We already have a complete 2011-12 schedule, because how, otherwise, could the NBA prove to the National Labor Relations Board that it is bargaining in good faith amid the lockout?
To that end, we also have a complete preseason schedule, because part of the process means tormenting fans in Wichita, Sioux Falls, Fargo and Raleigh that they’ll get to experience NBA basketball in October.
It’s all part of the negotiating game. We get that. The league trying to make it look like it is poised to move forward, even as it keeps its facilities locked and payrolls frozen.
But there also is the other side of the equation, namely the direction the players are taking, questions about the ultimate focus on that end.
Already, plans not only are in place for an informal league in Las Vegas over the next two weeks, but, potentially, for additional leagues there in October and beyond. Similarly, Goodman League showdowns have been scheduled for Rucker Park and Indianapolis, with regional summer-league matchups also possible in Los Angeles and Seattle.
While there is never anything wrong with basketball players playing, September also tends to be a time when teammates resume being teammates, families settle down in their respective NBA cities, conditioning moves closer to NBA level.
The constant in recent years has been NBA players arriving to NBA camps in NBA shape. Rare anymore are the reports of players showing up out of shape, failing conditioning tests, being held out of the starts of camps.
It’s one thing for the 76ers to have recently gathered in Los Angeles or Knicks players to be planning workouts in Tampa. It would be another for the 76ers to be working out in Philadelphia, the Knicks in New York, players showing that as soon as the lockout is lifted, they’d be ready to go, similar to what Chris Bosh said of the Heat soon reconvening in Miami, even if the practice venue is the University of Miami instead of AmericanAirlines Arena.
Unless, of course, they’re being told that there is no need to renew those winter-month leases, no need to copy the charade ownership has created with the unveiling of regular-season and preseason schedules.
In some circles, games such as the just-scheduled Goodman vs. Indianapolis Pro-Am are being celebrated as a commitment of players to their product. But when the games are being scheduled for Sept. 24, as is the case in Indianapolis, and when player-run leagues are being organized for October, it makes one wonder whether the players simply have given up on any hope of holding the owners to that preseason schedule or at least trying to force the NBA’s hand.
For the most part, the NBA’s infrastructure is in place for a timely resumption of the type of basketball most would prefer. For the players, though, perhaps there is a bit of too much willingness to continue this never-ending summer.
Ira Winderman writes regularly for NBCSports.com and covers the Heat and the NBA for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. You can follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/IraHeatBeat.
