Lakers star Kobe Bryant is surrounded by reporters at the team's practice facility in El Segundo. (US PRESSWIRE)

You can’t blame Kobe Bryant for looking and feeling a little surly these days.

On the eve of training camp and the start of the 2011 free agency period, the Lakers thought they had All-Star point guard Chris Paul in a three-team deal. Just hours after the CP3 trade began circulating, commissioner David Stern nixed the trade citing the NBA-owned New Orleans Hornets were not getting enough in return.

Days after the Paul trade fell apart, the Lakers moved popular teammate Lamar Odom, the reigning Sixth Man of the Year, to the defending champion Dallas Mavericks. How did Bryant react to the news? He said “I hope management knows what they’re doing!” Not exactly a ringing endorsement for general manager Mitch Kupchak and team executive Jim Buss.

Then, on Wednesday, the Clippers – the junior varsity team of Staples Center – landed the coveted Paul, and the Twitterverse started blowing up with plenty of chatter on how the Clippers have now surpassed the Lakers as the No. 1 in Los Angeles.

Two days later, on a very windy Friday afternoon in Southern California, TMZ reported that Kobe’s wife, Vanessa, filed for divorce citing “irreconcilable differences” and asked for joint custody of the couple’s two daughters. TMZ said Vanessa is ending the 10-year marriage because Kobe has been unfaithful.

Talk about a rough last 48 hours for the Black Mamba! No wonder he left Friday’s practice without speaking to the media and was extra terse with reporters on Thursday when he was asked about the CP3 deal to the crosstown rival Clippers.

Despite all the trouble in Lakerland, Kobe Bryant remains focused on the task at hand, which is to chase his sixth NBA championship ring and a 17th title to the Lakers franchise.

Bryant reportedly looks great in practice and his troublesome knee seems to be healing well. Bryant still has 7-footers Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum to lean on offensively and defensively, and he still has good friend Derek Fisher by his side when things get crazy in the locker room. Newly acquired forward Josh McRoberts is a terrific athlete who will add energy and punch off the bench, and could start on occasion should Bynum or Gasol gets hurt. And don’t think for one second that the Lakers are done wheeling and dealing. They are still in play to obtain All-Star center Dwight Howard and they are still in the market for a point guard.

There are lots of questions left to be answered for the Lakers, including how the team will function without Phil Jackson’s trusty triangle offense and how long it will take them to trust first-year head coach Mike Brown. But one thing is for certain, Kobe Bryant is still one of the best players in the league and he will never allow the Lakers to play second-fiddle to anyone, especially the Clippers.

Kobe will file all the negativity surrounding his life and use them as motivation. Don’t ever count out Kobe Bryant and the Lakers.

Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @onemanfastbreak.

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Derek Fisher, president of the National Basketball Players Association, speaks at a press conference at Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers. Fisher is joined by Chris Paul (left) and Maurice Evans (right). (GETTY IMAGES)

Commissioner David Stern and his band of greedy NBA owners had been basking in the glow of their complete annihilation of the players on the negotiating table.

The owners wanted a higher luxury tax on teams that go over the salary cap threshold, they got it. The owners wanted to reduce the years on guaranteed contracts, they got it. The last remaining chip for the players, the basketball-related income or BRI, went down faster than the stock market. The owners wanted a 50-50 split on BRI, they got it.

The collective bargaining negotiations have become a complete blowout for Stern, his deputy Adam Silver, and the hardliners led by Peter Holt of the San Antonio Spurs, Paul Allen of the Portland Trail Blazers and Dan Gilbert of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Even the great Michael Jordan, once the face of the National Basketball Players Association during the 1998 NBA lockout, has joined the dark side.

Yahoo! Sports basketball writer Adrian Wojnarowski compared the one-sided labor talks to a 30-point blowout on the basketball court. Stern and the owners throwing alley-oop passes, pressing fullcourt, keeping their starters in late in the fourth quarter as they run up the score on the players.

On Monday, the NBPA finally had enough. Union president Derek Fisher and executive director Billy Hunter put an end to the owners’ in-your-face celebration by slapping an antitrust lawsuit against the league.

Fisher went Kevin McHale on Stern, clotheslining him on a breakaway and dropping him on the floor like Kurt Rambis.

