While SB Nation’s Andrew Sharp has done terrific work in summarizing the atrocity exhibition that is the ongoing NBA Lockout (“the greatest indictment against David Stern may be his inability to wrest control of his league from the likes of Dan Gilbert, Robert Sarver and Peter Holt”), I today find myself in the unusual if not uncomfortable position of presenting James Dolan in a somewhat favorable light. Players Association VP / Knicks G Roger Mason tells the New York Post’s Marc Berman the Straight Shot’s normally hapless frontman is one of the few people on earth who can understand a word Joe Walsh is saying level heads amongst NBA owners.
“You can look at it and say the majority of owners don’t want a deal,” Mason told The Post yesterday from his Los Angeles home. “But there are owners eager to get a deal done. At this moment they are overshadowed by a contingent of owners who are trying to get everything they want in a new CBA.”
Asked if Dolan is one of the owners in the minority, Mason said: “Definitely. You feel excitement in the city. I know Dolan sees that, hears that. He’s definitely one of the owners who’s ready to get back to work.
“There are a committee of owners, and their voice is going to be as one. But you know [Dolan] has put a lot into renovating the Garden and put a lot into the team. He had a lot of tough years and there’s a lot of promise now. He wants to get back out there.”