Tag: In the News

Signs of lockout’s end fade quickly

“Two tickets, torn in half. And a lot of nothing to do.” — Elliott Smith, “Miss Misery”

Those tickets you bought for Spurs games in November?

Mere memories of misery.

All that optimism that oozed from a press conference room in a New York City hotel on Thursday night, in stark contrast to the gloom and doom of the previous Thursday night, was an illusion. Commissioner David Stern and union executive director Billy Hunter conjured all that giddiness with mirrors, and the gullible believed their prestidigitation was the truth.

We were told there was near-agreement on the system changes the NBA has insisted must happen if all 30 teams are to have a chance to be competitive, save for some issues that hardly seemed like deal-breakers. This was what the union had said must happen if the owners expected additional movement on the money issue, the split of basketball-related income.

The league already had proposed a 50-50 split, but as a prerequisite for discussion of the system.

With that issue so close to agreement, didn’t logic dictate a compromise on BRI somewhere between the league’s 50 percent and the union’s last position, 52.5?

Hadn’t David Stern promised he would be negotiating Friday on all aspects of the collective bargaining agreement?

Hunter believed he had, so when Stern informed the union on Friday that the league’s offer was not going above 50 percent, serendipity vaporized.

There were the expected semantic riffs about the numbers. Hunter said Stern “snookered” him into thinking the league would negotiate up from its position on the money split. He swore the league’s move was backwards, to 47 percent, an assertion Stern called “an utter misrepresentation.”

Some of us got advance warning there was trouble in the air, even as the two sides worked into the early afternoon in midtown Manhattan. Before the talks blew up this text message ? from a trusted NBA executive landed in my smartphone: “Staunch stance by owners on 50-50. Problematical.”

Stern and Hunter had tried to warn that Friday was no slam-dunk deal, but their mutual jocularity on Thursday night trumped their words.

Then, the New York Times told us NBA officials contacted arena managers with instructions to clear dates for in the final two weeks of April so enough regular season games could be squeezed in to accommodate a full, 82-game schedule.

Optimism reigned.

But the early text message warning was prescient, the feeling of letdown palpable.

The tangible casualty Friday was an 82-game season that was going to be a logistical stretch for every team, a competitive straitjacket for teams with veteran stars.

Back-to-back-to-back games, Tim Duncan?

Probably not.

Also gone was the collegial feel that had prevailed through a 15-hour session on Wednesday and Thursday’s “we’re almost there” session, and this is unsettling. In a question-and-answer session on NBA.com Wednesday, famed economist Kevin Murphy, who consults for the union, spoke a bit about ill will.

“I don’t want to see any lingering bad blood between the two sides,” Murphy told Steve Aschburner. “That’s not good, either. You run the risk that, if it gets too personal, that creates its own set of frictions going forward.”

It was a good sign, then, that union vice president Maurice Evans was spotted giving a goodbye hug to Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor, chairman of the league’s Board of Governors, before both headed to LaGuardia Airport for flights to their home cities.

Then there was this text from the league exec who had seen trouble coming:

“50.5 or 51 — gotta throw ’em a lifeline; NBA will, but will now whack some games, leave some scars.”

Find optimism in that at your own risk.

mikemonroe@express-news.net

Rex Chapman’s unique take on the lockout

Rex Chapman knows a little  bit about the operation  after a lengthy career as a player and front-office executive around the NBA.

That experience provided him some insight about the crux areas of disagreement between players and owners in the lockout in :

“League owners possess much resolve,” Chapman tweeted. “They’ve vowed athlete-payback 4ever. Branded into memory are their yrs of daily P.E. dodgeball beatings.”

There might be more truth to that analysis than most might believe.

NBA sides eager to get deal in next few days

By BRIAN MAHONEY
Associated Press

NEW YORK — NBA owners and players called it an early night Thursday, with both pointing toward Friday as a decisive day for big moves to end the 119-day lockout.

Or not.

After two days of talks about the salary cap system, they will turn their attention back to the division of revenues, which derailed the talks last week.

This time, Commissioner David Stern said the talks had produced enough familiarity and trust “that will enable us to look forward to tomorrow, where we anticipate there will be some important and additional progress — or not.”

“But I think (union executive director Billy Hunter) and I share that view, and we’re looking forward to seeing whether something good can be made to happen.”

The sides again said there was some minor progress on the system issues after about 7½ hours of talks. They decided to wrap it up and get some rest following a marathon 15-hour session Wednesday, and with union economist Kevin Murphy unavailable Thursday to discuss finances.

Hunter said he thought the sides were “within striking distance of a getting a deal” on the system, but there’s still no indication either side is ready to make the big move necessary to settling the BRI split.

Owners have insisted they’re not going beyond 50-50, which means the sides are still about $100 million apart annually, based on last season’s revenues. Players have proposed reducing their guarantee from 57 percent down to 52.5, but they’re unlikely to go much further without some concessions on the system issues.

Asked when the significant move would happen, Hunter noticed Stern sitting in the back of his press conference and said to ask the commissioner.

“Tomorrow!” Stern yelled out.

“There are no guarantees that we’ll get it done, but we’re going to give it one heck of a shot tomorrow,” Stern said a few minutes later in his press conference. “I think that Billy and the union’s negotiators feel the same way. I know that ours do.”

If they don’t, Stern will have to decide whether to add more cancellations to the two weeks that have already been lost.

A full season might be difficult even with a deal this week. It takes roughly 30 days from agreement to games being played, so it’s uncertain if there’s still time for any basketball in November even before examining arena availability. But 82 games would be a boost for the players, meaning they wouldn’t miss the paycheck that seemed lost when the first two weeks were scrapped.

It was widely expected Stern would announce further cancellations this week after talks broke down a week ago. Instead, the sides were in communication the next day, staffs met Monday, and they were back at the bargaining table Wednesday, acting on Hunter’s recommendation to “park” the revenue split and focus first on the system issues.

Players want a system that looks a lot like the old one, where teams have the ability to exceed the salary cap and where contracts and their raises are guaranteed. Owners are seeking changes that they believe would create more competitive balance by removing the big market teams’ ability to spend freely beyond the cap.

They have attempted to do that by increasing the taxes teams would have to pay for exceeding the tax level. Players argue the taxes are too punitive and would scare teams from spending, thereby creating a hard cap.

“Our position hasn’t changed much,” union president Derek Fisher of the Lakers said. “We’re just trying to make sure that players have an opportunity to have a market for themselves and for their services, the same way we’re trying to meet the league and our teams on all 30 teams being competitive.”

Players have said the issues of the system and split are largely tied together, though Stern and Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver have said they believe they are separate.

The big question is whether owners will insist on having both.

“I think we’re within reach and within striking distance of getting a deal,” Hunter said. “It’s just a question of how receptive the NBA is and whether or not they want to do a deal.”

The sides have seemed close before, only for the talks to break down. It was the system issues earlier this month, followed by the split last week after three days of mediation.

They are hoping a deal can be completed by early next week, with the union believing if so there would still be enough time to reschedule the canceled games. But they’ve now arrived at what might be the toughest part, because it always seemed these talks would come back to money.

“We’re working at it,” Fisher said. “It’s a tough process and as we move through and try to close the gap in as many places as we can, it gets tougher towards the end.”

___

Follow Brian Mahoney on Twitter: twitter.com/Briancmahoney