The latest update on the NBA Lockout is, well, discouraging at best. While the NBA's players and owners are still far apart on negotiations for a new CBA, neither side has made any progress towards a new deal over the past month.
Matt Bonner, a forward/center for the San Antonio Spurs and the vice president of the executive board of the NBA Player's Association, stopped by the fifth annual Beckett Bowl at Lucky Strikes bowling alley near Fenway Park in Boston on Monday and took some time to share his thoughts on the talks and the players' point of view.
"I think it's more of a wait and see," said Bonner. "I think we're hopeful, obviously we want to get a deal done. We do want to play basketball - that's what we do. I think we're all pulling our hair out not knowing what's going to happen.
"The bottom line is, we want a fair deal. We want to compromise, we want a fair deal, we want to negotiate. We just can't negotiate with the absolutely ludicrous proposal from the owners. Hopefully, as we get closer to the cut-off date for training camp and preseason, just be reasonable, that's all we ask, and we can get something done."
Coming off of perhaps the most eventful offseason in league history last year - one that saw the sport's biggest star, LeBron James, host an hour long free agency special called 'The Decision' - the NBA has seen the exact opposite this time around, with neither side budging on their demands, making for a slow summer.
"It was kind of slow in August, David Stern [was] on vacation," said Bonner. "He's back now. Obviously, with training camp fastly approaching, I think things will pick up in the next few weeks."
Even though the progress has been minimal, major progress is usually made when important deadlines are rapidly approaching, which was the case for the NFL during it's longest work stoppage this past spring.
"I think it's the nature of negotiations," Bonner said. "You look at applying pressure to both sides to get a deal done, and it's starting to get there."
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