The Player's "STAND"

[kingju1ce]

I am not a person that gets riled up very easily, but I find myself jumping on my soap box when it comes to the players making a "stand" against the owners in the collective bargaining agreement negotiations.

I work in the international shipping industry and I deal everyday with union workers at the ocean terminals. The Port of New Jersey has a terminal name Maher Terminals that is the oldest unionized ocean terminal in North America. The union workers at this terminal are financially taken care of and they have retirement benefits that are unheard of in most industries. To give you an idea, some senior dock workers make upwards of $200,000 a year. Those who are "junior" workers are also compensated handsomely. It is difficult to get in the union and most only get in by having family or other tight connections The dock worker unions are the most powerful unions in the world. They can cripple a country's import/export revenues if they decide to go on strike.

So I want to draw a parallel of these dock union workers to the players union in the NBA. The dock workers work at odd hours/weekends and work outside in all kinds of weather. They do the same monotonous work each day and they receive no public praise or honor for doing so. However, whether the economy is bad or not, they get paid the same and they get their annual increases, but recently they have pushed back their increases to assist the industry. Gee, thanks...at least you are not pushing for an increase while the rest of us in the industry bleed money (in the area of a billion dollars a piece).

Many of the NBA's players have started from humble beginnings, but when they are being drafted in the NBA it is an automatic shift into the upper class. A functioning/normal brain whose memory is intact would remember the hard times and the difficulties of the majority of americans who have been impacted by this extended economic downturn. Certainly they can take a substantial hit in their pockets to keep NBA teams from losing money. NBA players have thousands of fans urging them to succeed, red carpets are rolled out and their pockets get filled by simply traveling to play a game. A GAME. Because they are the best of the best, we come to watch them play and where ever the public shows interest, the companies/corporations come to leech away our hard earned money. I love the NBA and I love to watch the players and I love having a home team even in a small market. The player’s insisting to continue to grow their millions and their selfish justifications of making as much money as they can during their primes is threatening to force smaller market teams to move or go away altogether.

So the rich owners meet with the rich players and they talk. The owners of 22 of the 30 teams are losing money on their investments. Players offer a 3% deferment on some revenues…3%!! The two parties are far apart because while the rich owners understand and share the player’s desire to roll around in fresh hundred dollar bills, one half of this arrangement should not have great success while the other struggles to get by. The reason the owners are willing to have a lockout is most of them will actually save money by doing so! There needs to be a balance in this league.

My dock workers are not seen on commercials selling deodorant or fast food, a job that was able to handle Shaq’s living expenses alone while his NBA salary grew by hundreds of thousands each game. As an NBA fan I am fed up. The players can still be rich under the owner’s proposal and will make more money in one game than I have ever seen in real life. They have the best job in the world. If there is a lockout I propose that the owners hold a draft for players who didn’t quick make in the league. I would watch athletes of a lesser caliber and let our stars try to find their money in Europe. It’s not like they can survive with their lifestyles for long before screaming “UNCLE!”. Selfish babies. Makes me wish I could hold a meeting between the players and the fans on this issue.

For example, have a single mother of four step forward and ask if her sons will be able to afford to buy their nosebleed seats if the agreement doesn’t change in a drastic way. How can someone who makes thousands (and sometimes hundreds of thousands) of dollars a game look at someone who is hurting in this economy and say…”sorry I gotta get mine, don’t take away my raises!”?

Am I alone on this? Is there a fan out there that is taking the side of the players and thinks the owners should just shut up and keep cashing the checks as they dive into the red?

[StocktonShorts]

I would watch athletes of a lesser caliber ...

You'll be able to, it's called college basketball. It's quite often terrible basketball, but hey, at least the athletes don't get paid anything, right?

[JDubJazz]

I, for one, think the owners have decided to break the union. I don't believe there is any intention of having a 2011-12 season. The owners are going to eliminate guaranteed contracts and incorporate a hard cap.

I have a hard time sympathizing with owners, since its their own fault that they are in this mess, but if the end result is an NFL-like system where every team has a legitimate chance to compete, then I'm all for it. Regardless of the outcome of the negotiations, its not like the players quality of life is going to suffer. They will still drive their Bentley Continentals and blow absurd amounts of cash on hookers, booze and weed. In they end, a missed season really just screws the fans.

