From what I read, the owners are really looking to play hardball. And a lot of the players do not have the discipline to play the same way. Bad spending / saving habits, impatience, etc. - the players will likely cave in before the owners do. What you do if you were the NBPA to have more discipline during these lockouts? One idea I have is to collect a 1k annual fee per player per year and use that to build / purchase NBPA courts. That's $400k per year (assuming 400 players participate). In depressed real estate places like Vegas and Detroit, you could set up a full court gym. And each following year you can expand those gyms or buy new properties. If the NBPA had a few of there own gyms scattered about the country, that would satisfy a lot of the players looking to play games (and with good comp). You could maybe even televise some of the games and sell tickets. I think if they had that type of infrastructure in place, these negotiations would go much quicker as the sides would be more on a more equal playing field. It looks like the owners think they can just wait this out and win. Under normal NBA conditions, there is a summer league but that's kind of reserved for scrubs / rookies. So this could be an NBPA-only option where established players can go and play against each other. Is this idea possible? What do you think? Have any other ideas for the NBPA?
You could argue they already have their games taken care of in foreign markets. The thing is, it's the NBA these players want to play in. Fans are more apt to root for their team, not necessarily a specific player. If the owners got 50-60% new players, within 3 years we wouldn't care about the players who had left. The owners know the players need them more than they need the players.
If you are implying that there are enough foreign spots open or exhibition opportunities, I disagree. It looks like there is about enough spots for about 15% percent of the current NBA players - if everything lines up right. I think the fans would not care about the bottom-level NBA players. But if the stars did not return, fans would care. The NBA would be diluted to them. 50-60% new players? Where would they get them from? I would try out if that were to happen. Quality would signficantly decline.
