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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How quickly things can change.

A week ago, the Orlando Magic was the sexy pick to represent the East in the NBA Finals based on the way they dismantled the Charlotte Bobcats and Atlanta Hawks.

Today, the Magic are on the brink of elimination and appear to be surrendering to the Boston Celtics, who have completely undressed the Magic in the 2010 Eastern Conference finals thanks to a stifling defense that is reminiscent of their championship run in 2008.

Is Orlando’s season over? According to Dwight Howard, his team seemed despondent and defeated in Game 3, and has not shown any signs of wanting to extend this series. The Celtics held the Magic to 39% shooting and 28% from behind the arc in their 94-71 rout in Boston to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Glen Davis (right) and the Celtics have kept Dwight Howard in check in the 2010 Eastern Conference finals. (NBAE/GETTY IMAGES)

Howard, Jameer Nelson and Rashard Lewis, all key cogs during Orlando’s eight-game playoff winning streak, have been handcuffed by the great Celtics defense.

Howard, aka Blankman, has once again smeared the Superman brand with his pathetic performance in the conference finals. He was held to seven points in Game 3 and is shooting just 45% from the field (he shot 84% in the previous series against the Hawks).

The biggest reason why Orlando has had a difficult time scoring (83.6) against Boston’s defense is Blankman’s ineptness in the low post. Because Blankman can’t beat Boston’s single coverage, the Celtics’ perimeter defenders have been able to attach themselves to the Magic shooters, running them out of the 3-point line every chance they get.

Nelson, who won his one-on-one battles with Charlotte’s Raymond Felton and Atlanta’s Mike Bibby, has been severely outplayed by Boston’s Rajon Rondo.

Celtics head coach Doc Rivers targeted Nelson as the key to the whole series, and Boston has done an excellent job in limiting his kick-outs to his shooters and funneling him to the teeth of the defense where his 5-foot-9 frame becomes an issue. Nelson is making only 38% of his shots from the field and under 30% from threes. He also has just seven assists in three games.

And then there is Lewis, the poster boy for Orlando’s struggles on offense. Boston’s suffocating defense, led by Kevin Garnett, has made Lewis disappear and Magic coach Stan Van Gundy, who vowed to get Lewis more shots after Game 1, has not been able to get his forward more involved.

Lewis, who is 6-for-24 for the series, is averaging a measly 5.0 points per game and has made just one 3-pointer (1-for-13).

No team has ever come back from an 0-3 hole in the NBA playoffs, so the odds are stacked against the Magic. Losing the first two games at home was crippling and, after tonight, don’t expect to see Orlando again until October when the 2010-11 season begins.

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After a perfect 8-0 run through the first two rounds of the 2010 NBA playoffs, the Orlando Magic can’t seem to do anything right in the Eastern Conference finals. Down 0-2 to the Boston Celtics, the Magic are now staring at a deep hole they may not be able to climb out of.

The Magic suffered a gut-wrenching 95-92 loss to the Celtics in the Game 2, and the series now shifts to Boston for two games. It could be Orlando’s final two games this season if it doesn’t fix its many issues.

There are plenty of blame to go around and it starts with head coach Stan Van Gundy, detours to Vince Carter’s missed free throws, makes a pit stop at J.J. Redick’s poor clock management and ends with Rashard Lewis’ shooting woes.

Redick was involved in a head-scratching final 10 seconds for Orlando in which the Magic backup guard wasted four precious seconds before finally calling timeout. Down by three with 30 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Van Gundy elected not to foul and forced the Celtics to make a play. After Kevin Garnett missed a long jump shot, Redick grabbed the rebound but inexplicably dribbled to halfcourt before a timeout was called, forcing the Magic to inbound in the backcourt instead of the frontcourt.

Orlando head coach Stan Van Gundy talks to backup guard J.J. Redick during Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals. (NBAE/GETTY IMAGES)

When asked about needing a timeout sooner rather than later, Van Gundy answered with an emphatic “yes.”

“It was all covered in the timeout,” Van Gundy told reporters during his postgame news conference. “We had a six second differential, we were playing for stop and an immediate timeout. It made big difference because if you watch the last play Rashard [Lewis] got open, but because we were inbounding the ball in the backcourt, [Michael] Finley was back in the passing lane and we could not make the pass to him.”

Van Gundy is quick to blame Redick for not calling timeout, but he could have easily called the timeout himself to avoid any confusion. As it turned out, Redick threw the ball in the backcourt to Jameer Nelson with three seconds remaining on the clock, and Nelson’s desperation heave from midcourt fell short.

