Lockout's real pain felt beyond owners and players


NEW YORK – NBA owners will lose $1 million on average for every game canceled because of the lockout, and players will lose an estimated $350 million a month. The pain, though, may be more acute for thousands of people with no seat at the bargaining table.

Bars, restaurants and hotels will go quiet. Parking spots will go unfilled. And the workers who help make basketball a big event in 30 cities will wonder how long they can get by without it.

"I'm worried that my money situation is going to change — a lot," said waitress Zuly Molina, who works at a Hooters at the Bayside complex next to the Miami Heat's home arena. "It was a lot better last year. We had business before every game, during every game with people who couldn't get tickets watching in here, then after every game. Now it's gone, except for when they have a concert or something like that."
Molina said she never believed the NBA would cancel games until Monday, when the league announced it was scrapping the first two weeks of the season — 100 games — because owners and players couldn't agree on a new contract.

She said, "I thought it would be like football," where the NFL lost preseason games but no regular-season games while it hammered out a deal with players. "They were locked out. They got it situated. I thought the NBA would get it situated."

There's no telling when that will happen. Commissioner David Stern indicated that the entire November calendar could be wiped away without a deal by the end of this month, but players and owners had no immediate plans to sit down with each other again.

The cancellations mean that Mark Cuban and his Dallas Mavericks won't be able to collect their NBA championship rings in the Nov. 1 season opener, and that James Dolan won't be able to show off his renovated Madison Square Garden to a sold-out crowd when New York hosts the Heat's Big Three the next night.

But owners might be the lucky ones. They can still recoup some of their losses, and that's what Stern said they could attempt by toughening their future proposals for a new collective bargaining agreement.
"Well, what we have to do is we have to account for the losses that we're suffering, so those losses will be factored in as we move forward," he said Monday night.

Players and owners have each made some concessions but remain far apart on several issues. Each side has sought a 53 percent cut of revenue for itself, though a 50-50 split has been floated informally. Owners also want a higher luxury tax, making it more expensive for teams to spend over the salary cap, but players say that would do too much to discourage teams from offering big contracts.

Players and fans quickly took to Twitter and talk shows, disgusted that the sides couldn't work out an agreement and were willing to cause so much damage following such a successful season.

"All I can think about, and I'm not trying to sound like I'm on my soapbox here, but all I can think about are the thousands and thousands of arena, team and hospitality employees that are now going to be out of work," said Andrew Feinstein, a bar owner and season ticket holder in Denver. "I thought the owners and players had an obligation to work this thing out while continuing to play the game, given the dire economic circumstances that are taking place in our country right now."

A lengthy lockout will be felt strongest in the NBA's small-market cities. In Salt Lake City, a Marriott hotel was taking cancellations Tuesday for about 40 rooms previously booked by the Memphis Grizzlies the night of Nov. 2. Tyson Lybbert, director of sales and marketing for the Salt Lake Marriott City Center, said each game brings between $5,000 and $10,000 to the chain.

Without a lockout, basketball already would have been back by now. The exhibition schedule was to have opened Sunday, and even preseason games can bring big crowds to restaurants and bars near NBA arenas.

Jim Couch, city manager of Oklahoma City, was concerned for restaurants, hotels and volunteer groups in his city. The Thunder are coming off their most successful season since relocating from Seattle, reaching the Western Conference finals last year behind NBA scoring champion Kevin Durant, and have developed one of the league's most passionate fan bases.

"What I'm more concerned about than anything else is the momentum that the city has gotten, disrupting the momentum with the Thunder. It was a special year last year with the Thunder, and I think everybody was looking forward to continue that," Couch said. "I think it's almost a love affair between the community and the team, and you hate to disrupt that."

Business went on for the league's partners. ESPN was scheduled to show seven games during the opening two weeks and plans to replace them mostly with college football and basketball games. TNT will rely on its regular prime-time lineup to fill the six games it would have televised.

Adidas, the league's official outfitter, and fellow sneaker giant Nike said they remained committed to basketball and could seek additional exposure at the collegiate or international levels.

