Battle Lines Being Drawn

[lakersrule]

There's no doubt that the players will opt out of the current CBA after the 2016-2017 season. After seeing the league sign a huge multi-billion dollar television deal, the players are going to want to see a higher revenue split than what they currently agreed upon. But it won't stop there.

The new executive director of the player's union, Michele Roberts, has made it clear that she'll be playing hardball once negotiations begin on the new CBA. She's talking no salary cap, no maximum contracts, no rookie age limits. She's a fierce lawyer. Get ready for an extended lockout come the fall of 2017.


NBA owners expendable, players' union chief Michele Roberts says - ESPN

 

[Arizona_Sting]

This is why women shouldn't be allowed in mens sports. If some lady lawyer costs me from watching my team play then HEADS WILL ROLL *cracks knuckles*

 

[podsox]

She can talk all she wants but the players will cave like they always do. im sure the average player cares about max contracts when it comes to labor. you think they are going to sit at home fighting for a small (richest) percentage of the league? why would the players want to eliminate a rookie age limit? it extends players careers. they should be pushing to extend it. the longer the players sit at home without paychecks the more angry and eager they will become to just accept a deal. the cap will increase quite a bit but I don't see anything drastic happening.

 

[lakersrule]

This is why women shouldn't be allowed in mens sports. If some lady lawyer costs me from watching my team play then HEADS WILL ROLL *cracks knuckles*

I doubt her gender has anything to do with current posturing.

 

[lakersrule]

She can talk all she wants but the players will cave like they always do. im sure the average player cares about max contracts when it comes to labor. you think they are going to sit at home fighting for a small (richest) percentage of the league? why would the players want to eliminate a rookie age limit? it extends players careers. they should be pushing to extend it. the longer the players sit at home without paychecks the more angry and eager they will become to just accept a deal. the cap will increase quite a bit but I don't see anything drastic happening.

I think the players have a bigger leg to stand on now though, especially with the new TV deal. Much of the owners positioning last lockout had to do with all these teams supposedly losing money. It's a lot harder argument to make now. The Clippers just sold for $2bil. Certainly all the drastic changes that she's talking about won't happen, but I think the new CBA will turn out better for the players than the current one.

 

[Arizona_Sting]

I doubt her gender has anything to do with current posturing.

I know, that was just a cheap shot. I'm trying to offend any feminists we may have in here.

 

[Davis_Mike]

Players won't fair any better this time around. Owners can always outlast players during any stalemate. Sure some players have no problem waiting it out, but for more than half the league, this would have heavy financial effects on them. Any opt out mainly benefits the top 5% of players. The rest would see only a moderate, if any, benefit from this.

The cap is going up significantly due to the new TV contracts. There is little need for the NBAPA to opt out of the CBA other than some stars just wanting a bigger piece of the max contract pie. That is why she is talking big right now.

 

[wildturkey]

Welp, it's just posturing but its already more than Billy Hunter did over his entire tenure.

 

[thunderc]

Good luck getting rid of the cap. Heres the thing, they get a certain percentage of revenue so if the revenue goes up then they get more money. Are they seriously not smart enough to realize this?

 

[True Lakers Fan]

There's no doubt that the players will opt out of the current CBA after the 2016-2017 season. After seeing the league sign a huge multi-billion dollar television deal, the players are going to want to see a higher revenue split than what they currently agreed upon. But it won't stop there.

The new executive director of the player's union, Michele Roberts, has made it clear that she'll be playing hardball once negotiations begin on the new CBA. She's talking no salary cap, no maximum contracts, no rookie age limits. She's a fierce lawyer. Get ready for an extended lockout come the fall of 2017.


NBA owners expendable, players' union chief Michele Roberts says - ESPN

I think she is completely nuts with the "No Salary Cap" - As much as it hurts the Lakers, it is necessary to maintain a balance. But here is what I would love to see happen in my fantasy world

Bring the number of games down to 2 games against each team in the Eastern Conference and 3 games each against the teams in the Western Conference. That would make a total of 30 and 28. I suppose 4 games in the team in your own division which would bring the total regular season games to 72.

Then stretch the season out by one or two weeks. The stretch would barely be noticed by the players but would eliminate the back to back games which I would love to also see eliminated

I agree that the salary cap should be raised to 80 million per team, and roll back the penalties to what they were prior to the last CBA.

I think the maxium contracts should be kept at 4 years maximum with one contract extension allowed at the most. The six year deals and five year deals has allowed to many players to walk away without earning it.

One thing I liked about what the NFL does is eliminating the guaranteed contracts at least in portion. For example if a player signs a four year and gets hurt and misses the entire season. I can see him getting the next two years guaranteed, but the fourth at the worst should not be guaranteed. That would help clear some dead players off the books and bring in fresh talent and spread the wealth around.

Maximum contracts like 20 million a year should be dropped to 15 million a year, then spread the revenue sharing commensurate to the player contracts instead and make it a bit more fair.

What the lady is suggesting is understandable, but the NBA in my opinion is just barely coming back from the brink of financial collapse and I am against sending the NBA back to that again.

Just my opinion though

 

[podsox]

can anyone explain to me why the NBAPA would want to eliminate the age limit?

