2011 lockout

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

The NBA cant afford another lockout.

Yup, I agree, that's why I'm hoping that the owners come down out of their castles and realise that they need to be reasonable.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

Interesting perspective on the future of the NBA in the context of Jordan's ownership bid by Kent Berger:

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/story/1...e-crucial-test

[pauls931]

That's ridiculous. If they're going to push for capping salary this far down, then I hope the players hold out as long as necessary to kill this. You'd basically be winding the clock back to 1994 or so, not including inflation.

Do you work in DC?

[DPG21920]

Keep in mind, with no rich owners, there is no NBA either. Yes, I agree the players are what you would call the SME's, but the owners are the one's taking the financial risk. They are also the one's getting screwed. Guys like Arenas are not getting screwed. Guys like Kieth Bogans, who is terrible is still making a million a year. Look at all these terrible contracts being paid out to guys who do nothing. In the real world, you have performance based pay and you can get fired if you do a poor job after you have agreed upon a job.

I mean, look at any "normal" job. You can't have a 5 star restaurant without the chef's & waitstaff, but there is no way they get more money than the owners.

The chef is why the come to eat, not the owners.

Exstatic is right in that the owners are much more well prepared to handle a lockout than the players. This is just a fact.

[pauls931]

Keep in mind, with no rich owners, there is no NBA either. Yes, I agree the players are what you would call the SME's, but the owners are the one's taking the financial risk. They are also the one's getting screwed. Guys like Arenas are not getting screwed. Guys like Kieth Bogans, who is terrible is still making a million a year. Look at all these terrible contracts being paid out to guys who do nothing. In the real world, you have performance based pay and you can get fired if you do a poor job after you have agreed upon a job.

I mean, look at any "normal" job. You can't have a 5 star restaurant without the chef's & waitstaff, but there is no way they get more money than the owners.

The chef is why the come to eat, not the owners.

Exstatic is right in that the owners are much more well prepared to handle a lockout than the players. This is just a fact.

Great post... I completely agree. Players are currently not taking risk, but also are not pulling in enough money to pay their salaries. Somethin's got to give. I doubt many owners want to pay millions out of pocket just to watch their team play, they want to make money.

[Darthkiller]

the owners wouldnt mind locking out, they lose less money holding out then to have a season.

players on the other hand, wont get paid and most of them wouldnt be able to survive.

[Donkeybong]

It would be interesting to see a slew of legit NBA players head to europe and play there if a lockout occurs.

[TIMMYD!]

Is this a good thing or a bad thing for the veteran teams that need more rest like the Spurs or Celtics?

[Donkeybong]

Is this a good thing or a bad thing for the veteran teams that need more rest like the Spurs or Celtics?

If it's a shortened season, probably a good thing. If it's season long, very bad. Window is closing as is. One year older and they are ed.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

Keep in mind, with no rich owners, there is no NBA either. Yes, I agree the players are what you would call the SME's, but the owners are the one's taking the financial risk. They are also the one's getting screwed. Guys like Arenas are not getting screwed. Guys like Kieth Bogans, who is terrible is still making a million a year. Look at all these terrible contracts being paid out to guys who do nothing. In the real world, you have performance based pay and you can get fired if you do a poor job after you have agreed upon a job.

I mean, look at any "normal" job. You can't have a 5 star restaurant without the chef's & waitstaff, but there is no way they get more money than the owners.

The chef is why the come to eat, not the owners.

Exstatic is right in that the owners are much more well prepared to handle a lockout than the players. This is just a fact.

Who gave out those contracts? The owners. They have to take the blame for the contracts they negotiated. All those bad mid-level signings (and a few at the top end) have collectively destroyed the salary cap system. That is almost entirely on the owners, and a little on the agents.

I am not arguing that there shouldn't be change in the CBA - read what I have already said in this thread. Shorter contracts (3/4 yrs guaranteed max) with more money linked to performance makes sense. However, the players should still get at least half of BRI, whilst the owners want them to take a lot less, which to me seems unreasonable.

As you say, NBA players are like star chefs - take away the chef and a restaurant quickly loses its custom. The owners and players are admittedly symbiotic in that neither can really exist successfully without the other, but the players make the league what it is. The owners are just the finance, and I'm sure that if they walked away other financiers would step into the breach because there's a ton of money being made in the NBA.

I honestly believe a lot of these owners are just trying to claw back GFC losses (both from NBA and other assets), and I feel no sympathy for them. These are mostly super-rich people with toy basketball teams for sake, and half of them do a shocking job running them! They signed a bunch of bad contracts, made some poor business decisions, got thumped in the GFC, and they are still worth hundreds of millions and more... boo-hoo, I feel really bad for them!

[L.I.T]

I did not read the whole thread. But, looking at this from a global perspective, slashing salaries too much makes foreign leagues that much more attractive for players who are looking to get paid.