Stern and union president Derek Fisher of the Lakers expressed disappointment for fans. Players and owners had the luxury of knowing just how complex the issues were and had two years to prepare themselves financially for a moment that Fisher said was "what we anticipated would probably happen."

"This is a big blow obviously to our fans, most importantly," he said. "They don't have a voice in this fight so far, but we hear them loud and clearly. They want basketball, we want to play basketball, and we're going to do the responsible thing and try our best to bring them basketball as soon as we possibly can."

FSOhioZJackson Zac Jackson

On Columbus radio Chris Spielman just called LeBron the "greatest athlete in the world" and the "mentally weakest person I've ever seen"

That pretty much sums it up...

LeBron James has jack to do with The Cavs.

Time to move on, and just hope there is a fun night when he gets into trouble of some kind.

As there will certainly be.

Logged in, nothing new in "GameTime" or "General Discussion" or even "Politics" and I saw that the most recent post was in this (Cavaliers) folder. Logged out, realized I didn't even know whether the NBA season had started yet, entered "nba" into the browser search box and this was the very top hit:

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d8 ... line_stack

Seriously? That's the top news? What, is there a lockout or something?

N.B.A. Talks Break Off, Threatening November Games
By HOWARD BECK
Published: October 20, 2011



Negotiations to end the N.B.A. lockout collapsed again Thursday night, in spectacular fashion, with more acrimony, mistrust and fiery rhetoric, and despite the involvement of a federal mediator.


The talks ended about 7 p.m., after nearly 30 hours spent over three days at a Midtown Manhattan hotel. It is the third time this month that the owners and players have walked away from each other with a feeling that they could not move any further.

The last breakdown led to the cancellation of the first two weeks of the season. This one guarantees that another two weeks, the balance of the November schedule, will be wiped out soon. The prospect of losing the entire season looms ever larger.

“Ultimately we were unable to bridge the gap that separates the two parties,” Adam Silver, the N.B.A. deputy commissioner, said about 30 minutes after the parties separated. He added, “We’re saddened on behalf of the game.”

No additional meetings are scheduled, and the federal mediator, George H. Cohen, has effectively withdrawn from the process.

Although Cohen said he would be available if talks were to resume, he issued a bleak assessment, saying in a statement, “No useful purpose would be served by requesting the parties to continue the mediation process at this time.”

The finality was somewhat surprising, given the modest progress that league officials and the players union had made this week, with Cohen’s assistance.

The sides narrowed the gap on revenue sharing proposals, with the N.B.A. offering a 50-50 split, and the players reducing their request to 52.5 percent. But that gap represents about $100 million in today’s terms, and $1 billion over the life of a 10-year deal, which is what the owners are seeking.

“They made it clear that if our position was that we were unwilling to move beyond 50 percent, there was nothing else to talk about,” said Silver, who was leading the N.B.A. contingent in place of Commissioner David Stern, who was ill. “And that’s when the discussions broke off today.”

Silver’s implication set off union leaders, who said it was the owners who essentially issued an ultimatum — an even split or nothing — and called off the talks.

“I want to make it clear that you guys were lied to earlier,” said Derek Fisher, the president of the players union.

Fisher said that the players “continued to express our willingness to negotiate,” but that the owners refused to budge — or to discuss other issues — without the union’s acceding to the 50-50 offer.

The parties had made progress on a number of smaller items, like the midlevel exception, adjustments to the rookie-scale system and a so-called amnesty provision that would allow teams to waive players to clear salary-cap room.

They spent about 24 hours together in a 32-hour span between Tuesday and Wednesday, including a 16-hour session.

Silver said he began the day feeling optimistic. Officials from the players’ side also felt that progress was possible when the talks reconvened early Thursday afternoon, after the N.B.A.’s board of governors meeting.

Union officials suggested that something changed during that owners meeting. According to the union, Paul Allen, the Portland Trail Blazers’ owner, was a surprise participants at the labor talks, and had been sent to deliver the owners’ message — that they would move no further.

