How long does this go on? How long do the players let this go on?
I get the feeling that both sides are being crass and giving in to whispering in the ears. Did the agents make their wishes known to Billy Hunter? Only if you believe that he owns a telephone. Did David Stern act unilaterally when deciding that there wouldn't be more talks? Oh, nobody is asking that question.
Billy Hunter looks under the influence of agents and Stern like an inflexible tyrant. That inflexible tyrant thing works well in some situations, like keeping Ron Artest off the basketball floor and out of the general public eye long enough for fans to gain distance from the "incident". It doesn't work so well when having to deal with people you do not have complete control over. Stern might just lock out millionaires during their planned summer vacations. In the words of Chris Farley "Whoopty freakin do". How will Spree feed his kids? Ehh.. I wouldn't expect many of the players to notice for a month.
So, that's my timeline, a month. Players will go on vacation, call their agents less and less and their union reps more and more until people that don't unusually take responsibility for many of the details of their lives have nothing in front of them but this one detail, the unknown next season.
That's my early guess, August 1st.
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