How's everyone feel about the "fade to black" look of the site today?
It's our collective SB Nation Basketball Blogger response to the lockout, which as of today, has claimed what would have been the start of the 2011-12 NBA season.
Well both sides really but there's no question the owners lack of true commitment to bargaining until September doesn't sit particularly well. SB Nation's Tom Ziller points this out and notes that all's fair in big business sports.
And what a strange business it is, one that two economists over at Grantland try and explain.
Owners are crying over losing $300M last year but as True Hoop's Henry Abbot discusses, owners sure have a funny way of hoping to control costs. In fact some NBA owners are reportedly happy that they can spend as much as last year, since the word is that the NBA's salary cap will remain at about $58M.
But will that really help fix some of the game's major issues? Wages of Wins notes that there are certain NBA cities that just shouldn't have teams, while there are others, that are probably better choices for owners.
And the real reason owners are crying poor?
The investment risk they undertook when purchasing their teams.
So as a result, the old amnesty clause seems to be coming back, albeit in a slightly revised and more "owner-friendly" manner. We've already talked about our top amnesty picks, but ESPN.com's Chad Ford gives his take, and notes that the Raptors' may not use theirs, instead, preferring to see what else shakes out from the new CBA.
For the Raptors' specifically, the missed games will start being felt in terms of player bank accounts and Sportsnet takes a look at how big of a hit each Dino will take with each missed match. Andrea Bargnani losing close to $53K a day?
That's a lot of pasta...