NBA Lockout Reaction Thread

Boies' strategy? When first contacted about this, he said (in so many words) he needed to get up to speed on what was going on. The strategy is from Hunter and Kessler and Boies has been trying to make lemonade out of lemons (without having sugar). I'm not questioning Boies competence at all, just the hand he's been dealt. His public statements sound like a man who is NOT in a position of strength and doesn't know what will happen going forward.

 

Who knows if quiet negotiations are happening behind the scenes, but from what I've been made to understand:

Stern and the Owners aren't standing together anymore - the NHL-tied owners have won over some small markets and cheapskates (Starver) to a hardline faction that is committed to throwing the season in the dumpster in order to get an apocalypse level overhaul to the system.

The Owners are absolutely not going to call the players first, and have no interest in even re-opening talks until Dec 5th, letting the players sweat out their next missed paycheck (Dec 1st).

The players aren't going to call...this entire thing was a bluff to force the owners to cave. You can't bluff and immediately turn around and initiate more talks - it takes away whatever leverage you were attempting to generate.

The more players you see jump the Atlantic (or Pacific), the more likely it is they've given up hope for a deal.

4 weeks and counting before the season's officially wiped out.

 

Even if they don't want to litigate and are just bluffing, they can't reach out to negotiate when their argument is the league wasn't really neogtiating with us. I'm not a lawyer but that doesn't pass my common sense test. Papers are files so go with your bluff. "If it's a lie we fight on that lie."

 

Then they can wait 3 weeks for the NBA to answer the lawsuit. Bluff fails (like everyone with an ounce of sense knew it would).

Should have sought after Boies' counsel a long time ago to avoid this stupidity. Instead, Hunter/Kessler waited until they were hanging off a cliff by one hand with the NBA about to step on it. Only works in the movies, not in real life.

 

Boies is quoted as saying the NBA filed too soon. That filing until negotiation broke down is futile. And how do you know they didn't seek out his counsel long time ago. Filing in public does not mean the start date of counsel.

Like Boies really needs much time to "get up to speed." He was the NFL's attorney for the IDENTICAL case just 6 months ago. He knows everything about this case.

Stop with saying Boies doesn't know what he is doing, and doesn't have control. You make him sound like an idiot and a lawyer who will take any job like an ambulance chaser would. This guy has a huge reputation. If you know lawyers, you should know he wouldn't take a job at this stage of his career that would tarnish his reputation.

You make no sense when you say Boies is not being listened to and is not the main strategist here.

Get off the owners' collective dick.

 

Apparently there have been some secret "back channel" negotiations going on back and forth since for the past couple of days to try to reach an agreement before the unofficial "deadline" which is this Friday to save the X-Mas games.

If there isn't an agreement done by this weekend, basically the season is toast. The league doesnt have an "appetite" for a 50 game season like it had in 1999.

 

What does unofficial "deadline" mean? Stop being so naive news boy. We've have several unofficial "deadline" come and go already. If you think something will break over Thxgiving weekend, you might have a long and frustrating vacation. Get out and enjoy yourself.

 

Dude, as Stern mentioned, you need one month from the time a deal is done to start the season. 1 week to ratify it, another week for FA and trades and another 2 weeks to have preseason games.

Friday is the 25th. Do the math "naive" boy.

Both sides don't want a 50 game season like last time.

 

So you are going to hang on your computer all holiday in an effort to copy and paste the twitter feeds faster than anyone else?

Have fun.

Spoiler

Keep up the good work. But make sure you eat a lot of pie, at least.

 

LOL, thanks?

I may take a break and spend time with the family so I'll let someone else to the work this weekend.

 

Hope you are prepared for shock therapy. I'm trying to be positive, but like someone said, this sounds like the same song again.

 

Here's the thing - every spot where you said The Owners....should say Stern.

An under-reported development this month has been owners slowly getting off the Stern wagon. They (Was, Den, Pho, and small markets like Cha) have gone more hardline, and Stern is all of a sudden a softie in their eyes. LA, Mia, Dal, NYK, etc want to deal....but they are outnumbered.

Stern's talking, but they may not go along with a new proposal anymore. There was plenty of speculation that the last 50-50 measure was in danger of being rejected by the owners.

 

after all the times we thought a deal was imminent, I'll be shocked if you're SHOCKED by a deal not getting done.

 

Any CBA that doesn't narrow the gap between small and large market teams, any CBA that doesn't implement new rules that further discourage "dream teaming" is a poison pill.

 

Since a settlement can't be reached until the union reforms (or so Howard Beck says), does that mean if we see the union reform, it means a deal is imminent?

 

Yes. Rumors that the union is reforming are a dead giveaway.

 

ESPNSteinLine Marc Stein
One of main points of contention has been players' dismay w/so-called "mini" MLE that only lets tax teams offer $3 mil over three years