Proof of a 2011 Lockout:: 2010 Free Agency Day 1

[nickagneta]

Done Deals

Rudy Gay - 5 years $80 million - Memphis

Darko Milicic - 4 years $20 million - Minnesota

Channing Frye - 5 years $30 million - Phoenix

Drew Gooden - 5 years $32 million - Milwaukee

Nikola Pekovic - 3 years $13 million - Minnesota

Amir Johnson - 5 years $34 million - Toronto

 

Offers on the Table

Mike Miller - 5 years $30 million - Lakers

Joe Johnson - 6 years $121 million - Atlanta

John Salmons - 5 years $ 44 million - Milwaukee

Carmelo Anthony - 3 year extension $65 million - Denver

 

As my youngest son would say "are you joking me?". The owners sent a proposal to the NBA Players Association back around the All-Star break that was so insulting that the NBAPA reps literally tore up the proposal and walked out of the room. The owners wanted huge concessions claiming the game was losing money hand over fist and that teams were in desperate straights with giant amounts of lost profits and red ink piling up. Drastic measures were needed with a new collective bargaining agreement because owners, especially in small markets, just could continue to pay out huge, bloated salaries and contracts to players.

Fast forward to yesterday. Small market team, the Memphis Grizzlies, with the 3rd worst attendance in the league, just handed out an $80 million contract to a player that is as good now as he was when he was a 2nd year player, showing little to no improvement over the last two year and is still an extremely flawed player. The Minnesota Timberwolves, another small market team with the 6th worst attendance in the NBA, just handed out a combined $33 million in contracts to two centers, one which might be considered the single worst draft pick of this century and the other a player that has never played a minute of NBA basketball. The Milwaukee Bucks, yet another small market team with the 7th worst attendance in the NBA, is close to closing a second deal that would mean that they signed two players to over $75 million worth of contracts.

That's three small market teams, 5 players, a combined $188 million for players that have played in exactly ZERO All Star games. 5 players that have played in a combined 115 total minutes of NBA Finals action. 4 players that at their best are considered role players and 1 player that at best is a team's 3rd scoring option. And yet those teams are supposed to be losing money like crazy and not be able to pay out huge salaries.

There will be a lockout in 2011 because there has to be. There has to be because NBA team's ownerships and managements have to be from themselves. Asked most basketball observers before the free agency period started if any of the players that have signed would get what they got and most would have laughed. Most would never have considered these players to be worth what they got paid.

The hypocrisy of professional sports owners boggles my mind. They are all billionaires who cry poor, cry that they need change in the way that player salaries are made, lockout the players, get huge concessions and yet before the lockouts occur, they are still handing out ridiculously over inflated contracts like they are lollipops at a dentist's office. And then, even after the lockouts and the changes in the CBA's of their respective sports, the owners then do everything they can to circumvent the rules and find ways to pay the players more and more and more.

Yes, there will be an NBA lockout next year and it will be because the same owners that will be handing over a billion dollars worth of contracts this off season will be crying poor mouth next season. Go figure!!!

[Papatrichs]

The players are winning... for now.

[FrDrake]

Done Deals

Rudy Gay - 5 years $80 million - Memphis

Darko Milicic - 4 years $20 million - Minnesota

Channing Frye - 5 years $30 million - Phoenix

Drew Gooden - 5 years $32 million - Milwaukee

Nikola Pekovic - 3 years $13 million - Minnesota

Amir Johnson - 5 years $34 million - Toronto

 

Offers on the Table

Mike Miller - 5 years $30 million - Lakers

Joe Johnson - 6 years $121 million - Atlanta

John Salmons - 5 years $ 44 million - Milwaukee

Carmelo Anthony - 3 year extension $65 million - Denver

 

As my youngest son would say "are you joking me?". The owners sent a proposal to the NBA Players Association back around the All-Star break that was so insulting that the NBAPA reps literally tore up the proposal and walked out of the room. The owners wanted huge concessions claiming the game was losing money hand over fist and that teams were in desperate straights with giant amounts of lost profits and red ink piling up. Drastic measures were needed with a new collective bargaining agreement because owners, especially in small markets, just could continue to pay out huge, bloated salaries and contracts to players.

Fast forward to yesterday. Small market team, the Memphis Grizzlies, with the 3rd worst attendance in the league, just handed out an $80 million contract to a player that is as good now as he was when he was a 2nd year player, showing little to no improvement over the last two year and is still an extremely flawed player. The Minnesota Timberwolves, another small market team with the 6th worst attendance in the NBA, just handed out a combined $33 million in contracts to two centers, one which might be considered the single worst draft pick of this century and the other a player that has never played a minute of NBA basketball. The Milwaukee Bucks, yet another small market team with the 7th worst attendance in the NBA, is close to closing a second deal that would mean that they signed two players to over $75 million worth of contracts.

That's three small market teams, 5 players, a combined $188 million for players that have played in exactly ZERO All Star games. 5 players that have played in a combined 115 total minutes of NBA Finals action. 4 players that at their best are considered role players and 1 player that at best is a team's 3rd scoring option. And yet those teams are supposed to be losing money like crazy and not be able to pay out huge salaries.

There will be a lockout in 2011 because there has to be. There has to be because NBA team's ownerships and managements have to be from themselves. Asked most basketball observers before the free agency period started if any of the players that have signed would get what they got and most would have laughed. Most would never have considered these players to be worth what they got paid.

The hypocrisy of professional sports owners boggles my mind. They are all billionaires who cry poor, cry that they need change in the way that player salaries are made, lockout the players, get huge concessions and yet before the lockouts occur, they are still handing out ridiculously over inflated contracts like they are lollipops at a dentist's office. And then, even after the lockouts and the changes in the CBA's of their respective sports, the owners then do everything they can to circumvent the rules and find ways to pay the players more and more and more.

Yes, there will be an NBA lockout next year and it will be because the same owners that will be handing over a billion dollars worth of contracts this off season will be crying poor mouth next season. Go figure!!!

Great post.  I agree with all your points.  These small market teams have terrible management.  They spend two years clearing bad contracts to get cap space, and then they IMMEDIATELY clog up their caps all over again by overpaying mediocre to good players.

[papa shuttlesworth]

Yes, there will be an NBA lockout next year and it will be because the same owners that will be handing over a billion dollars worth of contracts this off season will be crying poor mouth next season. Go figure!!!

TP.  I don't know how the owners can walk into the discussions next year and ask for anything with a straight face.  Do they realize that they are the ones agreeing to these deals and that they can say no?

[wdleehi]

I think the owners and GMs are expecting salary reduction as part of the new deal or ways to get rid of contracts at less money (easier then a buy out)

[Brendan]

I hate Salary Caps... I'm OK with luxury taxes that help make teams more competitive and revenue sharing as well, even though those things aren't perfect.

Owners who spend poorly should be forced to sell their franchises. I might have a way for a team to declare some form of "NBA bankruptcy sale", where players salaries could be wiped out - provided a franchise demonstrated its selling because it's going broke. That would force players to assess if a team could actually afford the contract the player is signing too.

[erisred]

I think the owners and GMs are expecting salary reduction as part of the new deal or ways to get rid of contracts at less money (easier then a buy out)

Bingo!

The owners are going to want the new CBA to allow them to rescind existing contracts, or to at least restructure them to reflect lower salaries. So what if they give Darko $20 million or Gooden $32 million, if they can come back in two years and say, "Oops! Those salaries are too high, we're going to cut them in half (or maybe only guarantee half), and there's nothing you can do about it except quit."

That demand is probably what will insure a lockout next year, too.

In the end, my money is on the owners getting their way.