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
YouGoneWatchAnyway
November 15th, 2011
12:32 am
It’s amazing to me how some are calling NBA players thugs and low-lifes for doing business. Why are you a thug or low-life for trying to get a better deal? I think Schultz called it a bonehead move not a crime. Most of us can read between the lines because thugs and low-life are only used when the topic is the actions of a black athlete(see picture of nba players). Its also used when UGA players get in trouble…but the bottom-line is “YouGoneWatchAnyway” because somebodey has to pay those thugs and low-lifes salaries…
Tim
November 15th, 2011
12:54 am
Actually, one of the main problems is sportswriters like yourself Jeff, that have given the owners a pass. What if the situation were reversed, and the players were behaving like these owners? You would have written several articles DOGGING THE PLAYERS OUT. If the players received 57% of BRI last year, how could they be expected to go down to 50%? Since when do people give up that much in a negotiation?
It’s not like the players were unreasonable. They went down to 52.5%, and were actually considering going down to 50%. It’s time for David Stern to go. He has to be the most patronizing negotiator in history. How are you going to tell the players, “You better accept this deal, because the next one is going to be much worse”. Who negotiates like that? Trying to punk someone into accepting a deal is a lousy strategy.
Sportswriters should be lambasting and shaming these owners. But you give them a pass. And it’s amazing to hear people talk about the “spoiled” players. So you hate the millionaires but love the billionaires huh? The billionaires aren’t spoiled? I wish these players would realize they don’t need David Stern are any of these owners. We don’t pay to see the owners. I wish these players would take their talents overseas and give a middle finger to the NBA.
Columbus
November 15th, 2011
1:01 am
Yeah yeah…..This happened in 1998-1999. Lockout year. NBA is a LOOOOONG season OK? back then they started playing in Feb 4th 2009 with a 50 game season. Relax Schultzie. You thought this woudl end any sooner than the 1998-99 lockout? You say the players screwed up? LOL. Yeah half the owners really need some money too. Some teams might not make it through this if there is no season. You dont think there are not owners going crazy in stress right now? Sure there is. Players can go overseas and play. Owners cant….. a 50 game season is fine with me and im sure them too. The holiday season will come and fooball wll be about over and the NBA will be back filling a sports void after they dont have to compete with football. Might even come sooner than that but it WILL come. DOn beleive and overreact to all the hype like Penn St. firing Paterno instead of just having him take a leave of absense until the dust settled. DOnt take every piec of news and act like it is all over with. This is how things work. By the way did you find some creative way to find something negative in Kimbrell winning the rookie of the year? How bout UGA going to the SEC title? Oh yeah you did on UGA. Didnt take long they havent even clinched the berth! And you hd to piss on the cake didnt you? You and Bradley should go get married You are depressing to read except when you make your football predictions. Very sad you arent more fun to read like that mot of the time instead of depressing. Thats OK, its only a matter of time before there is backlash and basically people going elsewhere for their UGA and Braves news. Nobody would read you or Bradley otherwise…..we certainly dont read you for you are enjoyable to read or great writers or provide inside info….Chip is great and whats his name umm the Braves guy…..tip of my tongue, he is great to read. You and Mark just suck when it comes to being enjoyable or funny Where is Grizzard? Heck where is Odom? Terrence? Heck can we get 2 newspapers back in ATL? Something….depressing and cynical is what we get. We DESERVE better and so do the teams you are covering By the way do not call UGA Atlantas team OK? You got GT. You have NO ownership at ALL of UGA it is many miles from Atlanta….MANY It is basically as close to TENN and Augusta asit is ATL and is closer to South Carolina but you Bradley calls it a local Atlanta team?! The best thing that EVER happened to UGA is it NOT having ANYTHING to do with ATL! Bunch of bandwagon fickle hatin fans and no support for UGA from AJC. You should be banned from writin about our beloved UGA and just stick with your LOCAL teams….GT and GA ST. Leave UGA to the REST of the state OK? Its ours. Yours is GT and GA ST. Got it? Nah you guys dont get nothing t AJC. In your own little obivious worlds……
ScottBravesFan
November 15th, 2011
3:11 am
Extremis,
MLB’s CBA is up next month. They are already finished negotiating and will announce the new CBA sometime this week or next. The only hurdle they had was draft slotting rules, which is basically how much a draft pick can get paid, and they settled on it today. MLB is making way too much money and the players are making way too much money, no way would there ever shoot that golden goose.
