Just when the optimists thought a 72 game season was going to happen, the players decided to tell the owners to take their stinking proposal and stick it. The NBPA is taking the litigation route. They are going to decertify, with a disclaimer (whatever that means) and sue the owners on anti-trust issues. Much like the NFL players union did over the summer. The difference being that the NFLPA decertified whilst still in the off-season whereas the NBPA waited until the 11th hour.
After the NBPA announced that they turned down the owners latest proposal, Commisioner David Stern, in an interview on ESPN, basically said that the players have shot themselves in the foot and stand to lose a lot of money. He felt that they got bad advice from Billy Hunter and that the season could very well be cancelled (more or less, if you really need to see the interview go to espn.com as I'm sure its still there somewhere). Stern added that the NBPA has retained the attorneys that represented the NFL players (Kessler) & the NFL owners (Boies I think is his name or something to that effect) during that labor strife. To be honest, Mr. Stern did sound a bit condescending in his comments but that's my opinion.
I'd like to point out that I agree with sports talk radio personality Chris "Mad Dog" Russo statement that Kessler is a "litigator" not a "deal-maker." If you bring in a guy like that, the negotiations will end because Kessler gets paid to go to court. Kessler has been allegedly pushing for the players to decertify because he can't go to court unless they do so (legal mumbo-jumbo). Kessler did have success in the decertification of the NFLPA as a judge did grant an injunction lifting the lockout. Then the owner's lawyer went to another judge who overturned the injunction & the lockout was back on. As I recall it all happened in the same week. That's the thing about going to court, it never seems to go quickly and it just plods along. One NBA pundit noted that the only ones getting paid now are the lawyers (today was the 1st day players would've started receiving checks).
In all honesty the drama of the lockout has been very addictive. There's the obvious battles for good press and to have the fans believe one side over the other. The hazy definition of negotiating in "good faith." There was even talk about union president, Derrick Fisher, going behind the NBPA's back trying to secretly negotiate a deal. Michale Jordan being one of the hard-line owners who want to stick it to the players (it's interesting to note that Jordan during the last labor unrest in 1998 famously told Abe Poulin, then Washington Wizards owner, that he should sell the team if he can't make any money). Quite honestly it will start to get boring now that litigation has reared its dull head.
I've been loosely following the lockout and from what I've seen, it appears that the NBPA have been the ones doing a lot of the negotiating. The owner's negotiating tactic is more along the lines of "take this deal now or it will get worse in the foreseeable future." The NBPA went from 57% of the BRI (basketball related income if you haven't been keeping up) to 50%. The owners stance was 50% now or 47% later. It's been a long time since I've negotiated on a regular basis (used to work in auto claims in my other life) but I'm pretty sure that's not how ya do it.
Regardless of the fact that I agree with the players on a few things, I do believe they're delusional about the status. Right now, NO ONE cares that their is no NBA (I'm not a huge NBA fan anymore but I will miss NBA games once the NFL season is over & I'm in a area that doesn't care about hockey or my internet connection stinks and my NHL Gamecenter keeps breaking up). There hasn't been a bunch of players going overseas and there are no new leagues forming anytime soon. Like the NBA pundits say, the players have no leverage. I can kind of agree with both side but neither side will get my sympathy. Players want unrestricted free agency to be able to sign wherever they want when their contract is up, kind of like the rest of us. But the owners don't want the stars to form super teams (the 2010-11 Heat come to mind) with their buddies. Super teams that would most likely be the Knickerbockers, Lakers, Bulls, Celtics or Heat (the cities where players want to play) not Sacramento, Milwaukee or Toronto. The league wants to penalize teams (in the form of a luxury tax) that go over the salary cap and the players want to system similar to baseball (spend whatever you want like the Yankees, Phillies, Red Sox and let the Royals and Pirates go pound sand). What the NBPA needs to realize is that teams would fold faster than Superman on laundry if that became a reality and that would mean a loss of union jobs (as I've discussed before).
Please forgive me for being all over the place. It seems like there's no coherent thought (ya think!) and I'm all over the place but then I'm not a writer. After reading a recent Bill Simmons article on the caeer of Eddie Murphy, I thought to myself, "this should've been me. I could've been a writer." Of course that would have meant having some modicum of creativity after the age of 12 and an iota of interest in writing at all in my life.
