I blame

[Denny Crane]

It seems to me the owners really didn't like what the Knicks and Heat did under the past CBA and they really don't want to see anything like it again.

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

FWIW, the luxury tax system they proposed was a defacto hard-cap.

No it's not. The wealthier owners abuse it. You know that.

If they had a true hard cap many issues go away for everyone.

 

[jlprk]

Real men don't blame anyone for anything. That would be sissy. We just walk around pissed off at the world.

 

[barfo]

The fans are to blame.

If fans were not willing to pay absurd ticket prices, buy jerseys and other crap for wildly inflated prices, pay a day's wages for a hot dog, then none of this would be a problem.

barfo

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

The fans are to blame.

If fans were not willing to pay absurd ticket prices, buy jerseys and other crap for wildly inflated prices, pay a day's wages for a hot dog, then none of this would be a problem.

barfo

How true. My boss tells me that to take his 3 sons to a game and have a hot dog/soda costs him over $100.

 

[BBert]

How true. My boss tells me that to take his 3 sons to a game and have a hot dog/soda costs him over $100.

$100? How does he get off that cheap? I think you missed a zero.

 

[Denny Crane]

The owners are to blame to some extent for wanting to change the system (one that they have agreed to and contributed to its failure) but I blame the players significantly more.

I mean... I am not angry at them, and I don't think they're acting unreasonably in looking out for their best interests, but I think we could chart NBA salaries against a variety of numbers (NBA revenues, the economy as a whole) and see them be way out of whack.

Further, I don't really care about individual players. I care about the franchises and the players that wear those jerseys. We could replace every single NBA player and I would still pay attention and would have the utmost confidence that within four or five years the level of play in the NBA would be very impressive once again.

Ed O.

I don't think the salaries are out of whack competed to NFL or MLB...

It's about the BRI split. If it's 50-50 and the revenues are $4B, then the players rightly should get $4B / 452 each. More or less.

 

[HailBlazers]

the owners locked out the players, if they hadnt, we would be watching basketball

they are too dumb to stop themselves from spending insane money on marginal players, somehow that is the players fault for saying "ok"?

the owners have every right to try and pay less money, in fact, they have every opportunity to do so

Reggie Miller: "I would say gentleman, the owners and players are both at fault here. For the owners, stop overspending for mediocre talent. Maybe you need to evaluate your staff and hire better general managers and/or presidents that can assess your talent better. There's no way you should give Rashard Lewis $120 million, 30 year-old shooting guard Joe Johnson $130 million and Travis Outlaw $30 million for five years. Start looking at your GM’s because that's the reason we are in this mess in the first place because you can't assess talent well. For the players, start looking in the mirror because you guys are not as good as you think you are. You are resting on the laurels of the players that came before you when the puddin' was good and the banks were open. You've got to look at the situation we are all in now. This is an economic downturn and everyone is losing money - the owners and the players. You guys need to come together and get over this."

http://blogs.dailyherald.com/node/6392

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

Charles Barkley nailed it!

The gist of what he said basically was what LeBron and Carmelo did last year is going to kill the NBA.

I blame the 2003 draft class.

 

[The_Lillard_King]

The problem I see with blaming the owners for bad contracts is that some owners don't care about bad contracts.

So if you want to compete against the Mark Cubans and Paul Allens of the world, you have to overspending for medicore talent (if you don't they will) . . . or you can take the Donald Sterling approach and not offer bad contracts and accept that you will not be competitive in the NBA. Terrible position to be in for small market teams with owners who want to make a profit.

 

[PapaG]

I blame the players for this mess in the first place, and I blame the owners for not getting it sorted out. At this point I'm with Nash:

Nash's "StandUnited" mantra is a bit disingenuous considering that plenty of players are already taking money for playing in competing leagues. Standing united is picketing for being locked out, not running around the world and selling your services to the highest bidder.

 

[The_Lillard_King]

Nash's "StandUnited" mantra is a bit disingenuous considering that plenty of players are already taking money for playing in competing leagues. Standing united is picketing for being locked out, not running around the world and selling your services to the highest bidder.