Fisher and the more than 400 members of the players’ association are disbanding as a union and are taking the NBA to court. Not the basketball court, but the court of law. Fisher told members of the media who were gathered in New York for the NBPA press conference that the players cannot comment further on the current state of the lockout because of legal issues.

This is something basketball fans have been fearing for months, which is a lost 2011-12 season, but it had to be done. The disclaimer of interest Hunter referenced to the media is not something the majority wanted but it was the only way to stop the owners from railroading the players.

The NBA players have been and are willing to negotiate a fair deal. The mere fact that they moved down from 57% to 50% on BRI should have told the owners that they are conceding and just wanted to save face and avoid further humiliation. All the players wanted at this point was a little tweak in the system so they can have a little bit of freedom in free agency. That’s all.

But the owners laughed at that last request from the players and proceeded to slap high fives and kept piling on. The owners didn’t want just a slice of the pie, they wanted the whole box and the sauce.

The players didn’t want to file the antitrust lawsuit, but the owners forced their hand. The NBA lockout continues because the owners are unwilling to call off the dogs. The owners were not satisfied with a blowout victory. They wanted to absolutely destroy the union. That is the biggest reason why the 2011-12 season is in jeopardy.

Gordon Gekko may have said that “greed is good.” But in these tough economic times, greed is definitely not the answer to solving the current state of the NBA system.

Even though the lawsuit is now hanging over everyone’s heads, it doesn’t mean either side cannot continue to negotiate. Stern and the owners can still reach out to the players, but they have to deal with their lawyers first. Nonetheless, there is still a six-week window in which both sides can get back to the table and hammer out a new collective bargaining agreement.

The players have said all along that they are open to negotiate with the owners, and there is still time to save the season. It is up to the owners to extend their hand and meet the players halfway.

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By now most of you have read Jason Whitlock’s column on Fox Sports about the relationship between Los Angeles Lakers guard Derek Fisher, the National Basketball Players Association president, and NBA commissioner David Stern. That was followed with another Whitlock column about a rift between Fisher and union executive director Billy Hunter.

According to Whitlock, Hunter and at least one member of the union’s executive committee confronted Fisher about their belief that Fisher’s push for a 50-50 basketball-related-income split with NBA ownership was part of a deal Fisher had privately cut with David Stern and/or Adam Silver to deliver the union at 50-50.

In response to Whitlock’s story, Fisher issued this statement to the players via e-mail on Tuesday: “Usually I wouldn’t even dignify absurd media reports with a comment. But before these reports go any further, let me say on the record to each of you, my loyalty has and always will be with the players. Anyone that questions that or doubts that does not know me, my history, and what I stand for. And quite frankly, how dare anyone call that into question. The Players Association is united and any reports to the contrary are false. There have been no side agreements, no side negotiations or anything close. We are united in serving you and presenting the best options and getting everyone back to work. The attempt by ‘sources’ to divide us will be unsuccessful. We will continue to work every day to do right by you, the businesses that depend on our league and our fans.”

Derek Fisher says he remains loyal to the union and denies any side deals with NBA commissioner David Stern. (GETTY IMAGES)

You could almost feel the frustration in Fisher voice as you read his note, and he is willing to put his reputation on the line to get his point across.

I’m going to defend Fisher on this one.

I have had the privilege to speak to Derek Fisher on more than one occasion as a member of the Los Angeles media covering the Lakers. I have followed his career since the day he became a Laker in 1996. I saw his first-ever pro game while playing for the Lakers summer league team 15 years ago. I have seen Fisher go from little-known reserve guard to starting guard for the five-time world champion Lakers. I have seen Fisher grow from an inconsistent jump shooter to one of the best clutch shooters in the history of the game.

Whenever I spoke to Fisher, he always looked me in the eye and articulated his message in a very calculated and well-thought-out manner. Unlike many NBA players, Fisher is genuine and truly cares about his job. You may not get a true sense of what he is all about by watching him on the court because, quite frankly, the man plays like a bulldog and is not afraid to bite back.

But in reality, Fisher is about as level-headed as they come off the court and is very balanced. He is a real stand-up guy. Having said that, I don’t think there was a side deal between Fisher and the league. I just can’t imagine Fisher, who has never backed away from a challenge, giving in and taking shortcuts. That’s not who Fisher is, and TNT’s David Aldridge agrees with me.

