arayegee
ccouncil127
dduren06
deedeestonz
dontbeskerritt
itsthumbalina
RenzReport
scoopbald
LBC
Let’s be honest with ourselves for just a moment here. Soon, midweek sports are going to be pretty bad. Sunday, Monday and Thursday’s (after Thanksgiving) will be all about the NFL. What about Tuesday, Wednesday and the occasional Friday’s where you find yourself with nothing to do? You may be like me and turn to ESPN to watch an NBA game. Or you may get a free ticket to a game and decide to make it a date (note, I said free—NBA game tix are too expensive! 🙂
Now, as a fan, all that is in jeopardy as the NBA has canceled the first 2 weeks of the NBA season. That only translates to about 5 games being lost per team, but it’s a stronger indication that we will be without basketball for a while.
Labor talks between the players and owners don’t seem to be making much progress. In my eyes, the players have no leverage in negotiations. It seems like the owners know what they want and will not come off their stance in terms of a new deal. Owners are partially saving money by not spending money just to lose money (hope that makes sense to you).
The players on the other side, are not making money outside of their endorsement deals. Try to imagine, no matter your lifestyle or the current situation, when those checks stop coming in, we have a problem! Have the players adjusted their lifestyles and brace for a season without games when they have 6 Bentley’s parked outside, an indoor pool, an outdoor pool, an indoor basketball court, and an outdoor basketball court? Sounds like it’s time for some of these players to be off the humble and start liquidating. Just as a government employees, NBA players do not want to miss out on game checks.
NBA Players Union Executive and PG for the LA Lakers, Derek Fisher has called for all players to become unified and make a stand against the owners to meet their demands for a new CBA. I question how long these players will make a stand once we get deeper into lock-out and more games are missed?
To the NBA rookies who exited school early to enter the draft…don’t you wish you were still in college and getting paid under the table? 🙂
The ManCave06! 
Well Renz already knows I have a problem with the title of this post but let me explain myself:
I’ll put this in mancave terms. Your lady wants you to give back some of your weekend to her; you say you will give up your Saturday night football on your own. But then she wants all of your Saturday. After talking it over she says she is fine with from 3 until the night. Who really made a concession? You are the one that gave up YOUR TIME. That’s what’s going on in the NBA. The NBA stated that they would go down from 57 to 53 percent of BRI. Just BRI. Not the extra money that the owners get from other income (jersey sales, other assorted swag sales, etc). That addes up to 50% of all revenue in the league, that’s the players position. And yet the owners wanted them to come down to 50% BRI which translates to around 47% of all revenue. I cry BS. But you won’t cry cause all you hear in the media is the 50% and you think the players should be humble and take it.
Let me be clear NBA SUPERSTARS ARE UNDERPAID! Kobe is paid $25 million a year. But how much is he really worth to the Lakers…$70-$75 million and that’s out of Jerry Buss’s mouth. Dwyane Wade makes $15.5 but probably is worth $50. I agree with Renz that the average NBA players, the Brendan Haywoods, the Baron Davis’s need to get a salary cut, but the Superstar pay needs to be increased. I doubt the owners want desperately to give their superstars more money.
And don’t get me started with competitive balance. Are Oklahoma City and San Antonio big markets? How come they kept their superstars and Cleveland didn’t? It’s because they are smart franchises. They ran their teams well and made smart decisions. LeBron took a paycut to leave Miami cause those jokers had a deal for Shaq in the 2008-09 season and didn’t pull the deal off. They could have gotten Amare cause the Robert Sarver, the worst owner in the NBA and a chief architect of the lockout was dismantling his team. That’s how you get competitive balance; not with forced revenue sharing (because socialism can’t work in the NBA like it can in the NFL), but with competent front offices, like in Memphis and Oklahoma City. Which is what we don’t have in the NBA which is WHY WE ARE IN THE POSITION WE ARE IN TODAY!!!
So who is really going to be humbled? Owners are making money during a lockout. Players are crying on twitter. And the real losers are the team and league employees, that will miss checks while these clowns can’t get their act together. I’m afraid those are the only guys that will be humbled.
End of Rant
We can talk about % points all day if you we wanted, but the point of the matter is, the players are just as much of the minority as we are on our jobs. You say, that the superstars are underpaid making $18-$25M a year. I disagree unless you can prove to me why that would be unjust. Owners are not only paying half a million in player salaries, but they also spend money in marketing, facilities, taxes, the hundreds of employees who manage the operations of the franchise, the travel expenses, etc. I can run down the list of there expenses all day, but the point of the matter is, until a player turns owner manages his own team, they have to continue to be the peasant.
Such is the way of life that we are in today. What do you think your employer makes off of you. Please believe that you may only get 1/4 (if that) vs what you’re total worth is. Think of the music industry. You drop a track for a record label, but guess who owns the rights of the music? The distributor. That’s why people like Jay Z, Soulja Boy (s/o to Richan) and Michael Jackson own their own music!
No matter what happens, the ball will remain in the Owners court. We can look at % all day long and point fingers at the Owners, but the reality of the matter is, just as we saw in the NFL, the Owners can sit all day and when the players are ready, they will accept the terms the Owners set forth. It’s just the nature of the business…
But this post is geared towards the fact that I will miss the game and you will miss Blatche put on a star-studded performance every night! 🙂
Thoroughly enjoyed reading these commments. Let me add my two cents real quick. This reminds me of somethign RenzReport said during NFL Lockout players will eventually give in because they need owners more than owners need them. As much as we love individual players I think we like seeing the competition and the athlecticism more. The players better accept a deal you make $25mill a year and your underpaid????? I understand the point, but not sure I can completely agree with that.
I read somewhere that Amare said players could start their own league. Now that was the most insane idea I have ever heard. The majority of these players do not have the educational background or professional background to run a successful franchise. (completely random spaz)
The fact of the matter is, both sides are being greedy, foolish, and downright stupid. This country is staring down the barrel of yet another great recession and the second largest sports company wants to go through a 2nd lockout in less than 2 decades that will impact small businesses, countless employees, and possibly cripple entire cities who depend on sellout arenas? You have got to be kidding me. Get your act together, sign a CBA. or lose your fans (and possibly your franchises) for good. Period