However, the more I think about it, the more I believe the players will gain much leverage by having the option to sign with overseas teams. Though it is not the stars that need to go overseas (nor will they), in order for the tipping in the balance in favor of the players to occur. The big leverage the owners are relying on by locking the players out is that the players will concede when they start missing their paychecks. Now the owners have other businesses and generate income from other sources so will not be affected severely by loss of games and basketball revenue. The same can be said of the league’s stars. The stars are paid multi-million dollars annually and also have income from endorsements so the stars won’t be severely impacted by the lock out. However, it is the minimum salaried guys, end of rotation and the bench guys who will be impacted the most financially. But now these players have an option. While the overseas leagues can not afford to pay the NBA stars salaries that even approach their NBA salaries. However, they can certainly match the NBA minimums and low end of NBA salaries. The eight through the thirteenth guy on an NBA team can probably improve the caliber of most overseas teams. So they are much more likely to be signed by an overseas team. And this in turn would allow the players union to hold out longer than it would otherwise.
And if you scan the basketball wires, this appears to be exactly what is happening. A few players have signed on with Euroleague teams. Most are end of the rotation or bench players such as Sasha Vujacic, Nenad Kristic, Darius Songaila. Many have signed multi-year contracts with no opt out to return to NBA once the lockout ends. If enough marginal and/or rotational players leave, it could leave teams with depleted benches. While stars bring in the fans and the revenue, it’s Defense and Depth that give a team a legitimate shot at a championship.
Hopefully David Stern and the owners recognize this and work to quickly end the lockout so the NBA can get on with it’s business, Matt would again have something to write about and we the fans can go back to arguing about which free agent would most help the Bulls to another championship.

love the 2nd point u made hahaha im sure we will never truly know how the players feel about thier coaching staff but i think id rather believe derrick’s high character will prevent him from speaking out against any of his coaches rather then he loves thibs and del negro lol but again no way to ever truly know lol

I think Taj could be the perfect answer to this, but I think he is at least a year or two away offensively.

let’s get this lockout over with (wishful thinking).

If Noah comes back healthy (a la Deng last year) and provides near all-star level play during season and particularly in the playoffs …
If Deng put together another solid season like the last one, with slight improvement in 3pt shooting ….
If Asik shows continued improvement and can spell relief for Noah in stretches …..
If Taj shows incremental improvement over last year, especially on offense ……
If Korver can be more consistent so we can put him on the court a bit longer …….
If “Blind Side” Butler can be a surprise solid rookie, a la Taj Gibson ……..
Then I believe the Bulls can get over the hump and get past the Heat en route to the Finals.

And I do believe all of the above, (or most of it) will come true next season. The only big obstacle that can “trip” up the Bulls is Boozer. It’s bad enough to cover up for him on defense but if he does not come through on offense then what is Boozer’s value. We don’t need a $80 million cheerleader; we have the Luvabulls, thank you.