Who Do You Blame (Merged)

[bdm860]

Steve Weinman

He works for the NBA, right?  Get in there, and get this settled Steve.

[Celtics4ever]

It's because of Frank & Dodd and Obama's Healthcare.

Sorry JK, I thought I was Michelle Bachmann for a second.

[MBz]

I'd put both sides at blame equally.  I was listening to the hub today, Tony Maz said a poll on pollposition.com showed that 76% of over 1000 people said they don't miss the NBA game.  Though I do think that's a little high, it's still a major problem. The owners and players are being extremely selfish, ultimately professional sports are run by the fans, without fans, owners have no one to sell to.  If the owners and players can't realize that this lockout may hurt the league for multiple years then they are in major trouble.  No NBA this year could set it the league back quite a bit.

[GreenFaith1819]

It's because of Frank & Dodd and Obama's Healthcare.

Sorry JK, I thought I was Michelle Bachmann for a second.

lol...I was going to blame Allen Iverson.

The owners and the players haven't practiced enough at negotiating.

[greenpride32]

I blame the agents.  The players are giving up nearly $300m in salary every year of the deal, and you're telling me their final sticking points have to do with the luxury tax system and over the cap exceptions?  Those issues are quite trivial compared to $300m.  But a reduction in player movement means less money in the pockets of the agents.

The so called seven super agents already pressed the union to decertify as early as this summer.  It's pretty clear they were never going to advise the players to accept any deal as the BRI was oing to be chopped no matter what.

[Roy H.]

When all else fails, blame the lawyers.  They're a good place to start, whether it be Stern or Hunter or Kessler or the multitude of attorney agents.

[nickagneta]

When all else fails, blame the lawyers.  They're a good place to start, whether it be Stern or Hunter or Kessler or the multitude of attorney agents.

Love it. This made me laugh really hard, given the source. TP.

[Adelaide Celt]

So they wouldn't even put it to a vote?

Of course. Democracy, fairness and common sense have no place in this pathetic affair.

We now start trying to find some positives of a lost season.

[StartOrien]

Here's John Hollinger's take:

We're going to miss an entire season over mid-level deals for tax teams. Congratulations, you're all idiots.

[SHAQATTACK]

Lakers   


WHO ELSE 

[PosImpos]

Here's John Hollinger's take:

We're going to miss an entire season over mid-level deals for tax teams. Congratulations, you're all idiots.

Most accurate assessment John Hollinger has ever made of anything.

[Kiorrik]

Steve Weinman

He works for the NBA, right?  Get in there, and get this settled Steve.

I'll second this. Blame it on the grouch!

[Moranis]

I just have a hard time blaming the owners in this...its understandable to say "why give the owners a get out of jail free card" but when 17 out of 30teams in the NBA are losing $$, something obviously was wrong with the system.

who is to say that the Owners havent made compromises as well?? supposedly they have budged off of issues such as the hard cap etc.

I just think that when you look at these sort of issues...the player always lose. happened in the NHL, happened in the NFL..and i guarantee it will happen in the NBA.

and for all these nba players with their phony "Let us play!!" PR campaign...they sure dont seem to care to play if they wont take this offer.(probably the best offer they will get)...they're out for themselves and the $$(just as the owners are) and its about Pride, posturing and trying to make it look like they put up a fight when its a losing cause.

I just dont see how the players have any leverage and I think Hunter/the owners know it. But no one wants to come off looking like they gave up. so its stubborn-ness

its like the Jets fourth quarter drive last night when they were down 37-16. you know they're gonna lose. but they decided to be agressive anyway so you can go home and say "hey i at least put up a fight!" even though in the end it doesnt make a difference..you still lose

The tv deal is something like 900 million a year, the television networks sell advertising for something like 1.2 billion a year.  The owners negotiated that tv deal and were losing something like 300 million a year on it.  Funny that is the exact amount the league claims it lost.  Yet it is the player costs that caused the loss not the terrible television deal that the owners entered into.  You have owners like Cuban that don't care at all about making money and just want to win so they spend at all costs, yet that is somehow the players fault.  You have owners that leverage the hell out of their team and can't keep up with the interest payments, yet somehow that is the players fault.  You have teams like the Knicks and Lakers making 50+ million a year they don't share with other teams and yet somehow that is the players fault.  

Sure the players salaries were a bit high and the players recognized that and came down from 57 to 50 and that wasn't enough for the owners.  This lockout and the reason there isn't a season at this point entirely on the owners.  

[Chris]

The tv deal is something like 900 million a year, the television networks sell advertising for something like 1.2 billion a year.  The owners negotiated that tv deal and were losing something like 300 million a year on it.  

I am confused by this, because to me, that doesn't sound like a bad deal.  So the owners are essentially getting 3/4 of the TV income being generated by the networks?  Is that really lower than most TV deals?  How would the Networks pay for the production, etc., and still be profitable, if the deal was much more in the teams favor?

I mean, the TV networks are businesses as well.  They aren't going to give the league all of the advertising money.

[greenpride32]

So they wouldn't even put it to a vote?

Of course. Democracy, fairness and common sense have no place in this pathetic affair.

We now start trying to find some positives of a lost season.

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/33289/union-makes-big-move-without-polling-members

NBAPA is/was just like the 1% vs the regular 99%; a minority who hold the power to make all the decisions.  Who knows what Kessler's hidden agenda really is.  Perhaps he's in bed with the agents.