Spurs’ Bonner keeping hope of labor resolution alive

Spurs forward Matt Bonner spent Wednesday enjoying basketball in its purest form. He was the headliner at his eponymous youth camp in his hometown of Concord, N.H., where the average camper will never earn a dime playing the sport.

Today, Bonner — a vice president of the NBA Players Association — will be in New York for the kind of last-second shot he never practiced in his New Hampshire driveway. Principal negotiators from the NBA and union are scheduled for a final meeting this afternoon, eyeing one last chance to avert a lockout before the league’s collective bargaining agreement expires at midnight on the East Coast.

Somewhere between the Granite State and the Big Apple on Wednesday afternoon, Bonner began to channel John Lennon.

“Call me a dreamer,” Bonner said by telephone, “but I’m still hopeful we’ll be able to work something out.”

But Bonner admits what most NBA watchers are saying: The sport is on course for its first work stoppage since 1998-99.

“It doesn’t look good,” Bonner said. “There’s a lot of space between where the owners stand and where we stand.”

If that expanse cannot be bridged, owners are expected to impose a lockout, postponing the start of free agency and threatening the 2011-12 season. There is a chance, if headway is made today, both sides could agree to extend the current CBA a matter of days in order to continue negotiating.

Bonner said he did not know if the union would offer a counterproposal to the owners’ latest offer. He also would not speculate on whether the players, like their NFL counterparts, would vote to decertify the union in the event of a lockout.

The owners’ latest offer would guarantee players no less than $2 billion per year for the duration of a 10-year deal, at an average salary of $5 million per player. Union officials say that represents a pay cut of $7 billion over the life of the deal, compared with the system in place now.

Owners are also angling for a hard salary cap like the NHL’s, which players view as a nonstarter.

“They’re asking for a deal that is worse than hockey’s, which is considered to be the worst collective bargaining deal in sports history,” Bonner said. “If that’s their best offer, we don’t have much choice but to fight for something better.”

Could those differences be paved over at the 11th hour today? If Bonner is still a dreamer, he might be the only one.

Why the Triple Double Oreo needs an NBA hook

A new product will be hitting the shelves this summer that has an ideal connection with the NBA and all of basketball.

We’ll be seeing thesoon, according to the food blog Bites on Today. Nabisco will be rolling out a new cookie that  will consists of not one, not two, but three layers of cookie, with one layer of the Oreo’s classic white cream  filling and another made of chocolate cream.

It’s introduction will bring the Triple Double into our common language in a way that will outstrip its current usage.

Now, the triple-double is a common measure of NBA success for a player who notches  double-figure totals of points, rebounds, assists and occasionally steals and blocked shots in a game. It was accomplished 37 times during the regular season and twice in the playoffs.

The current master of the basketball triple double is LeBron James, who notched a league-leading four triple-doubles this season and has 38 in his career including the playoffs.

But James already has too many commercials. So I propose a Triple Double Oreo commercial for a player who accomplished them on the court but could also consume a few of the products away from it.

How about Charles Barkley?

The “Round Mound of Rebound” already is one of  the most lovable pitchmen around the league.

And he produced triple-doubles during his career with surprisingly regularity.

It would be a match made in advertising heaven.