“This meeting was hijacked,” said Jeffrey Kessler, the union’s outside counsel and its lead negotiator. “Something happened in that board of governors meeting. We were making progress.”

Allen was sent, Kessler said, to deliver a message from the owners — “and that view was, ‘Our way or the highway.’ That’s what we were told. We were shocked.”

Kessler spoke long after league officials had departed. The N.B.A. did not immediately respond to his remarks.

The talks took place without Stern, who had flulike symptoms. He communicated with Silver and Peter Holt, the chairman of the N.B.A.’s labor committee, by phone throughout the day.

Hope for a deal is growing dimmer with every breakdown. The parties were deadlocked when the owners imposed the lockout on July 1 and have since broken off talks three times — on Oct. 4, Oct. 10 and Thursday. As the 2011 calendar shortens, the consequences increase, along with the gloomy rhetoric.

Billy Hunter, the union’s executive director, said the owners intended all along to push the players to this point, to cancel games and to force them to miss paychecks.

“I’ve known from the get-go, at least two or three years ago, that in fact it was the N.B.A. owners’ plan to lock out, break the union, break the resolve of the players and impose upon the players and the union the system they wanted,” Hunter said.

The earlier board of governors meeting was mostly spent discussing a more generous revenue-sharing plan. Silver reiterated that the revenue-sharing pool would be tripled, to at least $150 million per year, and quadrupled in later seasons.

Although the details remained confidential, the league’s poorest franchises could receive up to $15 million a year under the new formula, according to a person who has seen the plan. The two biggest payers would be the Los Angeles Lakers, who are expected to contribute $50 million a year, and the Knicks, who are expected to contribute $30 million a year.

Hunter’s actions in NBA labor talks weaken union
Adrian Wojnarowski

By Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports Nov 1, 5:16 pm EDT

After Billy Hunter made the grand stand of marching out of Friday’s bargaining session, refusing to negotiate below 52 percent of the NBA’s revenue split, a strong movement within the Players Association emerged that vowed the union will never let him act so unilaterally again.

From superstars to midlevel players to rookies, there’s an unmistakable push to complete the final elements of the system and take this labor deal to the union’s 400-plus membership. Beyond that, there’s an even larger movement to push Hunter, the Players Association’s executive director, out the door once these labor talks are done. All hell’s broken loose within the union, and no one is exactly sure how they’re going to get a deal to the finish line.
(AP)

“Billy can’t just say it’s 52 or nothing, and walk out again,” one league source involved with the talks told Yahoo! Sports. “That will not happen again. It’s time that the players get to make a decision on this, and there won’t be another check lost before they do.”

Rest assured, there’s a vast gulf in the union, and it’s growing with the passing of every day. Players Association president Derek Fisher’s(notes) letter to the players convinced no one otherwise. NBA commissioner David Stern and the owners know it, and it’s part of the reason they won’t raise their offer of the BRI revenue split to 51 percent. There are system issues that need to be resolved for players, but this deal gets done at 50-50, and that’s been true for a long, long time.

In the end, there are two courses for the union: Take the deal largely on the table or blow this up, decertify and lose the season fighting the NBA in the federal courts.

Only, it’s too late to decertify. Everyone wanted to do it back in July when the lockout started, and Hunter refused. His decision had nothing to do with legal strategy, nothing to do with leverage or getting the best possible deal for the players. It had everything to do with what it always does with Hunter: self-preservation. He worried about losing power, losing his job, and he sold everyone on a toothless National Labor Relations Board claim that’s going nowhere.

This union is threatening to implode, the push and pull of people wanting to cut a deal and those willing to keep warring over the final percentage points. Within the NBPA, the frustration with Hunter is this: Hunter knows where the deal will be made, but he’s engaged in a smear campaign to frame Fisher as a sellout to the league. For Hunter, the end game is simple: Divide and conquer, and ultimately try to keep his own job beyond this labor agreement. This is a lousy deal for the players, and Hunter wants the blame everywhere else.

