Chris Paul and the Hornets May Get Their Season

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Published: October 28, 2011

Friday will be a long day for New Orleans Hornets fans eager to get free agency, training camp and the regular season under way. David Hunter and Billy Stern (see what I did there?) are set to lead another set of talks, and this time both sides claim to be willing to negotiate on anything. They won’t go so far as to say that the lockout is close to over, but at the very least we’re going to get a little more information on if and when the season might start.

Henry Abbott says the mood has shifted, and both sides are claiming that Friday is deal time. That’s optimistic. Michael gave a bunch of good reasons to think the lockout might end soon as well recently, and as much as I don’t want to see his head grow three more sizes, I would gladly take that in exchange for the season to start.

So keep an eye out for news.

A few comments by guys involved in negotiations are pretty, well, annoying. Take for instance this gem by Stern on Thursday–

“There are no guarantees that we’ll get it done, but we’re going to give it one heck of a shot tomorrow. I think that Billy and the union’s negotiators feel the same way.”

Oh, thanks. Really, I’m glad everyone is going to give it their all this time, or at least one heck of a shot, whatever that actually is.

Can you imagine if we, as fans, could just stand around the negotiations cheering and jeering as they disagreed over and over about the same fundamental things? Their effort would hardly inspire the hero’s welcome that so many players and owners get on and off the court. I think we would be more similar to a soccer mob at the end of a particularly unfriendly friendly than the rather restrained bunch we been so far.

But whatever. If the season is saved, then it was all just in good fun.

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