“Everybody know it’s not [the players’] fault. If it was up to us, we’d be out there playing. I think it’s wrong. I know [the owners] can easily take care of it and not take advantage of people.

“They’re not thinking about anything we’re saying. They’re not taking into consideration anything we’re trying to give them.

“The biggest thing is you just want to get back out there and play, It will hurt us. But it will hurt basketball period. We had a great year last year. For us not to have a season or take this long to come up with a deal, I think it’s wrong.”

No offense to Derrick — because, seriously, I love the kid — but his comments are a pretty drastic oversimplification.

I mean, he says: “If it was up to us, we’d be out there playing.” This statement overlooks the fact that it is up to the players. They could accept the deal being offered by the owners, resume making millions of dollars, and be playing basketball right now (or very soon).

Whether or not the owners are thinking about anything the players are saying or trying to give them…I have no idea.

Rose is correct that the lockout is hurting basketball period. Most troubling is the “oh well, ho hum, who cares” attitude the general public seems to have about the potential for a canceled NBA season. None of the hand-wringing and sheer panic associated with the NFL lockout is happening with regards to the NBA lockout.

This is coming on the heels of one of the more compelling seasons in recent NBA history.

To me, that’s the sign of a flawed product. David Stern and the owners are, ostensibly, concerned about the long-term financial viability of the NBA as a business. They’re so concerned about how the honey pot should be divided that they don’t appear concerned about the ever-widening gulf between the fans of the sport and the sport itself.

And so now the owners and players are willing to lose a season — maybe more — to settle their differences. Are they also willing to strike a damaging and lasting blow to their fan base?

The post Derrick Rose: Not happy about the lockout appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

…never to be.

And that may be just the beginning.

According to NBA commissioner David Stern: “We remain very, very apart on all issues. With every day that goes by, there will be further reductions on what’s left of the season.”

Stern apparently expects the players to blink first in this high stakes game of chicken.

Billy Hunter, executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, thinks that’s a mistake. Hunter says that no further negotiations are scheduled and added: “Everybody’s waiting for the players to cave. I’m saying that’s going to be a horrible decision.”

Yep. It’s gotten ugly, folks.

What does this latest development mean for the Bulls?

K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune writes:

For now, the Bulls lose the season opener in Dallas, a Nov. 2 game in New Orleans, the Nov. 5 home opener against the Hawks, home games Nov. 8, 10 and 12 against the Clippers, Thunder and Kings and a Nov. 13 road date in Washington. Season ticket holders will be refunded with interest.

Though the schedule will be redone now that games have been canceled, the Bulls’ website currently shows the team opening with the difficult annual “circus trip” in Portland.

Well. That would be less than ideal.

On the other hand, with the way things are going, the circus trip will get cancelled too. Which might be the only positive thing to come out of this lockout. For the Bulls and Bulls fans anyway.

The post It’s official: Two weeks will be lost appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

According to the Focus Taiwan News Channel:

“Derrick Rose, the NBA’s youngest Most Valuable Player (MVP) in history, was seen happily receiving a new Chinese nickname on Saturday during a two-day visit to Taiwan. Chosen by Taiwanese fans through an online poll recently, the nickname ‘Biao Feng Mei Gui,’ which means ‘speedy stormy Rose,’ was presented to the Chicago Bulls point guard at a news conference in Taipei.”

That’s pretty close to “Too big, too strong, too fast, too good,” don’t you think?

Speaking of Derrick, Charles Barkley was a guest on “The Waddle and Silvy Show” on ESPN 1000 last week and had some advice for the speedy and stormy one:

“Well, I think it would be a mistake for Derrick Rose to go overseas. I think any great player has got too much at stake. You could go there and hurt yourself. If you are as great as Derrick Rose, why would you risk your NBA career and contract by going overseas? I just don’t think that’s very smart. If I were somebody like Derrick Rose, I would go back and work on my degree. I think some of the lesser players are going to go over and play, because they can make some good money. But for someone like Derrick Rose, that’s a bad idea.”

Fair enough. I can’t see Rose playing overseas anyway, regardless of what happens with the lockout. Oh, and Sir Charles had something to say about that too:

“I’m saying, best-case scenario if everything went perfect, they would start the season in January. But I’m still going to stay on the record and say they’re not going to get to play at all next year. In my honest opinion, I hope they don’t screw up the momentum of last year. It was a great year for the NBA. Even if some of the attention was negative, because of the Heat, it was nice to see Dirk (Nowitzki) and Jason Kidd get their rings.”

Kyle Korver isn’t feeling any more optimistic about the lockout:

“It’s not going well … for sure, it looks like the season’s not going to start on time. It’s really frustrating because the NBA’s never been more successful. It’s never made more money. From [the players’] standpoint, you don’t understand why … how do you lose money? I don’t understand. The NBA made like $2.4 billion this year. So that’s frustrating. Especially coming off a year where your team did well and you want to keep building on that, and you’re being locked out and not being able to play.”

If the 2011-12 season is lost — and here’s the team’s TV schedule in case it’s not — that will be a huge bummer for a Bulls team that, even by Dwyane Wade’s admission, is this close to a championship:

“They met us in the Eastern Conference finals, and they were one player away from making it a very, very, very tough series. Derrick Rose is evolving into a phenomenal player. You could look and see they’re one player away from being there every year.”

Wade also has an idea of how the Bulls can take it to the next level. And, yeah, it’s pretty much the same idea everybody else has:

“It would have to be a player that can take the pressure off him from making every play. As a point guard, when you have to score so much, and have to make every big shot, and have to make all the passes, eventually it takes a toll on you throughout the season, no matter how phenomenal you are. So just someone who can come in and take some of that pressure away. That’s why I was excited not only to play with my friend but excited to play with a guy like LeBron, because it takes some of that pressure away from having to do it year after year after year. It saves you, your body.”

On the plus side, the players are planning to get together during the lockout to practice, so hopefully they’ll be ready to go when the lockout ends. Whenver that is.

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