NBA players just committed a major blunder
Union chief Billy Hunter, flanked by Derek Fisher (left) and other players, has no leverage.
The NBA players can tell themselves that the owners created this mess. They would be right.
They can say it was the league’s owners who handed them the last collective bargaining agreement, the owners who gave them long and lucrative contracts, the owners who have done inexplicable things like give Joe Johnson a $119 million contract. And they would be right about all that, too.
But this was the bonehead move of all bonehead moves.
The NBA players decided Monday to reject the owners’ latest proposal for a new CBA. They plan to decertify the union and take the league to court for antitrust violations. This is what it looks like when an entire league of players commits suicide.
If the players are serious about all this, forget this season. At least.
Commissioner David Stern said Monday, “If I were a player, one of 450, I would wonder what it is [NBPA] Billy Hunter just did.”
Stern also referred to this as a “nuclear winter.”
Something tells me he has been practicing these soundbites for a while. My only hesitation in completely taking Stern’s side on this is, like the players, I don’t trust him, either.
But Stern and the owners really are holding all of the cards. The NBA is not the NFL in terms of stature or revenue streams. So it doesn’t really matter that the NBA owners are as wrong as the NFL owners were in their desire to change the rules of the game and take back what they’ve already given the players.
The NFL owners never were going to allow the cancellation of regular season games because there was too much money on the table. Everybody was winning, just not to the degree the NFL owners wanted to win.
That’s not the case in the NBA. The bottom line is . . . well, the bottom line. If close to half the NBA’s owners aren’t scared about shutting down the league for a year because they were projected to lose money anyway, does the union really believe the owners are going to blink?
There also are too many markets — Atlanta being one — where the NBA is simply off the radar right now. It’s about college football and the NFL. Soon, it will be about baseball trades and then spring training.
I’m not saying nobody cares because many do — just not so many that a firestorm from the fanbase is going to prompt the two sides to go back to the negotiating table.
Like all owner-player battles, this is being driven by high-powered agents who don’t want to see their commissions go down and the top 10 percent of the salary list who can afford to miss paychecks. But at some point, the players in the league who don’t have long-term security will grumble.
The players will have to give in, and this will not have been worth it.
By Jeff Schultz
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239 comments Add your comment
Boggs
November 14th, 2011
7:16 pm
I hope they never play again
"Chef" Tim Dix
November 14th, 2011
7:23 pm
Contraction will eventually be what saves U.S. Professional Sports (save hockey which will never be a major sport in the lower 48).
StingerSplash
November 14th, 2011
7:27 pm
Um, Jeff, why are you and Mark both writing on a sport that isn’t even playing right now? Did you both run out of ideas to write columns on the Thrashers? They’re not playing in Atlanta right now either.
moboman
November 14th, 2011
7:35 pm
JSS
The NFL replacement season woke the players up to reality and got the league rules straightend out. The NFL is the better for it. It is exactly what the NBA needs. Let the players sit and watch NCAA ball with all the rest of us this winter. Plenty of hoops to watch on TV without them. Pretty soon that avg 4 million salary is going to start looking pretty good compared to nothing coming in. Hard cap time folks. The NBA is broken.
Pago Pago DAWG
November 14th, 2011
7:44 pm
Offering the great joe johnson only 119 million is a slap in the face, an insult!
But really cares about the nba. We’re surprised and shocked people you still go and pay and pay.
Cedric
November 14th, 2011
7:51 pm
Will be glad once the NBA resumes and hopefully boring baseball games that last 4 hours will be stopped and done away with. I can only hope and pray.
SEC Football
November 14th, 2011
7:53 pm
I AM LIKE MOST! WHO CARES!!!!!!!!!!
THESE GUYS ARE SO OVERPAID AND DO NOT KNOW HOW TO HANDLE THEIR MONEY!!!!!!
THE OWNERS WERE CRAZY TO START WITH TO GIVE AS MUCH AS THEY DID YEARS AGO ANYWAY. HOW MANY BUSINESSES DO YOU KNOW WHERE THE EMPLOYEE MAKES OVER 50% OF THE REVENUE AND THE OWNER TAKES ALL THE RISK! AND THE FANS ARE WHO PAYS FOR ALL OF THIS! ALL PROFESSIONAL SPORTS HAVE GOTTEN OUT OF HAND.
Cedric
November 14th, 2011
7:53 pm
Based on the comments I know why…
Cedric
November 14th, 2011
7:54 pm
Hopefully the college ballplayers will get paid as well.
BasketballTopFan@Yahoo.com
November 14th, 2011
8:01 pm
I too believe that the NBA players have made a serious, serious mistake by rejecting the owners offers. Players need to understand that we are facing some of worst financial times of mankind.
When you have countries on the brink of economic disaster, unemployment and foreclosures at record levels, stock market nosedives, and worldwide economic worries now is not the time to for NBA players to demand more outlandish money and benefits.
