Players Union Files Grievance About Ball and More

[Kori Ellis]

Union gets on ball, files unfair labor practice charges
Associated Press


NEW YORK -- The players' association filed two unfair labor practice charges Friday against the NBA over issues with the new ball and the league's crackdown on player complaints.

The charges were filed with the National Labor Relations Board.

"I think that's right within the NBA's wheelhouse," Dallas owner Mark Cuban said. "They say the NBA stands for `Nothing But Attorneys,' so we're going to be great at dealing with those issues."

A number of players publicly have complained about changing the ball from leather to a microfiber composite. Although players are adjusting to the new ball, they're having a much harder time with the crackdown on reactions after the whistle, often referred to as a "zero-tolerance policy."

NBA commissioner David Stern enacted the policy, saying players were reacting too strongly after calls, and it has led to an increase in technical fouls called this season.

"It takes away from your natural reaction, the things that make basketball what it is," said Jerry Stackhouse, the Mavericks' player representative. "You think Bill Bradley never hit the support after he was called for a foul? That's the model citizen of all former NBA players. It's just a natural thing to do."

With players fined for each technical they receive, union director Billy Hunter told The Associated Press last month that legal action could be the next step if Stern didn't tell the referees to "back off."

There have been 175 unsportsmanlike technicals called through 225 games this season. There were 120 through the same number of games last season, though the number is on par with the amount from two years ago.

"Our obligation to represent our membership dictates the filing of these actions," Hunter said in a statement. "There is virtual unanimity amongst the players about their concerns and intense dislike for the new synthetic ball and the 'zero tolerance' policy.

"After extensive consultation with our membership and player leadership we determined that this was the appropriate course of action."

Some players still seem most upset about the first change to the game ball in more than 35 years.

"Honestly, it gets to a point where, you can change the way our shorts are, you know, you can change if our wristbands are too high, you can change the dress code," LeBron James said. "That's something that's controllable. But when it gets to the point where you change the basketball which, this is what we use every single day. Every single day, every single minute, 82 games. Plus preseason, plus playoffs. It just kind of didn't make sense.

"The only thing that we love the most is the basketball. That's your comfort. I mean, without your basketball, it doesn't work. That was my biggest problem, was, why would you change something that means so much to us? It didn't make sense to me at all."

Added Seattle's Ray Allen, one of the NBA's best shooters: "Every guy I've talked to, to a man, is in disagreement about the ball. The bottom line is we're out there playing and the ball is not going in like we know we're capable of putting it in, or like we've done in the past."

NBA spokesman Brian McIntyre said the league was "reviewing what they have filed."

The players feel they were entitled to have input on both changes before they were put into play. In its release, the union said the "zero-tolerance policy" was implemented without any consultation or advanced notice as required "according to the terms of the National Labor Relations Act and the 2005 NBA/NBPA Collective Bargaining Agreement."

"You never want to feel that the NBA's a dictatorship," Wizards veteran Antonio Daniels said.

The section of the CBA regarding On-Court Conduct, states, in part:

"Prior to the date on which any new rule promulgated by the NBA becomes effective, the NBA shall provide notice of such new rule to the Players Association and consult with the Players Association with respect thereto."

The crackdown isn't a new rule, however, but rather a point of emphasis. Under Stern's directive, players are fined $1,000 for each of their first five technicals. The fine increases by $500 for each five after that, capped by a $2,500 penalty for each one starting with the 16th. A one-game suspension also comes at that point and for every other technical thereafter.

"To give a technical foul, it's giving money back," Stackhouse said. "If it's a technical foul, all right, penalize the team. But don't take guys' money for natural reactions toward heat of the moment things. We're not robots. They would say they don't want us to become robots, but that's what it's becoming.

"Everything doesn't have to be we're going to show you by taking your money away. A thousand dollars is a thousand dollars, no matter whether you are making $9 million or $30,000."

Players also argue they weren't involved in the decision to use a new ball. The league unveiled it in June and sent one to its teams and all players before the start of training camp. It also was used in the All-Star game and during summer league play.

Superstars such as Shaquille O'Neal and James are among those who have blasted it, and many others have complained that it feels and performs far differently than the old leather ball, criticizing the way it bounces off the floor and the rim.

"I was surprised when they announced that they were changing the ball," Sacramento's Shareef Abdur-Rahim. "That shouldn't happen without some input from the players. I've never cared for the new ball, and I'm a big guy. When ballhandlers like Steve Nash and Jason Kidd are complaining about it, that says a lot."

[BillsCarnage]

Sounds like someone (the union) needs the WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-mbulance.

