Worst..."Season"...Ever....

Throughout the entire 2011-2012 NBA "season," I've been a veritable Pollyanna.  I never thought we'd miss games -- I mean how crazy would the players and owners have to be to destroy the goodwill they built with such an epic NBA season?  Shows what my predictions are worth...

Once that whole lockout thing was solved, I couldn't imagine the free-spending Mark Cuban wouldn't keep the band together for another shot at the title.  I mean we just won our first championship, you gotta try to repeat...right? right?!?!?  Okay, I'm 0 for 2. 

Then today, as I read the news of Tyson Chandler officially joining the Knicks, I felt a pang of sadness.  It was quickly replaced without outright anguish when I read that Jason Kidd was excited to be reunited with his old pal.  My sphincter clenched as tried to pretend there was another "Old Pal" we could be talking about.  Do we really have to add insult to injury (and then roll around in the ground in anguish thereafter)?  The Mavericks have already punted on this season, under a misguided notion about luring a "top-tier free agent."  Do we have to trot out one of my least-favorite players ever just to mock me further?

Of course lest you think I'm just a typical whining Dallas fan (we do whine a lot, trust me), let's focus on something that's embarassing for all of us who are fans of this whole "NBA thing."  The Chris Paul debacle... 

There are a ton of reasons why this dirty saga just further enrages me after a lockout that made very clear that the NBA didn't care much about its fans:

• It means that the entire lockout was for nothing.  Apparently the driving force of the blocking was the idea that we didn't want players forcing trades.  If the new system is already so flawed that they had to resort to blocking the trade for "Basketball Reasons,"  we haven't really achieved much, have we?  
• I'm not a big fan of the players forcing trades and what not, but as far as I know, all Paul did to force this trade was no sign an extension.  The Hornets know the Paul era is over and they need to get as much value as possible out of it.  I don't like forcing owners to trade players, but that's not what's happening here.  The owners want to force Paul to play somewhere.  
• There is a far more severe consequence of this nonsense that may very well be unforgivable.  I find myself on the same side of an issue as the accursed Lakers.  This isn't a horrible trade for anyone involved and its a risk for everyone.  Just how a trade should be.  
• Are the Hornets just supposed to sit on their current players as they slowly decompose into nothing?  They're going to get zip for Chris Paul if they don't trade him, and they haul they were getting looked fairly reasonable to me.  
• Could Dan Gilbert be any more of a douche?  He's making me dislike LeBron less each day.  I'd want to get away from that guy too.

This is a clear conflict of interest and the NBA should be ashamed.  Every time I feel like I couldn't be less enthusiastic about the 2011-2012 NBA "season" I'm proven wrong.  Am I the only one who's starting to miss the lockout?