NBA Lockout and Collective Bargaining Agreement Discussion

[SidVish]

Re: NBA Lockout and Collective Bargaining Agreement Discussion

No NBA for 2011-12 might suck but I guess a good thing is I get to spend more time on my yacht.

[MikeJ2021]

Re: NBA Lockout and Collective Bargaining Agreement Discussion

I feel sorry for Orlando, New Orleans, and maybe even New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets fans. If the season does get canceled, that means the 2010/11 season was the last season that they get to see Paul, Dwight and D. Williams.

If the season is canceled Howard is as good as gone. Paul is too. D Will might stay if they get Howard but if not, he's probably gone too. The only thing that can stop this is if the owners win the labor dispute. Thats why its pretty funny to me that some small-market fans actually want the players to win this. I'm a fan of a big-market team so I can care less either way. There always is going to be someone who wants to come to Chicago. But if the players win, it will be hard for small-market teams to attract or keep their stars. But I guess it doesn't matter since they didn't have a chance to keep them before this whole lockout mess began. Right?

Man, this lockout may change the way we look at basketball for the next 10 years.

[Altimus]

Honesty, all I have to say is finally this ridiculous circus is over. Now let the courts have fun with it.

Sent from my HTC EVO

[SidVish]

Re: NBA Lockout and Collective Bargaining Agreement Discussion

How is no season better for anyone? The players should be missing their first paychecks soon. I can't wait to see how they feel about that.

[Marino]

Re: NBA Lockout and Collective Bargaining Agreement Discussion

How is no season better for anyone? The players should be missing their first paychecks soon. I can't wait to see how they feel about that.

They will be missing their first check in a couple of hours, so it may get interesting soon.

[23]

Re: NBA Lockout and Collective Bargaining Agreement Discussion

They still get the escrow checks so they wont feel the first check anyway

[NDAlum]

Re: NBA Lockout and Collective Bargaining Agreement Discussion

LOL

So happy my UNC guys stayed in school!

[Drewski]

Re: NBA Lockout and Collective Bargaining Agreement Discussion

Haven't posted in the Pro Basketball forum in some time, I've wanted to distance myself from being too involved emotionally in this whole process as a die-hard NBA fan. I went to the Josh Howard Charity Game here in Dallas on Saturday, it was exciting to see a few players out there I appreciate, headlined obviously by Durant (too bad John Wall sat the game out stating he wanted to "take it easy"). But it wasn't competitive, it wasn't complex, and to put it the only way I can... it wasn't NBA quality. No battles for boards, no posting down low, just a free running charity game (which is understandable). I walked away from that charity game feeling renewed - this is the closest I've been to NBA action to ANY extent in some time - and feeling appreciative. Appreciative that the game of basketball is so well developed in the NBA.

I think today may shape up to be one of the saddest days for an NBA fan. All of these phrases, all of these quotes, being fed to us... the fans who keep the league moving. Nuclear NBA winter? That's disheartening, to say the least. It is hard for me to imagine that both sides are having to come to this to try and sort out this situation, even harder for me to imagine that it will end any time soon. Both sides have too many agendas, with too many pieces, involved.

It's the middle of November and we have yet to see a single tip-off at an NBA arena. Instead, it's just another day to mark off on the lockout victim list. Am I bitter? You better believe it. It started out, to me, as a reasonable problem. This was bound to happen, I couldn't blame the owners, and I couldn't blame the players. Both sides had convincing arguments. As the storm continued, I felt more obliged to the side with the players. I mean, it's the owners fault after all for letting contract figures become what they are, right? Rashard Lewis, Gilbert Arenas, anyone? It seemed plausible to blame the owners, in my mind. But as this last page turns, I can't help but feel outraged with the players.

They have every right to chase every last dollar they feel is owed to them. Have at it. But at what cost, and to what extent? To the extent that they refuse to take a 50/50 deal with system tweaks thrown in? To the extent that they do not reveal the full details to the players they are representing? To the extent that 30 some odd player reps were allowed to speak for the 400+ players who are also entitled to their own opinion? I, for one, do not feel comfortable knowing that only a small percentage of the players had a say in regards to rejecting this proposal. And I'd be surprised if the players who were outside of that 30 + club who didn't have any say what so ever in this situation don't feel the same way to some extent.

At this point I'm just ashamed, disappointed, and hurt by both sides. Put your wallets aside and look at the people who were left without jobs because of this mess. Stop refreshing your online bank accounts, checking to make sure every comma is still in place, and stop to think of the fans who find their sacred haven in The Association. If we're preparing for a Nuclear NBA Winter, I don't know how much of it I can personally stomach. It has gone too far as it stands, with no end in sight.

