Bill Hunter is making sure the lockout doesnt end soon

I think they should have thrown about the idea of decertifying from day one, but not actually do it.

If they did it then (or now) it looks like it would have been the end of the season.

 

Every NBA contract being voided and every player becoming a free agent doesn't help the Rockets in the least. We won't get a Howard/James/Wade type player, hell I think we lose Martin, Lowry and or Scola. It seems sadly Houston isn't a destination for superstar players (Dream was drafted, Drexler and McGrady were traded) Our best hope for actual success, conference finals or further is through trades. Moreyball doesn't lead to championships.

 

This would never happen, before the NBA would sign a deal they would want all the contracts back in place.....

The decertification processes biggest weapon is the ability for the courts to decide rather than the union or league....the owners do not want to go to court where all their numbers etc become public record.

DD

 

That would be great to see it decertified, the stars would get all their money easily but every other over valued player which is most of the nab wouldn't see their contracts come back at all

 

Houston Rockets will never be the same unless they reacquaint themselves with the old school unis. They lost clutch city when they lost the uniforms.

 

There's no way this would happen; if nothing else, when the new CBA was formed, it would reinstate those contracts. LA doesn't want Kobe to be a free agent; Miami doesn't want their big 3 to be free agents; Minnesota doesn't want Kevin Love to be a free agent; etc.

But regardless, this is something the NBA is pushing to discourage decertification. It certainly doesn't fit the original post of "What the owners fail to realize is if player contracts get voided every one becomes a free agent" given that they are the ones pushing for it.

 

Not the Same as the NFL. The owners had no plans on voiding contracts.

NFL's argument against De-certification was that it was a scam and not real.

NBA's stance on De-certification is fine do it but we will void your contracts if you do.

One group was challenging the validity of the De-certification the other group is saying do it but say bye do your guaranteed money.

 

I wonder if the NBA owners want them to decertify....that way they can institute a hard cap.....

They know the players don't really have any other options and if they are able to void the contracts.....maybe that is what the owners really want.

DD

 

If the players follow through with their threat, the owners are going to crush them. If you force these billionaires to lose a season, you can bet that they are going to drop the hammer and drop it hard, maybe eliminate guaranteed contracts, implement a franchise tag, reduce player's cut to 40%, and that might be just the tip of the iceberg.

 

Owners are smart but at times they forget the human element.

The gap between the haves and have nots would get bigger.

Owners who are willing to spend would go into bidding wars over players they really want.

And the second tier players that are less attractive would go to the small market teams no one wants to go to.

 

I really should resist responding to this, because it will only feed DD's post count, but...

If this is what the owners really want, they wouldn't be arguing in federal court that such a move would invalidate all contracts and make every player a free agent.

Can you imagine the consequences of such a finding? It would destroy the league. What are you going to do at that point? Hold a huge free agent draft, like fantasy basketball? How much are Kobe Bryant or LeBron James going to demand to be paid (without a CBA in place to restrict their salaries) if they get drafted to a small market team?

 

Quoted for truth, the owners need realize this and get off their high horse and make a deal.

Whether or not you like Billy Hunter or the NBPA, no one can argue the players have not made Major concessions.

Enough Changes have been made to make the league sustainable for the next few years.

You don't Demolish the house you live in just because you did not get to put the pool in the backyard you wanted this year.

You just wait and try again later.

 

I'm not so sure about that. Decertification plus voiding contracts (everyone becoming a FA) will destroy the unprofitable teams. Contraction would occur.

A messy decertification with voiding contracts could very well be the death blow to the Charlotte's of the league. Only the Have's would win in the owner's corner.

imo, contraction needs to occur, but neither side wants it. Decertification could FORCE IT.

 

They aren't wanting de-certification - they were trying to make decertifiication unpalatable for the players because they wanted to avoid them going that route. But at the end of the day, no small market owner is going to be on board voiding all the contracts because they would all lose their star players. And none of the big name teams like NY or MIA that put together these superstars will be on board either.

The only teams supportive of voiding current contracts would be the sucky teams with no stars.

 

Exactly DD. I see no way the NLRB would rule in the players favor after the 45 days. All the Owners would have to do is call the players bluff for 45 days and they will be able to do whatever they want. If they truly were going to decertify it should have been back in June/July when talks initially broke off.

I earnestly think that somehow there needs to be organized some meeting with the NBA players on the committee and the ones causing issues and the players who were part of the NFL's committee and NHL's committees the past two years. A purely unbiased 3rd party will do little to convince them they they have little to no leverage because the players will not feel they understand. Instead, a 3rd party composed of other professional players may be able to help them see that. Would be difficult to organize though since both NFL and NHL seasons are in full swing.

But if I'm Billy Hunter/Derek Fisher/etc., you have to try to do that to hopefully unify your base and to clear your message internally.

 

No WAY!! They would actually be the last, because a FA frenzie would be their death blow! They would not survive a bidding war. There would be contraction.

I would bet more than 5 teams would die and close shop if decertification and voiding contracts occurred.

understand, if that happened, and there was no union...it is PURE Free Agency. Anti-trust laws would not allow a hard cap or a draft, like we do in fantasy leagues.

 

DD, Hunter has a guaranteed contract to represent the players. He gets paid no matter what happens to anyone during this debacle.

 

If the players de-certify, can't the owners collude to make sure that after contract voiding, they make sure every team work on a hard cap? Or come up with something amongst themselves to make sure the biggest teams go Yankees/Red Sox on the rest of the league.

 

But those teams don't have any good players anyway, so they have nothing to lose. At the end of the day, they'll end up with the same mix of players they have now.

I think you're missing a step. Decertification doesn't mean pure free agency. It would still be like the NFL - they would come up with a new system; it just wouldn't be done negotiating with the current union. Until that happens, the NBA would just continue the lockout, as the NFL did.

 

without a union, this is a against the law. Decertification when accompanied by voiding of contracts is a complete System Reset....at least, once an anti-trust case declares the lockout illegal -- which would take months, and might not happen.

Cap = against the law
Draft = against the law
all CBA system rules = against the law