Yes, this has created doubts about Fisher, but it’s hurt Hunter far more. Once, he had the stars on his side, and that’s rapidly dissipating.

Hunter wants everyone to believe he’s the last holdout on going to a 50-50 split, that everyone else – especially Fisher – is dragging him there. Suddenly, he’s the tough guy standing alone. Suddenly, everyone else is caving and cutting side deals. Once it was the agents who wanted Hunter out. Now, there are star players lining up for a piece of him. They won’t move until there’s a deal done, but when they do, it will be swift, unruly and unpleasant.

“Right now, everyone has to choose sides: Billy or Derek,” one player involved in the labor process told Yahoo! Sports. “How the [expletive] did it come to this?”

For starters, it comes from an unseemly brew of hubris, ego and insecurity. On every level, this has been a disgrace, an embarrassment for the players, and it’s threatening to unravel the entire union. Most of all, the clock’s ticking on getting a deal done. November’s been slashed in the NBA regular season, and December’s on deck.

Stern is holding back the hawkish owners who want to pull the 50 percent offer off the table. The hardline owners are indeed pushing Stern to drop the league’s offer back under 50 percent as games are missed, but as one high-ranking official said: “The others realize that if you do that, you will lose a season. If the players will not take 50 now, they will not take less than 50 until they sit the whole year.”

[Related: Heat owner socked with $500K fine for lockout tweets]

If there’s one more round of game cancellations, owners are privately threatening what Stern publicly promised: a worse offer. That’s why a deal needs to get done sooner than later. From inside and outside, the union is teetering.
(AP)

And if Fisher has talked privately with league negotiators – Stern, deputy commissioner Adam Silver, San Antonio Spurs owner Peter Holt – here’s the thing: So what? He’s the president of the Players Association, and ultimately, Hunter works for the players.

If Fisher didn’t tell his peers on the executive committee, that’s a mistake. If he didn’t tell Hunter, that’s probably a mistake, too. It’s clear trust broke down between them sometime ago, and make no mistake, that’s on the both of them. Yet Fisher’s job is to cut the best possible deal for the players, and pretending the owners will climb to 52 percent – even 51 – as players lose checks is irresponsible. To go down to 50-50 doesn’t make you in the pocket of the NBA or corrupted. There’s far more support for a deal there than Hunter wants everyone to believe, and that includes among the league’s elite players.

The bigger issues are the motives of Hunter and his one-man wrecking crew of a PR consultant, David Cummings. Even the people suspicious of Fisher inside and outside the union – those who don’t necessarily love him – believe that he’s worked relentlessly with the lawyers, economists and players to do the job right. He hasn’t mailed it in; just the opposite. This doesn’t make him successful in the job, because the job is results oriented – just like his career as a player. There are a lot of reasons for a bad deal, and most go back to Hunter’s refusal to decertify and gain some leverage with the owners.

Nevertheless, the end game of the players’ deal doesn’t make Fisher corrupt, on the take or a sellout of his peers. Only, Fisher knows in his heart what has happened, and maybe someday an agenda could come clear. Not now, though. Not with Hunter and his minions running this kind of low-rent garbage.

For now, Billy Hunter has the clearest agenda here: self-preservation. This job is too public now, too scrutinized to think smoke and mirrors can save you. Those days are done, and probably so is he.

To take on the NBA – Stern, Silver, the owners, the lawyers, the PR machine – everyone needs to be pulling the same way, with the same goals. As the union fought for its survival, so has Billy Hunter. Only, he’s been chasing his own, and he’s going to lose that fight, too.

Sooner than later, these labor talks need to get out of Fisher’s and Hunter’s hands, and into those of the rank and file. Whatever the civil war, the Players Association still belongs to the players. They should take it back, and take it back now.

Personally, I don't think fans don't care about the NBA.

But I do think fans are fed up with athletes screwing with the public when they are making silly money.

The players have no leverage in this situation. They can cave now, or later. Might as well cave now.

