NBA.com's Article on Labor talks inch forward as negotiations enter critical week

Here is the NBA.com's Article on Labor talks inch forward as negotiations enter critical week:

Labor talks inch forward as negotiations enter critical week

First, many thanks to Kermit Washington, Kevin Johnson and Andrea Cavalli for guest Tipping for me while I was on vacation. I hope you enjoyed their words. Of course, no one is ever really that far away from the goings on, and -- in this case, unfortunately -- that means you're never too removed from the lockout. The good news is that so many people that care about the NBA desperately want the game back. The bad news is that we're not closer to a settlement than before.

Are we?

Last week was all about showing how united both sides were -- I thought either the players or owners would break out into Solidarity Forever on Thursday -- when there is division in both camps about the best way to proceed. Which should be expected, when you're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars, and successful people who are used to winning.

But there was, finally, some genuine movement in the last couple of weeks. Whether that movement is the basis for an agreement, or will be used to string one side along, tactically, is not clear at the moment. But there was, finally, some movement, as the players came down from their previous offer to reduce their share of Basketball Related Income from 54.5 percent to 53 percent.

Commissioner David Stern castigated an ESPN.com report that two of his owners shot down a potential agreement between the sides, and perhaps details of that version were incorrect.

But two sources who have been briefed on the talks indicated the following: sometime during the last of the small sessions between the two sides in New York, on Sept. 7 and 8, the union made its 53 percent concept to the owners. After the proposal was made, according to the sources, the union believed it had assurances from the other side that the offer would be viewed favorably by the owners' Labor Relations Committee. That was the basis of player optimism -- including union executive committee member Roger Mason's infamous "looks like a season" tweet a few days later. And that's why the union was so crestfallen on Sept. 13, when the meeting with each side's full negotiating committees failed to produce a breakthrough.

Stern and deputy commissioner Adam Silver said after the Board of Governors meeting in Dallas that owners remained unified behind a hard cap system, though there could be some differences in the specifics individual owners would seek. But the issue of revenue sharing has produced greater disagreements between owners. The union believes -- hopes? -- that those disagreements widen into fissures that will force groups of owners more willing to make a deal to the forefront.

Yet the union faces its own disagreements, with high-profile agents representing some of the biggest agencies looking to accelerate a vote on decertifiying the union.

Working backwards from the projected Nov. 1 starting date, this week is really the last week in which an agreement on a new CBA can be reached in order to save an on-time start of the season.

It would take at least two weeks to hammer out the details of a new CBA, and it would take at least two more weeks to have some kind of meaningful free-agent signing period. There would have to be at least a week to 10 days for an abbreviated training camp/preseason schedule. Which would bring us back to ... right now. Unless that breakthrough occurs in the next seven to 10 days, the season will not -- can not -- start on time.

That's where we are. So glad I'm back to give you the good news.