June 22, 200521 yr http://msnbc.msn.com/ID/8295646/ No lockout ? NBA labor deal reached Pact includes new age limit,requirement of 4 random drug tests The Associated Press Updated: 9:07 p.m. ET June 21, 2005 SAN ANTONIO - The days of jumping from the preps to the pros ? the route to the NBA chosen by LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Tracy McGrady and others ? are almost over. A one-year increase in the minimum age was part of a new six-year collective bargaining agreement tentatively reached Tuesday by owners and players. Commissioner David Stern and union director Billy Hunter finalized the deal in principle in New York and immediately flew to the NBA Finals to announce it prior to Game 6 between San Antonio and Detroit. The agreement will replace the seven-year pact expiring June 30. ?We?re gratified that we were able to avoid a work stoppage,? Stern said. ?This agreement creates a strong partnership with our players, which is essential for us.? Other facets of the new deal will make trades easier, increase pensions for retired players, impose harsher penalties on drug violators and offer teams the option of sending young players for minor-league seasoning. The salary cap will be raised from 48.04 percent of revenues to 51 percent, increasing the amount of money each team can spend on player salaries, and players will be guaranteed 57 percent of revenues. There could be more jobs, too, with teams being required to keep an average of 14 players on their rosters, and players will have the right to an arbitrator?s review of any suspension of more than 12 games for on-court misconduct. On the age limitation, American players will have to wait one year after their high school class graduates before they can become draft eligible. International players will have to turn 19 by the end of the calendar year in which they become draft eligible. ?This will encourage our scouts to spend time in D-league gyms rather than high school gyms,? Stern said. Next Tuesday?s NBA draft will mark the final time, barring future changes, that high school players will be draft eligible. A lockout could have begun July 1, and the likelihood of a work stoppage seemed to increase last week after a round of posturing from both sides. But significant progress was made in almost 12 hours of meetings Friday, and the final gaps were closed Tuesday morning. ?We decided it was time to back away from the abyss and see if we could get a deal,? Hunter said. The agreement still must be ratified by the league?s Board of Governors and by the players? union at its annual meeting in Las Vegas next week. Because of the time needed to put the agreement in writing, the upcoming start of the free agency signing period has been moved from July 14 to July 22. ?David Stern and Billy Hunter did a great job bringing this to a head quickly, getting past any personal issues,? Dallas mavericks owner Mark Cuban said. ?It takes a lot of guts to be called out on both sides and then go right past that and get a solution, so they deserve a lot of credit.? Over the final days of negotiations, the sides reached agreement on several key issues that had held up a settlement since serious talks began in late February. Among them were the age limitation, a reduction in the maximum length of long-term contracts from seven years to six, and reductions in the size of annual salary increases in those long-term contracts from a maximum of 12? percent to 10? percent. Veterans will now be subject to four annual random drug tests for performance-enhancing and recreational drugs, an increase from current rules calling for one test at the start of training camp. Penalties for steroid violators were raised from five to 10 games for a first offense, 25 games for a second offense, one year for a third offense and a lifetime ban for a fourth. Players with less than two years in the league will be eligible to be assigned to the minor league NBDL, where the minimum age will be reduced from 20 to 18. Minimum salaries and benefits will increase, but Stern said it was uncertain how the new deal will affect the pensions for the small number of recipients who played in the NBA prior to 1965. Players agreed to reduce the number of guaranteed contract years for rookie first-round draft picks from three to two. The NBA has a system known as a ?soft? salary cap, allowing teams to exceed the cap threshold to retain their own free agents, and to sign free agents under the so-called midlevel exception that was added to the labor agreement in 1999 after the sides went through a 7?-month lockout. All salary cap exceptions from the prior deal will remain, and several rules that made trades difficult have been relaxed. Previously, the salaries of players being traded for one another had to be within 115 percent of one another, plus $100,000. That first number has been increased to 125 percent. A variety of regulations have been eased regarding restricted free agents, players falling under so-called base-year compensation rules, and the amount of time players with career-ending injuries will continue to count against a team?s salary cap. Owners also withdrew their idea for an extra penalty ? a so-called supertax ? against the highest-spending teams. They also agreed to the union?s request to have luxury tax revenues divided in a more equitable way. Also, there will be a gradual reduction from 10 percent to 8 percent in the so-called escrow tax under which a portion of each player?s salary is withheld if the amount of league-wide revenues devoted to salaries exceeds specified percentages. Most important was the big picture ? that the NBA won?t have a second straight work stoppage. ?I?m sure no one would admit it, but I think everybody saw what was going on with the NHL and how difficult a battle it was once it came to a standstill, not only from a negotiation perspective, but also from a fan?s perspective and a marketing perspective,? Cuban said. ?I think we kind of wanted to avoid some of the pain that they went through.?
