Contraction in the NBA? No Chance
by Tom Ziller on Oct 23, 2010 4:52 PM PDT
in Commentary
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PrintMuch has been made of David Stern's recent mention of contraction as a possibility for the NBA's cost-cutting ways. Concern about the topic in Sacramento even led Joe Maloof to scream out that his family was not interested in selling or dissolving the Kings. Stern mentioned contraction as the league's labor impasse reached fever pitch this week. (Of course, Stern himself brought it to fever pitch by announcing the owners, who met this week in New York, would be seeking to cut a third off payroll going forward.)
Obviously, the mention of contraction is a bargaining ploy. Losing one team costs the union 15 jobs and serves to tamp down salaries a bit for other players. These things would seem to come in twos, so that's 30 jobs and, yes, a bit more salary dampening. The league is pushing a hard cap and a more favorable split of revenue. To get what they actually want, they need to aim closer to insanity. Hence, contraction.
Know that Stern is entirely too proud of the league's expansion under his watch to contract. The league has added the Hornets, Heat, Timberwolves, Magic, Grizzlies, Raptors and Bobcats since Stern took the commissioner's seat. Do you really think he'd go backwards just before bowing out? It's the most unlikely scenario possible.
Furthermore, presenting this as a bargaining ploy shows his hand. Guess what? League contraction is not a collective bargaining issue. If the NBA Board of Governors (the owners) want to lose a team or two, they figure out the buy-out and player redistribution logistics. They don't need the union's permission. They don't need to settle it during the CBA talks. If Stern wants to kill the Kings, the union has no say.
This threat has no teeth. This crisis is devoid of relevance. And yes, as a matter of fact I will be writing about it for the next week.
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I've got a chubby,
surrounded by pubes that have been freshly dyed with black shoe polish.
SACTOWN ROYALTY - Try our thick creamy shakes!
Contractamento?
I certainly hope not. I’d stop caring about the league.
The FairWeather Channel - Sports Comics and Bandwagon Forecast
by Hit4TheCycle on Oct 23, 2010 5:00 PM PDT reply actions 1 recs
An expansion by bringing Europe in the game
is much more likely to happen in the next decade than any form of contraction.
Anyway, on the one hand I see tyrant Stern, on the other hand I see hundreds of people who earn millions for playing with the ball while billions suffer without food. Can’t they just play and let us enjoy the game for gods sake?
by ZenBaller on Oct 23, 2010 5:26 PM PDT reply actions 1 recs
Interesting enough there are other avenues for watching basketball.
Let the wealthy owners & players kill the golden goose, I’ll be watching college basketball. Don’t know for sure, but I’d guess more people find the final 4 more interesting than the NBA Championship.
"If you don't have anything good to say, LIE" - Mom
The greatest impact player in NBA History - Tim Donaghy
Is that Pendergraft?
I predict JT will never breathe through his nose.
by wallywagon11 on Oct 23, 2010 6:40 PM PDT up reply actions
Really?
Do you prefer 1A to MLB? I’ll never get why people think inferior play is more rewarding to watch.
Blah blah blah
Some trite crap about the game “being played the right way”, or something about multimillionaire egos.
I can see the fun in following one’s alma mater, or in following players and forecasting their NBA futures. But other than the “local school” angle, I’ve got to agree—professional sports are better than college sports.
Honestly, I think that the whole “college is better than the NBA” garbage is in large part people trying to seem more sophisticated than they really are, or more thoughtful. I know some people really feel that way, and sure, the NCAA tourney’s a lot of fun (possibly more so than the regular season in the NBA)—but outside of that, my money (and that of most people) is going to the NBA.
m*****f***ing c***s***ing peanut butter and jelly!! f*** f*** f***!!!
by JediLeroy on Oct 24, 2010 4:02 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
You must be a communist.
EvilCowtownInc: Screwin Suckaz over since 1985...... On Twitter
No mistakes in the tango, Donna. Not like life. Simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get all tangled up, you just tango on.....
I am with you
The college game isn’t appealing after watching the skill level on display in the NBA.
