crzymdups wrote:I think this lockout is going to make a lot of enemies for Stern. Did you guys see that Stern might make $20-25 MILLION PER YEAR? And supposedly only three owners know how much he actually makes?

Read this: http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AiRaC9eCYwhOkYMKtDIOiV28vLYF?slug=aw-wojnarowski_nba_labor_talks_080111

Stern won’t stand up to these owners, and why should he? He has the greatest job in sports, and someday soon he’ll be the highest-paid player in the NBA. Stern doesn’t need to push his owners on revenue sharing – the most viable solution for long-term league solvency – when it’s so much easier to go after the players and shut the sport down. He’s taking the easy way out, but it’s understandable considering the staggering salary these owners pay him.

Strange, but the union never has the courage to bring up the mystery surrounding Stern’s salary. Many owners don’t even know what Stern makes. “I’d say three or less know,” one NBA owner told Yahoo! Sports. Several believe it’s somewhere in the range of $20 million to $23 million a year, but no one knows for sure. Maybe it’s more than that, but the fact that some owners don’t know the answer is beyond belief.

Mostly, it speaks to the authoritarian culture created within the league office, and how Stern carries it out through the NBA. Some younger owners have been warned to never push the issue with him, never ask, because it’s simply unadvisable to get on the wrong side of the commissioner.

Maybe the league would have fewer losses if they put a cap on how much their commissioner makes?

Wow. I really hope the owners allow him to commission something overseas during the lockout.

K22 wrote:

jrodmc wrote:Maybe we could just get the debt ceiling raised a bit more and just have the government sponsor the league. Have the first Knick training camp at the white house.

Is that a good idea? You really want the President to take some of these guys to school?

Just make sure Obama doesn't play when Andrew Bynum is on the floor.

Allanfan20 wrote:

K22 wrote:

jrodmc wrote:Maybe we could just get the debt ceiling raised a bit more and just have the government sponsor the league. Have the first Knick training camp at the white house.

Is that a good idea? You really want the President to take some of these guys to school?

Just make sure Obama doesn't play when Andrew Bynum is on the floor.

Or hoop icons like Rey Decerega, star player for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. Obama might be able to talk, but he obviously can't game.

Knicksfan wrote:Stern and the owners are the joke. Now the send a lawsuit against the players?

This is getting very ugly. Right now not even the cancellation of the season can be taken out of the equation, unfortunately.

NBA isnt voiding contracts. They arent fooling anyone. Once the new CBA would be signed every franchise not in NY, Chicago, or LA would be hurting bad.

Real Talk. Howard, Melo, and Paul in the NYC would be a REAL possibility. Would suck to be other teams though. Hell rookies would flock to major cities. This would just be a nail in the coffin for smaller market teams.

Like I said the owners arent that stupid.

AnubisADL wrote:Real Talk. Howard, Melo, and Paul in the NYC would be a REAL possibility. Would suck to be other teams though. Hell rookies would flock to major cities. This would just be a nail in the coffin for smaller market teams.

Yea, back to the old Celtics-Lakers-Celtics-Lakers-some lucky schmuck team-Celtics-Lakers-Bulls-Bulls-Bulls type days with the major markets.

But!!! with NY poised to be more in the mix this time! >health permitting<. Donnie Walsh wasn't sleeping after all! He worked hard because he knew everyone would be taking a big nap soon... If a season is lost and the Wedding Toast becomes manifest, where should we put the the statue of Donnie, up in the Bronx near Fordham or right in front of the closing Borders store at Penn Station?

But look at the power the players are now in, real talk. Conspiring in a wedding toast or with their rookie contracts and the league runs with these WWF storylines because no one player has the star power to carry "Space Jam 3D" right now like His Airness did... who withdrew from the Players Association you'll remember, that's why he hasn't been in almost no video games until NBA 2K11.

So that's why Stern as the capo di tutti capi of the Association is going hard. The spirit of contraction and austerity is in the air and these owners are too proud to walk away from their investments when they can take their team and find a municipality that will play ball... which is going to get even harder until there's real economic recovery or only in places that have made that public-private investment, like the big cities (with a few casualties like the old Penn Station and Atlantic Yards, but now I REALLY digress).

knicks1248 wrote:I often wondered, when does stern get replace, the guy has had his job for like 30 yrs. What position on gods green earth last that long...smh

Godfathers are not getting replaced... they get shot...

A day after the NBA brought its labor stalemate into the courtroom, Players Association executive director Billy Hunter said yesterday he did not expect the 2011-12 season to go ahead.

Speaking at a law conference in Baltimore, Hunter was asked by an attendee if there would be a season and he said, "If I had to bet on it at this moment, I would probably say no," The Baltimore Sun reported.

The NBA declared a lockout July 1 and the two sides remain far apart over how to divide about $4 billion in league revenue -- to the tune of $800 million per year, according to Hunter.

Hunter also said NBA commissioner David Stern was being limited in negotiations by hard-line owners.

"In the last six or seven years, there is a new group of owners to come in who paid a premium for their franchises, and what they're doing is kind of holding [Stern's] feet to the fire," Hunter said, addressing the conference for the National Bar Association -- an organization of largely African America lawyers and judges.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/knicks/nba_season_is_in_doubt_hunter_says_JDahaO4I3ZDfxWoZmPrsiJ#ixzz1U4mhdrB7

I can't believe this.. it's total BS. You mean to tell me the NBA doesn't have one single influential owner who can put a stop to this..

Hunter thinks players going overseas to play is leverage...are you kidding me..is that your ploy to close a $800 million gap in your negotiations..What a joke is right..both sides have not talk for more then a month, then come to the bargining table with the exact same proposal..