We saw this situation with Josh Childress; what will happen if, for example, someone like Amar'e can 'only' get 12-15 million per year on his next deal for 3 years. Some foreign team swoops in and offers him 20 million per year with some extra years tacked on. I am sure that would make Amar'e think twice about signing in the NBA.

The NBA owners are definitely in a difficult situation. They don't want to continue to pay what they consider exorbitant salaries. If the players play their cards right and leverage off of a perceived Euro threat to the owners they can force the owners off of whatever hard line they've taken.

I am not taking sides in terms of Owners vs. Players; just offering another potential angle to the discussion.

[pauls931]

Who gave out those contracts? The owners. They have to take the blame for the contracts they negotiated. All those bad mid-level signings (and a few at the top end) have collectively destroyed the salary cap system. That is almost entirely on the owners, and a little on the agents.

I am not arguing that there shouldn't be change in the CBA - read what I have already said in this thread. Shorter contracts (3/4 yrs guaranteed max) with more money linked to performance makes sense. However, the players should still get at least half of BRI, whilst the owners want them to take a lot less, which to me seems unreasonable.

As you say, NBA players are like star chefs - take away the chef and a restaurant quickly loses its custom. The owners and players are admittedly symbiotic in that neither can really exist successfully without the other, but the players make the league what it is. The owners are just the finance, and I'm sure that if they walked away other financiers would step into the breach because there's a ton of money being made in the NBA.

I honestly believe a lot of these owners are just trying to claw back GFC losses (both from NBA and other assets), and I feel no sympathy for them. These are mostly super-rich people with toy basketball teams for sake, and half of them do a shocking job running them! They signed a bunch of bad contracts, made some poor business decisions, got thumped in the GFC, and they are still worth hundreds of millions and more... boo-hoo, I feel really bad for them!

Then the fair solution is for owners to tell players' agents to go themselves when asking for huge contracts going forward.

[Chieflion]

Then the fair solution is for owners to tell players' agents to go themselves when asking for huge contracts going forward.

The agents need to feed their families too. Either way, the NBA cannot afford to pull this and drastically reduce player salaries. This ain't 1999 where the European leagues are not fully developed yet. Those European teams will throw large amount of money baiting players to join their team, aka those mid level talent from the NBA, those Josh Childress types. The overall talent of the league would drastically reduce and scrubs like Keith Bogans may get overpaid. We don't need that.

[Darthkiller]

The agents need to feed their families too. Either way, the NBA cannot afford to pull this and drastically reduce player salaries. This ain't 1999 where the European leagues are not fully developed yet. Those European teams will throw large amount of money baiting players to join their team, aka those mid level talent from the NBA, those Josh Childress types. The overall talent of the league would drastically reduce and scrubs like Keith Bogans may get overpaid. We don't need that.

you do realize nba is losing hundreds of millions a year ever since 1999(the current cba). the players are getting paid too much while owners are not getting back enough.

[EmptyMan]

Lockout you say?

Nice. Just what the doctor ordered to jumpstart the dynasty once again.

[lefty]

Spurs 2011 NBA Champs

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

Simmons nails it again:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...simmons/100224

He says some stupid things occasionally, but most of his analysis of the NBA big picture is pretty good.

[jacobdrj]

I was hoping only the NFL would go down and might spark more interest in the NBA. But since both leagues are going down, well, to with them...

[DesignatedT]

replacement players!!!!!

[DPG21920]

Yeah, the owners gave out the contracts, so now they can be extremely tight with their money going forward? That will turn out well. You will see a ton of players crying and ing. They are only making 5M per year instead of 10 and they have absolutely 0 financial risk. I feel so bad for them.

Also, even though the GM's/Owners sign of on the contract and you put the blame on them, in the real world you can get fired even after you are hired. Would you allow the GM's to do that?

Point is both sides have a perspective.

Also, you are sorely over-estimating the amount of rich "financers" who would just step up if the owners left. There is not exactly a line of rich people lining up to buy NBA teams.

[L.I.T]

At the end of the day, owners are businessmen. And most of them have either made, maintained or expanded their asset base through being savvy investors and cost-conscious.

No one will invest in a proposition that is a guaranteed money loser.

[angrydude]

Only a fool buys an NBA team to make money.

Owning a team is an ego trip.

[baseline bum]

I like Simmons' suggestion to make the lottery even odds for all teams that miss the playoffs, like it was just after Houston tanked two seasons back to back.

[bostonguy]

Something will get worked out I hope

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

I like Simmons' suggestion to make the lottery even odds for all teams that miss the playoffs, like it was just after Houston tanked two seasons back to back.

That, plus shorten the season to 75 games and have an elimination tournament to decide the 7/8 seeds in each conference. I think that would be awesome!