Lockout Update: Cancellation Of Games Is Imminent

by Roy_Hobbs on Oct 4, 2011 7:46 PM EDT in NBA Articles

David Stern: Two weeks of games at risk - ESPN.com

The NBA has canceled the remainder of the preseason and will wipe out the first two weeks of the regular season if there is no labor agreement by Monday. ... Four hours of talks between the NBA's owners and players failed to close the gap between the two sides, union president Derek Fisher said Tuesday.

... Stern said the league is about to take a $200 million hit from missing the preseason, adding "There's an extraordinary hit coming to the owners and the players." ...

... Boston Celtics stars Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett [were] among other players joining the union's executive committee.

At this point, I have lost all optimism of their being a season, let alone a full season.

Update #1: "Kevin Garnett was extremely emotional in players pre-meeting, sources say. He was rallying peers to hold firm on BRI split."@WojYahooNBA

Update #2: Start of season jeopardized as labor talks break off - NBA.com

Stern said the owners were willing to consider a 50-50 split, but that the players' side would not consider it. "I was very surprised by that," Stern said.

Stern also said that, during discussions, owners had come off their long-held insistence on a hard cap, and revealed that last week owners backed off their desire for a rollback of existing salaries. He also said the owners had offered the players a chance to opt out of a new 10-year agreement after seven years.

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So sad...

The economy is in the tank…employement is high…yet the can’t decide how to split up a billion or so dollars over the next six years? Am I really suppose to take a side over this?

by yakyakyak on Oct 4, 2011 7:33 PM EDT reply actions

Let's see if the players continue to hold firm.....

After they miss their first paycheck.

by LarryBird33 on Oct 4, 2011 7:45 PM EDT reply actions

I am surprised that Stern would have showed the 50/50 card. That should have been the grim faced final act for what they had in mind all along. Give up the hard cap for a $3 for $1 luxury tax. Done, but look like it was dragged out of them so Fisher looks like he won something.
Owners want give backs, and have the self indulgent red ink to prove it. Players got away with delusional sense of their worth and don’t want to look now like they are weak. Because, after all, “I’m not working for no $10 million”. It’s hard to root for either side. Could anyone side with Charles Dolan? Who cares about the Russian oligarch? I do actually like Mark Cuban. There’s a guy who knows he lucked out and, what the hell, he’ll go either way.

The biggest impediment right now is the players’ group cojones. They can’t bear the thought of looking like they’ve lost them. But guess what, guys, 10 million and smaller cojones is better than big cojones and bupkus.

by Wildblu1 on Oct 4, 2011 8:13 PM EDT reply actions

I'm pretty surprised with the players' hard line stance at this point

I think it is being driven by the agents (who are pros at being greedy)

the owners aren’t innocent parties here either, but if they were willing to go to 50%, why couldn’t the players accept that?

oh well, another day, another deadline – now pushed to Monday

and then on Monday there will be another deadline, etc.

Faith and Sports - an essay by Jeff Clark

by Jeff Clark on Oct 4, 2011 8:20 PM EDT reply actions

turndown of the 50-50 split is the point at which the players are going to lose sympathy

not that I had any to lose….

Is it Soup Yet?

by Master Po on Oct 4, 2011 8:43 PM EDT up reply actions

they all make me sick to my stomach -

all i want to do is watch some hoops-

all these jerks want to do is pad their wallets, put diamonds in their ears, rolex watches on their wrists, mercedes benz’s in their multiple car garages, and their multiple children in world class private schools -

i’m pretty much done -

Don't fake the funk on a nasty dunk

by mcpu40 on Oct 4, 2011 8:50 PM EDT up reply actions

PS:

never forget this

Don't fake the funk on a nasty dunk

by mcpu40 on Oct 4, 2011 8:50 PM EDT up reply actions

Same here man

All I want to do is watch the C’s. Yes the Penguins start their season on thursday and hockey is my passion more than anything but goddamn it I still want to be able to watch my basketball team play. Nothing more nothing less.

The thing I hate the most about this is the only time I get to see the Celtics live is whrn they come to Cleveland and since they play in Cleveland in the beginning of the year that game will get wiped out. That pisses me off more than anything.

I just want to watch my NBA team play.

by Bradley James McEachern on Oct 4, 2011 11:37 PM EDT up reply actions

yup im on the owners side

they dont wanna hardcap
& they dont want to rollback which means the only new thing would maybe be a amnesty clause which isnt that bad

& they just want a even split to the owners that keep losing money wont lose so much anymore

greed isnt good & this isnt wall street

im really upset at what im reading ,i can only hope this isnt true

by stylo617617 on Oct 4, 2011 8:59 PM EDT reply actions

So the owners gave in first..

Why are the players still stubborn? So who’s greedy now? the owners, the players… or the agents!

by Rany on Oct 4, 2011 9:12 PM EDT reply actions

They all are as far as i'm concerned.

by Bradley James McEachern on Oct 4, 2011 11:34 PM EDT up reply actions

Replace Billy Hunter with Antoine Walker!

by Title 18 on Oct 4, 2011 9:14 PM EDT reply actions

Side with the owners? For real?

I’m shocked that anyone thinks that the players should be happy to get 50%.

I don’t buy tickets to see the jumbotron or the dancers, or listen to the top hits of the 80s while I drink an $8 Coors light. The only reason there is ANY “basketball related income” at all is because of the labor of the players. That’s the entire product! It’s not worth sharing more than half the profit with the sole generator of that profit?

by Black Bird on Oct 4, 2011 9:45 PM EDT reply actions

point but yet if the players want the nba to grow bigger they have to give some too

the nba is its peak since who knows how long but that wont continue because too many teams are not generating enough profit,what do the players want exactley ? for miami & ny & chicago & la to be the only relevant teams? look at the nfl if the season ended today & the playoffs started it’ll probbaly be bufflo vs greenbay in the super bowl BUFFALO & GREEN BAY yet the nfl will always be the superior ,with the owners offering an opt out clause as well theres just no excuse for the players to be so greedy if there intent is for the NBA to grow not the NBA PLAYERS’ Pocket’s

by stylo617617 on Oct 4, 2011 10:24 PM EDT up reply actions

THIS x2

by Bradley James McEachern on Oct 4, 2011 11:33 PM EDT up reply actions

I was firmly on the players side when this began.

I truly believe the owners loses were inflated and more a product of “creative accounting” than actual monetary loss.

That being said, they’ve now backed off their insistence on the hard cap, given a 7-year out clause, and removed their insistence on a salary roll back for existing contracts. These are some real concessions here, and the players won’t even consider dropping another 2 % points to go for a 50/50 split?…

Not good, the owners are doing their parts, it’s time for the players to swallow their pride and give something back here, they owe it to the fans who are the only reason they can make a living. Suck it up you spoiled cry babies.

"Phil is obviously a good coach. You don't win that many games without being a damn good coach, ... Remember one thing: He's been very fortunate. He picks his spots. That's all I can say." - Red Auerbach

04 + 07 = 11

by Sizzlack on Oct 5, 2011 10:24 AM EDT reply actions