donald
November 15th, 2011
3:51 am
i say put out a now hiring sign out and get the games going. Owners need to manage money better and so do the players. Comming from a person makeing less than 15,000 a year as a cashier i seem to just squeak by month to month, players get millions and cant survive. so to that end put out a now hiring sign let them sit home and watch on tv someone else play the game they love or could it be money they love more. i remember when players played for the love of the game they did not make millions but they still supported thier families still bought cars and still bought houses. maybe they should have a mandatory course on how to manage your money when you sign with a team before you take the court.
Paddy
November 15th, 2011
4:33 am
Wait a minute……….those players in that picture do not look happy with Billy Hunter. I thought the players rejected the proposal as a unified group? And people say that the “Union Mentality” is dead. If the NBA strike does not make every worker want to join a union, nothing will.
Position Alert: If the majority of the buying public does not like your product; DO NOT GO ON STRIKE!!!! It makes you look stupid, don’t you think?
Paddy
November 15th, 2011
4:41 am
donald……….you remember the days that players played for the love of the game? I spent my entire working life with folks that played for pay. donald, I never met one player that played for the love of the game. Not even Ernie Banks. You must be really, really old. Does not make them bad people, but nobody plays any game for free!
GUNGA DIN
November 15th, 2011
5:30 am
the owners created all these problems by paying outrageous salaries to tattooed thugs. build a team of players where no one makes over a million a year or has a multi-year contract. pay for play. . too many good players out there that would jump at the chance to play ball and earn a six figure salary. also time to reign in the hip-hop thug culture if you want the fans back.
GwinnettDad
November 15th, 2011
6:14 am
Didn’t watch a single NBA game last year. The players & the owners deserve each other. College basketball is far more interesting anyway.
Paddy
November 15th, 2011
6:20 am
gunga din………….if basketball wants its fans back, a good start would be to promote THE LAKERS ARE COMING TO TOWN; not Kobe’s Lakers are coming to town.
Fans want their team to be successful. Fans have NO interest in their players being successful. It is human nature and alot of NBA teams and League exect’s flunked marketing 101.
MB
November 15th, 2011
6:31 am
First off, all of the “ron mexico” and “handy mandy” comments obviously come from haters and losers. Stop hatin’ just because your life SUCKS. Thats your fault. And as far as the rest of you retards that dont wanna see the nba come back, please shut your faces! You all sound really stupid right now. Yes its ugly right now, but they’ll eventually get it together. And as for the notion that football is the ultimate team sport- get over it already!! I dont know an ultimate team sport where the star on one team has to sit on the sideline and watch the other star DRILL his “ultimate team”. If they protect the sissies anymore than they are right now, it’ll be flag football. The nba is still great, and they have better stars than the nfl. And if none of you cared, why take time out of your loser lives to comment? You all should come from out of your momas’ basement and get a life. If nothing else, get some fresh air in your acorn that you call a brain.
MB
November 15th, 2011
6:52 am
GET OVER IT OLD FARTS!!!
JSS
November 15th, 2011
6:55 am
If he didn’t ban you for your homophobic laced tirade back in September who in the heck are you to run your mouth now? You are a creep! You always come on blogs trying to undermine other people and groups of people and no one calls you on it… Well you’ve been called on it… Go ask all of those parents who are struggling to get their child support paid in a timely manner regardless of what their exes do for a living where their payment is…. You are a sleaze blogger… You are cry baby! I never cried “protect me” from “Larry” when you spewed your eleven year old like filth on this venue… If you can’t take it, stop trying to dish it! You don’t have two dimes to rub together to cover any bet… Try sticking to hand cranking your generator!
crazy pizza lady
November 15th, 2011
7:20 am
players are stoopid. they negrotiated from 50% of 4 billion to 0% of 0.
tell them to find somebody with a degree to put on the team that deals with the owners.
TooBadOneAndDone
November 15th, 2011
7:30 am
The best part if that the One and Done crowd from last year’s College dropouts are now wishing they had stuck around for another year. Finish your Education. In the long haul, it pays off.
just facts
November 15th, 2011
7:33 am
you start the article off with an incorrect statement because the PLAYERS did not reject anything. the union leadership rejected the offer and did not even bring it to a vote.