“Derek Fisher has killed himself these past eight months. He must have gone across the country 20 times,” Aldridge said on NBA TV. “I don’t buy at all the notion that Derek Fisher has somehow gotten a side deal with David Stern. I just don’t believe that knowing how hard Derek Fisher has worked in trying to get a deal done for the players. Is Derek and Billy on the same page at everything? I’m sure they’re not. I’m sure David Stern is not 100 percent in agreement with the owners. We know that for a fact because Micky Arison just paid $500,000 [for comments he made recently].

“Derek Fisher doesn’t do side deals with anybody. I don’t believe that. This is a high-character guy.”

Now, I’m not going to say Whitlock is in the wrong here either. I’ve never met Whitlock but I am very familiar with his writing, and is a well-respected journalist. It is not clear who his source is, but one thing that is clear is Whitlock has put his reputation on the line by building his story around this source.

Before we shame Fisher for this alleged deal with Stern let us not forget the fact that Fisher is not a lawyer. He is a basketball player and he is merely thinking and acting like a basketball player during these labor talks. Hunter, on the other hand, is a veteran lawyer who knows a thing or two about negotiating labor contracts. Hunter has far more experience in these heated negotiations than Fisher.

So, why is Fisher getting crucified for acting and thinking like a basketball player?

Fisher is smart enough to know that if a 50-50 deal is the only roadblock in the lockout then he’s probably saying to himself “let’s do this!” And I’m sure he’s not alone. He probably heard enough voices in the players’ union that a 50-50 split is acceptable.

As union president, Fisher has to pacify the superstars and the non-superstars. He has to please Stern and Hunter. And he has to deal with the agents who is at the forefront of the BRI battle. Try wearing Fisher’s shoes for a change and see how you deal with all this nonsense. I got your back, D-Fish.

Joel Huerto is editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @onemanfastbreak.

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Federal mediator George Cohen was instrumental in ending the 2011 NFL lockout. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

The NBA has a messy divorce on its doorstep. The NBA players association want their share of the basketball-related income (BRI) and don’t want to be capped on their spending habits, while the owners claim they are out of money and blame the players for maxing out their credit cards.

So, with billions of dollars at stake and the season in serious jeopardy, both sides have drawn a line on the sand and summoned a third-party negotiator to settle the argument. Enter George Cohen.

Who is George Cohen? He is a mediation attorney and the director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, which provides free mediation service in contract negotiation disputes between employers and their unionized employees.

Cohen was the mediator during talks between the NFL and the NFL Players Association. He is one of the most respected labor lawyers in the country and understands sports labor negotiations. He worked for the Major League Players Association and the National Basketball Players Association during his 40-year career for Washington, D.C., law firm Bredhoff & Kaiser.

He was also a member of the National Hockey League Players Association advisory board before being appointed to the head of the federal mediation service by President Barack Obama. Cohen represented the MLBPA before U.S. District Judge Sonia Sotomayor, now a Supreme Court justice.

Cohen mediated during the 2011 NFL lockout, helping bridge the gap between the owners and players, and ultimately a resolution was reached and the NFL season started on time. He also worked on owner-union disputes in Major League Soccer, the Metropolitan Opera and its musicians, the FAA’s dispute with Air Traffic Controllers and the American Red Cross and its unions. The NHL credits Cohen for helping prevent a complete cancellation of its 2004-05 season.

With Cohen sitting in the middle of the negotiating table, the NBA labor talks lasted 16 hours on Tuesday and nearly nine hours on Wednesday. Commissioner David Stern and league officials will meet again with NBA union president Derek Fisher and union executive director Billy Hunter on Thursday in New York.

Cohen ordered both sides to refrain from making any comments about the negotiations to the media, and so far both sides have declined to speak to reporters who, after nearly 25 hours of waiting, will have to brave through another marathon waiting session on Thursday. Make sure to bring your lunch ladies and gents because it could be another all-day affair.

Yahoo! Sports writer Adrian Wojnarowski wrote on Wednesday that some progress was made on the 50-50 revenue split in terms of basketball related income (BRI). TNT’s David Aldridge won’t speculate on what transpired during the meetings, but noted that having the two sides meet again Thursday can’t be a bad thing.