[CubanMustGo]

"Everything doesn't have to be we're going to show you by taking your money away. A thousand dollars is a thousand dollars, no matter whether you are making $9 million or $30,000."

Show me an NBA baller making anything close to $30K and I'll care.

[phyzik]

Fuck that....
I understand where the players are coming from but the NBA is not there for them, its there for the fans... Let the fans vote, and I for one like the change. I'm tired of whinny, bitchy millionaires who get payed to play a fucking game to entertain people. Fuck all of them, including any Spurs who complain.

Id fucking quit my job and do whatever was asked of me (within reason) in a fucking heartbeat to live the life that they live, fuck them. Suck it up and play the fucking game pussies!!

[lefty]

Fuck that....
I understand where the players are coming from but the NBA is not there for them, its there for the fans... Let the fans vote, and I for one like the change. I'm tired of whinny, bitchy millionaires who get payed to play a fucking game to entertain people. Fuck all of them, including any Spurs who complain.

Id fucking quit my job and do whatever was asked of me (within reason) in a fucking heartbeat to live the life that they live, fuck them. Suck it up and play the fucking game pussies!!

Yeah, they whine too much about the money, I agree with you

However, they have the right to be upset about the new ball ; just watching that VC's 3 dying on the rim before going in against Washington -instead of bouncing-makes me sick

[Please_dont_ban_me]

However, they have the right to be upset about the new ball ; just watching that VC's 3 dying on the rim before going in against Washington -instead of bouncing-makes me sick

That truely was ugly. It was like shooting a flat ball, it just plopped in off back rim.




Anyways, my question is this...if the Spurs win this year will Phil Jackson have another asterisk worthy whining session?

[Jimcs50]

The players are the ones who need to decide. They are the ones using the ball, not the league. Makes sense, yes?

[spurtime]

The larger issue seems to be that the "zero tolerance" rule (I know they said it was just a "change in emphasis") and basketball were implemented without any input from the players union when the CBA seems to provide that there should be consultation. I can understand where the players are coming from as far as that goes. If they do nothing about it they're setting a precedent for more power grabs by ownership in the future. This is a classic labor/mgmt battle.

[SequSpur]

Last year's playoffs were a fucking joke. The refs lost control of everything. That is why there is a no tolerance rule. That is the way it should be.

[exstatic]

You think Bill Bradley never hit the support after he was called for a foul?
Stackhouse truly reveals himself for a fool. The answer to that question would be NO, because players had control of their emotions back then. If ref called you for a foul and you spun and just looked at him, you got a T.

[ponky]

Stackhouse truly reveals himself for a fool. The answer to that question would be NO, because players had control of their emotions back then. If ref called you for a foul and you spun and just looked at him, you got a T.

Some people just can't resist turning any little thing into a Mavs/Spurs bitchfest.


Anyway I agree with some of the others in this thread about the ball/fines. Sure the NBA players make shitloads of money for what they do but that doesn't mean they should just stfu and let management decide everything. We don't (I hope) take that kind of enforcement/change without having some kind of dialogue with management in our own workplaces. What if you worked in an office, sat in front of a computer 8 hours a day and came in to work one day only to find that your office chair had been replaced with a metal folding chair? Most people would at least inquire with management and this is what the union is doing. I'm more for changing the ball than the whole tech foul thing but whatever, the players should have had some input.

[K-State Spur]

I really don't care about the ball one way or another, but I dare say that this is one of the most frivolous charges of unfair labor practices ever filed.

Good gawd, companies change equipment all the time without the say-so of employees.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

"Everything doesn't have to be we're going to show you by taking your money away. A thousand dollars is a thousand dollars, no matter whether you are making $9 million or $30,000."

Um, yeah, considering the league minimum is a couple hundred thousand.... shut the fuck up Stackhouse. What a cunt.

The simple solution is to shut the fuck up and play ball. Whiny bitch.



It's just a natural thing to do.

No, it's not natural to yell at a ref "what the fuck are you doing, don't you know who I am? What the fuck are you doing calling a foul on me?"

Like owner, like player...

[easjer]

I certainly think the union has a right to complain about the ball. Given that that is the most central piece of equipment used in the sport, the players should have been consulted. If my office had a union there would have been massive grievances filed when the provost decided to simply do away with paper copies of the course schedules. Yeah, the information is all available online but wth? It makes it tiresome and infinitely more difficult to find all the courses. It takes me a hell of a lot longer to look up the course number and then do a search for open courses and search for filled quotas than it does to flip open the book and search an individual section number. It's not that I can't do it the other way, it's that management made my job a lot harder for minimal benefit.

Same thing here. They have the means to complain and they should.