By the way, this whole idea of being able to dump a (1) guy now and have it be a minimal cap hit will certainly affect the Cavs.

I wonder who they might use it on?

Baron Davis. In a heart beat.

Shaq: Cavaliers Allowed LeBron To Do Whatever He Wanted
Nov 02, 2011 11:13 AM EDT


Shaquille O'Neal spent one season with LeBron James playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers and talks about their time as teammates in his forthcoming autobiography.

“LeBron was a huge star,” O’Neal wrote in the autobiography. “He was as big as I was in 2000 in L.A. when I was dominating the league.

“Our coach, Mike Brown, was a nice guy, but he had to live on edge because nobody was supposed to be confrontational with LeBron. Nobody wanted him to leave Cleveland, so he was allowed to do whatever he wanted to do.

“I remember one day in a film session LeBron didn’t get back on defense after a missed shot. Mike Brown didn’t say anything about it. He went to the next clip and it was Mo Williams not getting back and Mike was saying, ‘Yo, Mo, we can’t have that. You’ve got to hustle a little more.’ So Delonte West is sitting there and he’s seen enough and he stands up and says, ‘Hold up, now. You can’t be pussyfooting around like that. Everyone has to be accountable for what they do, not just some us.’ Mike Brown said, ‘I know, Delonte. I know.’ Mike knew Delonte was right.

“I’m not sure if Kobe [Bryant] is going to listen to Mike Brown [now Lakers coach]. LeBron never really did.”

Via Ira Winderman/South Florida Sun-Sentinel


Read more: http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/21 ... z1cbnmReHz

Amnesty: Baron Davis to New York or L.A.?

Due to a new amnesty clause likely coming in the next collective bargaining agreement, Baron Davis could quickly become an unrestricted free agent and it sounds like he's interested in joining the Lakers, Knicks or even the Bobcats.

The amnesty clause would give teams salary-cap relief as well as tax relief on a player (on a bad contract) released via amnesty, although he'll still be paid by his old team. Details are still shaky as far as an amnesty clause goes, but it does sound like it's coming. Davis is also rumored to be a candidate to join the Super Friends in Miami if he is released via amnesty, but we'll cross that bridge when it actually happens.

Now, to more important matters.

Kim Kardashian files for divorce from Hump

After 72 days as a married couple, Kim Kardashian has filed for divorce from Kris Humphries.
The Kris and Kim wedding was a reality TV bonanza, and if you want to know more you can probably get it from the show "Keeping up with the Kardashians," which features "a tempest of siblings, business and fame." We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.

Owners count on players to cave — like LeBron

Nov 4, 2011 1:10 PM ET
Let’s hope the NBA power agents and their clients are not bluffing this time. Let’s hope there’s real substance to the decertification movement reportedly threatened by as many as 50 players, including several All-Stars.

Let’s hope the latest agent-driven ploy for lockout negotiating leverage isn’t a reenactment of the much-ballyhooed World All-Star Classic.



You don’t remember the World Tour? It was all the rage in NBA media circles in late October. Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Blake Griffin, Chris Paul and countless other big names were all supposed to play. It was supposed to kick off this past Sunday in Puerto Rico.

And then, just four days before the tip, James, Anthony and Paul pulled out of the trip. We haven’t heard a (public) word about the World All-Star Classic since.

Poof. According to people in the know, David Stern and NBA owners used their collective business muscle to make the tour go away. The disappearance of the tour makes me question the resolve of the players and the influence of the power agents to stand and fight David Stern.

So it’s great to hear that big names such as Paul Pierce, Dwyane Wade, Dwight Howard and Ray Allen are engaged in the decertification threat, but I’m highly skeptical of their resolve.

It’s the fourth quarter of the lockout, and the players remind me, Stern and NBA owners of their real leader — LeBron James.

David Stern just blew past aging, slow-footed NBAPA president Derek Fisher, and King James is once again standing flat-footed, uninvolved as Stern drives to the cup for the game-winning basket. King James played hot potato with the World All-Star Classic and now he’s going to sit out possible decertification.