No matter what is said or done the cost of any player and owner agreement will fall on the fans of the National Basketball Association.
BasketballTopFan@Yahoo.com
Kramer
November 14th, 2011
8:03 pm
NFL, college basketball, and even the NHL. Screw the NBA and their thug players and corrupt owners.
beone
November 14th, 2011
8:08 pm
Players were lucky to have the CBA they have enjoyed for the last few years. Now it’s back to reality or some semblance of it, since Pro Sports isn’t reality anyway. They’re a bunch of cry baby millionaires many of whom have trouble making a complete sentence. What a joke!
phil
November 14th, 2011
8:15 pm
What a wonderful day! No NBA season is a dream come true!
The basketball is terrible, awful, pathetic…
Besides, now that Nowitzki won a title, humiliating Lebron Overrated yet again, i hope they never play again.
He Hate Gator
November 14th, 2011
8:17 pm
Who cares? We have college BB after football is done!
phil
November 14th, 2011
8:19 pm
Fire FG…
JSS
November 14th, 2011
8:22 pm
Mobo…
The replacement strike only set the groundwork for the next labor agreement. The owners caved on every point over the next 3 deals. The only thing that replacement games did was 1. tell the players that TV money was more important than actual gate 2. forced the use of replacement players forever from the table 3. look at the 2011 agreement, the owners bent over backwards trying to keep the union at the bargaining table and certified because they knew regardless of the player lawsuit that it was their only recourse to save their monopoly… You suck at Labor history…
robert
November 14th, 2011
8:26 pm
negotiating to get the best deal possible is one thing. but at the end of the day the players must realize the owners hold the cards. their leaders are too proud to admit defeat and its going to cost them billions at the end of the day
P B Orr
November 14th, 2011
8:32 pm
I haven’t really watched an NBA game since they stopped playing defense in about, oh, 1990. Even the Jordan era saw a lot of standing around and bad defense. There’s no defense at all any more other that (maybe) in playoff games, so the game is boring as hell, and no one can fix that. I don’t care if they ever come back to play. Basketball needs a reboot anyway featuring team play and defense again. Ripe time to start a new league.
JSS
November 14th, 2011
8:41 pm
A new league? Are you crazy? You can’t get arena deals that make it worthwhile… Then you have to have TV deals to make it worthwhile from a transportation, franchise revenue, or ad revenue point of view… Ask the MLS and NHL how difficult that is…
JSS
November 14th, 2011
8:48 pm
Robert, the minute the Union decertifies the owners right to get a single deal goes away… They hold no cards other then being owners… The NHL players never understood that fact, they should have stayed in Europe and rode out the owners money… The minute the insurance money runs out, then you hold their feet to the fire… China keeping NBA players out is the only wrench in the players face… Still, they need to do what the NFL players didn’t, take the owners to court over anti-trust not the right to lock them out…
Sir Purr
November 14th, 2011
9:03 pm
Who cares! Holy moly do I luv Schultzie!
the Boss
November 14th, 2011
9:04 pm
Too bad owners cannot just say “ok here is our new system. Any player that wants to be part of this sign up and we will simply bring in new talent and start over.” The teams are the league, not the players. Rosters change all the time. Players come and go. So simply start over with a system that makes financial sense for those business owners that took the risk, and dropped down the coin to buy these franchises to begin with. I am quite certain the line of players “wanting in” would stretch far and wide. In time, “fans” would find new players to admire. Its simply business.
NBA players just committed a major blunder – Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) | Basketball News Pro
November 14th, 2011
9:04 pm
[...] Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) [...]
Ken Stallings
November 14th, 2011
9:07 pm
Jeff,
I must disagree with your view that the NBA players blundered. Perhaps the situation will not work out to their best interests, but sometimes you have to make a stand in principle.
The problem with the negotiations is that David Stern has been far too aggressive for the owners. A commissioner is supposed to be a balance of force between the players and the owners. Stern has not merely warped that truth, but destroyed it!
The offer should not have been made with a “take ir or get worse” ultimatum. Stern’s attitude throughout these negotiations has been entirely condescending to the players, treating them like chattle vice professionals.
I frankly cannot see how Stern can remain effective as NBA Commissioner after this unfolds to an end.
Finkle is Einhorn
November 14th, 2011
9:22 pm
My chances of watching NBA games has now gone from 1% to nonexistent even if they play some. There is nothing more annoying than grown men being overpaid to play a kid’s game arguing during a historic recession.
jay
November 14th, 2011
9:42 pm
@GeoffDawg you’re not even funny. That’s been done before! Be original! What’s an NBA? Shutup.
