Players reject offer, move on to decertify

[Slava]

The team representatives of the NBPA met on Monday and decided to reject the owners' latest offer.

Billy Hunter announced that the NBPA has filed a notice of disclaimer and will file an anti-trust suit against the NBA.

"Although we chose this today, we have not chosen to be in this position," said Derek Fisher. "This is not a strike."

The players reportedly were unanimous in their decision to go forward with decertificaiton.

The owners have said they will terminate all player contracts if the players decertify and that would mean all players effectively become free agents.

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/21 ... rtifcation

This is madness. I wonder if they will be forced to settle for much less once push comes to shove in legal proceedings.

Also I think we can forget about the season now with the legal proceedings and anti-trust lawsuits taking up more than 3 months atleast.

[Slava]

"As of this moment, we're going to be in the process of converting the NBA Players Association into a trade associaton," Hunter said Monday.

Hunter said the union has negotiated in good faith over two years and feels that they have given enough, while the NBA was "not willing and prepared to negotiate."

"The players feel that they are not prepared to accept any ultimatums," Hunter said.

"Going forward, collective bargaining will not be how this process continues for us," added union president Derek Fisher. "We'll let our legal team really lead the charge."

"We continue to want to get to work, to get back to work, to negotiate, but that process has broken down," Fisher added.

Source: ESPN

[Slava]

Article explaining the legal process behind union desertification

[snaquille oatmeal]

so now the players become regular employees and the owners are not required to hand over 50% of the BRI and can dictate the terms of operations of THEIR company. ya good move players! no basketball for at least a year.

[TyCobb]

What up idroppedthecake2!

[Desiderium]

well technically there's nothing to decertify from..therefore no process. union is immediately disbanded and a lawsuit will be filed.

just heard stern on espn, he said "two sides came too far to end up where we are now. this should have been a simple yes or no on a proposal, not an ultimatum. if i were the players, i'd be wondering what billy hunter just did right now. players were badly misled. the timing of it was awful, if they had done this earlier, we would have had a chance to save the season, but the timing was very bad. and now there's nobody to negotiate with because the union is no longer there. now, we will put our good faith in the lawyers. we are going into the nuclear winter of the nba."

[stunnar0b]

What a boat load of horse ****.. well cant say im surprised

[Sofa King]

so now the players become regular employees and the owners are not required to hand over 50% of the BRI and can dictate the terms of operations of THEIR company. ya good move players! no basketball for at least a year.

I guess the Lakers roster will be more interesting in a year.

[BEazy]

I'm sorry yall, but Fisher and Billy Hunter are not leaders they suck at negotiating and should be fired on the spot once this is resolved. David Stern needs to be fired also. These idiots have been negotiating for 2 and a half years and you can't get a freaking deal with that much time? Are you serious? If Billy Hunter knew they were going to play hardball for that specific amount of time why didn't you consider your "disclaimer of interest" earlier?? These people have got to be the most stupid players I've ever seen.

[snaquille oatmeal]

What up idroppedthecake2!

legal disclosure clause: the thread tittle said "may". and yes i threaten to decertify my legal team in order to appear like i have a leg to stand on on my stance.

[Sedale Threatt]

I'm not going to pretend like I have a full grasp on all the issues, or even a partial one, but I have absolutely no clue what the players are attempting to achieve with this move. If the owners wanted to break them before, they're going to go medieval after this.

[7_ace_7]

wow this sucks... wth am i going to do now

[snaquille oatmeal]

I'm not going to pretend like I have a full grasp on all the issues, or even a partial one, but I have absolutely no clue what the players are attempting to achieve with this move. If the owners wanted to break them before, they're going to go medieval after this.

basically the players think that the threat of de-certification of the union will give them leverage and a bargaining advantage, but they are going about it the wrong way.

2 ways to de-certify:

one- the union calls for a disclaimer of interest (meaning that there is no vote from the players to disband the union, instead the union quits representing the players) the advantage being that the players can immideiatly sue the owners for locking them out and claim triple damages. (the players foolishly believing that that this will make the owners cave in)

two- de-certification (a long drawn out process that must have a player majority vote approval. just to get the players to vote there is a 45 day waiting period) the advantage is that it gives them legal merit to the notion that the players do want to disband the union and are serious about disbanding the union. (the NFL players lost their case because the judges did not believe the players were serious about de-certification because the NFL union took the easy way by going with the disclaimer of interest option in the middle of a labor dispute [sound familiar?])

the players right now decided to go with disclaimer of interest. this is either an empty threat or the players are really effin dumb. the reason for that is that the NFL players already tried and lost. the NBA players are hoping that if they file the law suit in a labor friendly state like Cali they will overturn an already made judgment. (good luck with that )

[Optms]

Dear, Owners and Players

Thank you for ruining our 2011-2012 season. Now go f*** yourselves.

[Gek]

Not surprising tbh. The issue (imo) is both sides need each other, but are too greedy to give two f*cks.

[Gek]

I also don't get why the players are getting slashed here... the owners set an ultimatum on a deal that just covered their own asses as much as possible so they could still sign huge contracts without losing money.

[snaquille oatmeal]

Not surprising tbh. The issue (imo) is both sides need each other, but are too greedy to give two f*cks.

while true that they need each other, I don't think it is as simple as two greedy sides arguing over who takes home more of the profits.

my thing is (and is something that I would love to ask Charles Barkley about it) the players get a guaranteed profit plus their salaries while not risking a single dime. the owners take all the risk and are guaranteed to lose money if they see it the players way. so how in the world is that fair? Barkley is adamant about the players being disrespected for having to concede from 57 to 50 percent, but doesn't even consider that owners conceded huge losses in the last bargaining agreement. bad contracts included the losses would have been still there.


back on topic- I still don't understand why the players didn't vote to approve or reject the proposal. they just sent team reps to the meeting in NY. shady on the unions part if you ask me.

[snaquille oatmeal]

I also don't get why the players are getting slashed here... the owners set an ultimatum on a deal that just covered their own asses as much as possible so they could still sign huge contracts without losing money.

the NBA is ultimately a bussiness. would you invest your money in a venture that you knew it would lose you money? past mistakes (bad contracts) are part of your overhead so the question is would you invest in a loosing business?

the players get ripped because because they don't risk anything. they would have my sympathy if 57% of their salary paid for basketball operations of their teams and then share the profits with the owners.

[Slava]

I think the players took a paycut and legitimately accepted the 50-50 deal as well but they want more room for sign and trades, similar MLE for tax paying teams and others, basically to bitch and moan to get out of a situation like Melo did. Also I believe the ultimatum did not go well with their egos.

[snaquille oatmeal]

so we are losing the season on bruised egos...great!