Wednesday was the 111th day of the lockout. Stern wiped out the first two weeks of the season – exactly 100 games – last week and vows to eliminate more regular-season games if there is no significant progress made this week. The cancellations marked the NBA’s first work stoppage since the 1998-99 season was reduced to 50 games.

If Cohen can somehow convince the owners and players that they can each profit from this new deal, then we may have a 2011-12 NBA season. If not, then it will be a very, very cold winter.

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NBA players union executive director Billy Hunter (GETTY IMAGES)

Back in 1998, the NBA suffered a huge financial setback and public relations black eye when the league wiped 32 regular-season games and the best it could do was put together a 50-game schedule that started in January. Union executive director Billy Hunter was asked who won or lost in the collective bargaining war and explained that neither side came out unscatched.

“Did we blink? I guess we both blinked,” Hunter said hours after a new deal was reached in January of 1999 to save the season and the playoffs.

Fast forward to 2011 and we are in the same place again. Deja vu!

It’s like a bad Hollywood sequel. “The Lockout II” stars David Stern, reprising his role as the commissioner, and Hunter returns as the union’s embattled executive director. “The Lockout II” introduces a couple of new characters, Derek Fisher replaces Patrick Ewing as the union president and Adam Silver takes over for Russ Granik as the league’s deputy commissioner. However, the storyline and plot remains the same. Ultimately, the big dramatic final scene the players are expecting won’t reach the cutting room floor because the ending has already been written.

Even the script from the league hasn’t changed, just needing some very minor editing. Granik took the podium and addressed the media in 1998 and said the current system is broken. Silver didn’t have the benefit of a podium in 2011 but his message was basically the same. He said on Monday that the current system is broken.

Contrary to what Hunter said 13 years ago, the big winner from the 1998 lockout were the players. Let’s face it, from 2000 to 2010, the players – especially the superstars – enjoyed the fruits of the very long and hard labor debate of ’98. If the players didn’t think they won the last fight, then check out these numbers:

– $19.2 million for Gilbert Arenas.

– $21.2 million for Kevin Garnett.

– $21.3 million for Tim Duncan.

– $22.1 million for Rashard Lewis.

– $25.2 million for Kobe Bryant.

Those were the estimated salaries earned by each player last season. Kobe certainly earned his paycheck but you can argue that the other four were severely overpaid. Arenas was a bit player for the Orlando Magic and has never been the same since multiple knee surgeries. Duncan and Garnett are well past their primes and Lewis’ contract was like stealing money and is the very reason why the system has severe flaws.

The players will argue that nobody put a gun to the owners’ heads when they wrote these massive checks, so the players have a very good argument there. However, the owners will argue that under the current system overpaying for talent is the only way to stay competitive.

Two former NBA players who lived through the 1998 lockout were Charles Barkley and Reggie Miller. Barkley, who now works as a studio analyst for TNT, recently said on NBA TVs “Game Time” that besides revenue distribution the one gigantic issue hovering over this year’s lockout is competitive balance.

“We can’t have all our stars playing in just the major markets. It’s not fair to the game, it’s not fair to the system,” Barkley explained, an obvious strike at LeBron James’ highly debated decision to leave Cleveland for Miami last summer.

“This thing is about competitive balance,” Barkley continued. “Commissioner Stern, who I tell people is the best commissioner in sports and it has been that way for a long time, he’s not gonna let the NBA [become] like pro baseball where it is top heavy. All the teams with the most money get all the stars and then we have 10, 15 franchises dormant. He’s not going to let that happen.”

According to NBA insider David Aldridge, the Los Angeles Lakers’ team payroll reached $110 million last season. Meanwhile, the Sacramento Kings had an estimated team payroll of $44 million.

One way to combat the disparity between the have and the have-nots is having a bonafide superstar in each market. “You can have a bad team in a small market, but at least if you have a star that team can make money,” Barkley said. “You’ve got something to sell to the public. But if you are not gonna have these stars in these small markets they are not gonna survive.”

