NBA CBA Thread

Originally posted by LA9erFan:
Larry Coon's perspective...




People I've talked to have told me they'd rather lose a year than continue playing in a broken system. I take them at their word on this.

I think they know full well that the longer this goes (especially when they start missing paychecks on November 15), the better the deal they're going to be able to wrest from the players. So there's no reason to start horse trading now. I think they have two positions in mind -- right now they're at what I'll call Point A, which is their opening position. I'll call Point B their bottom-line, best offer. I think they already know exactly what Point B is. Here is what I think is their timeline:

Now through Nov 15: Stick to Point A, with the only thing they negotiate on is a grace period to implement the necessary changes. If the players agree, then we have a CBA. If not, then they continue to wait.

Nov 15 through mid-Jan: Negotiation starts in earnest. They will give up more, but will not go past Point B. Again, if they agree, we have a deal. If not, then they still wait.

Mid-Jan: There will be a specific date on which they decide to cancel the season entirely. Point B becomes their "take it or leave it" offer. If they don't take it, then they cancel the season.

I hope it doesn't come to that. MLB has to be pretty giddy right now.

btw...what are your thoughts on hard cap? I think I've read your views on it before, but I don't remember your position. I'm for hard-cap, but I think it will be grossly unfair if let's say - Miami and Lakers have to abide by the same hard-cap numbers due to no state income tax in FL and high income tax in California.

If they do implement hard-cap, I hope they also force some teams to spend more as well. For example, Kings spent only $44M last year, while Lakers and Mavs spent over $90M. If the cap is set for, let's say, $65M then force every team to spend at least $58.5M. Is there revenue sharing in NBA?

Damn, I suppose non-guaranteed contracts was too much to hope for.

Oh well.

At the very least shorten the max contract level to 5 years, so teams aren't saddled with those big contracts for too long.

Do whatever it takes to drive down salaries and make the league financially stable and competitively balanced....even if it means missing the season.

Seems like the owners made some pretty significant concessions today, namely a flex cap. Very encouraging.

link

Quote:
NEW YORK -- NBA players and owners each made new financial proposals Tuesday at a three-hour collective bargaining meeting, emerging from the discussion cautiously optimistic that progress was being made.

The union made the first proposal, asking to retain the current "soft" salary-cap system but with a reduction of several hundred million dollars in player salaries over the life of a five-year proposal.

The owners, who are asking for a 10-year agreement, then came back with a counterproposal of their own. Owners offered what they called a "flex cap" system that would earmark at least $2 billion per season toward player salaries.

The owners also moved their position on cap exceptions, saying the Larry Bird Exception and the mid-level exception would remain in a new system, although team could not exceed an as-yet-determined maximum team salary.

The sides agreed to meet again Friday in New York.

"We both made real moves, but we're still very far apart," union attorney Jeffrey Kessler said.

The "flex cap" system had been brought up in prior discussions between the sides but was never formally proposed. That changed when the owners came out of their caucus late in the bargaining session, which was held across the street from NBA headquarters.

"We would have liked to have seen more, but we thought it was directionally better than what we had before," said commissioner David Stern, who labeled the players' financial proposal "modest."

Under the owners' new proposal, the luxury tax would be eliminated and players would give back the 8 percent "escrow tax" that is currently withheld from all NBA paychecks. The financial terms would evolve over the first few years of the agreement.

"We're prepared to take less in the early years of a 10-year deal because we would come out in the latter years with something we are satisfied with," deputy NBA commissioner Adam Silver said.

Stern said the average NBA salary would drop to about $5 million, and that the owners are still seeking a 50-50 split of basketball-related income, which would be recalculated under the new deal. Silver said the owners' new proposal looks like the NHL's labor agreement and less like the NFL's "hard cap" system. It targets a "mid-point" payroll for all 30 teams of $62 million.

Following Friday's bargaining sessions, the owners are scheduled to meet Tuesday in Dallas.

Lots of people are saying they expect to miss the whole season because the owners are asking for a ridiculous deal that would change a lot, and that they dont think the players will cave in, this year at least

Charles Barkley on the phone on ESPN said he totally expects to miss the whole season. Some guy on ESPN, i forgot who, said the BEST case scenario is a 50 game season. best case..

I was loving how much Stern was getting booed last night

So I guess I'll be posting a lot in THIS thread in the coming months. Yay.

Originally posted by LA9erFan:
So I guess I'll be posting a lot in THIS thread in the coming months. Yay.

There's always the NFL CBA thread, if you're looking for a change.

Originally posted by Otter:

Originally posted by LA9erFan:
So I guess I'll be posting a lot in THIS thread in the coming months. Yay.

There's always the NFL CBA thread, if you're looking for a change.

I might be forced to have actual conversations with my girlfriend and be exposed to direct sunlight this summer.

Originally posted by Harbaugh52:
Lots of people are saying they expect to miss the whole season because the owners are asking for a ridiculous deal that would change a lot, and that they dont think the players will cave in, this year at least

Charles Barkley on the phone on ESPN said he totally expects to miss the whole season. Some guy on ESPN, i forgot who, said the BEST case scenario is a 50 game season. best case..

If owners are losing money the way they're saying they are, there's absolutely no incentive for them to get a deal done and prevent missing the entire season. Of course it will throw all of the good will they've accumulated over the past two years in the trash.

Originally posted by LA9erFan:

Originally posted by Otter:

Originally posted by LA9erFan:
So I guess I'll be posting a lot in THIS thread in the coming months. Yay.

There's always the NFL CBA thread, if you're looking for a change.

I might be forced to have actual conversations with my girlfriend and be exposed to direct sunlight this summer.

Easy now - that's just crazy talk.

Originally posted by NineFourNiner:

Originally posted by LA9erFan:

Originally posted by Otter:

Originally posted by LA9erFan:
So I guess I'll be posting a lot in THIS thread in the coming months. Yay.

There's always the NFL CBA thread, if you're looking for a change.

I might be forced to have actual conversations with my girlfriend and be exposed to direct sunlight this summer.

Easy now - that's just crazy talk.

Expecially with all of the free porn on the internetz.

This won't affect me until after the superbowl, even then I have college basketball.

What is gonna really suck is April - September will have real sucky Sportscenter

Lockout in 2.5 hours

Apparently Deadspin has acquired the audited financials of the New Jersey Nets from 2003-06. Interesting stuff.

How (Any Why) an NBA team makes a $7M profit look like a $28M loss

I'm rooting for the owners. The Nba needs a hard cap in the worst way.