"With the goal of trying to save an NBA season that would start on Christmas Day, representatives for the league and its locked-out players will meet today to resume negotiations that secretly began Monday.

Whenever a deal is struck, Grizzlies free agent forward Shane Battier is convinced that both sides share blame for the league's work stoppage.

"It's disappointing on all sides," Battier told USA Today this week. "When we look back at this, there's blood on everybody's hands. I don't think there's one group to blame. In the information age we live in, the communication is the issue which I think is ironic.

"Communications between owners and players, players and players, owners and owners. I believe there could've been clearer channels of communication to cut off some of the miscommunications that seem to occur. ... Both sides were dealing with things that could've been addressed earlier in the process, but there's a whole new set of rules with the litigation.""