The inevitable has happened and the NBA has cancelled the first two weeks of the 2011-2012 season.  Despite much misguided optimism by fans and media members, this scenario was fate that was definitely going to occur.  There was never going to be a full season.  Hell, there might not be a season.

Where do we begin?  Most people like to blame the players for the position that the NBA is currently in.  The narrative that I repeatedly hear about the players being greedy is probably misguided.  Although I believe this, I am not going to sit here and argue in favor of workforce whose average salary is 5.15 million dollar.  Typically people resent the athletes in these situations because they are often seen as wealthy men who would not be in their position if it were not for their athletic talents.  The owners are trying to paint the players (their “product”) into a corner and forcing them into taking an unfair deal.  Enough missed paychecks and the NBA Players Association is going to be forced to cave.

When we are talking about men who make millions of dollars a year, it is difficult to understand how this could even be a possible scenario for the lockout.  To most people, one year of NBA salary is enough to live and retire with.  The thought of a missed season and a few months without getting paid coercing the players to take a deal that they find unfair is astonishing.

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The NBA owners have locked out the players. This is something that people know if they have a pulse and have access to the internet. The lockout is a complex issue between the owners and the players’ union. The crux of the issue boils down to money. The owners want more and the players do as well. The lockout affects many people. It starts with the owners and players and reaches everybody from arena workers, front office members, restaurant owners and fans.

Most NBA fans have a reason to want to see the lockout end. They simply want to watch their favorite basketball teams play during the long and cold winter months. I personally enjoy having NBA games to watch throughout the fall and winter. I am harboring feelings of resentment towards the NBA owners and the NBA Players’ Association. I simply want to see basketball and I wish that they could figure out a fair way to divide the BRI (Basketball-Related Income).

Oftentimes, I see Cavaliers fans actively rooting for a lost season. This is a sentiment that bothers me greatly. Typically there are three reasons for this and I will outline them and dispel myths in an attempt to explain why we want to see basketball in 2011-2012.

“The Cavaliers will benefit in the draft lottery:” The truth is that nobody actually knows what will happen in the event of a lost season. What I do know is that it is naive to believe that the NBA will simply hand the Cavaliers the 2^nd best odds at the first overall draft pick because they had the 2^nd worst record last year. The NBA owners are not in the business of creating a collective bargaining agreement that will benefit Cleveland. The fact that there are sixteen playoff teams and fourteen lottery teams means that Cleveland will be at a disadvantage with regards to how the draft lottery will transpire. When the NHL missed the 2004-2005 season, every single team had a chance at landing the first overall pick and the rights to draft Sidney Crosby. Part of the process included looking at the team records for the previous three years. If this happened in the NBA, Cleveland would be punished in the lottery because of their 66 and 61 win seasons. As I mentioned earlier, nobody knows what will happen with the draft lottery, but it seems pretty obvious that Cleveland wouldn’t be handed the 5^th pick in the draft because of last season’s 19 wins and 63 losses.

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On the day of the 2010 NBA trade deadline, the Cleveland Cavaliers had an NBA-best record of 43-11.  After winning 66 games in the prior season and losing in the conference finals, Danny Ferry and company made a trade for Shaquille O’Neal in an attempt to bolster the front-court and be more competitive against Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic.  Implementing Shaquille O’Neal into the offense is something that requires not only chemistry adjustments, but the right personnel as well.

The Shaquille O’Neal and Amare Stoudemire front-court was not particularly seamless in Phoenix.  Stoudemire is not known for his defensive effort and O’Neal was not quick and nimble.  Their style of play was not conducive to working together.  The paint was often packed and the two members of the starting front-court for the Suns had a penchant for being in each other’s way.

This is not to say that an ideal situation for Cleveland would be to trade for Amar’e despite the fact that he does not play well with O’Neal.  Trading for a talent as great as Stoudemire is an easy decision to make.  Declining his services because of having reservations about including JJ Hickson in the package or questions about his fit with a thirty-seven year old does not pass the common sense test.

Although we do not know that this did not happen, it does seem fair to give the Cavaliers benefit of the doubt.  Most people are not willing to afford that luxury to Cleveland because it fits in with the “incompetent front office” stereotype that you never heard about when the Cavaliers were winning over 60 games in back-to-back seasons.

Let us consider some different factors that could have led to Cleveland trading for Antawn Jamison instead of Amar’e Stoudemire:

Cleveland liked the way Antawn Jamison fit with the team better: This scenario does not seem very likely to me, but it must be addressed.  The Cavaliers management team must have had an idea that this very well could be the last season that the team would be competing for a championship for a long while.  Perhaps Danny Ferry liked the idea of having a stretch-four to play along O’Neal and LeBron James.  This situation seems feasible, but that is doubtful considering the options that were supposedly available to Cleveland.

Cleveland did not want to deal JJ Hickson in any trades: Young, athletic big men who can score and (sometimes) rebound are not easy to find in the NBA.  JJ Hickson played well with LeBron James, which was ultimately the most important factor for any move that the Cavaliers considered making.  Once again, rejecting a trade for Amar’e Stoudemire because of JJ Hickson is a questionable decision.  Of course this is a possible version of history, but it appears unlikely to myself.

Phoenix was not enamored with Cleveland’s offer of Zydrunas Ilgauskas, JJ Hickson and a 1st round pick:  Amar’e Stoudemire is an elite player.  It is possible that the team that had cold feet wasn’t Cleveland.  Phoenix managed to make it all the way to the conference finals with Amar’e Stoudemire and that arguably made the risk of losing Amar’e Stoudemire to the New York Knicks worth it.

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There are currently seven banners hanging in the rafters of the Quicken Loans Arena which are used to commemorate former players and team personnel. To an outsider, that number may appear to be high for a team that has only been to the finals once and never even won a game once getting to the championship series. I disagree and believe that the Cleveland Cavaliers have a rich history and there are men who played a great part in shaping it. It would be a shame for athletes like Mark Price, Larry Nance or Austin Carr to not be honored by the team in that manner.

One name that I feel does not belong in the rafters is Nate Thurmond. His career achievements are undeniable. Nate Thurmond was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1985 as a result of his great career achievements. He is the first player in NBA history to record a quadruple-double. Thurmond was a career 15 PPG and 15 RPG player. Additionally, he is a 7 time All-Star, 2 time All-Defensive First Team member, 3 time Defensive Decond-Team member, All-Rookie First Team and a member of the NBA’s 50^th Anniversary All-Time Team. Despite these great accomplishments, he was a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the tail-end of his career. In his 114 games with Cleveland, he averaged just under 5 PPG.

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