 

[wildturkey]

I think she is completely nuts with the "No Salary Cap" - As much as it hurts the Lakers, it is necessary to maintain a balance. But here is what I would love to see happen in my fantasy world

Bring the number of games down to 2 games against each team in the Eastern Conference and 3 games each against the teams in the Western Conference. That would make a total of 30 and 28. I suppose 4 games in the team in your own division which would bring the total regular season games to 72.

Then stretch the season out by one or two weeks. The stretch would barely be noticed by the players but would eliminate the back to back games which I would love to also see eliminated

I agree that the salary cap should be raised to 80 million per team, and roll back the penalties to what they were prior to the last CBA.

I think the maxium contracts should be kept at 4 years maximum with one contract extension allowed at the most. The six year deals and five year deals has allowed to many players to walk away without earning it.

One thing I liked about what the NFL does is eliminating the guaranteed contracts at least in portion. For example if a player signs a four year and gets hurt and misses the entire season. I can see him getting the next two years guaranteed, but the fourth at the worst should not be guaranteed. That would help clear some dead players off the books and bring in fresh talent and spread the wealth around.

Maximum contracts like 20 million a year should be dropped to 15 million a year, then spread the revenue sharing commensurate to the player contracts instead and make it a bit more fair.

What the lady is suggesting is understandable, but the NBA in my opinion is just barely coming back from the brink of financial collapse and I am against sending the NBA back to that again.

Just my opinion though

The NBA hasn't been even remotely close to financial collapse. You've just bought the ownership angle they've used in every lock out (again LOCK OUT, not strike) hook, line, and sinker. All the labor negotations over the last 2 decades have done is take less and less away from the players and give more to the owners. They've got it rigged up now to where you actively have to try really hard to own an NBA franchise and have it be a negative asset. You can essentially own one now, not do a damn thing, and you're still going to make money. That's the REAL "parity" the NBA has set out to achieve, not on court parity (which is an impossibility), but a financial parity that guarantees owners benefits with minimal to no risk regardless of market size.

 

[wildturkey]

can anyone explain to me why the NBAPA would want to eliminate the age limit?

2 reasons:

1) Freedom of choice. If you can play in the League, you should be able to.

2) Agents want this. They get guys in younger and therefore can get more contract. Entering the league at 18 over say 20 or 21 equals out to another guaranteed contract for a player if they have a long career.

 

[podsox]

2 reasons:

1) Freedom of choice. If you can play in the League, you should be able to.

2) Agents want this. They get guys in younger and therefore can get more contract. Entering the league at 18 over say 20 or 21 equals out to another guaranteed contract for a player if they have a long career.

I understand that but the players voting on these things are already in the league. keeping top young talent out of the league extends careers

 

[BOTSLAYER]

If Roberts gets that done she belongs in the basketball HOF. It would be great for the game, and the players who are the league.

Everything she said is on point and accurate. Owners are little more than talent agents and chaperons taking advantage of skilled athletes with out resources.

 

[BOTSLAYER]

I don't like young kids in the league, but in all honesty allowing that choice is the right thing.

 

[trojanfan12]

I don't like young kids in the league, but in all honesty allowing that choice is the right thing.

I think they need to make a decision to either follow the NFL model and say that players have to be 3 years removed from high school (which would be much harder to justify for the NBA than it is for the NFL) or just go back to allowing players to enter the draft directly from high school. The "one and done" isn't working for either the NBA or college, imo.

 

[lakersrule]

Good luck getting rid of the cap. Heres the thing, they get a certain percentage of revenue so if the revenue goes up then they get more money. Are they seriously not smart enough to realize this?

They want a higher percentage of the increasing revenues. Pretty simple. I don't blame them. They must have been scratching their heads after hearing the owners complain about losing so much money only to then see them sign a massive TV deal and sell a franchise for $2bil.

 

[trojanfan12]

They want a higher percentage of the increasing revenues. Pretty simple. I don't blame them. They must have been scratching their heads after hearing the owners complain about losing so much money only to then see them sign a massive TV deal and sell a franchise for $2bil.

Yep, I think it was always a given that the players were going to be opting out of the current CBA as quickly as possible. The above just guaranteed that they will not only opt out, but they are not going to be nearly as willing to give in as they have in the past.

 

[True Lakers Fan]

The NBA hasn't been even remotely close to financial collapse. You've just bought the ownership angle they've used in every lock out (again LOCK OUT, not strike) hook, line, and sinker. All the labor negotations over the last 2 decades have done is take less and less away from the players and give more to the owners. They've got it rigged up now to where you actively have to try really hard to own an NBA franchise and have it be a negative asset. You can essentially own one now, not do a damn thing, and you're still going to make money. That's the REAL "parity" the NBA has set out to achieve, not on court parity (which is an impossibility), but a financial parity that guarantees owners benefits with minimal to no risk regardless of market size.

Actually there have been several teams losing money over the years. Memphis Grizzlies were losing 30 million a year which is the reason they gave Gasol to the Lakers for nothing in return. That's the season the no so super Sonics moved to Oklahoma. That's the reason the Bobcats moved to New Orleans and that part of the reasons so many teams like the Sacramento Queens has never won a championship. So cut the crap - just because an owner has a 500 million dollar investment doesn't mean he is making money and for people like that a even a 10 million dollar a year profit is losing money for them. I really don't think it's fair when some players are getting 24 million a year while others don't even get two million, so yes as some one who has been in business all of my life, I am not feeling sympathetic to a large group of arrogant overpaid and lazy players wanting more money than they will ever need in a life time