Lockout Lessons for the NBA

Dear NBAers,

It seems that you will soon be locked out from by your NBA team, much like what's happened to your brethren in the NFL. Since they're a few months into this lockout nonsense, you can take a few lessons from them on how to handle a long, drawn-out labor battle.

1. Save your pennies: No, seriously. This is not the time for a new car, house or wardrobe. You don't want to be in the position where you have to hit up teammates for loans, or worse, take on personal loans from shady characters with frighteningly high interest rates. If you must go shopping, think Honda, not Bentley, and Old Navy, not Louis Vuitton.

2. Enjoy the vacation, but keep it to yourself. Plenty of players have enjoyed the unscheduled break. The time off allows them to heal from injuries, go on vacation, and spend extra time with their families. At the same time, you may want to learn from the Saints' Reggie Bush and not tweet how awesome it is that you're not practicing, especially if, like Bush, you're likely to be dropped from your team whenever free agency starts.

3. Get engaged. That brought one Bear some good publicity.

4. Tweet about your workouts: Want to build instant credibility with fans? Put in the time at workouts, then make sure everyone knows that you're not letting the lockout get in your way of staying in excellent shape. Earl Bennett has tweeted videos of working out. Julius Peppers, who has been quiet throughout the lockout, sent out a picture from a boxing gym in Miami. Fans will be happy to know that you're not sitting on your couch, eating Bon-Bons.

5. Don't get arrested.

6. Don't get locked out in the first place. Seriously, come to an agreement with the owners. Lock yourselves into a room if you must, and figure things out. The NFL lockout has been drawn out, ugly and a pox on America's most popular sport. The NBA has nowhere near the same type of fan loyalty, as much of it was lost after the last lockout.

Hope this will help you through the non-fun of a lockout.

Your friends at Grizzly Detail