Jeff Schultz
November 15th, 2011
7:40 am
MB — I had to delete a comment of yours because it started to get into race-baiting, which I don’t allow on my blogs. You can repost without that part of the comment if you like.
Steve
November 15th, 2011
7:40 am
No loss. Haven’t cared about the NBA in decades.
But I wish that the baseball owners and commissioner would get a backbone and actually stand up to the players. Baseball needs a hard salary cap.
Jeff Schultz
November 15th, 2011
7:41 am
Liberalefty and Larry — Same deal. No race-infused comments allowed.
NBA no More
November 15th, 2011
7:42 am
I have been a life long NBA fan but if they do not play this season I will not watch another NBA game ever. GREED killed the game!!!!!!!
Ronin
November 15th, 2011
7:43 am
Who cares about the NBA…. haven’t watched a game in years and don’t plan to start. No interest in pro basketball, at all. If I want to see a game, I’ll support a local college team or even high school group. Not another dime of my money for whining millionaires.
ChillyMutt
November 15th, 2011
7:58 am
REALLY guys? You’re not happy with 50%? Really?
Nuclear winter … I say scorched earth.Start new next year.
Double Zero Eight
November 15th, 2011
8:06 am
Greed and egomaniacs…… a dangerous combination
in any venue.
Phildo
November 15th, 2011
8:14 am
Give me a good college basketball game anyday. A thousand times better than the sand lot brand that the pros play. Stopped watching the NBA 15 – 20 years ago (OK, went to a couple of Hawks games on freebies and sat in the lounge swilling beer the whole game, so my record of not watching remained intact.) Point is, who cares? Certainly not me, nor apparently many others.
Joey
November 15th, 2011
8:25 am
“My only hesitation in completely taking Stern’s side on this is, like the players, I don’t trust him, either.”
**********************************************
Yeah, I wouldn’t trust someone who, while in charge of the NBA, player salaries have skyrocketed. The average salary is $5.84 Million per year. Even the players who never get in a game make hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.
Hunter is right. The NBA players are just like “plantation workers.”
Bless them all . . .
Pimps
November 15th, 2011
8:33 am
Dumb NBA players ! If the owners are losing money playing the games then the owners are GLAD the deal was rejected !
AND1
November 15th, 2011
8:34 am
These NBA players can go play with And1 for $100 per game…
dressdown
November 15th, 2011
8:35 am
At these business meetings in 5 star hotels, can’t the players at least show up wearing a suit instead of club attire? They look foolish. After partying all night, take an hour, go back to the hotel and throw on something more professional.
Interesting question??????
November 15th, 2011
8:36 am
IF they decertify the union, does that mean all the contracts are null and void? you would think there are some serious consequences to decertify the union…….. Wouldn’t loss of a contract allow the owners to present all these greedy players with new lower contracts??? Then the big-buck players would not have the lucrative contracts to fall back on once (if ever) this is settled?? This is really going to set the stage for future professional sports negotiations………. I think the players are absolute idiots….. Just imagine – in a REAL job that all us regular people have to live with…. GO TO you management and tell them you demand a big slice of the profit they make, above what they pay you…. utterly ridiculous………
AND1
November 15th, 2011
8:37 am
Jeff, Sandusky is a tool. “I showered with them and touched their legs but with no sexual intent.” Hmmm… Showering naked with a naked 10 year old boy touching his leg ? The prosecution needs several of these prior victims to step forward and put this rapist away for life.
Terry
November 15th, 2011
8:40 am
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. Hardly anyone even watches it anyway & those that do start watching it after the Super Bowl and March Madness.
Bill
November 15th, 2011
8:43 am
Once again…..who cares. Overpaid thugs who really don’t play the game the way it should be played…as everyone says watch the last 3 minutes to see what happens. Bring on college basketball and let’s watch the game be played the way it should…
Child Please
November 15th, 2011
8:43 am
The NBA just had their best overall revenue/profits last year as compared to several seasons before. Attendance and television audience also increased in every market; so please get off the board talking about the NBA is a non-essential and nobody cares. People may not make a big fuss now because the NFL is playing from now until February. But if the NBA is not back by then for the first time in years there will be no professional sports of note (sorry you would have to pay me a $150-200 per hour to watch a hockey game) and that’s not good. Especially since primetime television SUCKS!!! Oh well, I’ll pull out my Columbo and Perry Mason dvds and read a few good books.