Miller, who also works for TNT, agrees with Barkley but has a pointed message for the owners. “Stop overspending on these mediocre players!” the former Indiana Pacers guard said on NBA TV. “Maybe you should hire better general managers who can evaluate talent better. There’s no way you give Rashard Lewis $120 million, a 30-year-old shooting guard in Joe Johnson $130 million, Travis Outlaw five years $30 million. Start looking at your general managers. That’s the reason why we are in this mess in the first place because you can’t assess talent well.”

Miller predicts the players will blink and there will be a 50-game season, starting in January. However, Miller also said he wouldn’t be surprised if the whole 2011-12 season is wiped out. Barkley sees a lost season if the players don’t agree to the 50-50 revenue split on basketball related income.

“If they get a 50-50 split they can make money. If they get a hard cap that can work, or they can have a better revenue sharing system,” Barkley said. “The NBA has been preparing not to play this season for two years. When they went through the whole LeBron thing for the whole season, then the Chris Bosh thing happened. Then you have the whole ‘Where is Chris Paul going next, where is Dwight Howard going?’ You can see the NBA saying ‘We’ve got to stop this.’ ”

Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him @onemanfastbreak.

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Union president Derek Fisher and union executive director Billy Hunter have the full support of the players. (N.Y. DAILY NEWS)

The NBA regular season is now on it’s 11th hour and 59 minutes. The preseason is gone and now the league is threatening to cancel the first two weeks of the real games unless some semblance of a new collective bargaining agreement is reached on Monday. Players union president Derek Fisher and union executive Billy Hunter are urging the players to “stand united,” and Fisher has gone out of his way to send that message to the rest of the players.

The main issue remains the split of the basketball related income. The players, especially superstars Kevin Garnett and Dwyane Wade, are not ready to give up their 57% cut of the BRI – which includes jersey sales and money earned from commercials – and have been very clear to the owners that they are not going to dip past 53%. Commissioner David Stern proposed a 50-50 split of the BRI, which the players quickly dismissed.

The BRI debate is just one of many issues facing the players. If you are in their shoes, and those would be extremely big shoes to fill, would you even consider signing off on these deals? Various sources with knowledge of the talks have shared some of the concepts being discussed with ESPN.com. Possibilities presented by the league as alternatives to a hard cap include:

• The institution of a sliding “Supertax” that would charge teams $2 in luxury tax for every dollar over $70 million in payroll, $3 for every dollar over $75 million in payroll and $4 for every dollar for teams with payrolls above $80 million

• A provision to allow each team to release one player via the so-called “amnesty” clause and gain both salary-cap and luxury-tax relief when that player’s cap number is removed from the books

• Shortening guaranteed contracts to a maximum of three or four seasons

• Limiting Larry Bird rights — which enable teams to exceed the salary cap to re-sign their own free agents — to one player per team per season

• Reducing the annual mid-level exception, which was valued at $5.8 million last season, to roughly $3 million annually and limiting mid-level contracts to a maximum of two or three seasons in length as opposed to the current maximum of five seasons

• A new “Carmelo Rule” that would prevent teams — as the New York Knicks did in February with Anthony — from using a Bird exception to sign or extend a player acquired by trade unless they are acquired before July 1 of the final season of the player’s contract

• The abolition of sign-and-trades and the bi-annual exception worth $2 million

• Significant reductions in maximum salaries and annual raises and a 5 percent rollbacks on current contracts

There are also still some teams, sources say, who are pushing for some sort of franchise-tag system similar to what the NFL employs as well as a restriction that allows big spending teams to exceed the annual luxury-tax threshold only twice every five seasons.

It remains to be seen how many of these concepts, many of which have been met with union resistance, actually become elements of a deal. According to several reports, the Fisher and Hunter met with the representatives from the owners’ side on Sunday night so everything is still in limbo. TNT’s David Aldridge says both sides remain $120 million apart. If that’s all, then anything less than a new deal is unacceptable at this point because both sides stand to lose $200 million if games are lost.

Source: ESPN.com

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After a nonproductive day on the collective bargaining table with the players’ association NBA commissioner David Stern and his deputy Adam Silver said on Tuesday that the 2011-12 NBA preseason has been wiped out, and if no new deal is in place by Oct. 10 then Stern has no choice but to cancel the first two weeks of the regular season.

