The NBA negotiations have been like Paul Pierce’s favorite shot — two dribbles forward, one giant leap back — except the negotiations have been hanging in the air for quite a bit longer than Pierce.

Reporters briefed by sources on Wednesday’s negotiations could all agree: progress was made. But whether that progress is enough to stem the prevalent tide of instability remains to be seen. These labor discussions are like Rasheed Wallace — you never know when they might boil over and become completely irrational, all you know is they become irrational far more often than they should. And they almost became irrational yesterday. (NBA.com)

One source told NBA.com that the negotiations remain fragile. “It could blow up at any minute,” he said. “It almost blew up a couple of times [Wednesday], but it didn’t.”

(Here comes the putter toss … wait, he’s restrained himself!)

The players, should this week’s negotiations fail, are reportedly ready to drop two different nuclear bombs. A source told NBA.com the players are ready to move with a disclaimer of interest, and another source told Zach Lowe the players are also ready to file for decertification of the union. Both legal maneuvers could be done simultaneously, since a petition for decertification would take 45-60 days before going to a union-wide vote.

But those options will only move forward if the league does not reach a labor agreement this week. Somewhere in the middle of all the negotiating ruckus, all that fragility, progress was made. Both NBA.com and Adrian Wojnarowski reported there was progress made on three of the five key issues holding back a deal. (NBA.com)

There allegedly was even some progress on three of five issues cited Tuesday by the union as vital to their willingness to consider a 50-50 split (the players received 57 percent in the old CBA and had moved to a formal position of 52.5).

Much of the debate is over restrictions that would be imposed on free-spending teams above the luxury tax threshold, with the union striving to keep them in the marketplace for players and the owners hoping to direct free agents to other rosters.

The problem is, three out of five is equivalent to Dwight Howard’s free throw percentage. The league at least needs to shoot like Ray Allen.

One shot they’ll need to drain is the mid-level exception. Zach Lowe reports the league and union moved closer to an agreement regarding the exception, but cautioned there has been no agreement on the issue.

The league has softened its proposal to take the full mid-level exception from teams that pay the luxury tax and replace it with a miniature mid-level worth half as much, according to one source familiar with the matter. The union has fought against measures that would, in its view, make the luxury tax operate like a hard salary cap and remove the league’s biggest spenders from the free-agent market. The union has argued such measures would redistribute salary away from middle-class veterans and toward superstars, stifle freedom of movement and do little to create competitive balance among teams.

The mid-level exception is a crucial battleground, and the two sides aren’t close to an agreement there despite the league’s move to bat around a variety of potential compromises on Wednesday, per a source. But at least they are talking, and there is incremental progress — enough progress to at least justify another meeting Thursday at noon, according to Stern, union president Derek Fisher and union executive director Billy Hunter.

Can’t I just write about real basketball issues yet?

There are times when Glen Davis makes his nickname seem quite appropriate. Wednesday, Davis again lived up to his Big Baby billing, directing a little hostility at Paul Pierce.

Pierce has been leading the players’ decertification push, but Davis seems disturbed that Pierce hasn’t been in enough contact.

“Paul has emailed me – he called once,” said Davis, sounding disturbed that Pierce has not been in more frequent contact. “He doesn’t advise me on any of this. That’s what my agent does. He’s Paul Pierce – he doesn’t have to talk to me.

“But what (Pierce) basically says is to be prepared for anything. This is something the league has to go through, and we have to wait for things to work out.

“But he hasn’t talked to me about (decertification). He just talks to me about being ready.”

On another note, Davis remains in pole position for the “most likely to eat himself out of a big payday during the NBA lockout” award, named in honor of Shawn Kemp. So at least he can be happy about that.

Disclaimer: I do not hate Glen Davis. I was thoroughly unimpressed by the way he ended last season, like anyone else with two working eyes. But I still enjoy rooting for him, despite his occasional bouts with immaturity (which sometimes lead to 4 a.m. fights with his best friend). If it still sounds like I hate Davis, I don’t. Seriously. No, really.

Paul Pierce indeed led the NBA players’ push for decertification, but he did it with the consent of players union chief Billy Hunter.

