NEW YORK - Heading into Fridays labor negotiations between league representatives and those representing the NBA Players Association, something compelled people to be there at the midtown NYC hotel when the meetings concluded as opposed to reading about it or listening to soundbites on various television stations.
There was a need to feel the emotion following arguably the most important day since this work stoppage began on July 1.
Should we be disappointed that cool and calm was the behavior from both sides after a long tedious day of discussion that did not conclude until after 7 p.m.?
The Players Association had appealed to its star power to show up to this particular meeting and 21 players in all responded to the calling, which included big names such as LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, along with Sixers Elton Brand and Andre Iguodala.
Iguodala qualified Fridays meeting as similar to the one he attended about a month ago.
As Derek (Fisher) said nothing is set in stone. There was no movement on any specifics to the proposals either side made, he said. I think the main thing for us as players is that we stick together. We have a great group of lawyers and Derek has done an excellent job of representing us as players and we stand behind him.
Iguodala hinted that the players appear to be doing a better job understanding the process, a process Fisher has stressed will have ups and downs even in the individual meetings.
NBA
The good thing about this group is that it has been said many times that this is one of the stronger units, Iguodala said of this current Players Association. We have done a great job of staying together and understanding that in order for them (ownership) to really feel how united we are we may have to miss some time. We have already missed training camp and some preseason games, but our main thing is to stick together.
Training camps have been postponed, 43 exhibition games have been canceled and now the start of the regular season is in jeopardy as well. NBA games are slated to start on Nov. 1. But the speculation that the entire season would be lost if an agreement was not reached by this weekend, NBPA head Billy Hunter called completely off base.
Iguodala said in a recent interview with Yahoo! Sports said that he believed the owners were biding time because they wanted to wait until the players missed paychecks before they really were ready to make a deal.
Did Iguodala still feel the same way after being at the negotiating table with the owners?
I think that is me just being devils advocate and seeing it if I am on their side, he said. And I am sure they do the same thing. It is a cat and mouse game at times, but you just throw different ideas out there and stay together.
Iguodala rejected the idea that the players had entered Friday with the idea that no proposal from the owners would be accepted at this time.
We just want something that is fair. Our main thing is to get back out there on the court, but at the same time it has to be fair, he stressed.
The two sides will continue their discussions Saturday and Iguodala was scrambling to rearrange his schedule in order to continue his time in Manhattan.
Iguodala had been in New York for the entire week doing an internship with Bank of America. One morning he was at the New York Stock exchange, another he was introduced to a company called Recyclebank, but those were not the highlight of the internship for the Sixers swingman.
I had an interesting day shadowing a venture capitalist, Iguodala said, his face lighting up. It was a really good experience and I think we have something in common as far as people asking us for money a lot. And to see how he goes through the process of choosing who he decides to do business with, that was good.
Observations
In addition to Iguodala and Brand, two former Sixers were in New York, Theo Ratliff and Willie Green. Various NBA reporters hung out in the lobby of the hotel for hours not knowing the length of the meeting, but the media totaled about 25 individuals.
The NBA players would like us to believe that Basketball Never Stops as their shirts read at last weekends charity game at the Palestra, but it appears basketball has ceased in the minds of most.
E-mail Dei Lynam at dlynam@comcastsportsnet.com