As to the NBA players they are a bunch of pinheads. They will not win their decertification/anti-trust lawsuit on the same grounds that it did not work for the NFL players. You are a union and you have no standing in the federal court. And all of this nonsense regarding the owners taking away something from the players is just that — nonsense. Every corporation makes mistakes in spending money, however, if they decide to make cuts in benefits or salaries; in the real world the employees cannot complain that you can’t do this. We have to live with it and deal with it.
Unlike the players, the owners have to think about the viability of their team (and the league) years from now when these pinheads have retired and blown their fortune. The players are simply looking out for what they can get now.
Interesting question??????
November 15th, 2011
8:49 am
Hello Jeff —
Does decertifying the union mean all their contracts are null and void?
if not, why not????? I would think that lets the owners off the hook? no?????
Thanks…
AND1
November 15th, 2011
8:51 am
All these NBA owners own tons of other businesses to make a living. They don’t need the NBA. the players sole livelihood is NBA salaries. So who needs whom ?
AND1
November 15th, 2011
8:53 am
Man, those $6,000 tattoos just became a missed house payment for these NBA thugs !
JB
November 15th, 2011
8:57 am
A lot of these guys in the NBA would struggle with landscaping jobs at 12.00 an hour. And you are going to tell your boss that 6 million a year is just not cutting it for playing a frigging game……Next.
Mid Town Joe
November 15th, 2011
8:59 am
Jeff,
How do you think this will affect the college game? I see it hurting it in some ways.
schultz likes ASG
November 15th, 2011
9:02 am
Hey the Players can find a job flipin burgers at Mcdonalds and soon are washin cars ….blame bush for strike.One thing Stern is pullin the owners underwear to do this which means Mr howard stern soon be fired as NBA commish.and if no deal U may see NBA be come defunct soon….And all u see is NBA pass games played on tv….I wonder how Atlanta sperm group is doin..Dang mean sprit//They lost a NHL team now basketball must be fun Phillips arena a ghost town…U got it n I bet ole Mayor of atlanta is upset oh wait he went to a Rap concert ….He be voted out of office soon be replaced….So that old song from CBS is now bein played with different lyrics …..You see no basketball this year cause stern is on espn the nba is now dead on abc …abc abc u see no one on the court cause its all dark no Heat in Miami on abc and see Labron James choke again on abc this year…..and schultz they be no NBA again it done so wonder what those college players think now they should shut down college basketball no way be in NBA now..lol Hey Maybe we can start a new ABA again like old days with teams in virginia and memphis and Ny nets and Pittsburgh condors and Minnesota and Utah and Oakland n San Diego in league that is New of land and the commish could Be Dr J julius ervin n Micheal Jordon runnin it Cinninnati also with st.louis start ….kentucky in ABA and back in action….seattle and vancouver back in new league
JB
November 15th, 2011
9:02 am
Most of these guys are broke at 30 after collecting 40 mil over 6-8 years…………move that to broke at 25 now.
JB
November 15th, 2011
9:07 am
The owners needed to corral this league in….It was getting out of control with crazy salaries and waning interest. Paying 15-25 mil per year to seguys is crazy. The old saying goes, we’ll take it as long as they’ll pay it…………..Guess what?….It’s over
JSS
November 15th, 2011
9:10 am
“As to the NBA players they are a bunch of pinheads. They will not win their decertification/anti-trust lawsuit on the same grounds that it did not work for the NFL players. You are a union and you have no standing in the federal court. And all of this nonsense regarding the owners taking away something from the players is just that — nonsense. Every corporation makes mistakes in spending money, however, if they decide to make cuts in benefits or salaries; in the real world the employees cannot complain that you can’t do this. We have to live with it and deal with it.”
