Stern: NBA wants to drop player costs by ONE-THIRD

At least the NHL will benefit from the lockouts.

 

I'm with you. The NBA is ruined for me and David Stern is a huge reason why.

 

I'm not saying they don't have the talent to play in Europe, in most leagues you're only allowed 2 imports. The tv contract is irrelevant, these owners made most of their money outside of basketball and will be just fine missing a season. The players caved last time there was a lockout and it'll be much worse this time.

 

If the NBA season was locked out, you'd see that "only two foreign players" rule completely disappear in Europe. They'd love to get some big names, even if only for a few months.

 

Are we forgetting that the NBA and Euro clubs abide by an agreement to respect each others' contracts?
I don't know what makes folks here think the players could just jump to Europe for a few months during a lockout. Euro clubs won't sign players still under contract with an NBA team. It would mean ugly lawsuits and a war with the NBA they do not want.

 

At the end of the day everyone is haggling about money that (intelligent players) won't actually touch until it's time to put their great grandson through college. Who really cares play the games.

The money went down twice already (last two CBAs) and big men are still getting overpaid and you only have to work hard in your contract year to set yourself for life.

 

my point wasn't not having the talent it was that, unlike hockey there'd be no stars or very good players going to europe, except maybe a gasol or someone like that wanting to play for his country. the nba is all about individual talent and marketing their athleticism and personalties. the league commercials for the national games almost always lead with kobe bryant, lebron james, shaq, not the los angeles lakers have been to the finals the last ... now there are a few more superstars than when it was jordan and the bulls or shaq and kobe with the lakers. maybe the players have to give something but to do what the nhl did is insane and what stern said is preposterous. even in this economy no one feels for the players but most people would think any owner that wants me to take a 33% paycut can go pound salt.

 

What on earth do European basketball leagues have to fear from the NBA during a "war?" If the NBA wants a Euro player bad enough, they get them already. I don't see the Kings relocating to Paris or Lisbon as part of a "war" either.

 

The last lockout showed that there aren't many players who've banked so much that they won't touch it until it's time to put their great grandson through college.

Hence, the players' problem.

 

Not players who are still under contract to their Euro team, they don't. The NBA and Euroleague teams have been strictly abiding the agreement to respect each others' contracts, they're not gonna fuck with that balance and open that can of worms just to get a few months out of a player.

 

I don't agree with what he's trying to do, just pointing out that if the owners decide this is what they want they are in a much better position to sit a a year or two then the players. 33% is ridiculous, so is talk of contraction(as nice as that would be) but the owners will beat the players down in the next CBA.

 

Many teams have leases that allow those teams a degree of "exclusivity" with the venue and even some kind of "approval rights" on what else can happen in that venue if it is related to the team's interests. So, forming a new basketball league may not be difficult from a "personnel" standpoint, but assuring that a new league would have top-shelf venues might not be as easy.