Now or Never

Yesterday, the NBA and the Player's Association met for six hours to try and make some progress and avoid an almost inevitable lockout. The talks could not have come at a more needed time. It's no secret that the loss of part of or all of the NBA season will spell disaster for the league and its fans. Millions will be lost in revenue and more importantly, fans will be missing out on one hell of a game. Yet, there are others who are greatly affected as well. Who? The players. Imagine this. Say you worked at a big firm and then one day it temporarily shut down because the employees and the bosses could not come to terms on fair terms of agreement. You would be jobless for the duration of that time. What would you do? Well, there are no wages coming in so you'd likely search for other work, possibly in different markets. But we all know how volatile the job market has been the last few years. Jobs aren't exactly falling out of the sky. There's no silver platter. So while some employees might find work in other occupations, others will surely be left behind and ultimately jobless.

So how is this relevant to the NBA and its current lockout? Well actually it's almost identical to the current state that NBA players find themselves in. Now of course the situation is slightly different. NBA players are paid quite handsomely and they can afford to miss work for a few months without taking too much of a hit. But remember who we're talking about here. Many of these players are young in age and young at heart. Many of the players are the same age as you and me. The difference? Well, if you're like me, you went to college, spent 4 years at a respected public (or private) institution and graduated with a respectable degree. Remember when there was uproar over the NBA instituting an mandatory year of college for its players? It meant that players could not simply jump from their high school glory straight to the Association. That rule of course was implemented in the draft year after possibly the greatest draft of all time including the most famous player to make the leap, LeBron James. Has the new rule had much of an effect? Well, not really. The purpose of the rule was to clean up the NBA's then poor image and require its players to receive some kind of an education. But the NCAA is perhaps as poor an example of model behavior as the NBA is. Student athletes typically are given the upper hand and frequently receive improper benefits. The issue is much more prominent in NCAA football but it also exists with Men's Basketball. The intention of the rule was good. Players will get some kind of real-life education before making the big leap to the NBA. Yet we all know how poor the results of the rule have been.

What's the point of all this? Last week, former NBA player Javaris Crittenton made headlines when it was discovered that there was a warrant out for his arrest. For murder. Crittenton, a relatively quiet NBA player during his short career made headlines in late 2009 when he brought firearms into the Washington Wizards locker room during the regular season after a dispute over money owed from a card game with then Wizard Gilbert Arenas. Both players were suspended for the season and Arenas would later bolt the Wiz for the Orlando Magic. Crittenton would later be released from the Wizards and after a short stint with the Bobcats in 2010, he played shortly in China but later came back to the United States. Without a team for the season, he joined the D-League Dakota Wizards this past February and played 21 games. 6 months later, he finds himself serving a murder charge. Crittenton, once the starting point guard for the Georgia Tech Men's Basketball team now is facing a murder charge.

Now, I don't want to jump to conclusions and blame this unfortunate series of events on the NBA lockout but it's clear it has had some kind of impact. While Crittenton has largely been away from the league since his gun suspension, he still has NBA talent and would likely fit with at least 1 of the 30 NBA teams in the league. But without training camp, team workouts and league activity, players have been free to do their own thing while they ride out the duration of the NBA lockout. Am I going to blame the murder wrap on the fact that Crittenton did not have a team to practice for when he allegedly participated in the act of murder? No, but you can't help but wonder. It's no secret that the NBA still has an image problem. A lockout does not mend that image in the slightest. Remember when Ray Lewis said that the NFL lockout would increase the rate of crime for its players? Take heed, David Stern. It's now or never.