Sekou Smith of the NBA.com Hang Time Blog reported Sunday the schedule for the 2011-12 season will be released Tuesday, with NBA TV airing a schedule-release special at 2 p.m.
At least in this way during the lockout, the NBA is operating normally, maybe even a little earlier. Typically the schedule is released in late July or early August after free agency so the networks can help shape the schedule to fit matchups they want to showcase at certain points of the year. With the lockout in full effect, there has been no free agency and no telling when there might be some.
So business as usual and the schedule appears ready to reveal to the public.
The release of the schedule does not mean the lockout is any closer to ending. The two sides have only met to resolve the money remaining in the league’s escrow account since the lockout began. This is just a procedural step for the NBA to be prepared for when the lockout ends. But who knows if this would be the schedule the league uses if the lockout does run into the season.
In other words, don’t be so fast to put those schedules into your iPhones and Blackberries quite yet.
Teams are usually fined for releasing or leaking any details of the schedule before the NBA’s deadline (likely 2 p.m. on Tuesday). However, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports the Mavericks and Heat will reaquaint themselves in Dallas on Christmas.
Marc Stein of ESPN.com added that the Mavericks would open their title defense against the Bulls on Nov. 1, the league’s opening night. If November 1 is the season’s opening date, it will be a few days later than normal as the league usually gets going the last Tuesday of October. UPDATE: Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports the Heat will open their season in New York against the Knicks.
The rest of the schedule we will have to wait for on Tuesday. The actual start of the schedule? That question is anybody’s guess.
