NBA labour dispute knocks at the door of the 1998 deal-maker Jim Quinn
The mission to save the National Basketball Association season is apparently running out of time.
After more than four months of constant dialogues, the NBA owners and players failed to make a settlement on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, which ultimately led to the decertification of the union last week.
The regular season games through 15th December have already been cancelled and players have filed an antitrust lawsuit against NBA in Minnesota. However, still, neither the owners nor the players seem willing to bow
down.
Under theses drastic circumstance, there is only one hope left to ensure the beginning of the 2011-2012 season and luckily the NBA commissioner David Stern and National Basketball players Association’s (NBPA) director Billy Hunter
have reached out to that option.
That one last hope for NBA fans is the man who made the season happen last time when the league was locked out in the i998-99 season, Jim Quinn.
Quinn is ideally qualified, experienced and the best man to help NBA end the lockout at the moment. Quinn sat at the seat of Billy Hunter for nearly two decades and during that time, he covered multiple Collective Bargaining Agreements.
David Stern and Billy Hunter had a meeting with Jim Quinn after the players disbanded the union. Jim recently confirmed the development himself, according to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com.
“Quinn confirmed he has spoken with both Stern and NBPA director Billy Hunter since the collective bargaining process broke down and the union disclaimed — leading to multiple antitrust lawsuits.”
He termed his conversation with the Stern and Hunter as “touchy feely and off-the record” however the most important thing is that Jim has ensured his help in resolving the labour dispute and declared that he always wanted to be
helpful for the people who want to see basketball action.
"The reality is sometimes off-the-record conversations can be useful. I've always said that I'll be helpful in any way I can be. Everyone would like to see that there is a season, so sure, I'd be helpful." Quinn said.
After all the negotiation tactics and continuous bargaining between the owners and players failed, the league has finally found someone to break the ice. The presence of Jim Quinn will surely make a difference on the future negotiations.
What David Stern and Billy Hunter need to make sure though is that their sides resume the talks in good faith as they still have some days left to get back on the negotiation table.
Tags: