Battier's "grandstanding" pissed off Hunter, Union board members

Exactly.

Anyway just to make things straight, the NBA fans (basically almost every poster on this thread) are in the same boat as the owners. The owners want more bang for their buck, while the players want the most pay with the least amount of work. More bang for buck leads to better entertainment for the fans, more pay less work leads to guys like Eddy Curry making 10M a year.

 

The NBA needs a hard/flex cap. I hope the owners STAND until they get one.

 

I don't see how anyone can blame Hunter for a lockout. The owners want BS demands and he would be stupid to get the players to agree to them.

 

Just caught this thread and havent read the entire thing .... but want to give my two cents.


Battier is telling the players and Union exec's what we already know - The only people making money off of a lockout are the lawyers .... Why should Hunter benefit when the players he represents are not being paid - They pay his salary with union dues. If the union follows the direction of the NFL and decertify's .... Hunter's nothing more than a high priced lawyer.

 

Owners want the most for the least
They want the players to play hard, entertain and risk injury
and they want to pay as little as possible and offer no guarantees

neither side is 'clean in this'
they are all trying to do what is best for them . . . .
neither give a fat rat for the fans. . .
and acting like the Owners are the White hats in this .. . is just not right

Rocket River

 

Nobody is a white hat in this, just as nobody is a black hat since everybody wants the most money they can get. However all I'm saying is if you're in it for yourself (like what DD said, for the fans), you should side with the owners because even if they don't give a rats ass about the fans, they want players who work hard and are entertaining, which is what the fans want too.

On the other hand players would want washed up rejects like Eddy Curry and Rafer Alston to make 20M a year, is that something you want to watch, every single NBA team littered with overpaid lazy bums? That's an oversimplification, but the truth is the more the players benefit, the less entertainment there is on the court.

 

I don't think so. . . . players playing timid because they are constantly in fear of career ending and money stopping injuries will not be as entertainments.

Why take a charge when it could end your career?
Dunk in Traffic. etc.

better to give up the easy 2 .. than get hurt and end your career and be cut the next day.

Rocket River

 

Not letting Hunter get his salary during the negotiations is one of those things that feels right and sounds good for solidarity, but is just bad strategy.

Hunter's job is make a deal that's going to be good enough not only for vets like Battier who have just a couple good seasons left in them, but for younger players, stars, and role players. That's why it's so hard to keep unity on holding out on these things since there's so much variation in the interests of the players. It's exactly that variation that can be exploited by the owners who will try to peel off players like Battier. The last thing the players as a whole should do is give a monetary incentive for their chief advocate to cut a quick deal that won't get everything they want.

Right now, the costs of not making a deal are negligible since there's still plenty of time before the beginning of the season. But, the competing proposals will start to close in as we start to lose games. I suspect the owners will win this one since they're not really getting much return on their capital, while they by and large are owned by people with plenty of other income sources (with the exception of the Maloofs who are in trouble). The players aren't likely in very good shape though with all the role players, vets with just a couple years left, rookies, and abundance of players like Antoine Walker who squandered their money.

 

You can sign me up for 'being in bad shape' with $700k / year.