[UTJazzFan_Echo1]

Ya it's kinda their own fault for getting here.

I hope the owners win. I can't stand guys like LeBron, Melo, etc. trying to control the league and their teams.

[BringtheD]

what's wrong with the system now, one of the problems with owners is they are greedy and in the end they are selling their teams with appreciation of value, then they sit around and moan about their investment and making out like bandits, bs.
The nba players deserve to have the best contracts in pro sports, unless the whole economic system changes, which i doubt.

[hoops4life]

Why do NBA players deserve to have the best contracts!?!

Are they put themselves into serious physical harm like NFL or NHL?
Are the retired players having serious health problems and dying at young ages?
Are they playing 164 games a year, only having one night off a week in the season?

If anything, I think that NBA players have it the easiest of all sports.

I side more with the owners than the players.

[BarneyGumble]

All I know is when a guy like CJ Miles makes $16mm and Joe Johnson makes $122mm, I think there is something seriously wrong with the NBA.

I hope the owner's stick it to em. That Billy Hunter looks like the type of snake oil salesmen that should be in Obama's cabinet....

[HolyToledo]

I dont know enough about the issues enough to comment thereon. I do know, as business owner, you can make yourself look broke on paper but are actually making a killing. So Im not sure 20+ owners are losing money, and if they are then most are losing a neglible amount (5-10 mil to these guys isnt anything).

On the hand, a hard cap makes sense, otherwise teams like Utah and Minn can never field a good team to contend, thus hurting that team as well as the league as a whole.

Thus, there needs to be compromise through mediation. I think even if half a season is missed then the NBA will go back to the days where the championship would be taped delayed because of lack of interest. The owners and players should not be so greedy because even if one game is missed next year than they all lose out in the end.

[Lava Rock Kid]

One thing must change. Their must be a hard cap. The Jazz will never have the talent to truly compete in the current system. As long as Dallas or LA can spend 2 times the amount of money on talent as Utah we will never win it all.

Look at the last few years,
LA traded for Pau Gasol, gave both him and Kobe contract extensions, They signed Ron Artest, Brought in a quality Point Guard. If their is a season next year they will bring in more talent no matter the cost.

Utah traded maynor for cap relief, Let boozer, korver walk for cap relief. If the system stays the same they will let AK walk for cap relief.

You cannot truly compete when one team has no end in spending and one does. Utah does great with limited funds and limited location excitement. Imagine if nobody could spend more than Utah does.

[StocktonShorts]

One thing must change. Their must be a hard cap. The Jazz will never have the talent to truly compete in the current system.

I don't think you can do a hard cap without prohibiting 100%-guaranteed contracts. And while it's not usual these days for a star to spend his career in once city, a hard cap would make it even more rare. The identity of a team would change a lot from year to year.

Imagine if nobody could spend more than Utah does.

Imagine the flipside: Utah can't spend more than anyone else. A true hard cap will also eliminate the exceptions that provide the so-called "home team" advantages that are intended to help small market teams keep the talent they draft. With a true hard cap a guy like Deron Williams would leave after his rookie contract.

If Utah can't offer a guy more money and a longer contract to re-sign (both of which are exceptions to the normal cap rules) then he's even more likely to go to a big market team, maybe even taking a further paycut to join up with some other star players, knowing they'll make a ton of money from endorsements. Sound familiar?

In short, be careful what you wish for. I think the current soft cap has been pretty good for the Jazz.

[DelaneyRudd]

While the Jazz have recently lost some money, they have traditionally been more profitable than other teams. If the owners are losing money based on setting the cap at a certain percentage of basketball revenue, why not just roll back that percentage? From a competitiveness stance, I would support a system similar to the one now, with some sort of franchise tag for players you drafted. From a fans point of view I think this help me most. The other fan friendly change could be less guaranteed money at the end of contracts. Those two concessions by the players, along with a concession that there will be no hard cap by the owners, along with a cap set at a reasonable percentage of basketball revenue, should be where the CBA goes.