June 22, 200521 yr It's hard to be competition when while you're playing a few of your championship games are on ESPN.
June 22, 200521 yr 19 year old age limit is a joke, players will just go to prep school for a year after HS before going pro. Makes more sense than doing all that work for 1 year in college against much tougher competition prior to going pro.
June 22, 200521 yr Damn a shortend season might have helped the heat, im glad there is an age restriction that way we dont have to see some over hyped 18 year old make an easy dunk on SC 5 times a night.
June 22, 200521 yr Nice to see their's finally an age restriction. 819899[/snapback] Why? We live in a capitalist society and this would be like saying to Bill Gates, "Sure MS DOS is ok, but why don't you spend a year at ITT Tech just so you can hone your skills a bit, kiddo." I think the whole age thing is something angry old people made up because they're jealous that teenagers are making more money in a season than they'll make in their entire professional lives. I don't see the outrage about this in hockey, baseball, tennis, golf, etc. Anyway, I guess info about the 2-year long NHL lockout will have competition from actual NBA games taking place. I bet David Stern is sweating bullets.
June 22, 200521 yr Nice to see their's finally an age restriction. 819899[/snapback] I think the whole age thing is something angry old people made up because they're jealous that teenagers are making more money in a season than they'll make in their entire professional lives. I don't see the outrage about this in hockey, baseball, tennis, golf, etc. 820282[/snapback] That's because in baseball and hockey there is a well developed and large minor league system so teams can afford to draft high school players and allow them to develop in the minors. If high school kids were being drafted straight onto a major league roster, there would be problems just like there are/were in the NBA. When each team in the NBA has their own D-league affiliate with their own farm system, age will no longer be an issue. Most of the big wigs at the NBA are already making many millions of dollars per year, so this certainly has nothing to do with old geezers jealous of young kids making a lot of money.
June 22, 200521 yr Author Nice to see their's finally an age restriction. 819899[/snapback] Why? We live in a capitalist society and this would be like saying to Bill Gates, "Sure MS DOS is ok, but why don't you spend a year at ITT Tech just so you can hone your skills a bit, kiddo." I think the whole age thing is something angry old people made up because they're jealous that teenagers are making more money in a season than they'll make in their entire professional lives. I don't see the outrage about this in hockey, baseball, tennis, golf, etc. Anyway, I guess info about the 2-year long NHL lockout will have competition from actual NBA games taking place. I bet David Stern is sweating bullets. 820282[/snapback] Baseball has a proven minor league system. Tennis and Golf are individual sports...they do not have to make a team or be drafted...its up to themselves and themselves only. Ever heard of Lenny Cooke? Ousmane Cisse? Ndudi Ebi? Travis Outlaw? DeAngelo Collins? Of course not...just a few of many great high school players who would have been better off seeing the flaws in their games and developing their game in college then failing at their dream in the NBA. Would Kwame Brown been a no.1 pick after his game was seen in college? I dont think so...
June 22, 200521 yr Nice to see their's finally an age restriction. 819899[/snapback] I think the whole age thing is something angry old people made up because they're jealous that teenagers are making more money in a season than they'll make in their entire professional lives. I don't see the outrage about this in hockey, baseball, tennis, golf, etc. 820282[/snapback] That's because in baseball and hockey there is a well developed and large minor league system so teams can afford to draft high school players and allow them to develop in the minors. If high school kids were being drafted straight onto a major league roster, there would be problems just like there are/were in the NBA. When each team in the NBA has their own D-league affiliate with their own farm system, age will no longer be an issue. Most of the big wigs at the NBA are already making many millions of dollars per year, so this certainly has nothing to do with old geezers jealous of young kids making a lot of money. 820292[/snapback] I was talking about the general populace. They're the ones who are outraged over the sport having kids in it, but they know damn well that if they were as talented as Kevin Garnett, Amare, or even guys that were marginally NBA-ready, they wouldn't give it a second thought and go straight to the draft. Most of these guys that go straight to the pros are poor black kids anyway, so they probably do it partially out of necessity so I see nothing wrong with it. Especially since the NCAA has such absurd rules about student athletes anyway.
