. After an impassioned Pollin, the lague's senior owner, talked of his struggle to keep his team, Jordan interrupted. "If you can't make it work economically, you should sell the team."

Indeed, a great idea. But, as anyone with a rudimentary education in algebra knows, it's the complete opposite of Jordan's current point of view. He now thinks that buying a team in a questionable market, making bad personnel decisions, and hiring friends for important positions should not affect his bottom line. The players should have to give up salary to accomodate the owners' losses. It's a blatantly hypocritical point of view. Yet it's also very consistent for Jordan as a person.

For all his greatness as a player, MJ has been frustrating people on a personal level for decades. As noted various times in David Halberstam's essential "Playing for Keeps," Jordan regularly belittled Bulls teammates for perceived slights (or even just for not being especially good players) and held grudges for years. In order to get the Jordan that dominated NBA games, the people around him had to tolerate someone who acted like a colossal jerk. In fact, that arrogance was also related to his on-court greatness. It was impossible to get one without the other.

When MJ used his Hall of Fame induction speech as a chance to settle personal grievances instead of paying tribute to those who helped him get to the heights of the sport, it was treated by many observers as a startling revelation. In truth, it was more like a high-profile instance of the sort of actions people had known about for years.

Jordan, for lack of a better term, is a butthead with an overpowering desire to win. When he played basketball, that competitive desire came across as a good quality. Off the court, though, it reads as rampant selfishness. As a player, he wanted more money. As an owner, he wants more money in a way that screws the players. It's hypocritical, yes, but also governed by the same general principle. Jordan, no matter what, will look out for his own interests.

It's a shame that a former player cannot hold some measure of empathy for their current situation. But it's exactly what we should have expected from Jordan.

Jerry West Lenny Wilkens James Worthy Kareem Abdul Jabbar Nate Archibald

Video: Nike says ?Basketball Never Stops,? makes ad to prove it

There's no NBA right now, but the lockout hasn't exactly lacked for basketball. If anything, the various summer league and exhibition contests around the country have provided fans more glimpses at the best players in the world than they'd get during the summer prior to the Olympics. Basketball has not stopped.

Shoe companies, however, tend to base their ad campaigns around basketball played at the highest level. They usually need players in NBA uniforms, or at least in a setting where hard work and determination matters. Without the NBA infrastructure, their usual commercials don't make a lot of sense.

Nike still wants to sell shoes, of course, and thereby acknowledged that a change was needed. What it ended up with, a new 90-second spot called "Basketball Never Stops," debuted over the weekend via the company's YouTube page. It has quickly amassed more than 500,000 views. If you missed it, you can check it out above. If you want an opinion on it, read after the jump.

What's notable about the commercial, in addition to the stellar lighting and general craft, is its lack of reliance on the NBA. There are clips of people playing pop-a-shot, Dirk Nowitzki working out in an otherwise empty gym, Kevin Durant playing in a rec-league game, and all manner of other basketball that's not played in front of 20,000 people who paid high prices for their tickets. Like a recent Jordan Brand ad, it's about love of basketball.

It's also probably more effective than a spot about Durant beating NBA defenses in an important moment. Everyone can aspire to be a great basketball player, but they can't necessarily identify with their situations on the court. Yet everyone who buys Nike basketball shoes knows what it's like to play on a city blacktop or in a small gym. It's a setting everyone understands.

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? NASCAR owner Hendrick OK after plane crash

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When the end of the NBA lockout is nigh, sing a song y?all

We weren't in New York on Wednesday evening. Heck, we haven't been in New York in nearly four years, and the closest we came to being in New York on Wednesday�night was sending back smart-alecky Twitter Direct Messages to our friends that were staking out the NBA lockout negotiations in a Manhattan hotel for over 15 hours between Wednesday and early Thursday morning. We can no more tell you whether or not the end of the NBA's lockout is near than any other scribe you've likely read this morning; even considering the bits of anonymous stuff that is sent our way.

If you want a recap from Thursday morning, read Adrian Wojnarowski. That's our advice. He runs this.

Our second batch of advice?

Make this your own.