“I made a mistake,” Redick told the Associated Press. “I didn’t hear the whistle initially. When I didn’t hear it initially, I just kind of went, then I realized we should have called a timeout. So that was my fault.”

The poor decision overshadowed an otherwise solid game for Redick, who scored 16 points off the bench.

The Magic could have avoided the botched play in the end all together if Lewis made half of his field goals. Lewis followed his six-point performance in the Game 1 with an equally terrible five-point performance in Game 2. Lewis, who had been averaging 15 points in the playoffs, has made just four of 16 shots in the first two games in the series – 1-for-9 from behind the arc.

Van Gundy said he needs to do a better job of getting Lewis the ball in spots where he can do some damage. The way it is situated right now, Kevin Garnett has been able to stay attached to Lewis out in the perimeter because the Magic are reduced to standing around on offense waiting on Dwight Howard to make a move in the low post or waiting on Nelson to drive and kick.

The good news for the Magic is that Howard bounced back from an awful 13-point Game 1 with a solid 30-point performance in Game 2. The bad news for the Magic is the rest of the starters shot just 13-for-42 from the field.

Video courtesy of NBA.com

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When Rashard Lewis was asked where he stands in terms of scoring option on the Orlando Magic, he said he’s currently No. 4 trying to work his way up to No. 3.

Though it was a tongue-in-cheek response, Lewis was being honest when he said he was the fourth option on a Magic team loaded with capable scorers.

“We got some much talent on our team somebody has to sacrifice,” said Lewis, one of four All-Stars on Orlando’s starting lineup.

“Everybody has to play a role and you have to know your role. We have guys on the bench that can start on any team. Any given night anybody can go out there and score for us and win a game for us,” added Lewis, who scored a team-high 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting – including 4-for-7 from behind the arc – to lead the Magic to a 105-75 blowout victory in Game 3 in Atlanta.

Orlando is a perfect 7-0 in the 2010 playoffs and has a 29-point average margin of victory in its best-of-seven series against Atlanta.

Are the 2010 Magic better than the 2009 Magic that went to the NBA Finals?

“We’re a, most definitely, a better team than last year just because of the fact we’ve got a great bench,” Lewis said. “We have one of the best benches in the NBA. And our main goal is to win a championship, and I think we can. But it’s not gonna be easy. We gotta take it one game at a time, one round at a time, and we don’t want to jump ahead of ourselves.”

Rashard Lewis takes a backseat to Dwight Howard, Vince Carter and Jameer Nelson, but he may be the best shooter on the Orlando Magic.

Orlando fields an outstanding second unit that includes Jason Williams, J.J. Redick, Mickael Pietrus, Ryan Anderson and Marcin Gortat. Each player has played a big role in keeping leads with their 3-point shooting, ball movement and solid defense, three things Lewis says have been key in the Magic’s perfect playoff run so far.

“We pick and choose. If Jameer’s [Nelson] rolling, we’re gonna keep going to him. Obviously, Dwight Howard and Vince Carter are our 1 and 2 options and everybody else plays around that,” said Lewis, who has increased his scoring average from 14.1 in the regular season to 16.3 in the playoffs.

Since March 1, Orlando has been on an incredible roll, winning 26 of its last 29 games (including the playoffs) and is currently on a 13-game winning streak.

“We know it’s the playoffs, every possession counts, every game counts and we have to take it one game at a time,” Lewis said. “I think the coaching staff has done a pretty good job in keeping us focused.”

Lewis said coach Stan Van Gundy hasn’t allowed the Magic to let up despite the lopsided games because Van Gundy wants his team to stay sharp all the way to June.

“He wants us to win every quarter and play every possession like it’s our last,” Lewis said. “The window of opportunity to win a championship opens and closes. I feel like this is my chance and the window is open for me. Not only that, I’m making sure I’m ready to play every single night because I know my teammates are going to be ready to play and everybody knows their role and do their job. I want to make sure I’m doing my job and I don’t want to be the reason, so I gotta go out there and perform to a high level.”

One player who appears to be on a mission to help the Magic return to the NBA Finals is Nelson, who missed nearly all of last year’s playoffs because of a shoulder injury. Nelson returned to the lineup in The Finals, but was obviously not himself. Through the first seven games, Nelson is now healthy and playing with great purpose.

“With Jameer, he’s doing a really good job in running this team,” Lewis said of his point guard.

“When we focus in like that and we talk to each and don’t take it personal, we’re a better team. If somebody misses the help defense and we tell them about it then they’ll be there next time.”

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