Despite being the Celtics’ player representative, Pierce was the only team rep not present at the mandatory union meeting yesterday. ESPN cited sources who said Pierce did not miss the meeting as a boycott.

Pierce’s decertification push has succeeded, or rather, it has advanced to the next step. Hunter said the league garnered enough petition signatures to force a decertification vote, which would take place 45-60 days after the players association officially files the decertification with the National Labor Relations Board — if, that is, the players decide to file the motion. The players are waiting on the results of Wednesday’s negotiations, when David Stern’s ultimatum looms like an approaching tornado. (CBS Sports)

“I think Paul is kind of frustrated with the process,” Hunter said after a news conference in which the players said they were rejecting the league’s latest take-it-or-leave-it proposal. “Paul has been at the bargaining table and he doesn’t feel that we’ve been making any kind of progress. And so he thought that maybe that’s necessary. We don’t have a lot of options and that’s the option Paul was pushing – still is pushing.”

Asked in a small group of reporters if he’s cool with that, Hunter said, “Of course. Listen, I’m cool with Paul and all these guys. I think it’s very important. I’m happy that Paul and the others are involved in the process. That’s always been the problem with athletes, that a lot of stuff is foisted on them and they have no input. Paul has been actively engaged, he understands, he’s been in five or six of our negotiating sessions, he talks to me, and when they had the (decertification) calls, he called and let me know that they were having the calls. And I said, ‘Hey, I’m not at all opposed to you doing that.’ … I endorse what Paul did.”

If nothing else, the players themselves have remained strong during the negotiations. David Stern has been pummeling them with haymakers and ultimatums. Reports have this hardline owner demanding one thing and that hardline owner demanding another. But the players themselves have remained strong. Other than JaVale McGee’s brain fart (vintage McGee), when he told reporters players were ready to fold, then subsequently denied the comments despite video evidence, and a few tweets or text messages here and there, most players seem banded together willing to follow Hunter and Derek Fisher’s lead.

Of course, the players BRI split request has dwindled to 50% down from last year’s 57%, owners haven’t made any concessions whatsoever relative to the prior CBA, and according to Ken Berger the players have already conceded more money ($330 million) for the coming year than the owners claim to have lost last season. So maybe I’m giving the players too much credit.

Wednesday’s negotiations (assuming the two sides meet) are likely to lead to a resolution, or a cloudy future of legal maneuvering and hardline stances. I vote the former, though I wouldn’t bet my (admittedly minuscule) life savings.

Forgive me if I don’t know exactly what’s going on here. Based on my best estimations, David Stern and Derek Fisher catch fire, the Celtics begin arguing on the side of a basketball court, Paul Pierce answers a phone call on the court, Ray Allen writes a few things on a coach’s notepad, the Celtics begin literally taking an ax to some big Chinese symbol, the symbol shatters, Michael Jordan stares through a glass window, Charles Oakley shows up wearing gold chains and hugging some woman, the Celtics shatter another giant Chinese symbol, Michael Jordan gets shot in the head, some baby starts crying, Jordan attempts to save par from a sand bunker, Nick Young drives to the hoop, where he will inevitably shoot a contested shot, Young says he will never wear Jordan shoes again and makes an Elvis Presley reference, Paul George randomly appears out of nowhere, David Stern shakes somebody’s hand, and the Celtics start fighting again.

Whew. Aren’t you glad you have me to translate that video for you? I knew I was good for something.

(h/t Ben Rohrbach, WEEI)

The NBA lockout is in a dangerous place, approaching the edge of a cliff on a dark road with no headlights. Hardline owners are huffing and puffing and saying they’re going to blow the entire house down. The players union is looking into whether decertification is a legitimate option. Billy Hunter and Derek Fisher may or may not have trust issues. David Stern may or may not control his camp. The negotiations seemingly teeter on a precipice, just a few percentage points from reaching a deal, but also a few more failed negotiating sessions from potentially losing a major chunk of the 2011-12 season.

Michael Jordan was outed Friday as the leader of the hardline owners. While that likely surprised some people — after all, Jordan was the one who famously told former Washington Wizards owner Abe Polin, “If you can’t make a profit, you should sell your team” — this is Michael Jordan, people. If pushing his grandmother down a set of stairs would help Jordan win (and assuredly he views this — like he views everything else — as a competition), goddamnit, Michael Jordan’s going to shove his grandmother down a set of stairs.

