No kidding- its not like a high school trip where the boasters give you $10 to go to McDonalds. I can just see it now... JVG: " Ok guys, heres your $1000 each for the casino. And oh yeah, make sure to thank Tracy's Mom for bringing the cokes for the bus ride". Pay the fine Les- theres nothing wrong with some team bonding.
What a great word! The Rockets need to remember about the coorporation of the game, and don't forget us stockholders/fans, we wanna go to vegas too. Viva Les! Garcon, another jello shot over here... maybe I've had too many already...
First...summer of 1999 was the old Collective Bargaining Agreement. Notice the new article said they may be fined. Secondly...$25,000 to a team with a $60+M player payroll? I could have read the article 20 more times and drawn the same conclusion. Van Gundy paid 4 times that amount for his comments about how Yao is officiated. Do you honestly think that anyone on the Rockets gave a second thought to this possible mild slap on the hands? EDIT: The new CBA has 43 articles. I just speed-read 13 of the most relevant and can't for the life of me figure out how this can be considered "salary".
Maybe the rule is a remnant of the old gambling and drug abusing days. Couldn't there be potential tax fraud abuse out of this?
I can't believe people are blaming this on Barkley, TNT or anyone else. Everybody knows that NBA is being anal about everything. The dress code, players shorts, now trying to get music played in the arena almost completely taken out. It's not like Stern wouldn't have found out and tried to kill it. Afterall, he can't allow the players or fans to be happy about anything.
What's the harm in the team just staying in a different city for a while? They didn't all get in one bus, and go gamble as a team, did they? For all we know, they all went out and did their own thing, probably in small groups, but I don't see this as a team activity.
God I hope this is a joke...I see nothing wrong, although, I'm not the NBA or the suits...If the team pays for it, so what, its a weekend excursion...
I've given this some thought and even read a portion of the Collective Bargaining Agreement regarding the issue. I think the logic runs something like this. The CBA is an agreement between the NBAPA and the owners and it goes through great length to define a players' salary maximum and and all teams' salary cap limits. In theory, providing this kind of "perk" is a bonus incentive that is not written in to any contract thus making the field slightly less level. Let's suppose a billionaire owner like Cuban decides to throw a gala bash for the Mavs in Hawaii every time the team makes a West Coast trip. Would the potential of this trip give the Mavs an unfair advantage vs other teams when all each team can offer is an MLE? (Yes, I know the Mavs have a nice locker room...but it's not Hawaii or Vegas). This scenario is a definite possibility. Especially if a team and/or owner write those expenses off. In general terms...one mans' expense is another mans' income. (I've been taxed on enough non-monetary bonuses at work to know this is true)! I'm not saying I agree with it. I definitely don't. But I've done my best to try to understand where it's coming from. And hopefully we can all agree that there is a potential for abuse.
Makes me wonder about that trip to China the Rox had last year.. or was that technically during the season?
It was sponsored (and promoted) by the NBA. It was a pre-season set of games with the Kings. One in Shanghai, the other in Beijing.
wrong do you expect the players to be working/playing basketball everyday during the season? if you read the article which is not to long, it clearly says the league "generally views such excursions as providing extra benefits to players" so its not about the vacation/time off.. players have the freedom to do anything they want outside of games/practices and other team/nba events
As I said earlier, they could easily put some limit on this kind of thing to allow teams to do something nice to the players without going over board. The recent ridiculous looking policies (remember the dress code thing?) all seem to stem from this all-or-nothing kind of thinking.
I get a laugh out of the NBA with their dress code policy and now if this is true. Penalizing a team for taking a trip to Vegas? Are they not trying to play the NBA All Star game there? So the NBA is going to fine all NBA players in attendance at the All Star game for taking additional benefits? LOL David Stern is way out of touch. Dude is running the gestapo.
UPDATE: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2257271 Viva Las Vegas? NBA fines Rockets for side trip Associated Press Updated: Dec. 12, 2005, 11:59 PM ET HOUSTON -- The Houston Rockets have been fined by the NBA for a trip to Las Vegas last week. League spokesman Tim Frank declined to disclose the amount of the fine, saying it is an internal matter. "They took them to Las Vegas in the middle of a road trip, and that's against salary cap rules," Frank said Monday night. Rockets general manager Carroll Dawson told Houston television station KRIV that he understands that the Rockets violated the rules and expects to find out the details on Tuesday. Dawson did not immediately return a message from The Associated Press on Monday night. Frank said that, under the rules, teams are prohibited to provide any benefits or compensation to players that are not included in their contracts. Houston opened a six-game, 11-day trip on Thursday against Sacramento, winning 106-95. They beat the Portland Trail Blazers 100-86 on Sunday night.
This is stupid. NBA players are not five year olds. Somebody photochop a picture of Stern to make him look "motherly" for me.
