Season on the brink

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I think back to hearing accounts from former players who sat in the locker room during the 1964 All-Star Game in Boston. They refused to take the floor that night until they were assured certain guarantees from the owners were met. It was a defining moment in securing a foothold for future negotiations between players and owners. Now, some of those guys are surely shaking their heads.

A deal was, and maybe still is, there but after this unprecedented move by the NBA players, it will be up to the owners to decide now whether to save the season or not. The players turned aside the current offer and if the owners have basketball games in what remains of 2011 and into 2012, they will have to give in to player demands.

Union executive director Billy Hunter said the process has "completely broken down".

NBA commissioner David Stern said that the owners have bargained in good faith. In his own calm way, Stern called it a negotiating ploy and it may be just that by the players. It might be their version of the ultimatum in this world of what goes around comes around. Stern was critical of the union.

You can take a look at the memo the commissioner sent directly to the players and decide what you think of the deal.

So who's to blame?

Oh man, here we go again. Safe to say there is blame on both sides. This Ground Hog Day scenario where neither side refuses to blink or take a step backward which has been repeated over and over again has come to a head.

Even though they said the deal is a bad one, the players could have and should have taken the deal. They will never recoup the money they are currently losing. The owners determination and willingness to try and do something that you can rarely do in business, and that is attain profit certainty, has them holding a similar line.

In a nutshell this "spitting" contest comes down to players not wanting to make any further concessions and owners making sure they make money and doing so at the expense of their employees, the players.

Both sides have made a fatal mistake by presenting ultimatums to one another. You don't do that with competitive people because it just forces the other side to dig in.

Charles Grantham, former executive director of the NBPA, joined Eric Smith and I on our radio show to discuss the situation.

Grantham, a man who knows the inner workings of the litigious landscape said that this move by the players may not go to court. He cited a number of similar anti-trust type cases that were all settled before decisions were rendered by the courts.

I don't know how this will end, nobody does. But I do know that eventually whether it be tomorrow, next week, next month, next year or whenever, there will be an agreement. So the two sides need to understand that point. Like a kid who is suspended from school, eventually the suspension ends and he goes back to that same place where all the problems occurred. The faster they figure out a solution and realize they need each other, the faster we get a season.

For now though as one of my good friends said, both sides look like two people in line at the buffet fighting over a food while hungry people stand outside with their faces pressed against the window. Not a good look.

Paul Jones is the voice of the Raptors on the FAN 590 and writes regularly for Sportsnet.ca.