Today was a lost battle for basketball.

Today was a lost battle for sports fans.

Today was a lost battle for the players who would have loved to have accepted this deal and gotten back to the hardwood.

Maybe I'm overreacting and this whole thing will come to an end sooner than expected, returning us all back to reality. But as it stands, from this distance...

It's going to hurt alot longer.

[Cubfan]

Re: NBA Lockout and Collective Bargaining Agreement Discussion

Honesty, all I have to say is finally this ridiculous circus is over. Now let the courts have fun with it.

Sent from my HTC EVO

If i were the judge in that case i would throw out the lawsuit and order both sides to continue to negotiate. No leaving the room till a deal is done.

[23]

Re: NBA Lockout and Collective Bargaining Agreement Discussion

Glen Davis is, in a word, disgusted.

“Sure I am,” the Celtics forward, an impending free agent, said tonight after hearing about the NBPA leadership’s decision to dissolve the union and take the league to court over anti-trust violations. “I’m sitting here at home like everyone else, and I just want to get a job, get a deal done.

“It’s just frustrating,” said Davis. “You don’t know what to expect. That’s how things are.”

Davis blames the breakdown on macho posturing from both sides in the dispute over a new collective bargaining agreement. The league, its latest offer rejected yesterday by players, has dropped its revenue split offer from an even 50-50 division to a package that would give owners a 53 percent share plus a hard salary cap.

Davis just knows the process never should have come to this.

“I hope they realize that by throwing their chests out at each other, they’re not going to get this deal done,” he said. “I know when I want to get something, it never works when my chest is sticking out.

“It seemed like we just had a couple of issues, and now we have to go to court,” said Davis. “You don’t want to waste that amount of money going to court. But you stick your chest out, and now we are.

“If you want to negotiate with us, then don’t make it a pissing contest.”

Davis is also upset with the line of communication between the union and the rank and file, though he doesn’t blame player representative Paul Pierce specifically for this meager trickle of information.

“I don’t think I’ve been kept in the loop as far as what’s going on and how things are going on,” he said. “I want to be kept in the loop, but when I say that, they say, well, come to the meetings.

“It’s not just Paul making that decision,” said Davis. “It’s also Derek (Fisher) and Billy Hunter. I talk to players, but my friends are guys like Paul and (Kevin Garnett) - guys who are in a different stage of their careers.

“I don’t talk to a lot of the guys who are more in my stage, like Carl Landry and DeJuan Blair.”

Davis only hopes that the NBPA representatives at today’s meeting in New York truly had the best interests of the rank and file in mind with their decision.

“Hopefully the union just made that decision for every player in the league, and not just 30,” he said. “Are they making that decision for the rest of us? Or are they just making that decision for the Kobes of this league - guys who have made a lot of money already. That’s my concern. But right now there’s a lot of back and forth between the two sides about who is bigger and badder, and giving ultimatums.”

[lnin0]

Re: NBA Lockout and Collective Bargaining Agreement Discussion

“Hopefully the union just made that decision for every player in the league, and not just 30,” he said. “Are they making that decision for the rest of us? Or are they just making that decision for the Kobes of this league - guys who have made a lot of money already. That’s my concern. But right now there’s a lot of back and forth between the two sides about who is bigger and badder, and giving ultimatums.”

I agree. I am disgusted as well. Sure the Kobes can talk of holding out, or playing overseas or of traveling teams but what about the guys without that marque name. The guys for who the NBA is a job, not a stage. For that matter, what about all the people that work at the stadiums and behind the scenes for these teams. The NBA is about more than the top 30 stars and their agents.

[BunnyHardaway]

Re: NBA Lockout and Collective Bargaining Agreement Discussion

LOL

So happy my UNC guys stayed in school!

Yeah, Kyrie Irving and whoever assisted him with his decision are complete morons...how could you not see this coming?

[TheMatrix31]

Re: NBA Lockout and Collective Bargaining Agreement Discussion

For the last time, people.....

Arena workers are going to be largely UNAFFECTED by this lockout because of all the other events that are or will be scheduled. So let's stop drumming up that point, please.

[SidVish]

Re: NBA Lockout and Collective Bargaining Agreement Discussion

Tweet from Bill Simmons:

"I'm about to play pickup hoops. I'd like to dedicate tonight's games to the NBA players and their cause. Wait, what's their cause again?"

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: NBA Lockout and Collective Bargaining Agreement Discussion

Yeah, Kyrie Irving and whoever assisted him with his decision are complete morons...how could you not see this coming?

I think the money probably had more to do with that. Don't even think it would be a lock that he would go number 1 next year.