The whining thing? They won't get far with that. Even I'll admit that it is an improvement and I was not in favor of giving the refs more power when they abuse and misuse what power they already have.

[Brutalis]

In the end it's one side wanting money or the other.

[K-State Spur]

If my office had a union there would have been massive grievances filed when the provost decided to simply do away with paper copies of the course schedules. Yeah, the information is all available online but wth?

Actually, a better comparison would be that your office just switched to only recycled paper. And your grievances wouldn't last for one day in court or in front of an arbitrator unless you had extremely high paid attorneys on your side, which would be the only reason that this might be an issue.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

I don't have my Insider account anymore, but Deadspin writes that in Chris Sheridan's blog on ESPN, players have been complaining about cuts caused by the new ball.

If somebody could post that, that might be a legitimate beef.

[Kori Ellis]

One beef is legit, other runs afoulposted: Friday, December 1, 2006 | Print Entry
filed under: NBA

A handful of NBA players complained that the new microfiber ball was actually cutting up their hands, causing tiny abrasions -- teeny-weeny paper cuts, if you will.

I heard tonight that players including Steve Nash, Jason Kidd, Michael Redd and Mo Williams complained about the abrasions, contributing to the Players' Association's decision Friday to file a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board.

It's interesting to note that rather than going the route specified in the collective bargaining agreement and bringing this issue before an arbitrator, the union is turning to a government agency. The NLRB is expected to conduct an investigation and decide whether the complaint has merit, after which the union would be able to seek relief in a court of law. The reason the union opted for the NLRB route is because there is no language in the collective bargaining agreement dealing with the question of the type of ball used in NBA games.

But what's curious about the union's dual complaint to the NLRB is the second part of it, where they say work rules were unilaterally changed when referees started cracking down on player complaints and whisting more technical fouls. Through Thursday night's games, there had been an average of .821 technicals fouls per game (not including defensive 3-second technicals and techs against coaches), a measuarble increase compared to last season's average of .672, but actually a drop from two years ago when an average of .886 technicals were called per game (This information comes courtesy of the Elias Sports Bureau in New York).

Player conduct and discipline issues are covered ad nauseum in the CBA, and it looks like it'll be a tough sell for them to make the case that the rules have been substantially changed to such a degree that it's an unfair labor practice. The statistical evidence doesn't back up their argument.

The ball issue, though, is another thing.

I've talked to a lot of players about it, and the only guy who has been pretty vehemently in favor of the new ball is Portland guard Jarrett Jack, who said the league's younger players actually feel they have a bit of an advantage because they've been using composite balls in college and high school games for years. Jack also noted that many of the players voicing the loudest concerns, including LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, never played college ball.

But aside from Jack, the criticism has been pretty universal. It's only died down publicly because reporters have grown tired of asking about it and players are stuck using it whether they complain publicly or not. But the complaints to the players union's headquarters have been incessant, and union director Billy Hunter -- after acquiescing to the league's wishes to give the new ball a chance -- has decided to make this his next big fight. The complaints over the paper cuts were the last straw.

It's a good fight, in my opinion, as I've been on record as saying I didn't see any good reason for getting rid of the old ball, but I'm thinking Hunter did himself a dissservice here by lumping this battle in with the other battle over technical fouls.

One is a legitimate beef. The other is not.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

BTW, after that Vince Carter joke of a shot dropped in a couple of weeks ago, I think the problem with the new ball merits discussion.

The whining over technicals for whining :lol is a lame complaint and the players should STFU about that one.

[smeagol]

BTW, after that Vince Carter joke of a shot dropped in a couple of weeks ago, I think the problem with the new ball merits discussion.

The whining over technicals for whining :lol is a lame complaint and the players should STFU about that one.
What ^ said.

[pjjrfan]

I got no problem with the techs, I don't remember so many players moaning and complaining like I do nowadays. Since the David era began the past few years has been the worse. The reason I mention the DRob era is because before DRob only a few Spurs games were shown on tv, when Dave came on board, they did away with the payperview crap and began showing almost all the games locally. And before that I doubt anyone was watching as much pro ball on tv as they are now with so much airplay all over the country.

The issue with the ball, has just never made any sense in my book. It's just not the material, they changed the design on it. And from the looks of it, it was a decision made without any input from the union or the players. That's a pretty ballsy move for even Stern to make. I'm with the players on this one.

[v2freak]

A reason I advocate the new ball is that it's not made from leather. I'll admit I'm an animal lover.

Poor millionaires..they really have a lot of troubles

[mikejones99]

Dam, they have a right to complain about both. Why are most of you fuckers so mad that they make lots of money? Jealous bitches.

