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Ira
Posts: 24688 Alba Posts: 0 Joined: 8/14/2001 Member: #91 |
9/28/2011 6:29 AM
Source - http://www.knicks101.com/2011/09/27/owners-reportedly-scrap-hard-salary-cap/
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CrushAlot
Posts: 59764 Alba Posts: 0 Joined: 7/25/2003 Member: #452 USA |
9/28/2011 7:33 PM
Berger has a much more ominous take on the dropping of the hard cap. He says the flex cap proposed would function as a hard cap. More from his article:
And yet neither side evidently was prepared to move enough Wednesday to get within reach of a deal. That moment of truth, one way or another, should come in the next 96 hours. Once the league agreed to replace its insistence on a hard cap with the more punitive luxury tax and other provisions -- a "breakthrough," as one person familar with the talks called it -- it sparked "the process of negotiation" that the two sides have arrived at now. "There could be some compromises reached," the person said. According to multiple sources familiar with the talks, the owners did not enhance their economic offer Wednesday, instead focusing on using systemic changes to hit the number they are seeking to achieve -- still 46 percent for the players over the life of a new deal. The problem, sources say, is that the players are not willing to accept a deal at that percentage, and that some of the systemic adjustments the league has proposed as alternatives to a hard team cap will act like a hard cap -- such as a luxury-tax system that rises from dollar-for-dollar tax to $2 or more. NBPA executive director Billy Hunter has called a hard team salary cap a "blood issue" for the union, and Fisher wrote in a letter to the union membership this week that he and Hunter will continue to oppose any deal that includes one "unless you, the group we represent, tell us otherwise." In addition to what they presented as hard cap alternatives -- which also included a reduction in the Bird and mid-level exceptions -- league negotiators also have presented a concept that could drive a wedge in the players' association. In exchange for keeping certain spending exceptions in place -- albeit in a reduced form -- one idea floated by the owners was a gradual reduction in existing contracts -- the "R" word, as in rollbacks -- that would minimize the financial hit for players who will be signing deals under the new system. Such a proposal would alleviate the problem of players such as James, Wade, Stoudemire, Anthony, Chris Bosh and Joe Johnson having outsized contracts compared to stars who'd be faced with signing lesser deals under a new system. In essence, the players who already are under contract would take a percentage cut in the early years of a new CBA -- 5 percent the first year, 7.5 the second and 10 percent in the third year, sources said -- so that players like Derrick Rose, Dwight Howard, Chris Paul and Deron Williams wouldn't bear a disproportionate share of the burden when they sign their max deals under the reduced salary structure the owners are seeking. The provisions are not geared strictly for the star class of players; in fact, the proposed rollbacks would be across the board, "for everyone," a person with knowledge of the idea said. And while this concept may alleviate the problem of having future stars bear more of a burden, it would create other problems -- not the least of which is the players' unwillingness to accept a percentage of BRI in the mid 40s that would make such rollbacks necessary. It is for this, and other reasons -- such as restrictions the owners would want even in a soft-cap system -- that a person familiar with the owners' ideas told CBSSports.com Tuesday night that what they were proposing was deemed "alarming" by union officials. And it is why Stern said Wednesday, "We are not near a deal." "I'm focused on, let’s get the two committees in and see whether they can either have a season or not have a season," Stern said. "And that’s what’s at risk this weekend." But amid all the comments made throughout these negotiations, it was an ordinary fan who hit a home run Wednesday with the most sensible statement yet. As Hunter and other union officials spoke with reporters on the street outside the hotel hosting negotiations, a guy in a white luxury sedan stopped in the middle of the street and started pounding on his door panel. "We want basketball!" the fan shouted. "Stop the playing and get it done!" He then drove off, heading west, having made the most sense of anyone. http://ken-berger.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/11838893/32342533 I'm tired,I'm tired, I'm so tired right now......Kristaps Porzingis 1/3/18
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CrushAlot
Posts: 59764 Alba Posts: 0 Joined: 7/25/2003 Member: #452 USA |
9/28/2011 7:45 PM
Updated: September 28, 2011, 7:34 PM ET
David Stern: Season hangs in balanceEmail Print Comments778 By Marc Stein ESPN.com Archive When NBA labor talks resume Friday, NBA commissioner David Stern is planning to threaten players with the cancellation of the entire 2011-12 season if the sides haven't made major progress toward a deal by the end of the weekend, according to sources close to the talks. Although sources said the union views such an extreme stance as more of a negotiating tactic than a legitimate threat, Stern went almost that far in his comments to reporters in New York on Wednesday after a second straight day of negotiations. Referring to meetings scheduled Friday that are expected to attract as many as 15 owners and star players such as the Heat's LeBron James, Stern said: "I'm focused on let's get the two committees in and see whether they can either have a season or not have a season, and that's what's at risk this weekend."
