With tomorrow looming as another potential deadline for saving regular season games, David Stern has been making the rounds and spreading his side of the story. One thing Stern is, he’s a great marketer. He knows how to frame the narrative by cleverly omitting some aspects of the story while phrasing others in a way that benefits his side. Even if are staunchly anti-owner, you cannot deny that his PR methods are amazingly well executed.
Meanwhile, the other side seems lacking. The players’ PR hasn’t been great. It hasn’t been bad, but they’ve largely remained quiet except for a few interviews here and there as well as post-negotiation spin. Sure, there have been Twitter “campaigns” with the #LetUsPlay hashtags, but what does that really accomplish? In the end, it pretty much the absolute bare minimum. What does it take to scrawl out a Tweet on your phone or computer?
The fact remains, that this is a lockout, imposed by owners. It’s not a strike called by players. That’s a huge aspect that should be hammered home on a daily basis but has been entirely ignored. Every time a player talks, the “we want to play, we’re not on strike” line should be dropped somehow.
And that’s just the start. I happen to think the players have done what they needed to do. They’ve given back salary and they’ve moved on limiting the mid-level. They’re actually negotiating while Stern and the owners are more trying to dictate terms. And after the dictating, Stern comes out and masterfully spins it to make it seem like the players are being stubborn.
To that end, Carmelo Anthony agrees that players need to do a better job of getting their side of the story out. Crossover Chronicles was at a Carmelo Anthony event in Times Square, and he was asked about the players’ message. He did not mince words.
If tomorrow’s talks come up with nothing and Stern cancels more of the season, the players need to go on a massive PR blitz. They need to all start talking and saying the same thing. They need their talking points, they need to get out on every show they can, and they need to hammer the point home that they’ve already agreed to take almost $200 million less and re-structure exceptions that allow teams to keep players more easily. They need to get it out there that they’re ready to play, they’ve been ready to play and they want to play. And it won’t hurt if a few more of them pull a Danny Granger and treat some arena workers to dinner or something.
Players need to come across as having made concessions. They need to put this on the owners, or else they’re going to lose the battle for public opinion.
