Good read about the lockout

[ElNono]

With negotiations presumably resuming next week, and while I was searching for some news about the lockout, I came across this article which I thought was a great read, IMO:

'Psychic Benefits' and the NBA Lockout (http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/6874079/psychic-benefits-nba-lockout)

[gsmith78]

I thought it was a pretty good article, but had one pretty big issue with it. The author seemed very obviously on the players' side there when the 'phychic benefit' is just as big if not bigger for the players. How many of us would work for peanuts to be able to play in the NBA? We could do something we love, live with that competitive spirit and camaraderie daily, have a chance for greatness of a scale that most of us will never have even a glimpse of with the jobs we have now.

I think the article would have been better if it were about why both sides should be willing to bend a little, not just the owners. They both are parts of a game, but a game that makes them a healthy living and fame along with that fortune. I won't pretend to have a good solution to the lockout issues, but it isn't just the owners who should appreciate what they have in being part of the NBA. If both sides could see things from the perspective of those of us on the outside looking in, they might be a little more flexible and better able to find some middle ground.

[ElNono]

tbh, neither you or I play in the NBA because we don't have the kind of talent (Bonner aside) to craft NBA-level kind of art. Doesn't matter if you would play for peanuts or not.

[Bender]

dang, bonner gets no love from anyone...

[Dex]

Article lost me with this...


But most of all professional sports owners don't have to behave like businessmen. For every disciplined and rational operator like the Patriots' Robert Kraft or Mark Cuban, there is also someone like Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder.

Like him or not, Mark Cuban has been guilty of over-spending and trying to be the Yankees/Cowboys of basketball for over a decade now. Perhaps the Knicks are the only team to spend more in that time-frame, but at least they have Isiah's stupidity to blame for most of that.

Sure, he finally bought his championship last season and that worked out well, but he's long been an example of what owners are doing wrong, not what they are doing right. And according to Forbes, even all that winning still doesn't have the Mavs turning a profit. In fact, they are still closer to the bottom of the league in Operating Income.

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2011/32/basketball-valuations-11_land.html

[ElNono]

that's true

[ChuckD]

I thought it was a pretty good article, but had one pretty big issue with it. The author seemed very obviously on the players' side there when the 'phychic benefit' is just as big if not bigger for the players. How many of us would work for peanuts to be able to play in the NBA? We could do something we love, live with that competitive spirit and camaraderie daily, have a chance for greatness of a scale that most of us will never have even a glimpse of with the jobs we have now.

I think the article would have been better if it were about why both sides should be willing to bend a little, not just the owners. They both are parts of a game, but a game that makes them a healthy living and fame along with that fortune. I won't pretend to have a good solution to the lockout issues, but it isn't just the owners who should appreciate what they have in being part of the NBA. If both sides could see things from the perspective of those of us on the outside looking in, they might be a little more flexible and better able to find some middle ground.

I think you're 180 degrees off. Maybe 25 years ago, the players played for the love of the game. Now, everyone wants a long term contract, a shoe deal, and a major endorsement. Probably 2/3s of the young stars barely work on their games. Trust me: it's about the money.

[Venti Quattro]

Cuban operates under an organized chaos tbh. That is what is rational to him.