” It remains to be seen if Stern's remarks Thursday will have the intended "scare" effect and convince a players to accept a deal now on the premise that the NBA is not willing to stage a shortened season this time. At a minimum, sources said, cancellation of regular-season games next week is a certainty if a deal isn't within sight by Monday. The league and the union did agree Wednesday to meet again Friday and likely through the weekend, but Stern warned that there are "enormous consequences at play" in coming days. Sources said that the sides need to have an agreement in principle by the middle of the next week at the latest in order to ensure that the entire 82-game regular season, scheduled to begin Nov. 1, can be played. Two days' worth of talks ended Wednesday to allow negotiators from both sides observer the Rosh Hashanah holiday that began Wednesday night at sundown. Each side has summoned its respective bargaining committee to New York on Friday for the most important stretch of the lockout to date, pledging to meet through the weekend if progress toward a new collective bargaining agreement is being made. NBA Players Association executive director Billy Hunter has called for his executive committee members, as well as some of the league's superstars such as Kobe Bryant and James, to meet Friday in New York, sources told ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard. Bryant, though, has been in Europe all week on a Nike promotional tour and is not expected to back in time for Friday's session. Sources told Broussard that Stern is also scheduled to meet with league owners Friday, with owners and players expected to end up in the same room for negotiations. If James attends, that could result in his first face-to-face meeting with Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert since James left Cleveland for Miami last summer.
Union president Derek Fisher of the Los Angeles Lakers said of the expanded meetings: "I think it points more toward the calendar than actually being able to measure progress. It points to the realities that we face with our calendar and that if we can't find a way to get some common ground really, really soon, then the time of starting the regular season at its scheduled date is going to be in jeopardy big-time." With the scheduled Nov. 1 season openers just over a month away, Stern said there would be "a lot of risk" attached to a failure to reach an agreement in principle by the end of the week. But both sides made it clear in press briefings after Wednesday's talks that there hasn't been enough progress to put them on the verge of a deal. The lockout entered its 90th day Wednesday. During Tuesday's bargaining session in New York, Stern offered a new proposal to the players' union that budged slightly from the owners' long-held position on establishing a hard cap, league sources familiar with the negotiations told ESPN The Magazine's Ric Bucher. Stern wouldn't comment Wednesday when asked whether owners had softened their salary-cap stance. Nor would he say if the season could still start on Nov. 1 without having any preseason play at all. "I shouldn't deal with hypotheticals here," he said. "All I'd say to that is that there are enormous consequences at play here on the basis of the weekend," Stern continued. "Either we'll make very good progress -- and we know what that would mean, we know how good that would be, without putting dates to it -- or we won't make any progress and then it won't be a question of just starting the season on time, there will be a lot at risk because of the absence of progress." Training camps have already been postponed and 43 preseason games scheduled for Oct. 9-15 were canceled last week. The league has said it will make decisions about the remainder of exhibition play as warranted, but further cancellations were expected at week's end even before Stern turned up the pressure with his comments Wednesday. Fisher said the players' executive committee could be joined Friday by other star players who would be invited if their schedules allowed. The owners' labor relations committee consists of 11 members, but Fisher acknowledged that there could be about 15 owners present. "I can't say that common ground is evident, but our desire to try to get there I think is there," Fisher said. "We still have a great deal of issues to work through, so there won't be any magic that will happen this weekend to just make those things go away, but we have to put the time in." Bucher reported Tuesday night that owners did not offer players a finite annual team limit on salaries but are willing to relax their insistence on a hard cap only if certain conditions are met. Those conditions include: • The "Larry Bird exception," which allows teams to exceed the cap to retain their own free agents regardless of their other committed salaries, is limited to one player per team per season. • The mid-level exception, which the league valued at $5.8 million last season and could be extended by as many as five years, is reduced in length and size. • The current luxury tax, the $1-for-$1 penalty a team must pay to the league for the amount it exceeds the salary cap, is to be severely increased. In last week's negotiating session, owners proposed that the players' share of basketball-related income (BRI) be sliced from 57 percent to 46 percent. Broussard reported Tuesday that the owners' BRI offer had increased to 48 percent. Sources say that the owners also want a five percent reduction on all existing salaries for this season, a 7.5 percent reduction of all 2012-13 salaries and 10 percent reduction of 2013-14 salaries. Bryant, meanwhile, said Wednesday during his tour stop in Italy that it's "very possible" he'll play there if the lockout drags on, noting that he regards the country like home because he spent part of his childhood there while father Joe "Jellybean" Bryant was playing professionally in Italy. Virtus Bologna has made numerous contract offers to the Los Angeles Lakers star. The club told The Associated Press that the latest talks are centered on an offer a $2.5 million offer for 10 games over 40 days from Oct. 9 to Nov. 16. That would come out to about $1.5 million after taxes. "It's very possible -- it would be a dream for me," Bryant said Wednesday in Milan, according to the Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper. "There's an opportunity that we've been discussing over the last few days. It's very possible and that's good news for me." Marc Stein is a senior NBA writer for ESPN.com. ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard and Ric Bucher and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Netsdaily has links to articles from Berger, Sheridan, Broussard, Bucher, Amico, Deveny... about todays meetings on their site at the end of the first article. I'm tired,I'm tired, I'm so tired right now......Kristaps Porzingis 1/3/18
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franco12
Posts: 34069 Alba Posts: 4 Joined: 2/19/2004 Member: #599 USA |
9/29/2011 12:15 PM
For those who thought my suggestion for a players owned league was unrealistic, not so much that they aren't themselves talking about it, or at least threatening it:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/sam_amick/09/28/players.union.meeting/ Unless major concessions are made by the owners by then, the sources said players are prepared to show a united front and express their willingness to sit out the entire season -- if not more. There is a growing sentiment that missing the start of the regular season could mean missing the entire season, one that was recently reflected in the comments of agent David Falk. There has even been renewed talk of players starting a league of their own, which may or may not be realistic but is certainly indicative of their level of frustration and the types of strategies being considered.
And, I think some of these semi organized exhibition games have been just an exercise to perhaps demonstrate that they can do exactly this- form a players owned league. If I'm thinking this, and I'm just a casual fan, then you can bet David Falk and Kobe and all of those powerful people are thinking it too. |
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Nalod
Posts: 71155 Alba Posts: 155 Joined: 12/24/2003 Member: #508 USA |
9/29/2011 12:40 PM
franco12 wrote:For those who thought my suggestion for a players owned league was unrealistic, not so much that they aren't themselves talking about it, or at least threatening it: They are not in the league as Buffet, Gates, etc.......... Some are smart and savvy, and some are some of the dumbest high net worth individuals on the planet. Not hating but they make their money with their bodies and not their minds. Kobe has how many years left in his body? Count him out. He is owed 83 million. The players are talking big to try to make a united front. Good for them. A league of there own would yield bad consequences. The moment the League ends the lock out the "new league" would be unable to employ any player that has a valid contract. Boom, game over right there. IT would take three years to get a league planned. TV rights? Sponserships? Arenas? Players? Trust me, the owners have considered every angle on this. Their brand is only valuable on the big stage. I don't think the league wants to rape the players. Both sides come at it hard and know where the compromise zone is. |