With the N.B.A. lockout growing nastier, players having a vehicle to unload their thoughts directly to fans is potentially an image disaster. Even before the Twitter age, it was only a matter of time until a player said something that instantly made all players look ridiculous and out of touch - think Patrick Ewing's "Sure, we make a lot of money, but we spend a lot, too" comment that became the eye-roller of the 1999 lockout. Now, that danger is only 140 characters away.
But so far, the players have been remarkably disciplined about steering away from that danger. If you scroll through the Twitter messages by players since yesterday's announcement that the first two weeks of the season would be canceled, they seem pretty well choreographed. There is little anger in them and almost no whining. In other words, very un-N.B.A. player-like. Clearly, the players union has been busy convincing its members to send messages cautiously.
LeBron James : I wanna sincerely say sorry to all the fans! It's a sad day for all of us, especially u guys! There's no US w/o You. #loveuguys
James's post was typical of the players' messages, which had a couple of themes running through them. There was a lot of apologizing to the fans. There was remorse for the people who work at the league's arenas. And many emphasized that they are working out hard and getting ready for the season.
Udonis Haslem : Up early in the morning thinking bout all the people affected by the decision made. All I can say is this a damn shame.
Roger Mason : Sad day in the NBA with the cancellation of first 2 weeks.I feel horrible for the thousounds of workers impacted by lockout. #freebasketball
Matt Carroll : All the NBA arena employees, businesses and people who are being negatively affected by this #lockout, I'm sorry you have to deal with this!
Andrew Bogut : And lets not forget the fans who make the NBA what it is today! LET US PLAY!!! #standunited
The "Let us play" theme was clearly planned, but also caused a bit of an uproar from Twitter followers on Monday, who were not necessarily following this labor tiff closely enough to know the players are not on strike and the usual assumption that the players are demanding more money is not true. So, the players have mounted the effort to remind people they were locked out by the owners, who are seeking a higher percentage of revenue.
Spencer Hawes : Call me crazy but where does it say that businesses have a right to guaranteed revenue even when they are continually run poorly? #lockout
This being a brand-awareness age, the players are obviously conscious of being tagged greedy millionaires depriving fans of professional basketball. Their very large, and largely guaranteed, contracts make that a tougher sell than N.F.L. players had in their lockout. But the interesting part is, they are clearly aware they need to do the selling and social media gives them an outlet.
But, as the public image specialist Mike Paul warns, the longer the lockout goes, the more likely that polished social media front will crack.
"If the lockout drags on, will that maturity and patience on social media continue?" said Paul, who has worked with professional athletes as well as teams and leagues. "We know there are younger players out there. We know there are immature players out there. It's just a matter of when it happens because we know mistakes will be made."
Paul said he believes both the players and teams would help themselves by doing more than just managing their messages. He said he would counsel them to reach out actively to fans, create events they can attend and engender some goodwill while the lockout costs them games. "I think they are missing a huge opportunity," Paul said.
But, this being the N.B.A. it's notable that no one is mimicking Ewing or any of the other faux pas of the past, including Latrell Sprewell famously claiming he couldn't feed his family on $27 million during a contract dispute. Imagining Sprewell with a Twitter page would make any union official shudder. Fortunately, the current generation of players seems to have learned from such mistakes.
Brandon Jennings : no training camp, no pre-season, first 2 weeks cancelled…. This is really crazy!!! I miss the Bradley Center, teammates and coaches
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