Since it was Vetern's Day last week I would like to thank those who have served in the US Armed Forces. Thanks for your time.
After the NBPA announced that they turned down the owners latest proposal, Commisioner David Stern, in an interview on ESPN, basically said that the players have shot themselves in the foot and stand to lose a lot of money. He felt that they got bad advice from Billy Hunter and that the season could very well be cancelled (more or less, if you really need to see the interview go to espn.com as I'm sure its still there somewhere). Stern added that the NBPA has retained the attorneys that represented the NFL players (Kessler) & the NFL owners (Boies I think is his name or something to that effect) during that labor strife. To be honest, Mr. Stern did sound a bit condescending in his comments but that's my opinion.
I'd like to point out that I agree with sports talk radio personality Chris "Mad Dog" Russo statement that Kessler is a "litigator" not a "deal-maker." If you bring in a guy like that, the negotiations will end because Kessler gets paid to go to court. Kessler has been allegedly pushing for the players to decertify because he can't go to court unless they do so (legal mumbo-jumbo). Kessler did have success in the decertification of the NFLPA as a judge did grant an injunction lifting the lockout. Then the owner's lawyer went to another judge who overturned the injunction & the lockout was back on. As I recall it all happened in the same week. That's the thing about going to court, it never seems to go quickly and it just plods along. One NBA pundit noted that the only ones getting paid now are the lawyers (today was the 1st day players would've started receiving checks).
In all honesty the drama of the lockout has been very addictive. There's the obvious battles for good press and to have the fans believe one side over the other. The hazy definition of negotiating in "good faith." There was even talk about union president, Derrick Fisher, going behind the NBPA's back trying to secretly negotiate a deal. Michale Jordan being one of the hard-line owners who want to stick it to the players (it's interesting to note that Jordan during the last labor unrest in 1998 famously told Abe Poulin, then Washington Wizards owner, that he should sell the team if he can't make any money). Quite honestly it will start to get boring now that litigation has reared its dull head.
I've been loosely following the lockout and from what I've seen, it appears that the NBPA have been the ones doing a lot of the negotiating. The owner's negotiating tactic is more along the lines of "take this deal now or it will get worse in the foreseeable future." The NBPA went from 57% of the BRI (basketball related income if you haven't been keeping up) to 50%. The owners stance was 50% now or 47% later. It's been a long time since I've negotiated on a regular basis (used to work in auto claims in my other life) but I'm pretty sure that's not how ya do it.
Regardless of the fact that I agree with the players on a few things, I do believe they're delusional about the status. Right now, NO ONE cares that their is no NBA (I'm not a huge NBA fan anymore but I will miss NBA games once the NFL season is over & I'm in a area that doesn't care about hockey or my internet connection stinks and my NHL Gamecenter keeps breaking up). There hasn't been a bunch of players going overseas and there are no new leagues forming anytime soon. Like the NBA pundits say, the players have no leverage. I can kind of agree with both side but neither side will get my sympathy. Players want unrestricted free agency to be able to sign wherever they want when their contract is up, kind of like the rest of us. But the owners don't want the stars to form super teams (the 2010-11 Heat come to mind) with their buddies. Super teams that would most likely be the Knickerbockers, Lakers, Bulls, Celtics or Heat (the cities where players want to play) not Sacramento, Milwaukee or Toronto. The league wants to penalize teams (in the form of a luxury tax) that go over the salary cap and the players want to system similar to baseball (spend whatever you want like the Yankees, Phillies, Red Sox and let the Royals and Pirates go pound sand). What the NBPA needs to realize is that teams would fold faster than Superman on laundry if that became a reality and that would mean a loss of union jobs (as I've discussed before).
Please forgive me for being all over the place. It seems like there's no coherent thought (ya think!) and I'm all over the place but then I'm not a writer. After reading a recent Bill Simmons article on the caeer of Eddie Murphy, I thought to myself, "this should've been me. I could've been a writer." Of course that would have meant having some modicum of creativity after the age of 12 and an iota of interest in writing at all in my life.
Since it was Vetern's Day last week I would like to thank those who have served in the US Armed Forces. Thanks for your time.
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