| 17 October 2011
That we're at this point leaves me incredulous. I'm in a state of disbelief that the NBA season is in jeopardy, and that the ground made in popularity of the Association over the last few seasons is being undermined to such an extent by those that get the most benefit out of it's existence.
And at this point in time, I'm losing interest in "who's to blame". For the most part, both sides of the argument are.
Ownership...
You got yourselves into this mess, the last CBA was something you pushed through and signed off on. Yes, the players have become unbelievably entitled and arrogant... but who made them so? The owners did. And it seems that every time there's a hue and cry about empty pockets, one of their ilk will hand out an "Eddy Curry contract" - vastly overpaying a player to a ridiculous extent. It's hard to plead poor when Rashard Lewis exists.
First secret about finding yourself in a hole, put down the shovel.
Players...
Really? You deserve more than half the gross, with no responsibility for costs or risks. An interesting business model. I could agree with the 53-57% if they undertook a like amount of the costs (I'm sure the NBA would be giddy if that were to occur too), but that'll never happen. I am yet to see a convincing argument where a 50/50 split of Basketball Related Income (BRI) isn't a reasonable outcome. "Because we had more last time" doesn't work as a logical line of reasoning.
Anyway, post the first two weeks of the season lost, any monetary potential for the first season is lost, and then some (the difference from 50 to 53% for the first season is around $120 million. The players lose about $84 million a week). Come early January, any $$$ that could be earnt for the duration of 6 year CBA is gone.And now the complaints about the cap? When both sides of the fence recognise that those teams that overspend need to be reined in a bit to encourage at least a smaller disparity between the haves and have-nots... there's only one group stamping their collective feet insisting that teams should have the right to blow salary caps out of the water.
The suggested changes aren't a hard cap, but they do discourage spending, and encourage teams that are exceeding the cap to cut back on that. I really fail to see how encouraging a "more equal" (it'll never be actually equal) playing field is a bad thing for the sport.
More than all of this, I'm just aghast that they can't find a reasonable way to divide the pie. Stern, Hunter, Fisher... all of them. They're all to blame. And sure, both owners and players lose in this. But the biggest loser in this is the fan, and the sport itself.
Colour me disgusted.
Edit: you can read more #NBAFanVoice pieces over at Celtics Blog - all the links are up there.