The NBA lockout is all about respect — a general lack of respect for NBA players.

Ownership doesn’t respect the players. Fans don’t. And neither do the media.

King James — the league’s biggest star and most talented player — symbolizes what we don’t respect about NBA players. He’s spoiled, irresponsible and not nearly as tough as his tats, menacing dunks and mean-mug stares would have us believe.


James is the inspiration for Cleveland’s Dan Gilbert and other hardline owners determined to strip power and wealth from players.

You do remember King James and his supporters running their mouths about how “The Decision” was all about players, particularly black athletes, taking control of their careers and exercising power that made the white power structure uncomfortable?

The lockout is the predictable backlash from that discomfort. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Guess who isn’t around to fight the fight he started?

The decertification threat is a movement to support NBAPA executive director Billy Hunter’s stand on a 52-48 basketball-related-income (BRI) split. Stern and the owners have bludgeoned the players association on every other issue. The system that allowed James, Wade and Chris Bosh to team up in Miami has been destroyed in these negotiations. The BRI fight is a war for a modicum of respect. The players want a fig leaf to cover themselves as they exit the negotiations. They’ve already agreed to a 5 percent cut in BRI.

Look, I’m like most everyone else, I struggle respecting 50 to 60 percent of NBA players. Too many of them carry themselves like rappers. The players don’t understand that the business model for sports is completely different from the business model for music/rap. Foolish, counterculture rebelliousness works in the music industry. It doesn’t fly in the “patriotic” sports world. One reason the NFL trounces the NBA economically ($9 billion to $4 billion) is because NFL marketing wraps itself in patriotism. The NFL has sold the myth that watching football is akin to joining the Marines. You can’t sell that myth when the Denver Nuggets take the court night after night tatted up like the Alcatraz intramural team.

The difference between me and most fans and sportswriters is that I desperately want to respect pro athletes in general and basketball players in particular. I spent the first 22 years of my life as an athlete and dreaming of being a professional football player. I’ll never give up on athletes.

I’m 100 percent on the players’ side in this labor dispute. They deserve to be compensated fairly. This era that we’re in globally of the rich fixing their problems by stealing from the less rich infuriates me. I’m not asking you (readers of this column) to feel sorry for millionaire basketball players. I’m asking you to recognize that the same thing that is happening to the basketball players is and could be happening to you. Greedy, irresponsible business owners/bankers are fixing their problems by unfairly squeezing you.


America is dying because of its refusal to fix the structural problems that are causing our decay.

NBA ownership has unaddressed structural problems (a lack of true revenue sharing). Rather than address those issues, ownership would rather rob its players. What’s really sad is that most of the media — especially those fearful that Stern might exercise his considerable influence over their employment — are cheerleading the theft.

This week, I’ve listened to some of my peers in the media insinuate/suggest my perspective on the NBA lockout is fueled by my support and/or relationship with Billy Hunter. The accusation is preposterous. I’m a solo act. I follow whatever truths I unearth wherever they lead. I have a 20-year resume filled with blown-up bridges that prove I’m no one’s puppet.

I’m a free-thinking, free-speaking rebel. When I sell out or decide to shill for some newsmaker (Jeff George), I’ll freely admit it in this column.

I’m pro-players, pro-Billy Hunter, pro-decertification and anti-Derek Fisher because that’s where the truths I’ve discovered lead me at this moment. Provided with new, credible, enlightening information and perspective, I could easily flip flop.

Would I prefer to see this lockout end quickly and return to on-court action? Absolutely. But I’m not solely an NBA writer/columnist. I’ll be fine if the players stand strong and blow up this season to fight for what is right. I would be proud if they did. Standing up for yourself is the first step in developing the courage to stand up for others.

Someone tell LeBron James that Dwyane Wade, Paul Pierce and Dwight Howard are fighting a fight King James picked.

Apparently, J.J. Hickson was tardy to two straight practices and will be released from Bnei HaSharon after just one game. Wow.

Retweeted Brian Windhorst