[StocktonShorts]

While the Jazz have recently lost some money, they have traditionally been more profitable than other teams. If the owners are losing money based on setting the cap at a certain percentage of basketball revenue, why not just roll back that percentage? From a competitiveness stance, I would support a system similar to the one now, with some sort of franchise tag for players you drafted. From a fans point of view I think this help me most. The other fan friendly change could be less guaranteed money at the end of contracts. Those two concessions by the players, along with a concession that there will be no hard cap by the owners, along with a cap set at a reasonable percentage of basketball revenue, should be where the CBA goes.

You need to be in the meetings next week.

[carrottop12]

There are roughly 450 players in the NBA. These 450 players are the absolute best people in the world at what they do, meaning they are in the .999999925 top percentile at what they do. They are as elite at something as anyone in the world is at anything.

On top of that, these 450 players provide hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in revenue for not only their teams, but the media that follows them, the television stations that show their games, the advertisers who use them for marketing, the restaurants that show the games to bring in customers etc. etc, seriously what they provide as far as economic gain for others trumps what they make 10 fold.

Don't blame the players for earning what they do because it was the owners who put them there in the first place. The owners are only there to make money off of these guys, and if they aren't making money off of them, they are running their business poorly because there is money out there to be made.

This is the same reason that you don't see these owners all getting together to give away the money they earned in their other ventures to the people above them, they earned what they got from hard work and being elite at what they do.

I am sorry for the owners, but if they don't like the business end of it, get out of the business. The owners want to run these teams like they should be a sure thing, tell me what other business venture guarantee's huge profits with out risk of losing money. It doesn't exist. If you can't run a team successfully, sell it to someone who can. Don't sign off on CBA's in the first place that aren't going to allow you to succeed.

I don't really have a dog in the coming CBA fight because I think both sides have screwed up, but I understand both sides of the argument. I love the NBA and that is why I want to see it get worked out, and it will, but I am not going to say that means the players need to make huge concessions, they are just playing by the rules agreed too, can't blame them for that.

[HammerDunk]

I don't side with the owners OR the players, I side with the fans. We want more competition, we want more parity, we (or at least I) want fewer fouls called which would lead to more exciting and shorter games, we want teams to be able to play tough defense, we want the weak technical fouls gone. Most of all, we don't want a lockout that will completely alienate us. Basketball is not immune to what happened to baseball.

Too damn much entitlement going on. Without fans the NBA would have nothing.

[superd]

Bat makes some good points I had not thought of regards sports bars, etc. Obvious a lockout hurts a lot of people. Stern has been the best commissioner in major sports, so I think something will get worked out. I hope so 'cause I really want to see this year's Jazz.

[StocktonShorts]

On top of that, these 450 players provide hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in revenue for not only their teams, but the media that follows them, the television stations that show their games, the advertisers who use them for marketing, the restaurants that show the games to bring in customers etc. etc, seriously what they provide as far as economic gain for others trumps what they make 10 fold.

I remember during the '99 lockout the local news in SLC did a story on how much the lockout was hurting business around the Delta Center. They salvaged 25 homes games that year; I'm not optimistic they'll get even that many this time.

[DelaneyRudd]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=A ... _war062511

Woj makes a compelling argument about who to blame.

[kingju1ce]

Try this article http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700147199/NBA-players-need-a-dose-of-reality.html.

The last article posted didn't give anything of substance but simply quoted Stern saying something stupid and saying that he is being led by the owners...yeah pointing this out doesn't change the economy. I think both sides have room to improve on this issue dont' get me wrong, but I think that the players are in need of a reality check as well.

What I hope this doesn't turn into though is a situation like you see in pro wrestling where the players start their own Baller League or something (so we would have 2 pro leagues)...the two sides should be able to figure something out.

[franklin]

They will still drive their Bentley Continentals and blow absurd amounts of cash on hookers, booze and weed. In they end, a missed season really just screws the fans.

I don't know... I can see the Bentley's and booze (as long as it's upscale), but hookers and weed don't really fit. If you said snorting white rock off a call girl's ass all day long then I'd be with you.