That was an enlightening read. I now like the players even less and counter with a few things:
An owner is different than a CEO. A CEO while well compensated is the leader of a business, not it's owner.
They thought Michael Jordan was there to intimidate? Ah the problem of being recognized as a former player. Michael Jordan is an owner. In fact he's an owner of a small market team and obviously unhappy with a system that requires small market teams to choose between fielding a team that compete for a championship or make money. They can't do both. And before anyone cites OKC, the topic of discussion for sometime has been can OKC afford to keep the team together long enough to make a run. Lakers, NY, Chicago, Miami don't have such pressure.
All the stuff about occupy wall street and the economy hurting. Try going to the following web site and put in the league minimum salary:
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2011/10/ ... t-are-you/Yes, even the league minimum makes you a top 1% earner. It's not the owners fault that the majority of players end up broke because you made mad money to sit on the end of the bench for years. Does anyone buy a ticket to see you? Do you even play most nights? But yet the owners are required to employ someone at a guaranteed salary for that spot.
You get guaranteed contracts, guaranteed percentage of revenue, and a guaranteed number of jobs. It's hard to sell me on a hard cap hurting you when those things exist. Regular workers don't have any of those things. We can be replaced or told to make do with less employees. Don't pretend we're in similar situations.
If in a year of record revenues and a net profit or breaking even, if that occurs by 8 clubs offsetting the losses of 22 clubs then the system doesn't work. By your own statement the league as a whole did well. If at the same time 2/3s of the teams lose money it isn't just bad management it's a flawed system.
The owners are a group of individuals as well. You see the ultimatum as grandstanding, but did you consider that there might be a limit to how long Stern can keep enough owners together to make that offer.
There a real chance that when basketball resumes that their won't even be a job for you, Etan. I don't say that as a threat but merely an honest appraisal of what you have left. It's noble of you to sacrifice your remaining career, too bad it is a moot sacrifice in that the resulting deal is likely to be no better than what you as a group have refused.