David Stern said that the NBA will make a strong effort to avoid a lockout. He expressed no opinion either way on whether an agreement can be reached before a lockout is imposed.

"I'm neither an optimist or a pessimist on this one. We're just going to to work hard and hopefully we'll get a deal done," Stern said. "We will get a deal done eventually. We would like very much to get one done before any damage is done."

Stern said the NBA has not changed its negotiating positions.

"The numbers are the numbers and we have to negotiate with those numbers," he said.