Personally, I'm not putting much faith in negotiation at this point (maybe it will work in November, but right now, there is just zero conversation What do you folks think? Should the players de-certify and take the battle to court? Or stay on their current course? On thing in the article that I agree with strongly: it does not seem like the players union has much of a strategy at this point [why can't I block quote this?] "Essentially, it’s come down to this: Hunter is still selling diplomacy, but the agents want to commence fighting. No one expects the league to seriously negotiate issues until they fear the courts could rule against them. The owners want what they want – hard cap, rollback on salaries and guaranteed profits – and they aren’t interested in compromises. The longer the union waits to decertify and file an antitrust suit, the less chance there is of getting a reasonable agreement and saving the season. "Until now," one prominent agent told Yahoo! Sports, "the union’s strategy has been basically hoping [NBA commissioner] David Stern wakes up one morning in a good mood, and decides he wants to cut a fair deal for the players." The way the agents see it, Hunter can stay in an advisory role after decertification the way that DeMaurice Smith did with the NFL players union. But decertification does cut into his power, his influence and his role in the process. And that’s true for the executive board of the players association, including president Derek Fisher(notes). Sooner than later, powerbrokers Arn Tellem, Mark Bartelstein, Bill Duffy, Andy Miller and others want a stronger, more direct hand in the fight."