If you are judging from home and looking at this whole ordeal from the outside, it appears that Stern and the owners are winning this battle. The league is basically waiting for the players to crack, and it will be just a matter of time before that happens. Poor Derek Fisher, the embattled union president who has had the unenviable task of trying to keep his troops intact while satisfying those power-hungry agents. It’s like asking a bunch of 5-year-olds to not run around during recess. It’s an impossible task.

Just like 1998 when the season was cut down to 50 games, the players stood their ground until the majority of the players peeled off from the union and buckled under the pressure of losing their livelihood. Stern doesn’t seem concerned at all about losing regular season games in 2011 – and possibly the entire 2011-12 season for that matter – because that was the plan all along by the owners when the current deal expired on July 1.

“I don’t think they’re gonna play this year,” TNT commentator and Hall-of-Famer Charles Barkley said on NBATV. “I think the owners have said ‘You know what, we’re gonna be like hockey. We’re gonna have to burn down the house and start over, come in with a cap and make this thing competitive for all the teams.’ That’s what the owners have said from the beginning. They’re not gonna budge this time. They’re not gonna play at all this year.”

TNT commentator Charles Barkley

Barkley noted that one of the biggest mistakes the players are making is that they are banking on a repeat of 1998, but the difference this time around is the fact that the owners are more willing to sacrifice the entire season to save their own bank accounts.

“I think the players are getting screwed by 1998. In the back of the players’ mind they are [thinking] ‘Oh, we’ll start the season in January.’ I don’t think you can compare ’98 to 2011,” Barkley said. “We’ve been in a recession for the last two or three years, some of these teams are really hurting, players’ salaries have continued to go up and they’re gonna continue to go up.

“The owners are saying ‘We’ll lose less money by not playing at all.’ I think that’s been their strategy from the beginning.”

As for the option of playing overseas, Barkley says this strategy only benefits the superstars. “This probably hurt the players,” Barkley said. “This thing is about stars, and the stars have been somewhat selfish talking about going overseas. The majority of the players are not gonna be able to go overseas.”

Barkley believes this current standoff could have been avoided had guys like Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Kobe Bryant gotten more involved in the early stages of the lockout. Instead, after being absent for much of the summer, the stars came out in droves and crashed the collective bargaining meetings in New York, which made it harder to get a deal done. Wade and Stern reportedly got into a verbal joust in one of the weekend sessions, adding more tension to an already stressful situation.

“Those stars just started showing up [to the meetings] for the last week. They should have been in there [from the beginning],” Barkley said. “The stars have more to lose than anybody. They just showed up last week, and it’s too late. They should have been in there like a month ago.”

Barkley added, “The people who work for these teams and work in these arenas they’re the big losers.”

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Lakers guard Derek Fisher (middle) say the players' union remains solid despite the fear of losing the entire 2011-12 season. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

The first significant dent to the 2011-12 NBA season was delivered Friday when the league announced that training camps have been postponed and 43 preseason games were removed from the calendar.

All games from Oct. 9-15 are off, the league said. Camps were expected to open Oct. 3 but that seems likely to change too.

While the NFL players and owners were able to save football games this year, the NBA players and owners remain on opposite sides of the collective bargaining table and no new deal is on the horizon. Union president Derek Fisher and union chief Billy Hunter have already told players to prepare for a long work stoppage and some, including Reggie Williams (Caja Laboral/Spain), Wilson Chandler (Zhejiang/China) and J.R. Smith (Zhejiang/China), have already signed contracts overseas.

The last time the NBA faced this type of ordeal was in 1998-99 when the regular season was reduced to 50 games and the All-Star game was canceled. The difference this time around is the owners are prepared to go a step further by sacrificing the ENTIRE season to prove their point.

The major sticking points are: the owners are asking for a 50-50 split of league revenue while the players want it closer to the original 57-43 deal that heavily favors them; the owners want a hard salary cap while the players want a soft cap; the owners want to protect themselves from guaranteed contracts while the players want status quo.

Basically, the players believe the old system works just fine and do not want change. The majority of the owners claim more than half their peers are losing money and feel the system is broken and needs a major facelift. The rich teams, such as the Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks, Miami Heat and Dallas Mavericks, really don’t have an issue with the system, but aren’t opposed to tweaking it. The small market owners, such as Cleveland’s Dan Gilbert and Phoenix’s Robert Sarver, are more adamant in revising the league’s financial structure. The owners have made it crystal clear that unless ALL their demands are met they are determined to sit this season out.

