Spencer Hawes has been at the front of The Resistance.
Billy Hunter and Derek Fisher have the buttoned-up responses as they try to remain conciliatory and provide hope for the future, especially for the 2011-12 season. Their game is compromise and eventually getting something done. David Stern and Fisher/Hunter have said some very different things about where the sides are, but it has not gotten too hostile outside of filing two competing bad faith claims with the NLRB.
The agents have had their say, reportedly pushing Hunter to get more aggressive in his demands and strongly consider decertifying.
As this lockout drags on, the fans want to know who has their back? Who is going to “keep it real” and let the fans know how ridiculous things are getting in these negotiations? Mark Cuban is now a veteran owner and a member of the labor-relations committee, he seems less likely to provide the kind of fodder to gain good PR with the fans. What player will step into this void.
The young and unfiltered voice of Spencer Hawes hopes to galvanize the masses and feed The Resistance.
First he commented on David Stern’s high salary, pointing out Stern was giving none of that back during the lockout. Well, now it seems Stern will not collect his reported $20 million salary for as long as the labor mess continues.
Did a simple Tweet from Hawes get Stern to bend under the pressure of bad PR?
Last night, Hawes pointed out some of the contradiction of the NBA’s position in filing its complaint with the NLRB:
“Nice waking up to see we were being sued by our employers today for failing to agree to an $8 billion giveback and decade long pay freeze,” Hawes wrote over Twitter.
That seems to properly describe the feeling the players have after agreeing to back off their 57 percent revenue split from the last collective bargaining agreement and moving to one closer to 50/50. Thus Hawes’ confusion.
Without the threat of fines, a guy like Hawes can speak his mind like this. I am sure the union would like to be able to control the message coming from its players. But you can only send e-mail reminders and control these guys for so long — I mean, Ron Artest and Gilbert Arenas are card-carrying members of the NBPA.
On second thought, maybe that is one way we could solve this thing as Ken Berger of CBS Sports suggested through a tweet from a fan (h/t to @adamosgp):
“You may be onto something, @adamosgp: Stern vs. @agentzeroshow [Gilbert Arenas], 20 paces at high noon. Winner gets 57 percent.”
Let’s hope it does not get to that point. Look for more verbal lobs from Hawes as the ridiculousness of some of the demands and actions on both sides gets worse.
