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NEW YORK -- There's still time for a deal to keep the entire NBA season intact, though it's running out.

And with that in mind, owners and players realize it's time to stop talking about each other, and start talking to each other.

They returned to the bargaining table Wednesday, meeting for about six hours in just their second bargaining session since the league's lockout began on July 1.

"Everyone loses if we don't reach an agreement, that's something that I think has always been understood," union president Derek Fisher of the Lakers said. "But as we approach Sept. 1 and obviously the training camp schedule to start on Oct. 1, the urgency is just continuing to build and increase on both sides, and we're going to remain focused on finding a way to get this done."

Neither side offered any specifics or would say if progress was made, but said they plan many more meetings in hopes of having basketball begin without interruption.

"I don't see any benefit to characterizing our positions," Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver said, a thought repeated frequently by both sides.

"I will say we are not apart in terms of an agreed urgency on getting a deal done and we're not apart on the need to avoid missing games and we're not apart on the agreed impact that will have, not just on our teams and our players, but the communities in which they operate in as well."

Commissioner David Stern and San Antonio owner Peter Holt, head of the labour relations committee, also represented the owners at a Manhattan hotel. Executive director Billy Hunter and attorney Ron Klempner attended from the union.

The sides hadn't met since Aug. 1, despite saying they hoped to follow that with multiple sessions before the end of the month. They are far apart on major issues, but Stern said there is "clearly enough time" to make a deal that would allow the regular season to open as scheduled on Nov. 1.

He added he has no timetable for when cancellations might be necessary. The NBA quickly shot down a report this week they would happen at an owners meeting on Sept. 15.

"We don't have any deadlines in mind," Stern said. "We just have meetings in mind and discussions in mind."

Neither side would say when or where the next meetings would take place, indicating a desire for a level of privacy that has been largely absent in the process. Stern was critical of the players while meeting with the media after the Aug. 1 session, and Fisher said "things seem to get spun out of control, either by us or by them" whenever they talk specifics in the press.

"So we're just going to focus on the deal. That's all we can do," Fisher said. "We feel it's the best way to respect the process, to just try to do a better job of staying clear of that type of situation.

"We just feel that a little bit less -- or a lot less -- of talking outside of the room and more talking inside of the room is better for everyone," he added.

Fisher said there were no new proposals for a new deal. The players made the last one on June 30, an offer the league said would have increased average player salaries to nearly $7 million in the sixth year.

Owners, seeking significant salary reductions from the players after losing hundreds of millions of dollars in each year of the previous CBA, imposed the lockout hours later, and nothing much has happened since.

Stern set Labor Day weekend as an unofficial deadline for when progress needed to be made during an ESPN.com podcast earlier this month.

So, is he satisfied?

"We had a meeting before Labor Day and agreed that we would continue to meet," Stern said.

Following the schedule from the 1998 lockout, the only time the NBA lost games to a work stoppage, the NBA has a couple of weeks before anything is in jeopardy. The start of camps, then scheduled for Oct. 5, were postponed on Sept. 24, and the first pre-season games weren't called off until Oct. 6.

The first exhibition games this year are set for Oct. 9, and maybe they can still happen.

"It's very obvious that coming out of the lockout being July 1 and into this part of August, it's very clear both sides are feeling a sense of urgency," Fisher said. "We're very focused on getting a deal done and that's how we'll proceed from this point going forward."

:(

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LATEST HEADLINES - NBA NEWS tools.gifenews_icon.gif E-News Sign Up Share 13

Report: Next labor negotiation session set for Wednesday

Posted Sep 6 2011 4:42PM - Updated Sep 6 2011 5:43PM

NEW YORK (AP) -- NBA players and owners will resume talks on Wednesday, two people with knowledge of the plans said Tuesday. This comes a week after the sides vowed to meet more frequently in hopes of reaching a new collective bargaining agreement.

The session will be just the third between top negotiators since the lockout started July 1. But with the opening of training camps less than a month away, both sides said they recognized the urgency to pick up the pace.

The meeting -- expected to be a small group -- will be in New York. The site hasn't been disclosed.

No new proposals were exchanged last week during a meeting that lasted about six hours. Neither side shared many details, saying they preferred to keep the nature of the talks private.

Commissioner David Stern said afterward there was still "clearly enough time" to make a deal that would allow the regular season to open as scheduled on Nov. 1. However, a gap remains between the financial changes owners are seeking and what players have been willing to accept.

"I could see it going either way," two-time MVP Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns told The Canadian Press on Tuesday. "It looks like right now we probably won't start on time.

"Hopefully, as we start to get into the time of year where everyone is missing basketball, we can all start to concede on some points that each other are looking for and find a middle ground. That would be the best of both worlds."

Before last week, the only other meeting between top officials was on Aug. 1, after which Stern criticized the players for an unwillingness to compromise. The league filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board and a lawsuit against the players the next day, adding to the complaint the union had already filed with the NLRB.

But both sides have stressed that a deal can only be reached at the bargaining table, not the court system, and Stern and players' association president Derek Fisher of the Lakers said last week they would be holding many meetings.

One of the people confirmed an ESPN.com report that there could even be additional ones this week if Wednesday's session goes well.

Training camps are scheduled to open the first week of October, with the first preseason games set for Oct. 9.

things looking up ? :shock:

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I guess for what we know there has been no more talk of Aquilini(sp?) wanting to purchase a new NBA team? I remember going to Grizzlies games as a kid and I would be more than happy to see a new team here. The city has grown so much and there is a greater interest in basketball among people in British Columbia. What does everyone else think? In 5+ years I could see a team coming back or atleast a great interest between Vancouver and the NBA.

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Anyone getting excited for the new season? :)

Why would I? Is watching a handful of teams dominate really that much fun to watch? All the players want to join into groups now to win, and the NBA sucks from it.

How would you feel if the Sedins and Ovechkin demanded to be on the same team, or Crosby with Giroux and Stamkos? Then on top of that, only to remember that Detroit, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington are the only teams good enough to go anywhere. It's ridiculous, and it's not helping the game.

It sucks when egos get in the way, but NBA players are like that, all about them.

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Why would I? Is watching a handful of teams dominate really that much fun to watch? All the players want to join into groups now to win, and the NBA sucks from it.

How would you feel if the Sedins and Ovechkin demanded to be on the same team, or Crosby with Giroux and Stamkos? Then on top of that, only to remember that Detroit, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington are the only teams good enough to go anywhere. It's ridiculous, and it's not helping the game.

It sucks when egos get in the way, but NBA players are like that, all about them.

The only part of your post I dislike is the player in your username lol :) Completely agree, I really wish one of the big three in Miami would request a trade as well even though Bosh is far from elite. Duos are great, three is company. Instead of focusing all the CBA attention on income distribution and other selfish items, the owners should have been coming up and pushing for a way to ensure stars can't team up and make the league as a whole less competitive :(

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