It took just one meeting to erase all of the optimism that had build up the last two weeks that a settlement might be near in the NBA Lockout. Just a look at CBS Sports writer Ken Berger's twitter timeline tells the unfortunate tale. The likely culprit from this meltdown of talks seems to be a "division of interest" in the ownership camp. In other words, while some owners would like to push to a resolution, others are more interested in taking a harder line to get the exact deal that they want.
If that wasn't enough, Billy Hunter lands the haymaker by revealing that he has advised the players that they may have to sit out half of a season before they get a deal finished.
Hunter bombshell: "We've advised (players) they may have to sit out half the season before we get a deal."
Hunter added further "that the owners were unwilling to move off o the position on which they've anchored themselves."
There is really nothing positive to pull from these latest developments as it has become quite clear that all of the optimism over the last two weeks was for naught when it came to discussing the real issues. While it is important to note that like today, these things can turnaround quickly but it now appears that things are right back where they started from.