NBA Lockout Update: We've Got Progress!

Hey, some good news with the NBA lockout talks!  While things are by no means close to completion, the NBA owners and the NBA Players Association seemed to have broken through on three issues, according to multiple reports from New York.  They are as follows:

• The owners have proposed an amnesty clause that would remove up to 75 percent of a player's contract from both the salary cap and luxury tax.  The player would still receive all of his guaranteed money owed - it would just be an NFL-style system.  This is according to Ken Berger of CBS Sports.
• The two sides seem close to an agreement on the mid-level exception, according to Adrian Wojnarowski. Sounds like it'll be three years maximum starting at $5 million.  I think that's pretty fair.
• Here's the really interesting one to me.  According to Wojnarowski, the owners have proposed a "bonus pool" of sorts whereby young players who earn NBA honors during their rookie contract can be up for performance incentives.  This would go along with the Union's desire of seeing youngsters who outperform their deals get rewarded for doing so.  I'd think they'd agree right away to this.  Of course, this could be abused by rookies gunning for stats on bad teams to make the all-rookie team, but I'm not sure how else they can do this.
• Finally, Steve Aschburner reports that there's actual progress being made on the Basketball-Related Income split. One source told David Aldridge Mark Cuban of all people acting as the bridge between the two sides. On this one, I say: I'll believe it when I see it.
• One more finally: David Stern was sick today and conducted meetings via phone.  When Michael Jordan was sick for Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals, he ... OK, I'll stop. 

So hey, progress!