June 22, 200521 yr Nice to see their's finally an age restriction. 819899[/snapback] I think the whole age thing is something angry old people made up because they're jealous that teenagers are making more money in a season than they'll make in their entire professional lives. I don't see the outrage about this in hockey, baseball, tennis, golf, etc. 820282[/snapback] That's because in baseball and hockey there is a well developed and large minor league system so teams can afford to draft high school players and allow them to develop in the minors. If high school kids were being drafted straight onto a major league roster, there would be problems just like there are/were in the NBA. When each team in the NBA has their own D-league affiliate with their own farm system, age will no longer be an issue. Most of the big wigs at the NBA are already making many millions of dollars per year, so this certainly has nothing to do with old geezers jealous of young kids making a lot of money. 820292[/snapback] I was talking about the general populace. They're the ones who are outraged over the sport having kids in it, but they know damn well that if they were as talented as Kevin Garnett, Amare, or even guys that were marginally NBA-ready, they wouldn't give it a second thought and go straight to the draft. Most of these guys that go straight to the pros are poor black kids anyway, so they probably do it partially out of necessity so I see nothing wrong with it. Especially since the NCAA has such absurd rules about student athletes anyway. 820302[/snapback] It hurts the college game when so many young high school kids are going straight to the NBA. Also, for every single Amare or LeBron, there are a hundred other high schoolers that have never amounted to anything in the NBA. The Marlins first round draft pick came straight out of high school, infact he hasn't even graduated yet and and received a $1.7 million dollar signing bonus, yet he'll be spending the next few years in our minor league system. This has absolutely nothing to do with money, high school kids are still making millions of dollars in MLB and the NHL even though they aren't going to be in the big leagues for many years. If the NBA had an established minor league system where teams could draft players that would spend a year or two in their farm system developing as a mature player and not just a flashy dunker, the overall quality of the NBA would improve dramatically and the NBA would be able to draft high school kids without the league being effected in a negative manner.
June 22, 200521 yr Nice to see their's finally an age restriction. 819899[/snapback] I think the whole age thing is something angry old people made up because they're jealous that teenagers are making more money in a season than they'll make in their entire professional lives. I don't see the outrage about this in hockey, baseball, tennis, golf, etc. 820282[/snapback] That's because in baseball and hockey there is a well developed and large minor league system so teams can afford to draft high school players and allow them to develop in the minors. If high school kids were being drafted straight onto a major league roster, there would be problems just like there are/were in the NBA. When each team in the NBA has their own D-league affiliate with their own farm system, age will no longer be an issue. Most of the big wigs at the NBA are already making many millions of dollars per year, so this certainly has nothing to do with old geezers jealous of young kids making a lot of money. 820292[/snapback] I was talking about the general populace. They're the ones who are outraged over the sport having kids in it, but they know damn well that if they were as talented as Kevin Garnett, Amare, or even guys that were marginally NBA-ready, they wouldn't give it a second thought and go straight to the draft. Most of these guys that go straight to the pros are poor black kids anyway, so they probably do it partially out of necessity so I see nothing wrong with it. Especially since the NCAA has such absurd rules about student athletes anyway. 820302[/snapback] It hurts the college game when so many young high school kids are going straight to the NBA. Also, for every single Amare or LeBron, there are a hundred other high schoolers that have never amounted to anything in the NBA. The Marlins first round draft pick came straight out of high school, infact he hasn't even graduated yet and and received a $1.7 million dollar signing bonus, yet he'll be spending the next few years in our minor league system. This has absolutely nothing to do with money, high school kids are still making millions of dollars in MLB and the NHL even though they aren't going to be in the big leagues for many years. If the NBA had an established minor league system where teams could draft players that would spend a year or two in their farm system developing as a mature player and not just a flashy dunker, the overall quality of the NBA would improve dramatically and the NBA would be able to draft high school kids without the league being effected in a negative manner. 820313[/snapback] Who cares if it hurts the college game? Did you watch the tourney this year? I thought it was absolutely incredible and since the A-1 top line prospect kids are going straight to the NBA, the playing field is a whole helluva lot more balanced than in years passed. I think the only people hurt by the high school kids going straight to the NBA are those that run the NCAA because they lose a lot of money if interest is down in the games and the TV contracts aren't as lucrative as they once were. If you're a capitalist, you should be against this. Hell, we let 18 year olds go fight in Iraq. Why can't they play a silly game for a 20,000 people a night and represent their team?
June 22, 200521 yr Why can't they play a silly game for a 20,000 people a night and represent their team? 820323[/snapback] You got me beat, can't argue with that.
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