The Official NBA Collective Bargaining Thread vol Phased in Hard Cap

[mr marcus]

Damn nba smh...

 

[sooperhooper]

This is embarrassing. I wonder how long it will last. They don't care about fans at all.

 

[sooperhooper]

This is embarrassing. I wonder how long it will last. They don't care about fans at all.

 

[pmatic]

Clock ticking for Hunter, Stern

Contrary to popular belief, the most important fight being waged Tuesday in Manhattan is not David Stern vs. Billy Hunter, nor is it the NBA vs. the players.

Fight No. 1 will occur at 10:30 a.m. in another happenin' hotel in the city, when Stern and his cabinet meet with the owners privately to set their strategy for what could be the last bargaining session with the players for a very long time. Fight No. 1(a) is Hunter's fight, and that one begins in earnest after the owners-player talks blow up spectactularly at noon.

One is contingent on the other. If Stern is unable to rein in his owners and insist on offering the players a fair deal that they will accept -- if he is unable to win fight No. 1 -- then Hunter's fight is inevitable. There is real frustration, venom and fury ready to be unleashed by a cadre of powerful agents who represent enough players to turn this process into a cataclysm that will bring basketball to its knees.

Billy "Giveback" Hunter, one agent referred to him as on the phone early Tuesday -- and it got worse from there, much more mean-spirited and unfair and too angry, honestly, to publish any more. There is real anger here among the agents, some of whom are advising their clients not to vote for a deal that gives back one dollar of the players' 57 percent of revenues -- even as the National Basketball Players Association is believed to have offered 53 percent and maybe lower. What the agents are fighting for now has already left the barn, hasn't it?

"Nothing has left the barn," one of the agents said. "The vote will determine what's left the barn."

The agents want their players to be able to vote in a private setting on any deal Hunter and the union agree too, and they want their clients to have more than 24 hours to digest the particulars. They don't want another show-of-hands vote like the one that ended the 1998-99 lockout, in which every player had the "opportunity to vote," as it states in the union bylaws, but less than half the membership actually voted.

"A Libyan vote," one agent characterized it as. "It was a pep rally."

The agents are furious with Hunter and want a piece of Stern and the owners, too. It is clear that even if Hunter reached a deal Tuesday on a percentage of BRI the union already has offered, there's no guarantee he'll get it past a vote -- only a guarantee that Hunter would be out of a job.

Hunter has always been in an impossible position in these negotiations, and I personally don't blame him for the bargaining and legal strategies he's pursued and for those he's left unexplored. The agents -- seven of whom wrote to their clients over the weekend urging them to dig in -- have only seen one viable option since 12:01 a.m. on July 1: decertification and an antitrust lawsuit. Never mind that decertification didn't work for the NFL players in their lockout, and that it resulted in a sweeping victory for the owners in that sport, too. Never mind that agents work in a profession that, by definition, requires duplicity to be successful. Never mind that the agents can't even seem to agree on what their letter says; one insisted Monday that it urges players to accept "no further reduction" in BRI from what the union has offered, while another said the line in the sand was 57 percent.

Union president Derek Fisher, thrust into a tempest of politics and age-old grudges that make Shaq vs. Kobe look like a game of pattycake, responded with a letter of his own Monday night rebuking the agents. This game of pen pal is nice and quaint, and now the powder keg gets wheeled into the room at noon ET Tuesday for the real fireworks.

It's a mess, a basketball Armageddon that only Stern and his owners, and then Stern and Hunter -- doing their last bargaining dance with jobs and legacies on the line -- can forestall.
 
Happy Tuesday. 
Link

I get the feeling the negotiations will go nuclear after today.

 

[pmatic]

Clock ticking for Hunter, Stern

Contrary to popular belief, the most important fight being waged Tuesday in Manhattan is not David Stern vs. Billy Hunter, nor is it the NBA vs. the players.

Fight No. 1 will occur at 10:30 a.m. in another happenin' hotel in the city, when Stern and his cabinet meet with the owners privately to set their strategy for what could be the last bargaining session with the players for a very long time. Fight No. 1(a) is Hunter's fight, and that one begins in earnest after the owners-player talks blow up spectactularly at noon.

One is contingent on the other. If Stern is unable to rein in his owners and insist on offering the players a fair deal that they will accept -- if he is unable to win fight No. 1 -- then Hunter's fight is inevitable. There is real frustration, venom and fury ready to be unleashed by a cadre of powerful agents who represent enough players to turn this process into a cataclysm that will bring basketball to its knees.

Billy "Giveback" Hunter, one agent referred to him as on the phone early Tuesday -- and it got worse from there, much more mean-spirited and unfair and too angry, honestly, to publish any more. There is real anger here among the agents, some of whom are advising their clients not to vote for a deal that gives back one dollar of the players' 57 percent of revenues -- even as the National Basketball Players Association is believed to have offered 53 percent and maybe lower. What the agents are fighting for now has already left the barn, hasn't it?

"Nothing has left the barn," one of the agents said. "The vote will determine what's left the barn."

The agents want their players to be able to vote in a private setting on any deal Hunter and the union agree too, and they want their clients to have more than 24 hours to digest the particulars. They don't want another show-of-hands vote like the one that ended the 1998-99 lockout, in which every player had the "opportunity to vote," as it states in the union bylaws, but less than half the membership actually voted.

"A Libyan vote," one agent characterized it as. "It was a pep rally."

