Very bad week for basketball

Was it only a week ago?

A week ago, hope was high, and the future seemed bright indeed for basketball fans in China.

A week ago, Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony and Tony Parker were among the big NBA names rumored to be headed this way.

A week ago, Georgetown was already in China, and Duke University was packing its bags for a series of friendship games.

A week ago, it seemed the nation would be treated to a short-term schedule of high-profile basketball, and perhaps the groundwork would be laid for a long-term future of the same.

Yes, it was only a week ago that hope was high and the future bright.

Then somebody pinned hope to the ground and punched it repeatedly in the face, and somebody else told the future it had to stay home (unless it was a free agent willing to sign a one-year contract with no opt-out clauses, of course).

Since the fading of Yao Ming, China's huge basketball fan base has been a lover in passionate search of a beloved.

Who or what would fill the 7-foot-6 void that's miles wide?

Along came the NBA lockout, and rumblings that Chinese franchises were willing to lay down big money to lure players, if only for a few months, while the labor situation worked itself out.

Would we see teams studded with the likes of LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Dwight Howard and local favorite Bryant (who reportedly was offered a million dollars a month to come)?

Had basketball in China reached a much-awaited tipping point?

Nope.

A ruling on Friday from the Chinese Basketball Association blocked its teams from offering contracts containing clauses what would allow players to opt out and return to the NBA should the lockout end during the CBA season.

It went a step further - no player under NBA contract will be allowed to join the league.

Mike Krzyzewski, coach of both Duke and the US national team that won a gold medal in Beijing in 2008, is probably as widely plugged in to all sides of the situation as it's possible to be.

He said he hasn't talked to any NBA players about the ruling, but still found it discouraging.

"I don't have a feeling for that because I haven't talked to any of the NBA players (since the ruling), although it does take a huge option out," Krzyzewski said on Sunday after the Blue Devils put on a clinic at the MasterCard Center. "I think a large number of them would've wanted to come over here and play."

The CBA wants to focus on its own players - especially with the Olympics looming next summer - and prevent what it sees as a potential sideshow distraction.

It did leave a window open for players who haven't been drafted, and free agents who didn't have a chance to sign a new deal thanks to the lockout.

So there might be a brief influx of college and second-tier NBA players willing to roll the dice that the lockout will last a full season.

Of course, there might be fewer willing to make the move after scenes of last Thursday's ugly brawl between China's Bayi and the NCAA's Georgetown were broadcast around the world.

So, China, it's back to square one.

Maybe in the years to come, the CBA's strategy will pan out.

Maybe having top talent to play against wouldn't have been helpful for the league's players after all.

Maybe the memories of the Brawl in Beijing will fade quickly, and the few mid-level players who do qualify for eligibility will come anyway.

Maybe giving the fan base a chance to see some of the world's best players on an everyday basis would've just left them spoiled when the lockout ended.

Maybe.

But a week ago, things seemed a lot more fun.

Dusty Lane is a sports copy editor. He can be contacted at dustin.l.lane@gmail.com