The NBA lockout has now gone beyond 100 days, but the owners and players continued to work towards a deal on Sunday night. Though there was no news to announce after their five hour meeting, it was the lack of boasting and bravado along with plans for more meetings on Monday that were most encouraging.
The last time these two sides met, there was major media posturing from both sides.
NBA commissioner David Stern and his deputy, Adam Silver, held a press conference to talk about cancelling the first two weeks of the regular season. Union president Derek Fisher had a presser of his own, but mainly the players used the player-chasing reporters to try and get their message of unity across.
The only statement of any length given after the meetings came from Fisher, saying the two sides weren't necessarily closer to a deal, but they were going to keep working.
"We're going to come back at it tomorrow afternoon and continue to try and put the time in and see if we can get closer to getting a deal done," Fisher said.
Though they didn't tackle the issue of basketball related income (BRI), it remains the biggest hurdle that needs to be cleared before any deal is consummated. The BRI in the old CBA was a 57-43 split in favor of the players, a number that the owners are demanding is closer to 50-50. The players have responded with 53 percent.
As has been the case since the beginning of the lockout, nothing is going to happen until the players realize they have little leverage and will only get a worse deal if regular season games are lost.