Good News. Labor deal is 95.632% complete

[hpantazo]

Sounds like Stern has the support to make tweaks to the system issues to get a deal done. I just hope the tweaks are enough and the players are ready to give in a little on those as well.

WojYahooNBA Adrian Wojnarowski
Y! Sources: Stern has enough ownership support to "tweak" system issues to try and get labor deal done today. tinyurl.com/bqyqjkp

[Q_FBE]

Do or die today for the 11-12 NBA season. I really think this is it.

[fairweatherfan]

Oh no, it's 5 o'clock!!! Zero hour is upon us! 

Wait, did Stern specify what time zone he was talking about?  Or which Wednesday?

[RAcker]

Oh no, it's 5 o'clock!!! Zero hour is upon us! 

Wait, did Stern specify what time zone he was talking about?  Or which Wednesday?

or 

[StartOrien]

5 o'clock past. We're all matrix'd

[Chris]

I just wanna go on record that I do not feel good about these negotiations today.  I don't think Stern has the power to negotiate any further than he has, and if the players were going to give in, this would have been done yesterday.  I have a feeling we are going to see the blowup, with one more run at this in a month, when things are a little more clearer about what is going on with decertification...and perhaps some more desperate players.

[Roy H.]

I just wanna go on record that I do not feel good about these negotiations today.  I don't think Stern has the power to negotiate any further than he has, and if the players were going to give in, this would have been done yesterday.  I have a feeling we are going to see the blowup, with one more run at this in a month, when things are a little more clearer about what is going on with decertification...and perhaps some more desperate players.

Let's hope that you're wrong, and that they're working on some of the peripheral issues right now (i.e., draft eligibility, etc., tweaks to the rookie scale, etc.)

[Chris]

I just wanna go on record that I do not feel good about these negotiations today.  I don't think Stern has the power to negotiate any further than he has, and if the players were going to give in, this would have been done yesterday.  I have a feeling we are going to see the blowup, with one more run at this in a month, when things are a little more clearer about what is going on with decertification...and perhaps some more desperate players.

Let's hope that you're wrong, and that they're working on some of the peripheral issues right now (i.e., draft eligibility, etc., tweaks to the rookie scale, etc.)

I hope so.  And the thing is, there are a lot of them.  The stuff that has been reported as part of the offer still left a lot of holes, and some major holes that could change the complexion on things that are in dispute (such as how to deal with cap holds, and how to determine who is over the luxury tax going into a season).

[nickagneta]

I really hope you are wrong Chris but I have seen some tweets that many of the players weren't aware as to just how bad a deal this was for them until yesterday and that many may now favor decertification. And then others saying that Stern might not be able to get the votes to approve even if the players give in to everything.

Just nuts.

I just want basketball. The players have agreed to 50/50 and are asking for very little else. Let's hope the owners just give them their little side wins and realize they have the overall victory and let's get the off season and free agency period going.

[Chris]

I really hope you are wrong Chris but I have seen some tweets that many of the players weren't aware as to just how bad a deal this was for them until yesterday and that many may now favor decertification. And then others saying that Stern might not be able to get the votes to approve even if the players give in to everything.

Just nuts.

I just want basketball. The players have agreed to 50/50 and are asking for very little else. Let's hope the owners just give them their little side wins and realize they have the overall victory and let's get the off season and free agency period going.

I wouldnt worry too much about the players stuff.

For one thing, what they hadn't realized before tuesday is how bad things sound, when their lawyers spin it for them.

As for voting for decertification, that would be a fluid process.  It would be a while before an actual vote took place, and in the time between, I think a lot of players would change their mind about it, when they start looking at the reality of what decertification would actually get them (more than likely nothing positive, just more lost money). 

[barefacedmonk]

Has anybody read Metta World Peace's tweets on the lockout..some funny stuff.

   – I miss the LA times telling me how sucky I am. That’s the best. End the lock out. I miss jeff van gundy. The Malcolm x of announcers

    – I miss the unhealthy plane food. I miss staples low music in the arena . Lebron misses Cleveland. I miss locking down people.