Jordan’s stance is hypocritical, indeed. Without a favorable collective bargaining agreement for the players, Jordan never would have accrued his wealth. Without the endorsement of today’s players, Jordan’s clothing line would not continue to net him a fortune. He should feel indebted to today’s players and to the collective bargaining agreement of yesteryear. Instead, he aims to level the playing field for the Charlotte Bobcats. (Insert any version of “maybe he just shouldn’t draft the likes of Adam Morrison” jokes here.) But really, this is Michael Jordan. If you thought he would ever bow down meekly, no matter who the opponent or what the game (and again, he absolutely views this as a competition), you probably haven’t been paying attention the last thirty years.

In the other corner are the players, some of whom — organized by Paul Pierce — engaged in a conference call with an attorney to see what negotiating options are available. Ray Allen said the players discussed a number of topics to see what direction they can turn if the negotiations continue to stall, but a large portion of the conversation reportedly hinged on decertification, an option which could lead to semi-anarchy, scaring the living bejesus out of every party involved. Decertification could lead to a long legal battle which could threaten this year if not next, or it could be just the threat necessary to hasten the owners into making a deal.

On a more Celtics-centric level is the continued maturation of Paul Pierce. Just seven or eight years ago, Pierce was known as an immature, whiny brat, a supremely talented scorer, questionable teammate and occasionally dim-witted decision maker who could sometimes be difficult to coach. Now, he’s organizing conference calls so players can become more educated regarding the options the players association can use going forward. I’ve mentioned this before, but we have been extremely lucky to watch Pierce’s growth, from that young, immature kid who wore a towel on his head to certain press conferences into the elder statesmen taking matters into his own hands to inform his peers. According to Ray Allen, Pierce wasn’t going behind the backs of union leaders. He just wanted to ensure that players had the opportunity to educate themselves about potentially forthcoming decisions that could influence their futures.

With the threat of decertification stronger than ever and a group of hardline owners digging their toes in the sand (likely outside their beautiful beach houses), Chris Sheridan is one of few reporters who does not seem worried that an NBA Armageddon could be approaching. Rather, Sheridan is “calling bullshit” on the hardline owners.

Jordan is on the other side of the table now, and it is beyond a little bit suspicious that he is now suddenly being portrayed as the leader of a ruthless ownership faction that is dictating the negotiating strategy of commissioner David Stern. These owners, we are being asked to believe, would rather shut down their sport at the height of its global growth spurt than meet somewhere in the middle on the split of revenues.

I am calling bullshit on them. This is a con, and all it is meant to do is put pressure on union negotiators to take the league’s “best and final offer” (actually, those words have yet to come out of Stern’s mouth) when that type of offer is put on the table today (or tomorrow, or Monday) with federal mediator George Cohen overseeing the proceedings.

As steady, intelligent thinkers have stated all along, a deal is there for the taking. The sides are too close economically to continue this steel cage match, especially considering that many of the pressing system issues have already been resolved. Rationally, the sides would meet in the middle on money issues and the NBA would resume play shortly.

But Ken Berger worries there’s nothing rational about these negotiators.

But no matter how the leverage shifts, no matter what legal maneuvers are executed, you know what happens? Eventually, the same parties will have to wind up back in a room to negotiate this agreement if they intend for the NBA to continue to exist.

The agreement is there to be negotiated now. The deal is there to be made. And the alternatives should be too frightening for anyone any longer to be so irresponsible as to wave a match in this roomful of noxious fumes.

What’s more frightening? This motley crew of bitter, disaffected agents and hardline owners have, in a bizarre way, joined forces. Every time these talks have reached a moment of truth, they’ve chosen chaos over reason, destruction over compromise, nuclear war over handshakes.

What makes this moment any different? Nothing, I’m sorry to say. Not a thing.

This weekend’s discussions could bring progress, and the NBA season could shortly stop being a distant illusion. Either that, or all the tough-guy, hard-ass rhetoric continues to rule the day, one side walks out on the other, and the league once again passes on a resolution that’s staring Billy Hunter and David Stern straight in the face.