Photo by (cup)cake_eater on Flickr.

Quietly, Samardo Samuels pulled a Mickey Arison yesterday. He hasn’t even deleted the tweet.

50/50 sound good to me whats the problem. It's church money away

October 28, 2011 7:05 pm via Twitter for iPadReplyRetweetFavorite

@samardo24

Jahlove24

You don’t need me to explain in detail why Billy Hunter would be upset at Samardo, here. After the two sides looked ready to make a deal, talks broke down yet again over a relatively small difference on the revenue split. Even if it’s obvious that there are differences of opinion within both factions, it’s important to try to appear united. If players with higher profiles than Samuels go public with their dissension, it would create quite a problem. According to Henry Abbott, we should really be asking how many of the players are feeling the same way as Samuels:

 I have heard from a player or two recently. Those involved in the talks are fired up in keeping with the union’s position. But the others who have made their opinions known to me … they just want to play. They care to play more than they care to win on the remaining issues. I wonder what a poll would find.

If a majority of the players were, in fact, ready to make concessions in the name of playing, how would Hunter and the union know? And wouldn’t it be absurd to lose games that a majority of players would happily play for what the league has already offered?

Via First Real Test Of Player Resolve, 10/28/11

This isn’t the first time Samuels has caused a stir on Twitter — he wasn’t the most popular guy in Cleveland when he said he was a LeBron James fan. It’s not the first time he’s spoken up about the lockout either, as he told the Cleveland Plain-Dealer the lockout was “boring” and “annoying” and joked on Twitter about playing his senior season at Louisville. To anyone who follows him, this isn’t a huge surprise and, on its own, a Cavs role player who frequently uses profanity on his Twitter account saying he’d be fine with a 50/50 split doesn’t qualify as a huge story. What’s important is that there are likely a great deal of other players in similar positions who feel the same way. As paychecks are missed, you can expect more of this sentiment to be expressed publicly. Just one more thing for Billy Hunter to worry about.