The NBA, and to a lesser extent the NBA's players, have screwed you over. Whether you're a well-heeled fan with courtside seats, the sort of follower who happily comes home to 10 box scores late on Wednesday night after work, or a fair-weather fan that would really like to have something to watch for a half-hour before heading out on Friday night, you haven't been treated well. If you're one of the thousands (we're talking five, or if worldwide accounts are anything, six figures here) who have been left missing paychecks because the NBA owners have locked out their players, you have been terribly mistreated. All of you, no matter the influence, are right to complain at best or give up on the NBA at worst.

But if you're going to stick around? Make this turnaround, especially if the lockout is resolved this week, your own.

This is where you try to affix a good feeling to a bad one. Where you remember what song you were listening to, what "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" rerun you were watching, when you saw the text from your buddy, or scanned past Woj's tweet on your phone. If last June's NBA Finals were the ultimate (if completely inaccurate) representation of good vs. evil, with Dallas triumphing over the Miami All-Stars, then the last four full months have been evil vs. pure evil. There has been nothing to take from this labor impasse.

So make your own take last. I'll start.

I wrote about the 1998 NBA lockout for a website. When you typed in "NBA" into the Yahoo! search engine back then, our website was one of six sites that popped up for perusal, and ours was an entirely amateur affair. Later, they'd call us a blog, if we'd hung around that long. As it was, I bashed together alternately frustrated and pleading tomes that documented a labor impasse that had gone all wrong. It wasn't a good time -- probably made worse by the fact that I couldn't legally buy beer back then. Also, we had to get our free mp3s through FTP sites, and it took me until December of 1998 to even figure that out. Oh, how we suffered.

The last day of the lockout? For some reason, my TweetDeck wasn't working, so I took the money I earned bagging groceries to Nike Town in Chicago and bought a pair of Cincinnati Bearcat shorts that I'm literally wearing (nearly 13 years later) as I type this. I snagged some Gary Payton-sponsored shoes and a litany of socks. In a van I listened to Steely Dan's "The Royal Scam," purchased through the years-old Amazon.com at that point, for the third time, and trudged around slushy downtown Chicago with older friends as if I knew what I was doing.

I awoke a day later, much too late, to drive back home to bag more groceries in one of my last few days off before heading back to University, happened upon CNN with my contact lenses out before my head got together, and learned that the NBA lockout was over. It was January 5th, and I was 250 miles away from my computer.

It should have been an awful day, frustrating and snowy and the culmination of a labor disagreement that should have ended months before. The 1998 free-agent class, in terms of sheer numbers, was the largest ever; and instead of 29 teams taking their time as they worked through the hundreds that were available, the league and its players were forced to take fewer than three weeks to figure out where about half its workforce was going to play for the next few years. Also, the worst season ever (don't let them tell you anything different -- it was flippin' miserable until the playoffs) was about to commence in the gray of February. I should have been ticked.

I wasn't, though. Such are the benefits of youth, and naivet�. Maybe it was the Jordan Brand Bearcat shorts. Maybe it was the tasty guitar work of Larry Carlton. Maybe it was the hope that Vlade Divac and Scottie Pippen would team with Jason Kidd in Phoenix. Maybe it was the idea that supposedly the Chicago Bulls were a few months removed from using all their cap space on a litany of expiring rookie deals for would-be superstars. Maybe I just missed basketball. Whatever the reason, I made that turn my own.

This is what I'm asking of you. I can't tell you if the end is nigh. We might not see a season. We may have to wait until February. This may end on early Sunday morning. This may never go away, or it could end within hours. The timeline doesn't matter.

When it does end, and it will end, you need to define it on your own terms. You need to make these memories your own. You need to take good things from the league that has taken nearly five months from you. And you do that by equaling your own good times, even if they just involve putting together enough to pay off a bill or enjoying a nice batch of homemade tacos, with the good times that should emanate from the prospect of eventual NBA basketball.

It's a stupid league. The lockout is the height of ridiculousness. None of this means anything.

You've made it this far, though. To the end of this ponderous column, and months living with this lockout. Your reward shouldn't just be to see the Hornets and Grizzlies in a little while, though that would be nice.

No, your reward should be whatever you make it. A new pair of basketball shorts. A mid-level cigar. A night out with your better half, or a spirited bout typing expletives at the lockout's driving forces on Twitter. Whatever your release, have fun with it.

Lord knows you deserve it.

Lenny Wilkens James Worthy Kareem Abdul Jabbar Nate Archibald Paul Arizin