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another nba lockout on the verge
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| erdega |
Owners vs. union: a messy matchup
| quote: | Tough thing, being a fan. Not only are you dealing with playoff outcomes, you're dealing with basketball-related income. For every time you get a look at a 24-second shot clock, someone is yapping about a 20-year-old age minimum. These days, the NBA is as much about the escrow as it is about the pick-and-roll.
With the announcement last week that the NBA and its players union broke off negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement, the issue of a work stoppage is getting more attention. This can be considered a sign of idiocy on both sides---why obscure the pinnacle of the NBA season with the David Stern-vs.-Billy Hunter sideshow?
That's just one query. Judging from the content of my e-mail inbox, there are many more.
Q: Why has this suddenly become a big story?
A: Because the union and league had been meeting regularly to work on a new collective bargaining agreement but those talks have broken down.
Q: Why the breakdown?
A: The league says it had agreed on some issues with Hunter, the head of the union. But Hunter met with player agents in late April to seek their input. After that meeting, according to the league, Hunter reversed his positions, resulting in the accusation that Hunter was a puppet for the agents. Hunter, who is black, fired back by accusing the league of racism. That sort of mudslinging is a bad sign.
Q: What are the key issues?
A: The most important is the length of contracts. Currently, a free agent can sign for a maximum of seven years if he re-signs with his team or six years if he leaves for a different one. The owners would like to drop that to five and four years.
The second issue is midlevel exceptions. The owners would like to cut the maximum years on contracts for midlevel-exception players from six to three. The third is annual pay increases. Currently, players get annual maximum increases of 12.5 percent. The owners would like to drop that to as low as 5 percent.
Q: Sounds like the players would be giving up a lot. What would they get in return?
A: More money. The league was willing to bump up the salary cap and give the players a bigger cut of the income pie.
Q: Who's right?
A: Tough to say anyone is right when teams are selling for $400 million and the average player salary is more than $4.5 million. Everyone is making money. But players are being asked to give up a lot, and owners are shooting for the moon. The owners accomplished a lot in the last collective bargaining agreement in 1999, getting a luxury tax and a limit on the maximum salary for individual players. The trade-off was that the players could have long guaranteed contracts. Now, the owners are trying to cut back on those long contracts. The players are right not to give in.
Q: Is there going to be a lockout?
A: Yes. There always was going to be a lockout. The current agreement expires June 30, and as early as last summer, three general managers told me that there was no way a deal would be done by then. A more likely scenario: The owners lock out the players on July 1 and use the summer to attempt to crack the union. Owners don't make money in the summer, but players will be missing their paychecks---it's tough to make mortgage and car payments without an income. Stern will gamble that by building financial pressure over those months, the league will gain the upper hand and he can force the changes the owners want.
Q: How damaging will the lockout be?
A: Any lockout hurts, even if it is over the summer. However, if the two sides can come to an agreement in September (the earliest time it could realistically happen, one general manager says) or in early October, there still would be time to have training camp and start the season in November.
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| LeopoldStotch |
i thought they settled this back in 1998, and now they are arguing again ... :rolleyes: ..
when will they put egos aside and make their multi-million dollar contracts a little bit less and more negotiable, and things would be all right .. i hope they settle things, or this could turn ugly .. does this mean that we will see patrick ewing every night talking ?? .. is he still part of the players union ?? .. |
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| SlackerBoy9 |
| This just won't be the same kind of lockout this year...i mean not without the wise speeches made by Sir Patrick ewing...walking up to the podium wearing his 1,000 suit and reading spectacles so that he can drop "well we make alot of money,but we spend alot of money".That spech is right up there in my soundbites catalog right after a.i. saying the "what are we talking about? practice" speech.but in all seriousness they all know what is on the line ,hopefully Billy Hunter won't drop another David Stern is a racist blast |
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| Iron Fist |
| No more lockout. The NBA and the Players Union have come to a six year agreement. It was confirmed at Game 6 Spurs vs Pistons by David Stern. |
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| LeopoldStotch |
| quote: | Originally posted by Iron Fist
No more lockout. The NBA and the Players Union have come to a six year agreement. It was confirmed at Game 6 Spurs vs Pistons by David Stern. |
woo hoo! ..
i am happy about the decision ..
i agree with every one of their improvements, except the age limit deal ..
i am sorry, but i agree with pushing the age to 20, instead of the current 19. i know it stunts many great high school athletes 2 years from the pros, but i think a good ol' college whooping will provide them some experience on how to play defense ..
amare stoudemire is a pure example .. he totally broke down on defense during the playoffs .. the plays he did make were off his man, because he was providing the secondary help for his teammate .. garnett, kobe, and t-mac had his woes on defense the first couple of years ..
scoring can come at an ease for anyone .. it takes a real man to know how to be a brick wall .. that's what college can provide for the high school kids .. i know college is nothing but a money grubbing industry these days .. :rolleyes: .. making money off of their kids stardoms, but these hs athletes need to start worrying less about the "money", and worry more about the "bling bling" they will be wearing on their fingers when they learn to play defense ..
and i can't excuse lebron james either .. yeah yeah he has all those steals .. he is really a "freak of nature" i can tell you that .. but he really does need to work on his one-on-one game when his man his backing him down in the paint or driving towards the basket .. either take the hit or make the adjustment to deter the lane / shot ..
just my opinion .. |
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| NEWYORKTRANCER |
| damn NBA players isnt the millions ever year enough for them |
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| zoric |
| quote: | Originally posted by NEWYORKTRANCER
damn NBA players isnt the millions ever year enough for them |
Seems like it's not.. |
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| StraightEdge |
| i haven't heard anythihng about another pending lockout...i thought everything was alright?! |
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