Marshall Kerlin
November 14th, 2011
9:44 pm
Hurrah! Atlanta sports without Hockey and Roundball for a while? If only Spring training could get here quicker. GoBraves
Brucerugby79
November 14th, 2011
9:53 pm
I do not know anyone who cares at all about the nba–everyone i talk to is hoping there is no season-i don’t think these players understand that no one cares–i hope the whole thing falls apart-college basketball is way more fun to watch–i do feel for the lower paid players who are now out of a job
Finebalm
November 14th, 2011
9:54 pm
Let me know when we can discuss Alabama Auburn football
jay
November 14th, 2011
9:55 pm
“I haven’t really watched an NBA game since they stopped playing defense in about, oh, 1990.”
So why are you commenting? <>
big d dawg
November 14th, 2011
9:55 pm
good riddance to the worst pro sport league ever!!
david
November 14th, 2011
10:06 pm
Like the way they dunk not think.
harleyman
November 14th, 2011
10:08 pm
Is this some kind of pro league, this NBA, you are talking about?
Here we go again
November 14th, 2011
10:23 pm
People don’t miss the NBA now, but come February, people will start to miss it. And by mid-may, when the NFL draft is over and people realize that baseball has already been going for 6 weeks and they’re STILL only a quarter of the way through the season, people will REALLY miss it!
The truth
November 14th, 2011
10:23 pm
Been thinking about this and I have determined that I don’t give one damn if the NBA ever plays another game. It will be better for college basketball if they don’t. The players can go get a real job if they can pass the literacy and drug tests.
occupy nba
November 14th, 2011
10:27 pm
it’s the fans that blunder by supporting the staggering salaries, owner appetites, attitudes, etc. the fans will never wake up and realize who’s really getting screwed and realize they can collectively determine who gets what. but they rather give away their resources (after sam gets his) for a few minutes of circus entertainment.
JR1967
November 14th, 2011
10:28 pm
It said much about the popularity of the local NBA team when their flagship station was put on a low-wattage translator FM station last year.
clem
November 14th, 2011
10:30 pm
who watches nba except for later rounds of playoff? prima donnas all….
nba owners ought to get a decent return on their money, in this economy not sure what that is, but 7%-12% seems reasonable….
players way overpaid as most athletes are……
lower owner profits and lower salaries so common man can go and see live…
this robin harris & cribs of rich and famous needs to wind down
oldfart
November 14th, 2011
10:34 pm
harleyman
November 14th, 2011
10:08 pm
Is this some kind of pro league, this NBA, you are talking about?
___________________________________________________
Yep, the NBA is professional basketball just like the WWE is professional wrestling. Sometimes they even use the same referees.
Not an NBA Fan
November 14th, 2011
10:35 pm
Jeff, as you say, there are those who care, but I just happen not to know any of them. After Chamberlain and Russell, it’s been a long slide downhill.
brick
November 14th, 2011
10:35 pm
The NBA has gotten to the point where it is not much more than professional wrestling, entertainment. Back in the day, players had to dribble the ball to advance it, and keep their hand on top of the ball, but now with 2 dribbles and a crossover where his hand goes under the ball he can go from one end of the count to a dunk at the other end. Why not just remove dribbling from the game, just tuck and go? The answer is its better entertainment to watch a guy run down court and dunk than to watch a guy have to actually dribble and control the ball while the defense can race full speed down the court.
Bottom line, the NBA is about 4th or 5th in popularity behind college football and basketball, MLB, the NFL and most likely soon soccer and with a season missed will probably fall behind Nascar.
Howbout
November 14th, 2011
10:37 pm
Let the players barnstorm around the country and rent gyms they can play in. Bet they could make millions and millions doing that…
sIdney c
November 14th, 2011
10:38 pm
The nba is dead to me. first the ASG has screwed the Thasher fans and i wouldn’t go to a game if we had a season.
Ckgator
November 14th, 2011
10:43 pm
Poor NBA players. Whatever will they do without the requisite 3-5 years of binge spending before going broke?
Paul in NH
November 14th, 2011
11:13 pm
I love the statements about how the problem in the NBA is that it is all about players/stars and not about teams and then there is a statement from the poster that they haven’t watched the NBA since Jordan, Magis and Bird were playing.
Got to love the irony.
Bravesbobblehead
November 14th, 2011
11:14 pm
I gave up watching BBall when Dr. J retired. These over payed babies make me &&D^^^%E!!!
MattMD
November 14th, 2011
11:27 pm
Send this NBA crap overseas where it belongs!
Drew
November 14th, 2011
11:30 pm
Don’t care. It’s a game populated by showboats, low-lifes and morons… all obscenely overpaid. Won’t miss ‘em at all.
heartofdarkness
November 14th, 2011
11:57 pm
Is it too late to appoint the negotiating teams to the Super-committee?
Two Handed Set Shot
November 15th, 2011
12:09 am
Who gives an eff about the NBA? predominatly the comments on this blog is they can go play elsewhere which i tend to agree with. Watch out for Kentucky to dominate in college basketball because none of those boneheads can be one and done now that the NBA is not an option.