The owners are more unified than ever before, and are banking on the belief that the players will soon crack once the paychecks stop coming. The players say they remain unified and are willing to stand up to the serious threat of losing millions. For how long? That’s the million-dollar question in this whole standoff.

Both sides still hope the entire regular season, scheduled to begin Nov. 1, can be saved. But unless the owners have a major change of heart, the only way the 2011-12 NBA season can be saved is the players must make major, major concessions.

The unfortunate thing about this whole bargaining session is only one side will win – the owners. Unless the players are willing to play elsewhere or have saved up so much money that it’ll last a lifetime, the owners will prevail because the owners hold all the chips. They can’t hang their hats on playing in Europe or Asia because the majority of them don’t want to move their families overseas. They can’t hang their hats on the regular season because the owners are not afraid to see that go down the drain.

Both sides said they hope to meet again next week. They probably need a deal by the middle of October to avoid canceling regular-season games. Asked if he thought things were far enough along to still believe that was possible, Commissioner David Stern said: “I don’t have any response to that. I just don’t. I don’t know the answer.”

So, can the season be saved? Yes, but it is up to the players to decide because the owners have already made up their minds.

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LeBron James told reporters on Friday that he wouldn’t mind seeing less teams in the NBA, a stance that goes against the players’ union. Union president Derek Fisher just so happens to be on the other side of the court today when the Los Angeles Lakers host LeBron and his BFF Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat at Staples Center in the marquee game of the NBA’s Christmas Day schedule.

Fisher told ESPN News’ Sara Walsh on Friday, “I’m going to be real. Other than just going out and playing against a good team, it’s not necessarily personal. Of course, I want a win against the Heat on Christmas Day. That’s the best gift I can give myself.”

Things just got more interesting in the budding rivalry between the Lakers and the Heat.

Fisher is one of the more politically correct people in the league, so he’s not going to drag this brewing issue to the media. However, don’t be surprised if Fisher sends LeBron a little message in the form of a forearm to the chest. Remember the Luis Scola play? Things could get a little testy. Here’s a look at the matchups:

Dwyane Wade could be matched up against Kobe Bryant for much of today's highly anticipated contest. (GETTY IMAGES)

GUARDS: Other than Dwyane Wade, the Heat really don’t have much while the Lakers have a wealth of experience in the backcourt with Kobe Bryant, Derek Fisher, Steve Blake and Shannon Brown. The only way this position matchup evens out is if Carlos Arroyo or Mario Chalmers has a career game – which is probably not going to happen. It will be interesting to see if Wade guards Kobe for the majority of the game. If he does, Wade’s offense will suffer a little bit because he’ll have to waste a lot of energy on defense. If he doesn’t, then his buddy LeBron will likely draw the assignment, but that would mean Wade would have to guard Ron Artest which is no walk in the park either. EDGE: LAKERS

FORWARDS: LeBron James will likely face Ron Artest in a head-to-head showdown worth the price of admission. Artest may be the only player in the league who can dislodge LeBron off the box, and the Lakers don’t have to send an extra defender toward LeBron because Artest can play him straight up. The Chris Bosh-Lamar Odom matchup is an interesting one. Both are lefties and both are streak shooters. Against any other team, Artest and Odom should prevail. But against a Heat squad with two All-Star forwards, the Lakers will have their hands full. EDGE: HEAT

CENTER: The Heat may have The Big Three but the Lakers have The Hollywood Hills in Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. Gasol will start the game, but expect Andrew Bynum to have a major impact in the game off the bench. Outside of Zydrunas Ilgauskas, the Heat don’t have another 7-footer who can bother The Hills. Gasol and Bynum are matchup nightmares for 29 teams in the league, and the Lakers are nearly unbeatable when both are healthy. The Heat will be at a severe disadvantage. EDGE: LAKERS

COACHING: Erik Spoelstra is one of young, bright coaches in the league but, let’s get real, he’s facing a living legend in Lakers mastermind Phil Jackson. End of story. EDGE: LAKERS

PREDICTION: LeBron and D-Wade need to be extra special for the Heat to have a chance, while the Lakers just need to play their normal game to take control of the game. Lakers win, 99-93.