Wrong… Wrong… Wrong…
The only way you get off from under collectively bargained contracts or agreements is Chapter 7 Bankruptcy… The NBA does that and a Trustee steps in and you want to see the Maloofs, Glenn Taylor, ASGs, and Leslie Alexander’s of the bunch all commit suicide within the same hour! The contracts are valid until they run out. What happens once they decertify is 3 things: the union becomes a trade association (the only they can’t do is collective bargain), the teams can no longer act as a single unit trying to get or impose a contract or an agreement, and finally the NLRB can no longer protect the players or the owners collectively. 30 teams, 500 players must now reach agreements (in theory) on contracts beyond this point… But the owners have locked out the players, they get a break until a court takes up whether they want to enjoin either side from their position… The owners are crazy, they tried to North Korea, North Korea!!! North Korea has no principles (the players) just pushed the button… Look for a fallout shelter!
MrDan
November 15th, 2011
9:12 am
HEY HEY NBA, cancel your season…………forever.
Just expand the NCAA tourney to 240 teams and let it run till June. Good riddence.
moneytrain
November 15th, 2011
9:17 am
the players be hurting for cash! I heard things are so bad, some players are leaving IOUs at the clubs instead of 1’s when making it rain. That bad.
Call it like it is
November 15th, 2011
9:19 am
Its no great loss. The players are looking for pity from a smaller and smaller fan base that they are not making enough money. A fan base that is struggling to make ends meet, yet with the extra money they have, they are supposed to buy tickets to watch the cry babies play. Please. Of course hindsight is 20/20 but I bet most of them wish they had put that free scholarship to use and actually gotten a degree. Now no degree, no job, no money, and the Escalade is being repo as we speak. And yes the owners help to create this garbage. Let them all sink.
Jimmy Crack
November 15th, 2011
9:20 am
I hope they settle this thing by February.
I would love to see a 40 game regular season sprint. It would be so much more exciting.
Realistically, with the same Hawks team in place, if they didn’t play this year I would not even notice.
Hotrod
November 15th, 2011
9:28 am
Thought it was just me all these years. The tats,guns,rap, became something I did not want any part of. Once turn down courtside seats for a game. Just didn’t care anymore. Now I am finding out it was not just me.
zeke
November 15th, 2011
9:33 am
I for one do not care if they ever play another game! Same for the nfl and mlb! I was a rabid baseball fan most of my life since I was old enough to play and understand the game. Teams, players, statistics were all important! I would watch any game on tv with my Grandfather! He played on family teams in the early 1900’s and remained an avid fan his entire life! He passed away in 1983 and did not see the scourge of the players union and the strike! THANK GOD! Since that strike, I could not care less if another game is ever played! The absolute audacity that the owners must give more than 50% of revenue to players making the grossly overpaid salaries they now receive! The players deserve no more than the salaries they are able to negotiate, plus any bonus that the owners may decide to give them based on performance and profitability! Same for the nfl, nba, nhl or any other sport OR BUSINESS! UNIONS ARE SCUM! THEY HAVE ALMOST SINGLE HANDED RUINED THE ECONOMY OF THE USA! THEY HAVE CAUSED BUSINESSES TO MOVE MANUFACTURING OPERATIONS OUT OF THE COUNTRY TO AVOID THE EXTORTION OF UNION CONTRACTS THAT FOR GOD SAKE THE GOVERNMENT ALMOST MANDATES! So no, I WOULD NOT CARE IF THER IS NEVER ANOTHER PRO SPORTS GAME PLAYED! BAD THING IS THEY HAVE ALMOST RUINED COLLEGE SPORTS WITH THE CHANGES IN RULES AND ALLOWING SUCH STUPID THINGS AS DUNKS, 3 STEPS AND NOT CALLED FOR TRAVELING, SETTING AN ARBITRARY LINE NOT TO ALLOW CHARGING AND PENALIZING GOOD DEFENSE! AND, ON, AND ON, AND ON!!! THIS APPLIES TO ALL!!
Villanow
November 15th, 2011
9:33 am
I don’t watch the NBA until the playoffs, if then. And part of me wants to see the two sides get what’s coming to them. But so many jobs and cities and souvenir sellers depend on the NBA season. It would be a tragedy if it was cancelled.
PMC
November 15th, 2011
9:34 am
Why is the league acting like this deal is final? It’s freaking NOVEMBER???
The NBA is not even good until Feburary. They could start the season in March and it would be fine.