WNBA all the way
Of course, I am referring to WaBeno NBA.
by betweentheeyes on Oct 24, 2010 12:31 PM PDT up reply actions
Stop fucking with the Yeti.
That is all.
EvilCowtownInc: Screwin Suckaz over since 1985...... On Twitter
No mistakes in the tango, Donna. Not like life. Simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get all tangled up, you just tango on.....
YNBA rules
Don't say stupid shit. You won’t be perceived as stupid. - pookeyguru
by Kfan in Korea on Oct 25, 2010 8:34 AM PDT up reply actions
Sadly the Yeti think it's funny.
I know cuz I hear “things”.
EvilCowtownInc: Screwin Suckaz over since 1985...... On Twitter
No mistakes in the tango, Donna. Not like life. Simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get all tangled up, you just tango on.....
Muster the Bluster, Buster
The owner talks have a collection of loud voices who talk too loud, too often and want to be heard – until someone listens.
Not the first salvo and cerrtainly not the last. Stern has to speak above the clammor of his constituency (again, not the fans, but the owners). He is best as the lead man and he wants and needs for the microphones to stay pointed at him. That is all this is.
It's such a non-story, I won't even comment
(oh . . . crap)
So imitate the action of the tiger!.
Lend the eye a terrible aspect
- and teach them how to war!
Henry V iii
SnP over at Hoopus said something pretty funny I think
I’m sure Little Bo Stern will have many more interesting things to say before the season ends with a Heat/Lakers or Celtics/Lakers Finals. After all, when you’re the bagman for a group of guys who can’t seem to keep their wallets in their pants, you’re bound to say some silly s%@t in order to square the circle. Either that or he simply needs some fresh blood to keep on ticking.
Little Bo Stern. I love it.
EvilCowtownInc: Screwin Suckaz over since 1985...... On Twitter
No mistakes in the tango, Donna. Not like life. Simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get all tangled up, you just tango on.....
Shouldn't Stern fine himself for tampering?
I mean if I was an owner and got dinged 100k…
Umm... I thought we were officially referring to Voison as the Chick Replacing Amick at the Paper? or CRAP, for short.
Hilarious
When I saw Stern making the comments, I couldn’t help but laugh. Only Stern would have the audacity to suggest that the owners are seeing no returns on their investment. The bigger joke is that he makes comments about ROI while the league continues to throw money away on the WNBA. Regardless of your thoughts on the WNBA’s quality of product, there is no denying that it has been a business disaster.
Never forget, I'm an idiot.
not so much nba but player salaries
Really who here thinks that all of the max contract players are worth that much to the team. Financially or otherwise, there are some exceptions possibly. Take for example Rashard lewis of the magic who is scheduled to make 20.3 m dollars this year. I would say he improves the in no way financially and might gain them one or two wins. In my opinion is the NBA needs to contract its player salaries, the absolute max should be no more than ten million per season, and i believe it should be less for a base, i believe in giving incentives to players to get more in the way of bonus’s. You need to make these players accountable for their play. To many times do you see players play crappy for a contract then in a contract year they make the all star team. And those possible people that are a financial gain you maybe add a clause with them receiving some sort financial gain from jersey sales ect. plus for those upper echelon players they make enough off of sponsorships. Lets get the game back to basketball not a political game where they league is looking to gain advantage one way or another through biased calls. You may wonder how they can do this, and i mean the owners. They hold the money, and these players are so greedy you stop feeding the habit they come back crying.
Nice take, but I have two issues here
(Actually, I have a lot of issues…deep, personal issues…but let’s focus on the two at hand):
Take for example Rashard lewis of the magic who is scheduled to make 20.3 m dollars this year. I would say he improves the in no way financially and might gain them one or two wins
And who signed Lewis to this contract? Even with a soft cap that penalizes owners with a luxury tax, the owners cannot help themselves. In other words, they don’t need a hard cap to control the players. They need a hard cap to control themselves.
