We've talked plenty about the divergent interests of the players and owners, and a little bit about the two camps of owners. Now what about the warring factions on the players' side? ESPN reports on a letter from agents here: http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/7055538/nba-agents-group-warns-clients-joint-memo. They urge players to take their time and make sure the deal is good before voting for it, and want to take a hardline on concessions. They have also supposedly been agitating for decertification. The article makes a good point -- the last ratification vote was rushed and players were likely under duress from how it all went down (beyond regular negotiating duress), and thus all the talk from Fisher about how everyone gets to vote and nothing will get snuck past union members -- because players are saying that's what happened last time. On the flipside though, I don't see how the agents are being helpful here. What end-game do the agents want? Cancel the season, maybe cancel the next one, decertify the union... why? If they make a percentage of contracts signed, what do they gain from lost seasons and a league in turmoil?
I think (most of) the agents are slime buckets. They remind me of plantiffs lawyers. Wouldn't trust them with my shoe size.
Agents get no money from what the owners make, only from what the players will pay them from their contracts. Then obviously, 1 years smaller pay check is inconsequential compared to the next 5 (or whatever) years paychecks being smaller due to smaller contracts from the players giving into the owners demands. Also, remember that these agents are sneaky smart. It's not like they don't have investments and nest eggs set aside in case this year is lost.
Amen to that. I don't think I'll ever be on the side of the agents in anything. I know I'll probably regret saying that, but I don't care.
Yeah Im rooting for whoever can stick it to Stern and his gang of owners. It sounds like the Agents really wanna take it to Stern. I hate Stern and Silver.
Whichever side that settles first and agrees to a MFing deal. The rain is pouring, the wind is blowing and it's getting dark by 5. That's supposed to mean NBA season is near.
+1000 Even when I was younger I knew that when it started getting dark before 7, then basketball was assuredly coming on. Not going to be the case this year.
The amount of greed from both sides is appalling. It's impossible for me to humanize people who make millions of dollars a year bickering at each other over how much they make. In the end it's only going to tarnish the reputation of both players and owners. I'm not giving these crybabies any of my attention. I'm watching football.
Doesnt matter to me... Neither side is fighting to lower the cost of games, purchases, or concession food... So I dont give a flying ****!!!
What do the agents get? I have to believe it has something to do with big money agents vs the smaller agents. And also the agents of the superstars supporting a harder stance that the superstars might be asking for. If a superstar wants to negotiate harder, then an agent backs him. If the big agents / companies can sustain a prolonged lockout and smaller agents can't, then consolidation of the market occurs as they grab players from agents who belly-up.
I am on the fans side; this is fight between millionaires. I have no sympathy for either. They better be thinking about the people who made them rich, us. Once we discover we can live without them, it is a long road back to restore the NBA.
I side with the Rockets. In this case it means I side with the union over the agents. The agents clamoring for decertification are those mostly the power agents who represent the players at the top end of the pay scale. Their interest is to keep max salaries as high as possible and make every free agent signing the most competitive bidding war possible. In essence, they want a team's bottomline ability to pay, rather than it's salary cap position, to determine every contract. The agents' interests inherently favor the richest teams. They also diminish the importance of good team financial planning (Morey's specialty). If you want to see the Rockets win, you should be rooting for the union over the agents, and the owners over the players. The outcome that is looking most likely (soft cap, but much more stringent than the current system) is probably going to be the one that is most favorable for Morey. The current soft cap is too easy for the rich teams to abuse. But a hard cap makes it difficult for any team to take advantage of the rules. We want a system where there are still opportunities, but such that they favor the mid-market teams like Houston. A more onerous luxury tax is probably the sweet spot. It will be helpful to us if the new luxury tax has multiple levels in it. The more complex the rules, the bigger our advantage, since Morey's edge over other GMs is in considering financial issues like these.
I want to watch basketball. I want free or very accessible online streaming of games. I want lower ticket prices. I want reasonable concession and merchandise prices. I don't care how many millions of dollars players get. The players are stuck on "the principle" of everything. Here's a timeless principle: The marginal value of a dollar of income. It hits fans a lot more than players.
At least the NFL got their s***together and hammered out a deal before losing any real games. These guys end up losing the season then they are going to lose lots of fans.