The agents are furious with Hunter and want a piece of Stern and the owners, too. It is clear that even if Hunter reached a deal Tuesday on a percentage of BRI the union already has offered, there's no guarantee he'll get it past a vote -- only a guarantee that Hunter would be out of a job.

Hunter has always been in an impossible position in these negotiations, and I personally don't blame him for the bargaining and legal strategies he's pursued and for those he's left unexplored. The agents -- seven of whom wrote to their clients over the weekend urging them to dig in -- have only seen one viable option since 12:01 a.m. on July 1: decertification and an antitrust lawsuit. Never mind that decertification didn't work for the NFL players in their lockout, and that it resulted in a sweeping victory for the owners in that sport, too. Never mind that agents work in a profession that, by definition, requires duplicity to be successful. Never mind that the agents can't even seem to agree on what their letter says; one insisted Monday that it urges players to accept "no further reduction" in BRI from what the union has offered, while another said the line in the sand was 57 percent.

Union president Derek Fisher, thrust into a tempest of politics and age-old grudges that make Shaq vs. Kobe look like a game of pattycake, responded with a letter of his own Monday night rebuking the agents. This game of pen pal is nice and quaint, and now the powder keg gets wheeled into the room at noon ET Tuesday for the real fireworks.

It's a mess, a basketball Armageddon that only Stern and his owners, and then Stern and Hunter -- doing their last bargaining dance with jobs and legacies on the line -- can forestall.
 
Happy Tuesday. 
Link

I get the feeling the negotiations will go nuclear after today.

 

[MVP]

So today is pretty much doomsday...at least 2K comes out to give me some basketball

 

[MVP]

So today is pretty much doomsday...at least 2K comes out to give me some basketball

 

[seymore cake]

Yea...

 

[seymore cake]

Yea...

 

[shabooyah1124]

Originally Posted by sooperhooper

This is embarrassing. I wonder how long it will last. They don't care about fans at all.

Even worse for team employees. A friend of mine works for the Wizards FO and he's applying to be a substitute teacher if there's a lockout.

 

[shabooyah1124]

Originally Posted by sooperhooper

This is embarrassing. I wonder how long it will last. They don't care about fans at all.

Even worse for team employees. A friend of mine works for the Wizards FO and he's applying to be a substitute teacher if there's a lockout.

 

[beware the underdog]

shabooyah1124 wrote:

---

sooperhooper wrote:

---

This is embarrassing. I wonder how long it will last. They don't care about fans at all.


Even worse for team employees. A friend of mine works for the Wizards FO and he's applying to be a substitute teacher if there's a lockout.
See the owners are not only looking out for themselves but for the thousands of employees. They pay these people also not just the players.

  

 

[beware the underdog]

shabooyah1124 wrote:

---

sooperhooper wrote:

---

This is embarrassing. I wonder how long it will last. They don't care about fans at all.


Even worse for team employees. A friend of mine works for the Wizards FO and he's applying to be a substitute teacher if there's a lockout.
See the owners are not only looking out for themselves but for the thousands of employees. They pay these people also not just the players.

  

 

[CP1708]

Originally Posted by Beware The Underdog

shabooyah1124 wrote:

---

sooperhooper wrote:

---

This is embarrassing. I wonder how long it will last. They don't care about fans at all.

Even worse for team employees. A friend of mine works for the Wizards FO and he's applying to be a substitute teacher if there's a lockout.
See the owners are not only looking out for themselves but for the thousands of employees. They pay these people also not just the players.

  

Just when I thought you couldn't sound any more stupid. 

  

 

[CP1708]

Originally Posted by Beware The Underdog

shabooyah1124 wrote:

---

sooperhooper wrote:

---

This is embarrassing. I wonder how long it will last. They don't care about fans at all.

Even worse for team employees. A friend of mine works for the Wizards FO and he's applying to be a substitute teacher if there's a lockout.
See the owners are not only looking out for themselves but for the thousands of employees. They pay these people also not just the players.

  

Just when I thought you couldn't sound any more stupid. 

  

 

[beware the underdog]

 

[beware the underdog]

 

[duba169]

Yeah the owners care so much about their employees

I mean just look at what miami did to their ticket salesmen after the big 3 arrived. These are classy people we are talking about. Its those Damn thug basketball players that don't care about team employees. Its not like they paid for a clippers assistant cancer treatment. Sterling had to sacrafice and pay

 

[duba169]

Yeah the owners care so much about their employees

I mean just look at what miami did to their ticket salesmen after the big 3 arrived. These are classy people we are talking about. Its those Damn thug basketball players that don't care about team employees. Its not like they paid for a clippers assistant cancer treatment. Sterling had to sacrafice and pay

 

[duba169]

Yeah the owners care so much about their employees

I mean just look at what miami did to their ticket salesmen after the big 3 arrived. These are classy people we are talking about. Its those Damn thug basketball players that don't care about team employees. Its not like they paid for a clippers assistant cancer treatment. Sterling had to sacrafice and pay

 

[johnnyredstorm]

Basketball players sicken me with all their tattoos, long shorts and braided hair. Stern needs to classy up the league.

 

[johnnyredstorm]

Basketball players sicken me with all their tattoos, long shorts and braided hair. Stern needs to classy up the league.

 

[johnnyredstorm]

Basketball players sicken me with all their tattoos, long shorts and braided hair. Stern needs to classy up the league.

 

[Deleted member 38182]

^

I still can't believe the players came together and paid for that assistant

 

[Deleted member 38182]

^

I still can't believe the players came together and paid for that assistant