The NBA released its 2011-2012 schedule on Tuesday, but it was met with a snicker, as nearly everyone expects the upcoming season to start much later than expected, if at all. The NBA lockout is in effect, and both sides are far apart in their negotiations. According to Derek Fisher of the Lakers, the president of the players union, the owners want protection from themselves.
↵In this week's issue of Sports Illustrated, Fisher was interviewed by Ian Thomsen, providing an insight into the CBA negotiations. NBA owners want, among other things, the right to waive underperforming players to protect themselves from bad contracts the owners themselves handed out. Fisher doesn't like it:
↵↵↵"They talk about the money they have locked up on the Eddy Currys and the Stephon Marburys, and that it would free up money for everybody else," Fisher is saying now. "I don't follow that type of thinking, and it's going to be hard for me as president of the players' association to ever sign off on any agreement that would put us in that position."
↵
For more news and information on Derek Fisher and the Lakers, be sure to read the SB Nation blog Silver Screen and Roll.