Good News. Labor deal is 95.632% complete

[Fafnir]

Nice to see the players coming down to the 50/50 split bought them no leverage in system issues.

[indeedproceed]

Ric Bucher: Also, the owners are requiring all the players to allow the owners to beat them in games of horse or 21 once a week. Plus, Donald Sterling would like to be allowed up to 23 racist comments per lunar cycle.

This is just not credible. Why would Sterling cut back that much?

Ha, touche.

[Chris]

Bucher now says "League official says NBDL rule, along w/20-yr age limit + offseason drug testing are B-List and not take-it-or-leave-it. BRI/tax rules are."

Not sure what that means; I doubt it's like the players can just Sharpie it out and then do the deal.

That makes more sense.  Basically, those are part of the 30 or so things that still need to be negotiated, if the players accept the rest of the deal. 

My guess is the owners just threw it in there as a starting point.

I think its also important to remember that the players (or owners) can't take an official vote until the entire deal is finished and in stone.  The players are basically just going to discuss on Monday/Tuesday whether they can make a handshake agreement on the major issues, in order to move on to the small stuff.

[indeedproceed]

Bucher now says "League official says NBDL rule, along w/20-yr age limit + offseason drug testing are B-List and not take-it-or-leave-it. BRI/tax rules are."

Not sure what that means; I doubt it's like the players can just Sharpie it out and then do the deal.

That makes more sense.  Basically, those are part of the 30 or so things that still need to be negotiated, if the players accept the rest of the deal. 

My guess is the owners just threw it in there as a starting point.

I think its also important to remember that the players (or owners) can't take an official vote until the entire deal is finished and in stone.  The players are basically just going to discuss on Monday/Tuesday whether they can make a handshake agreement on the major issues, in order to move on to the small stuff.

That's a pretty messed up starting point. Its basically saying 'If you're not gonna have a 10+ year career, enjoy coaching that high school boys team when you're 31.'

[Chris]

Bucher now says "League official says NBDL rule, along w/20-yr age limit + offseason drug testing are B-List and not take-it-or-leave-it. BRI/tax rules are."

Not sure what that means; I doubt it's like the players can just Sharpie it out and then do the deal.

That makes more sense.  Basically, those are part of the 30 or so things that still need to be negotiated, if the players accept the rest of the deal. 

My guess is the owners just threw it in there as a starting point.

I think its also important to remember that the players (or owners) can't take an official vote until the entire deal is finished and in stone.  The players are basically just going to discuss on Monday/Tuesday whether they can make a handshake agreement on the major issues, in order to move on to the small stuff.

That's a pretty messed up starting point. Its basically saying 'If you're not gonna have a 10+ year career, enjoy coaching that high school boys team when you're 31.'

Well, they have to start somewhere.  That way they have something to give up, so they can get the ones they want. 

The bottom line here is that right now it is a non-issue...and Bucher is a terrible reporter.

[Fafnir]

Bucher now says "League official says NBDL rule, along w/20-yr age limit + offseason drug testing are B-List and not take-it-or-leave-it. BRI/tax rules are."

Not sure what that means; I doubt it's like the players can just Sharpie it out and then do the deal.

That makes more sense.  Basically, those are part of the 30 or so things that still need to be negotiated, if the players accept the rest of the deal.  

My guess is the owners just threw it in there as a starting point.

I think its also important to remember that the players (or owners) can't take an official vote until the entire deal is finished and in stone.  The players are basically just going to discuss on Monday/Tuesday whether they can make a handshake agreement on the major issues, in order to move on to the small stuff.

That's a pretty messed up starting point. Its basically saying 'If you're not gonna have a 10+ year career, enjoy coaching that high school boys team when you're 31.'

Well, they have to start somewhere.  That way they have something to give up, so they can get the ones they want.  

The bottom line here is that right now it is a non-issue...and Bucher is a terrible reporter.

What?

The initial demands do matter, especially when they effect the player's willingness to accept a deal.

Not a non-story at all. The owners got the players to conceed on the BRI to 50 and now are trying to anchor the system issues to the point where the players aren't going to get anything close to the system issue concessions they were seeking.

If you think its a non-story the players should throw out a similar non-story to start things off. No max salary, no cap, and free puppies for everyone on the roster on opening day.

[Celtics18]

This roller coaster makes me queasy. 

[LB3533]

Owners want to find out how much they can squeeze the sponge until it's nearly dry....

[barefacedmonk]

Owners want to find out how much they can squeeze the sponge until it's nearly dry....

Yeah, I've gone from hating the players union to hating the owners.

[LB3533]

It's almost as if the Owners want to stick it to the players and cause them to be the ones to walk away from the table.

Imagine the PR hit the Union will take.

I've never heard this NBDL demotion rule as part of the system issues. This is out of left field to me.

[mkogav]

Check out @NBA_Labor on Twitter. The owners are tweeting the exact contents of the offer. I believe they are doing this to get the positive parts of the agreement to the players directly 'in case' Hunter and Fisher obscure the facts.

The tweets are interesting for sure.

Mk

[Roy H.]

Check out @NBA_Labor on Twitter. The owners are tweeting the exact contents of the offer. I believe they are doing this to get the positive parts of the agreement to the players directly 'in case' Hunter and Fisher obscure the facts.

The tweets are interesting for sure.

Mk

This stuff about the D-League was definitely planted by somebody with an agenda.  Multiple reports now are that it wasn't even discussed, and isn't in the revised offer.  However, somebody obviously put it out there (to Bucher) in order to drum up anti-deal support.

[BASS_THUMPER]

This roller coaster makes me queasy. 

[Celtics18]

This roller coaster makes me queasy. 

That pretty much sums it up.

[hwangjini_1]

Bucher now says "League official says NBDL rule, along w/20-yr age limit + offseason drug testing are B-List and not take-it-or-leave-it. BRI/tax rules are."

Not sure what that means; I doubt it's like the players can just Sharpie it out and then do the deal.

That makes more sense.  Basically, those are part of the 30 or so things that still need to be negotiated, if the players accept the rest of the deal. 

My guess is the owners just threw it in there as a starting point.

I think its also important to remember that the players (or owners) can't take an official vote until the entire deal is finished and in stone.  The players are basically just going to discuss on Monday/Tuesday whether they can make a handshake agreement on the major issues, in order to move on to the small stuff.

That's a pretty messed up starting point. Its basically saying 'If you're not gonna have a 10+ year career, enjoy coaching that high school boys team when you're 31.'

Sorry. I just can't summon up much outrage over the possibility that some NBA players may have to actually resort to normal employment to make a living.