I mean, Can't we all just get along?

The problem is that there's a new generation of owners who leveraged themselves to buy teams, and these teams haven't grown in value due to market conditions (financial crisis). Also, they are paying interest on the loans they used to buy these franchises, so it is harder for them to make money.

Basketball is completely different and because there are only 5 players on the court per team, on O and D, star players make a much bigger difference.

With that said, I think most people are glad that the Mavericks won. I sure am.

yeah, i want a lockout because i don't agree with the hardline of some owners, who have made bad decisions.

too big to fail?

sure, the players can make some concessions, but that doesn't mean that they should just give what the owners want.

it's called negotiations.

yes, i want an nba season like both do, but sometimes you have to play hardball.

silly.

PresIke wrote:sorry nalod, this is a terrible poll.

yeah, i want a lockout because i don't agree with the hardline of some owners, who have made bad decisions.

too big to fail?

sure, the players can make some concessions, but that doesn't mean that they should just give what the owners want.

it's called negotiations.

yes, i want an nba season like both do, but sometimes you have to play hardball.

silly.

THe owners are doing somthing about it. By trying to reduce the lenght of contracts, or restructure, or even worse eliminationg "ignorant contrats" to both enhance thier profits and perhaps keeping better talent on the roster.

what is silly about that.

Nobody wants "No basketball" but the players are not going to give up money so in effect if you want a better league over all, the owners might be right in the long run.

I guess IM trying to say not in favor of the lockout but in favor of better ocntraacts that keep better talent.

The reality is, it means a lock out.

Not so silly. Owners give star players an opportunity to make big money. When they can't perform up to standard of that contract I want them off the cap.

So if you want that, YOur siding with the owners. To get that, you gotta lock them out if they won't negotiate.

Owners are dumb, and so are the players.

The fan pays for both. I don't want to support dumb owners and unprofessional players. I want the players to get paid mind you. Up front bonus gives them lots of money upfrong. IM talking about players getting big money upfront, and say 3 of 5 years guaranteed. If incentives keep them healthy, they get more.

Players can opt out, so should owners.

BTW, it promotes freedom!

Can a guy like Alex English who took a few years to get acclimated to the NBA still be able to stay in the league and be allowed to get a chance with another team like when he was traded to denver?

I really don't like the way Miami went about its roster and not sure I like the way the knicks are doing it. If a guy gets hurt or declines the team is screwed.

Rangers spent. Sucked. Skins.....Cowboys.....Yankees tried and failed until they grew their own core.......But Lakers succeeds? Redsox didn't win until they went to the dark side........

Money helps, but its not always going to get it done.

I like the NFL a team can basically turn it around inside of two years.

Of course, the NFL is locked up also!

Don't confuse me taking sides with the owners, Im taking the side that makes the league better! I want mid level players to get paid and teams to have a system to cultivate talent.

i suppose i do not follow what you want... to hope you not only get a high draft pick, the pick turns into a franchise changing player? make it really hard for a player to switch teams and also be able to dump them when they are no longer fit what you want? note that while this may make it easy to dump curry and the like, what about the less destructive players/mid tier players who will probably get hammered by that?

I think a player like curry should be given a big upfront bonus and say 3 of the 5 years are guaranteed. If a team wants do drop him after three years Thats fine. He is given a partial buy out, say 50% and if he still can play he goes elsewhere or naturally traded.

If this player is desirable he has a market to bid up his services.

Mid tier players get hammered? Not really, they are given the same contracts.

My point is to have enough money to pay the mid tier talent better. Look at knicks this year: "Basically just one year contracts!" in hope yet another starphuch player.

Childs2Dudley wrote:Last lockout didn't "fix" anything and neither will this one. We will repeat this process in 5 years.

You are absolutely right. I do think the problem with the NBA is largely on the plyer side because guaranteed contracts with no performance driven metrics to back them up are absolutely ridiculous. I mean how many of us want to see the Eddy Curry situation repeated over and over? Contracts should be two sided and the players should have incentives to earn more by doing more. If they can't agree to that then NBA just becomes a bunch of entitled rich punks running around with no set objective other than raking in as many dollars as the system will support. I would e happy to see the end of guaranteed contracts and the salary cap.

sidsanders wrote:of the teams that win, they seem to have both luck, a star or more, and decent orgs. there is no limit to how they get what they need to win: trades, draft, fa. cultivate talent == real minor league. i do not see any other decent way to do this. the only other league with no minor system (nfl) has a much higher age requirement, plus a lot larger roster size where you can gamble on projects.

for mid tiers: how will that be defined with a hard cap. one of the probs with "max" contracts is they lowered the bar for elite to the next group of players, maybe lower, operating in the same pay scale. making that lower would seem to make that worse. if we are counting on the same guys who cant control themselves now to guess the diff between an all-star and a near star at top $... that will end as well as it seems to now, badly.

if the knicks win a title doing it in ways you dont like, yet within the nba rules, will you really have a problem with that?

No problem with it, just don't think this is how it gets done.

It sells tix, cures Dolan of anxiety over renovation of the Garden and boosts revenue.

Does it win championship?

Hasn't yet!