Players, union agree to meeting next week

[Kori Ellis]

Players, union agree to meeting next week
By News Wire Reports
May 28, 2005

http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/nuggets/article/0,1299,DRMN_20_3813631,00.html

NEW YORK - The NBA and its players union had a "cordial" meeting and agreed to resume negotiations toward a new labor contract next week, league spokesman Tim Andree said.

Friday's two-hour session in New York marked the first face-to-face bargaining since May 18 when the league said it was breaking off talks because the union reversed its position on several previously agreed-upon issues, including the reduction in the length of contracts and an age limit.

The labor contract expires July 1, three days after the draft.

Billy Hunter, executive director of the union, said he spent the session attempting to explain the players' most recent proposal.

"We agreed we would go to our respective corners and get together next week," Hunter said, declining to discuss details of his offer.

Owners want to cut the length of contracts, which currently are six or seven seasons. Management also wants a minimum age requirement, which the players, oppose.

NBA commissioner David Stern said three days ago that owners would withdraw their latest contract offer, which guarantees players 57 percent of revenue - the same as they get now - if business is damaged by the threat of a work stoppage.

A seller of NBA merchandise earlier this week canceled orders because the league is "looking unreliable," Stern said, declining to name the company.

Hunter, meantime, said the league has rebuffed his offer to extend the current contract.

"I'm prepared to extend. When the commissioner did the deal seven years ago he touted it as a great deal," Hunter said. "I can't understand why now one wouldn't extend the current deal."

[GINNNNNNNNNNNNOBILI]

I hope the NBA doesn't have another lockout, but if they do.... what happens with the NBA draft?? Do NBA players still get paid?? what happens with free agents??

[RobinsontoDuncan]

WTF does he want to decrease the length of contracts, that is a horrible idea, I want to be able to lock guys up for the long haul.

[boutons]

"WTF does he want to decrease the length of contracts"

Players get injured,
players don't play up to their contracts,
players don't click with the team and/or coach,
closely managed, sane franchises don't want to be tatooed with a dud contract for 6 or 7 years.

[ducks]

you forgot players admit quitting on teams they do not like
(see vc and mcgrady)

[angel_luv]

One question: what is the logic of having long term contracts if owners are allowed to trade players during any point of them?

[ducks]

long contract make them MUCH HARDER TO TRADE THEM
that is why the players want them

[ducks]

and in the real world if you work for gm and they want to move you to a differnet city they can

[T Park]

what is the logic of having long term contracts if owners are allowed to trade players during any point of them

this is such a dumb question.


If the player performs then the long term contract is good, you have a great player for a while.

If you sign a guy who has a career contract year, you sign him to big money then he gets fat lazy and stops performing IE
Nesterovic
Issac Austin
Olowakandi
Jaren Jackson
Malik Rose

and such and such.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Management also wants a minimum age requirement, which the players, oppose.

This is bullshit. The players don't oppose it, the agents do.


what is the logic of having long term contracts if owners are allowed to trade players during any point of them?

Someone's already getting nervous about Rasho.

[angel_luv]

Someone's already getting nervous about Rasho.

I try no to worry, but I do.
Malik was a bitter reality check- one that I am praying not to repeat with my Rasho.

[boutons]

"what is the logic of having long term contracts if owners are allowed to trade players during any point of them?"

The team commits to spend that money for 6, 7 years, whether it's for that player, or someone traded for him. Trading him "out' often means trading "in" for contracts of others of roughly equal contract commitment. It's not win-only for the team, it's win-other-contracts in order to lose-orig-contract. ie, it's a "trade", an exchange of contracts, not an escape from a contract.

eg, when the Nets wanted rid of Deke, they bought out the contract years Deke hadn't played. Something mind-blowing like $20M for 3 years of Deke doing nothing. Then Deke went a signed a new contract with another team.

[sa_butta]

UPDATE AND ANSWERS...
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/sports/11768610.htm

By Sean Deveney
http://www.fortwayne.com/images/common/spacer.gif
Sporting News
http://www.fortwayne.com/images/common/spacer.gif

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 try 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.