[v2freak]

Maybe we're mad because they are exploiting a society that rewards those that don't give back equally to it.

[LilMissSPURfect]

"whiners will be whiners"!

[K-State Spur]

Dam, they have a right to complain about both. Why are most of you fuckers so mad that they make lots of money? Jealous bitches.

right to complain? yes.

legal right to call this an unfair labor practice? complete insult to millions who actually have to deal with actual unfair labor practices everyday.

let's say your company switches computers on you. they feel the new model is an upgrade and you feel that you were much more comfortable with the older model. try to file a labor grievance and see how far you get...

(the cuts on the hand might be an issue, but as jarret jack points out, composite balls are used at many different levels and used all over the playgrounds - many people on this board have probably played with a composite ball and not even realized it - and i've never heard this complaint before, so i'm not buying fully into yet).

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

The new ball is absolutely crap and should never have replaced the leather one - that was a purely commercial decision made ny the NBA, but the players are the ones who should decide on the ball they use.

As for the whining, I think the players should be allowed to react naturally, sometimes with frustration, but shouldn't be able to debate calls.

[T Park]

exploiting a society that rewards those that don't give back equally to it

wtf???

[T Park]

the new ball is crap also.

there was a possession tonight eric williams was dribbling and he had to grab it with two hands because the ball is just dead or just wants to slip easily out of his hands.

He even mentioned that on the postgame interview.

[SpursWoman]

(the cuts on the hand might be an issue, but as jarret jack points out, composite balls are used at many different levels and used all over the playgrounds - many people on this board have probably played with a composite ball and not even realized it - and i've never heard this complaint before, so i'm not buying fully into yet).


That's kind of what I was thinking. If they've been using this ball in college and other places for years ... why haven't the cuts on the hands been an issue before this?

[ATX Spur]

Mark Cuban, Jerry Stackhouse, Ray Allen, Antonio Daniels, Shareef Abdur-Rahim... Did this reporter intentionally hunt down the biggest assholes/whiners in the NBA for this story?

Yep, Antoine Walker and Jason Terry were unavailable for comment.

[v2freak]

wtf???

What I was getting at is, a basketball player does not contribute to society more than, say, a doctor, or a scientist. But he is making about 25x their salary.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Dam, they have a right to complain about both. Why are most of you fuckers so mad that they make lots of money? Jealous bitches.

They use a synthetic ball in college. You don't hear college players complaining about the ball.

I think the two panel design crap is the problem with the ball, and the use of microfiber as opposed to synthetic leather like they use in the production of the college ball.

Generally speaking, the complaint about the ball would be like someone complaining because their work changed from HP computers to Dell. Pretty weak.

I'd say they don't even have an argument on the ball but that Vince Carter shot that hit the base of the rim where it meets the backboard and fell in makes me wonder.

I also saw the ball get stuck in between the rim and backboard three times in the Chicago game last night, and Eric Williams also had that play where the ball just died on him on a dribble.

That kind of shit shouldn't be happening like it is.

[Kori Ellis]

That's kind of what I was thinking. If they've been using this ball in college and other places for years ... why haven't the cuts on the hands been an issue before this?

They haven't been using this same kind of ball anywhere for years. The balls in college are synthetic but they aren't the same exact material.

If players like Nash, Redd, Kidd, etc say they are getting cut, they definitely need to take a look at it.

[v2freak]

Bizarre! How would a ball cut you?

[spurtime]

Bizarre! How would a ball cut you?

Apparantly the synthetic fibers tear off the ball and are sharp...

[ajh18]

Wasn't the new ball reportedly sent to every team during last year's all-star break? I don't know if the decision to use the ball had been finalized at that point, but if that was a feedback period to make complaints, and none of the teams really did, then criticisms after the decision is final don't hold as much water.

[exstatic]

If it's cutting players, then it is a health hazard, and there is legal exposure. That will cost a LOT more than leather balls.

[SpursWoman]

They haven't been using this same kind of ball anywhere for years. The balls in college are synthetic but they aren't the same exact material.


Then I guess that answers that.

[bdictjames]

Carmelo seems to be liking the ball. He's scoring 30 point games everywhere

[Sportcamper]

It is mind boggling that this is even being discussed...Shaquille O’Neal himself said that he DOES NOT LIKE THE NEW BALL...END OF STORY.... :smokin They were supposed to have changed back to the leather ball before the season started....

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Shaquille O’Neal himself said that he DOES NOT LIKE THE NEW BALL...END OF STORY..

Shaq hates free throws too, are you saying they should outlaw them? Dumbass argument.

[50 cent]

look at Finley's shot just now that hit the back of the rim and just died and then fell through the net.

The new ball is a joke.