To say that players want the most money possible, and to imply that the owners do not, is completely wrong. Both sides want the most money possible, its the way the business world works.
The fact of the matter is that the players are being asked to give up money so the owners can get more money. And I agree with a previous poster. All this talk of competitive balance is not as important to the owners as making "a few bucks" to quote peter holt. If competetive balance helps them make more money, then they will push for it.
The more I listen to interview and pressers from both sides, the more I see myself siding with the players. As an outsider, you can sometimes easily tell when people are being honest and when people are spinning things. Hunter may be a little rough around the edges, but I believe what he is saying. Silver/Stern (and I love stern as a commish) are sending out mixed signals. How can you on one hand say that the system and the split on BRI are two seperate issues but then on the other hand refuse to table one of the issues in order to negotiate the other. Doesn't that mean the issues are connected in the owners minds?
People keep saying the players are being greedy. Look the players are being asked to reduce money, contract length, bird rights, etc. all of which were agreed to during the last CBA. The players do not dispute that a change needs to be made and have agreed to less BRI, changing the cap, shorter contracts, smaller midlevel, etc. Nevermind that during the last two CBAs, the players also agreed to rookie wage scales, max contract caps, and age restrictions to enter the league. At some point the players do have to push back and say "OK owners, now you have to try and run responsible franchises and can't get all of the money off of our backs."
Owning a sports franchise is not a normal business. It is a sport and a gamble and owners know that going in. You buy a team in a larger market, your chance of success is higher but so is the price tag to get the team in the first place. If you have success on the court, you will do well, but that is on the owners and their GMs to make smart moves and get a little lucky. That is not to say that they system does need some tweaking to help them out, but I think the players have recognized this and done enough (I do think they player need to accept shorter contract, which I think they will in the end if they have not already).
The owners, who are a bunch of tech billionaires that liked watching hoops when they were younger but don't really know how to run these teams, are the ones that are holding this thing up.
I'm a Redskins fan. Trust me, a bad owner can make even one of the most succesful and high earning franchises bad, year after year...regarless of how good the system is.