June 13, 200521 yr The NBA's CBA expires in exactly 17 days. David Stern in his "state of the league" address today issued a warning to the players union: "If July 1st comes and there is a lockout, the union will have made a mistake of epic proportions" Between the boring Pistons/Spurs series and being on the verge of almost a certain lockout, it's not looking good for the NBA.
June 13, 200521 yr Author SAN ANTONIO, June 12 -- NBA Commissioner David Stern said that if the league and the players' union cannot come to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement before the end of the month, the NBA could be facing a lengthy lockout. "If July 1 comes and there's a lockout, the union will have made a mistake of epic proportions," Stern said Sunday before Game 2 of the NBA Finals. Stern said the league has laid out a proposal in which the players would receive 57 percent of the revenue, the maximum length of contracts would be reduced from the current seven years to six years, and the minimum age limit would be increased to 19. The league also has attempted to change its substance abuse policy, which has become a major obstacle to a deal being completed. Stern said if the union doesn't accept the proposed deal, it will be snatched from the table. "I would say that this is our last offer," he said. At their previous meeting, the players' union suggested extending the deal that is already in place. That isn't an option now, or in the future, Stern said. "Our fear, given who we are, given our life's experience in the NBA, is that our business will slip away from us faster than even some other sports," he said. "And if that's the case, then I'm not in good conscience going to sit in front of owners trying to get in front of a train to say, you know, it's okay, we'll make the same deal that we were willing to make before all of this damage to your business occurred. I'm not going to do it." The league and the players' union currently don't have any meetings scheduled in the next 17 days, but the players are scheduled to meet Monday in Chicago and Tuesday in New York. "I'm optimistic that, in light of what's at stake, we'll find someone to negotiate with," Stern said. "I remain disbelieving here, actually, because whatever the public would think of us, the fact that we could explain it is not going to change the view that in a time when the world seems to be pretty much on fire . . . that we couldn't sit down and come up with a way to divide up the three billion dollars a year of revenues that we are going to generate, in a sport that . . . back in 1976 was probably generating 75 million dollars in total. It is incomprehensible and in some ways inexplicable and I'm not looking forward to it." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...5061201672.html
June 13, 200521 yr Didn't they break the union the last time this was happening? What seems to be the problem this time? Not that the players are going hungry, though, but this is rediculous.
June 13, 200521 yr This lockout was expected. They wont miss game time.... It still makes me laugh how bad Hockey fans want a sport to try and f*** up as bad as they did....wont happen....
June 13, 200521 yr :lol It still makes me laugh how bad Hockey fans want a sport to try and f*** up as bad as they did....wont happen.... 807527[/snapback] I was thinking the same thing.
June 13, 200521 yr The NBA's CBA expires in exactly 17 days.? David Stern in his "state of the league" address today issued a warning to the players union: "If July 1st comes and there is a lockout, the union will have made a mistake of epic proportions" Between the boring Pistons/Spurs series and being on the verge of almost a certain lockout, it's not looking good for the NBA. 807486[/snapback] Somebody is jealous :lol
June 13, 200521 yr The NBA's CBA expires in exactly 17 days.? David Stern in his "state of the league" address today issued a warning to the players union: "If July 1st comes and there is a lockout, the union will have made a mistake of epic proportions" Between the boring Pistons/Spurs series and being on the verge of almost a certain lockout, it's not looking good for the NBA. 807486[/snapback] Somebody is jelous :lol 807682[/snapback] Somebody can't spell.
June 13, 200521 yr The NBA's CBA expires in exactly 17 days.? David Stern in his "state of the league" address today issued a warning to the players union: "If July 1st comes and there is a lockout, the union will have made a mistake of epic proportions" Between the boring Pistons/Spurs series and being on the verge of almost a certain lockout, it's not looking good for the NBA. 807486[/snapback] Somebody is jelous :lol 807682[/snapback] Somebody can't spell. 807684[/snapback] You got me
June 18, 200521 yr I know all you jealous NHL fanboys dont want to hear this.... But.... Curry optimistic that sides close to tentative proposal http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2088589 With a July 1 NBA lockout date looming, the president of the NBA Players' Association said Friday he's hopeful that owners and players will have a framework for a new six-year collective bargaining agreement in place by the weekend. With talks resuming at an undisclosed location in New York, Michael Curry told ESPN The Magazine's Ric Bucher that he is optimistic that the sides might reach a tentative proposal that each side could present to its constituents next week for approval. Curry did not provide details on what the framework would include, but he described the tenor of the talks as "good." "Having been through this before, I was optimistic that we could get a deal done in time," said Curry, who was part of the negotiations that resulted in the last collective bargaining deal in 1999, which followed a lockout. The collective bargaining agreement is set to expire June 30, after which, a lockout would begin. Curry told Bucher that he knew "it would simply take getting to the 11th hour. We're now at the 11th hour." According to Curry, the players attending Friday's meeting included himself, Antonio Davis and Pat Garrity. Curry said the team executives at the meeting were Wyc Grousbeck, managing partner of the Boston Celtics; Steve Mills, president and CEO of MSG Sports (representing the New York Knicks); Les Alexander, owner of the Houston Rockets; and Lewis Katz, owner of the New Jersey Nets. Friday's meeting, which included NBA commissioner David Stern and players' association director Billy Hunter, was the first since June 1, when the sides met for 2? hours at the union's offices in New York. "We made significant progress today and tonight," NBA deputy commissioner Russ Granik said in a statement. "We will convene again in small groups over the course of the weekend and will reconvene the larger group on Tuesday morning." The past two weeks have been marked by public posturing from both sides, with the latest salvo coming Wednesday when Hunter traveled to the NBA Finals in Detroit to explain his side of the story as to why talks have been stalled. Hunter said he would call Stern before the current labor agreement expires, and that call apparently was made Thursday. The sides have engaged in on-and-off talks throughout the late winter and spring. On Wednesday, Hunter said he surmised from Stern's public comments last Sunday that only three issues remain in dispute -- an age limit for rookies, a tougher drug-testing program and the maximum length of long-term contracts, but deputy commissioner Russ Granik said Hunter's assumption was incorrect. Owners are known to be seeking several other changes to current rules, including a new luxury tax (dubbed a "supertax") for the highest spending teams, reductions in the size of annual salary increases in long-term contracts, a shortened rookie wage scale and adjustments to the so-called trigger percentages that activate the escrow and luxury taxes designed to curtail spending on player salaries. Stern did not reference those items when he addressed the media before Game 2 of the Finals, though he did go into detail about where the owners stand on the other items. He said the league wants the minimum age raised to 19, the maximum contract length reduced from seven years to six, and an anti-drug agreement that would call for veterans to be tested year-round. Currently, veterans are tested only once per year, during training camp.
June 18, 200521 yr the nba is close to getting a 6 year deal and are going to talk throough out the whole week and should have a deal in place some time next week
June 18, 200521 yr Good news Das. I love the NBA too but some of you guys are ridiculous wanting the NHL to fail. I hate Soccer, but does that mean I have to sit here and post about how I want Soccer to fail miserably in the U.S.?
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