Hopeless?

The first steps to the end of hope have been taken with training camps being postponed and exhibition games up till October 15th have been cancelled. I had always stated that when we saw the Dallas Mavericks beat the Miami Heat that was the last "real" basketball we would see in terms of the NBA in the 2011 calender year. It seems that very little progress has been made in terms of coming to a deal. The Owners seem to locked in at what they are willing to give to players in terms of a percentage of the total revenues generated by the league.

While we have seen these gloried exhibition games start to get some main stream attention. Honestly if anyone remembers the Vince Carter Charity games that is about all these are. Defence in these games is a myth. Shawn Marion once dropped 50 in on of those charity games. The former Raptor and now Mav even in his prime was never dropping 50 in an actual NBA game. There is really nothing on the line for these players and no one is going to risk getting injured in games such as these.

The depressing reality of things is starting to sink in for people. I have always expected things to go this way and was well aware no last minute miracle was likely to come. That still doesn't make it not hurt as both a fan and someone that covers this league. I have decided to just write occasionally during this time. Lots of people are doing their best to plug along. I just can't do that. If I am going to write or do interviews it is going to be because it is something I feel is worth your time. Aside from the blow by blow of the lockout which is really the only thing that matters right now there is not much of that to write about. Even the blow by blow of the lockout has become pretty much stale. In fact what we are seeing in effect is a stalemate at this point.

I will still chime in every now and then and keep the Dino Nation Blog alive. I look forward to when we can get back to what we do here on a regular basis. It has been a really strange time without having this blog to fill my schedule on a daily basis. Some of those things are good and most are not. I am not getting any younger while this lockout goes on. None of us are. If we get any kind of season at the end of this it would be great at this point. I have been less active on twitter as well. But I was on their last night and someone was asking Charles Oakley something about Peyton Manning and I asked him if he thought the injured star of the Colts would play before the NBA. He said he thought he would. For those that do not know most think Manning might be done for the NFL Season. So the next game he could likely play would be in August. So that would be saying the NBA will not have a season without saying it. Oakley in his career was an active part of the union so take it for what it is worth. But I have always thought of Oakley as a straight shooter and if he thinks a season is unlikely that makes me worry.

Not sure when the next time will be that you hear from me. But keep the faith and at the end of all of this I look forward to things being back to the way they have been for almost 4 years.