In my opinion is the NBA needs to contract its player salaries, the absolute max should be no more than ten million per season…
The problem here is that the world’s greatest players (Kobe, LeBron, Wade, etc.) could easily fetch tons more by playing in Europe. Yeah, they might take an endorsement hit nationally, but they might actually more than make up for that internationally. So even though the NBA owners have a monopoly here in the states, they still have to offer competitive wages on a worldwide level.
SACTOWN ROYALTY - Try our thick creamy shakes!
Create parity
Teams can only have one max player (every 3 yrs or something so someone on the tail end of thier contract wouldn’t stop a new Max guy from signing), the next would be at 80% of max, the third 70% – and no one else exceed 50%.
(ducks head as he hasn’t really thought through implications)
So imitate the action of the tiger!.
Lend the eye a terrible aspect
- and teach them how to war!
Henry V iii
by lietothegirls on Oct 25, 2010 10:26 AM PDT up reply actions
That means the Kings will never have multiple championships...
…or a shot at them. It also means that markets with a lot of endorsements have a greater chance to snag players with lesser contracts by having the outside money still coming in.
You want to give LA, NY and Chicago a bigger chance at success than what they currently have?q
EvilCowtownInc: Screwin Suckaz over since 1985...... On Twitter
No mistakes in the tango, Donna. Not like life. Simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get all tangled up, you just tango on.....
Something like that could be somewhat of a middle ground (so long as there is still the rookie scale and unrestricted free agency at the end of the rookie contract)
A straight up hard cap would make it really brutal for small market teams to compete but something in the middle like this would be a little more fair competively. It’s not as fair as today but if the league is seriously in money trouble and owners can’t help themselves, a structure like this might be something to consider. Not ideal though in my opinion.
I predict JT will never breathe through his nose.
by wallywagon11 on Oct 25, 2010 1:24 PM PDT up reply actions
Isn't a good solution unless owners stop being stupid.
Which will never happen. Either everyone will suffer or a few will succeed. The way of the world, but some people don’t like that.
EvilCowtownInc: Screwin Suckaz over since 1985...... On Twitter
No mistakes in the tango, Donna. Not like life. Simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get all tangled up, you just tango on.....
Ug
meant to say “still the rookie scale and restricted free agency at the end of the rookie contract.”
I predict JT will never breathe through his nose.
by wallywagon11 on Oct 25, 2010 2:52 PM PDT up reply actions
I take your writing, grammatical and thinking errors in context. I expect those errors to happen so I try to imagine what you say combined with what you typed.
You usually get at least 90% of it across.
EvilCowtownInc: Screwin Suckaz over since 1985...... On Twitter
No mistakes in the tango, Donna. Not like life. Simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get all tangled up, you just tango on.....
i was going to throw in the standard Anchorman joke but then thought better of it
I predict JT will never breathe through his nose.
by wallywagon11 on Oct 25, 2010 3:55 PM PDT up reply actions
You cut me deep, BaxterWally.
EvilCowtownInc: Screwin Suckaz over since 1985...... On Twitter
No mistakes in the tango, Donna. Not like life. Simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get all tangled up, you just tango on.....
lol
never said the gm was smart, and the owner wants a championship before he dies powerful motivator for a guy worth almost 5 billion. He really does care to much about the losses. But with how good they are they barely are viable as a business. Europe tried to lure these players there but the owners did not have the money and people were unable to buy tickets the cost proposed and so those former nba players that sighred these deals for more than an nba team would pay. The got one paycheck and received none for the rest of the year so the got about .019% of what they signed for. Another area is that if they skipped the USA to go europe they would immediately lose almost all of there american advertisers, and again they owners of the team they would be going to would have to have the money and business IQ to have new advertiser that would pay for minimum of player salaries. Not gonna happen
?
never said the gm was smart, and the owner wants a championship before he dies powerful motivator for a guy worth almost 5 billion. He really does care to much about the losses. But with how good they are they barely are viable as a business
So your point is that future billionaire owners should be protected from current billionaire owners?
SACTOWN ROYALTY - Try our thick creamy shakes!
by section214 on Oct 25, 2010 1:44 PM PDT reply actions 2 recs
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