A lot of the teams are run as neutral assets or at slight losses for tax reasons by their multi billionaire owners, in that regard i can understand the players issue with pulling up their book value numbers.
Stern & the league are most likely corrupt, but you have to take anything Woj "reports" with a grain of salt, because that guy is as big of a hack as there is. He simply finds the flavor of the month thing to hate on and writes articles about it until the well is dry. Seems to work too, since the sheep pile on (whether the topic is Kobe hate (2004), Lebron hate (now), Sterling hate, Stern hate, etc).
Great Article. Thanks for posting. I would almost be able to stand a lock-out if in the process Stern was canned...
[rquoter]The NBA employs so many former stars like Julius Erving, using them as glad-handers who tsk-tsk on today’s players. “Most people may not realize that Dr. J works for the league, that they parade him around the country,” Hunter says. “They should’ve asked Dr. J for his income tax statements, and see how much he got from the NBA last year.” The league “has got to play hardball,” Julius Erving told ESPN.com at ESPN the Weekend in Orlando. “When I played, the owners had the power. The prisoners are running the prison now, not the warden. The warden is strong and he has say-so but, the balance of power is definitely with the players.”[/rquoter] Again, with Stern I'm reminded of:
Exactly! These teams are toys tied to their big fish. Also, alot of owners vested in real estate have taken losses.
You do realize Stern is trying to level the playing field. He maybe happy for the ratings when celtics/lakers make it, but under his proposal small market teams can keep their stars and he is trying to lower long term contracts so if the management makes a mistake or misread(like every team at some point or another do) they are not stuck with 50 million over 5 years guaranteed of a guy like eddy curry who has no intention of playing after he secures a guaranteed contract. Its ridiculous to think that if you decide to play an employee guaranteed for their services and they decide their motivation is gone and they know they will take a check they are not obliged to work as hard or play as hard, but the owners are obliged to pay them to do not what they asked them too. The players will still be plenty rich, but htey will be accountable and fans won't suffer for long term when the agendas don't align. Imagine being in NY for the past whatever years. Yes Isaiah is an idiot and dolan approved those contracts, so they deserve a lot of the blame, but their agenda was to bring talent and keep it competitive, how can you not also put blame on james and eddy curry whose goal was just to secure a contract and hten stop the day after, everyone has to be held accountable, Isaiah rightfully fired and james/curry's contract should be terminated
Stern is out to break the players and then break them again. The NBA lockout is going to be nasty and long.
The NBA will almost have to break the union in order to get what they want. The small market teams are demanding it. They are demanding rule changes that will allow them to make a profit and give them a better competitive chance and won't approve an agreement that does anything less.
On top of the small market teams wanting change, Stern's reputation is on the line. He has some pressure on him to fix it and get a big win for the owners. My initial thoughts are the owners get what they want or almost everything they want.
Yet their league has produced more unique champions in the last decade than the other 2/3rds of the big 3, their teams are almost all profitable (even teams like Pittsburgh and Florida) thanks to their robust revenue sharing program, and they are the only one of the big 3 that is not rallying the troops to prepare for war over the labor deal. No one expects a lockout in MLB after this deal is up, yet one has happened in the NFL, a long one (cue stupid Swoly response) is expected in the NBA and NFL players said there should have been one the last time. MLB, really an unhealthy direction.
