Commissioner Stern Fires the First Shot Across the Bow

[swerb]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=A ... fgovernors

NBA commissioner David Stern said Thursday there was no quantifiable progress in collective bargaining talks over the summer, and the league revealed it is seeking a reduction in player salary costs by about one-third.

Stern said the league wants player costs to drop $750-800 million. Deputy commissioner Adam Silver said the NBA spends about $2.1 billion annually in player salaries and benefits.

“We would like to get profitable, have a return on investment,” Stern said. “There’s a swing of somewhere in the neighborhood of $750 to $800 million that we would like to change. That’s our story and we’re sticking with it.”

Stern and Silver spoke after completing two days of meetings with league owners, who are seeking major changes to the current CBA that expires June 30. Silver said the league has told the union that owners are in a “diseconomic situation,” with projected league-wide losses of about $340-350 million this season.

[Cerebral_DownTime]

Next year is gonna be lockout city. No NFL or NBA from the sound of it.

[swerb]

I've never wanted a labor stoppage in a sport as badly as I want to see it happen in the NBA.

[StewieG]

The NBA needs to break these pansies. I hope they take them out back and bend them over the hood of a car. It absolutely needs to happen. No mercy.

[Triple-S]

I've never wanted a labor stoppage in a sport as badly as I want to see it happen in the NBA.

MLB around 2002 for me.

was praying that it would happen and that we could finally get a salary cap. One could only imagine if it did happen and how the Tribe would look right now.

[leadpipe]

I've never wanted a labor stoppage in a sport as badly as I want to see it happen in the NBA.

MLB around 2002 for me.

was praying that it would happen and that we could finally get a salary cap. One could only imagine if it did happen and how the Tribe would look right now.

Baseball shoulda had the balls to take care of its situation right then and there, instead, it will happen again. Something tells me that Stern isn't going to let that happen to his sport.

And judging by the rate NBA'ers go thru their cash, they'll be outta dough in about two weeks.

[Gradysmanldy]

God, sweet music: Heat get bounced in round 2 by the Mickey Mouse Express, who lose to the Lakers AGAIN, and then lockout.

Besides an aneurysm for a certain nameless player, couldn't be more sweet. RAH RAH.

[daddywags]

I'd like to see a 2 or 3 year lockout, only because I don't think they'd lock them out for 6 or 7 years. I'm sure there's some team in China or Italy where whatsisname can finish out his useful career.

[GodHatesClevelandSport]

It's cute that the Indians can't compete because there's no salary cap that allows them to keep their players, and that the Cavs won't be competing even though there is a salary cap that presumably allows them to keep their star player.

[rebelwithoutaclue]

Stern said the league wants player costs to drop $750-800 million. Deputy commissioner Adam Silver said the NBA spends about $2.1 billion annually in player salaries and benefits.

So don't let Drew Gooden, Darko Milicic, and Wes Matthews (who? he got $34 million alone!) sign for a combined $85 million 6 months after the owners were complaining about bankruptcy and the salary cap being lowered by $6 million. The owners constantly complain about player salaries but are too stupid to realize that they're the one's controlling the salaries.

[aoxo1]

When teams are selling for peanuts, then I will believe that they aren't valuable. When they are still going for hundreds of millions, Stern is blowing smoke about the real losses these owners are enduring.

[Madre Hill, Superstar]

I don't know. The salary cap actually went backwards in 2009. I'm not entirely sure if it'll do it again in 2011. If revenues aren't climbing and the Association's dividing between haves and have-nots, then, yeah, a salary cut would make sense. Or at the least putting an end to guaranteed contracts.

[FUDU]

I hope there isn't an NBA lockout, where else can we get 6 beers for $42?

[swerb]

Contraction anyone?

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=A ... g=ap-stern

[skatingtripods]

I hope there isn't an NBA lockout, where else can we get 6 beers for $42?

You can still go to the Q for a Lake Erie Monsters game.

[Madre Hill, Superstar]

Contraction anyone?]

Part of me thinks its Selig-type bluster, part of me takes a look around the league and thinks Stern is as serious as a heart attack.

[Larvell Blanks]

Contraction anyone?]

Part of me thinks its Selig-type bluster, part of me takes a look around the league and thinks Stern is as serious as a heart attack.

If contraction is put into play, how many teams go? 2? Or does Stern and the league take out 6 teams? I know the players union will fight it whether it's 1 or 10 due to jobs lost but what makes the most sense if the NBA is looking to shed that salary coin?

[pup]

Contraction anyone?]

Part of me thinks its Selig-type bluster, part of me takes a look around the league and thinks Stern is as serious as a heart attack.

If contraction is put into play, how many teams go? 2? Or does Stern and the league take out 6 teams? I know the players union will fight it whether it's 1 or 10 due to jobs lost but what makes the most sense if the NBA is looking to shed that salary coin?

Contract 2. Add 1 roster spot to the rest of the teams?

[papacass]

If contraction talks heat up, the Cavs will probably enter the conversation. Be prepared. TMLP might be on the short list of owners that the NBA would be willing to entice with a sizable chunk of change to make his franchise go away.

Small market where basketball is a distant third in popularity, city with a bad economy, no more LeBron means the team figures to face dwindling gate revenue in the coming years. The Cavs fit the profile of a team on the contraction watch list.

Gilbert is fiercely competitive and far closer to Mark Cuban than Don Sterling on the spectrum of NBA owners, so I can't see him actually folding his own franchise. I don't think he'd even seriously consider it. But if it gets that far, the NBA might show up at Rock Financial HQ with a couple duffel bags of cash to see if Gilbert would take a severance package.

[Orenthal]

Before we talk contraction of the Cavalier I think one should look at the sweetheart lease they have with Gateway. The Cavaliers owner sits on a gravy train, one soon to be connected to his casino.

[Madre Hill, Superstar]

What OJ said. Minnesota and Sacramento are farther along the contraction line than the Cavs are.

[papacass]

What OJ said. Minnesota and Sacramento are farther along the contraction line than the Cavs are.

I never said the Cavs would be at the forefront of the discussion. I just said they'd be in the discussion. Their name would come up. If Gilbert was willing to listen (and I really don't think he will) the NBA might be willing to talk to him about what it would take to shut down his team. Cleveland is an expendable NBA market.

But, for my money, Memphis, Milwaukee, Minny and New Orleans would be the four to look at. maybe Charlotte as well. In particular, Milwaukee and New Orleans are known to be hemorrhaging money and have shaky ownership situations. If the Bucks encounter some success over the next few seasons, maybe they salvage their situation.

[Loo]

This is an example of the owners agreeing to pay a player a certain amount of money, waiting a year, and then complaining that that player's contract is insanely too high.

[Hikohadon]

They should contract the Clippers out of sheer principal, regardless of the market.

Hell, with the current fascination with mega-teams, just contract everyone but about 8 teams.

Everyone else can form ABA2 - Electric Boogaloo.

[jb]

Silver said the league has told the union that owners are in a “diseconomic situation,” with projected league-wide losses of about $340-350 million this season.[/i]

So are the Cavs in a "distalent situation" due to the type of free aghency and competitive imbalance the NBA systemically promotes though it's cap rules?

[jb]

I've never wanted a labor stoppage in a sport as badly as I want to see it happen in the NBA.

+ 1

But not for this reason.

[noles1]

I want a labor stoppage simply to prolong #6's finger jewelry.

I'm a bitter fuck.

That said, contraction would be interesting because I would really be interested in a 2 or 4 teams and then seeing that talent go to the current "have nots". Could make for some drastic improvements.