    – I miss zen phil not giving Luke and Adam morrison playing time! I miss the bald headed Espn announcers. I miss the going bald TNT announcers

    – I miss the dance teams cheering because they have too not necessarily because they want to. I miss Kobe taking shot after shot. Lmafo

    – I miss Philly , Detroit and Boston fans. They craziest fans in the NBA . I be scared man! I miss going to Philly n Kobe buying Philly steaks

    – I miss the refs running down the court like they have hot tomales in their pants.. I miss Charles Barkley commentating

    – I miss Clyde fraziers lime green pig skin suites with orange slices throughout the linen and pitbull skit chin-klet-tas

    – I miss the supersonics

    - MISS ALL THE FANS!!!!! Without yal I can't buy my phantom! Without yal ,I'll be working in cotton fields making t shirts

    - I miss the refs running down the court like they have hot tomales in their pants.. I miss Charles Barkley commentating 

[j804]

It's not happening this year but I do look forward to basketball next year.  I wish they would BLOW this crap up already I'm sick of it.

[Chris]

It's not happening this year but I do look forward to basketball next year.  I wish they would BLOW this crap up already I'm sick of it.

If they cancel this season, I don't feel good about next season at all.  The owners are not going to blow up this season unless they are fully committed to get everything they want.  Once they get there, it is going to get very ugly.

[barefacedmonk]

Aldridge on some of the system issues that were discussed yesterday:

Sources have indicated that the sides made progress Wednesday on three of the five significant system issues that separate them. Those are believed to be the escrow account that the league has implemented since 2006 where a portion of player salaries are withheld and placed in escrow in case the players’ overall share exceeds their agreed-upon percentage (the league is looking for a 10 percent escrow commitment from players in the next collective bargaining agreement), the league’s “repeater tax” proposal that would add additional financial penalties for luxury tax paying teams that do so three or more times in a five-year period, and the so-called “cliff” issue, with the union concerned that teams that are marginally and infrequently tax payers get punished financially under the league’s proposals just as badly as teams that are tax paying recidivists.

It is not known how much progress was made on those issues, though a source indicated Thursday morning that the moves were incremental rather than substantial, a view also expressed by the union’s executive director, Billy Hunter, in his post-meeting remarks early Thursday.

That would leave mid-level exception use for taxpayers and the ability of tax payers to execute sign-and-trade deals as the two significant issues that still aren’t close to being solved.

The NBA wants to limit tax paying teams to a “mini mid-level” exception that would only run two years and start at $2.5 million in the first year. The union has countered with a four-year mid-level starting at $5 million. Both sides have agreed that whatever mid-level is adopted for tax payers, it will only be available to them every other year.

The league argues that teams that go into the tax shouldn’t be able to add to their rosters by using the full mid-level, as the Lakers did with Ron Artest in 2009 and the Celtics did with Jermaine O’Neal last season. The idea is both to reduce the payrolls of tax paying teams to bring them closer to those of non-payers, which the league thinks will help competitive balance, and to get more players into the system for non-tax payers. The union believes that such restrictions will chill the market for free agents–in essence, taking the top five or six paying teams out of play–and will also affect players who don’t sign with the top teams, because the teams that bid for them will be able to sign them to smaller contracts than they would have to if the bigger payroll teams were able to pursue those players.

The NBA has similar concerns about allowing tax paying teams to execute sign-and-trade deals, where a free agent is allowed to add an additional year to his contract by signing a deal with his old team, which then immediately trades him to another team. Free agents got a seventh year if they re-signed with their old teams under the previous CBA, but only six years if they signed with another team. This was the method used, for example, by LeBron James when he went from Cleveland to Miami last summer–though the Heat was not over the tax threshold when it made the deal.

The union has pointed out that tax payers have only been involved in sign-and-trade deals five times over the past several years, making it an issue hardly likely to impact competitive balance.

Link

[LB3533]

It's interesting how much the players have "given back" to the owners, while asking for "very little return".