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Who says there is no more loyalty in sports? Two very important role players on teams with championship aspirations each re-signed with their respective teams on Monday. Derek Fisher, a five-time NBA champion with the Los Angeles Lakers, will remain a Laker for at least three more years while Udonis Haslem, a member of the 2006 Heat championship squad, spurned better offers from Denver and Dallas and will re-sign with the Heat.

After a weekend blanketed with news of free-agent superstars ditching their old teams for greener pastures, it was somewhat refreshing to see that there’s still some loyalty left in sports, and Fisher and Haslem proved there is no place like home.

L.A. has been Fisher’s home for 11 of his 14 seasons in the NBA. He was drafted by the Lakers in 1996, and after a brief three-year hiatus, he rejoined the club in 2007 and the Lakers have made three consecutive trips to the NBA Finals since his return. Life without Fisher would have been extremely difficult for the Lakers, especially for Kobe Bryant, who calls the 36-year-old guard the “emotional and vocal leader” of the Lakers.

Derek Fisher will return to the L.A. Lakers and make a run at a sixth championship ring. (GETTY IMAGES)

On the other hand, Haslem typifies what a Miami Heat player is all about: tough, aggressive, tireless and selfless. The undersized power forward has played his entire career with the Heat and is a close friend of Dwyane Wade. “UD is here to stay. Sacrifices all ard. I’m couldn’t b happier for any1 more then Mr Miami himself. My brother 4 life,” Wade wrote on his Twitter account.

Haslem’s deal is reportedly for five years at around $20 million.

Fisher has earned a reputation for making clutch shots throughout his playoff career, and is a huge influence in the locker room. During the 2010 NBA Finals against the Celtics, Fisher was the guiding force behind the Lakers’ huge victory in Game 3 and his tough defense on Celtics shooting guard Ray Allen, who is five inches taller than Fisher, was not to be ignored.

“Derek is very, very tough mentally and physically. He doesn’t back down from anyone,” Bryant said of his backcourt mate. “There’s not enough words or praise that I can use to describe him and how I feel about him.”

According to published reports, Fisher’s contract is a three-year deal, with the third year a player option. The negotiations got off to a slow start, with the Lakers not willing to match the $5 million per year Fisher was paid under his previous contract.

“I have decided to continue with Kobe [Bryant], continue with our teammates and the fans of Los Angeles,” Fisher said in a statement. “While this may not be the most lucrative contract I’ve been offered this off-season, it is the most valuable. I am confident I will continue to lead this team on and off the court. Let the hunt for six begin…”

Haslem opted to remain with the Heat, according to published reports, turning down bigger offers for the full mid-level exception from the Mavericks and Nuggets. Terms of Haslem’s new deal with the Heat were not available.

The Heat have stated throughout the offseason that bringing back Haslem was one of the team’s top priorities. It became an ever greater necessity when the team acquired All-Stars LeBron James and Chris Bosh to play with Wade in South Beach because Haslem is the type of player who doesn’t need to have the ball to be effective and does all the little things on the court that ultimately lead to winning ballgames.

Udonis Haslem was a key member of the Heat's 2006 championship team. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

“He’s the ultimate Miami Heat warrior,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said about the 6-foot-8 seven-year veteran. “Everything we try to have in a Miami Heat player, embodies all the characteristics, that’s Udonis Haslem.  He brings the toughness, he brings the character and he brings the leadership. And he’s true. There’s purity about who he is. He’s a Miami native and he’s special to all of us.”

Haslem, 30, averaged 12.7 points and 10.4 rebounds last season for Miami. In an e-mail to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel Monday, Haslem said, “Turned down full mid level from Dallas and Denver. See u next season.”

Miami is slowing building up its roster to surround Wade, James and Bosh. Joining Haslem on this year’s squad are third-year guard Mario Chalmers, rookies Jarvis Varnardo, Dexter Pittman and Da’Sean Butler and forward Mike Miller, who was acquired this week. The 6-8 guard/forward Miller reportedly inked a five-year deal. Haslem and Miller were former teammates at the University of Florida.

Last year, Haslem lost his starting job to second-year man Michael Beasley, who was recently traded to Minnesota to clear some cap space. Haslem is expected to come off the bench and back up Bosh this season and could play some center.

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