Agreed. Players make it sound like this is a principle thing and they are battling for the future NBA players. They expect the fans to understand and feel for them while some (including faces of the NBA) go to other countries to cash in on some money until the NBA resumes. Doesn't seem right . . . either stand on the picket line with fellow NBA players or shut up.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

I've heard this claim that players going overseas are somehow deserting the Union. That's just bullshit. The only way they could be scabs is if they UNDERCUT the union players - in other words, if they agreed their own terms to play for the NBA owners. Whether or not they get money while holding out is irrelevant. If anything, it helps the union, because it means that they, at least, will be able to hold out as long as it takes.

Should we say that the NBA owners who are collecting money from their other businesses are somehow letting down fellow owners?

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Charles Barkley nailed it!
The gist of what he said basically was what LeBron and Carmelo did last year is going to kill the NBA.
I blame the 2003 draft class.

That's such total horseshit. What's the point of free agency if you can't go where you want? That's UNAMERICAN! Charles should fuck off to Cuba.

 

[The_Lillard_King]

I've heard this claim that players going overseas are somehow deserting the Union. That's just bullshit. The only way they could be scabs is if they UNDERCUT the union players - in other words, if they agreed their own terms to play for the NBA owners. Whether or not they get money while holding out is irrelevant. If anything, it helps the union, because it means that they, at least, will be able to hold out as long as it takes.

Should we say that the NBA owners who are collecting money from their other businesses are somehow letting down fellow owners?

Whether or not they get money playing basketball while holding out may be irrelevant to you, but not to a lot of other fans.

Players (and owners) are out of touch with fans and players thinking it doesn't matter to fans that they make money playing basketball overseas while the lockout is going on is one more example of players being out of touch with reality.

 

[Denny Crane]

That's such total horseshit. What's the point of free agency if you can't go where you want? That's UNAMERICAN! Charles should fuck off to Cuba.

This.

 

[barfo]

Whether or not they get money playing basketball while holding out may be irrelevant to you, but not to a lot of other fans.

Players (and owners) are out of touch with fans and players thinking it doesn't matter to fans that they make money playing basketball overseas while the lockout is going on is one more example of players being out of touch with reality.

Why should they care what fans think? They aren't negotiating with the fans.

barfo

 

[3RA1N1AC]

they should just start another league already, there are other billionaires out there that im sure would love to ride the pussy train to whore jucntion, with a layover in assfuckingtownville

 

[PapaG]

I've heard this claim that players going overseas are somehow deserting the Union. That's just bullshit. The only way they could be scabs is if they UNDERCUT the union players - in other words, if they agreed their own terms to play for the NBA owners. Whether or not they get money while holding out is irrelevant. If anything, it helps the union, because it means that they, at least, will be able to hold out as long as it takes.

Should we say that the NBA owners who are collecting money from their other businesses are somehow letting down fellow owners?

It's not bullshit. The fact is that some of the NBA's most visible players are playing for millions of dollars overseas. I don't think that sends a very good message in terms of solidarity, and also in terms of the owners acting in bad faith. "Standunited" rings hollow when players seem to be acting in their own self-interest in terms of making money playing basketball. What if Kobe Bryant, for example, blows out his knee in Italy? That then becomes the Lakers' issue in terms of both paying him, and also not having him on the court. The owners should add a voided contract provision right now to their negotiations to absolve themselves of financial obligations toward players who go and play in other professional leagues under the lockout.

BTW - calling legitimate opinions that you disagree with "bullshit" and "horseshit" probably isn't the best way to make your case.

 

[PapaG]

As for the owners not being able to pursue other interests during the lockout, that's not a good analogy at all. If the owners were to try and disband the NBA and create a new league, I'd agree. But nothing is keeping the players from working or owning things in any industry. It's specifically going overseas to play basketball while players like Steve Nash are talking about "solidarity" and "standunited" that rings hollow and defeats that message. What is the revenue sharing in the Euroleague? Is there any, or is it just a contractual obligation? Whining about the NBA while going to play in league even more controlled by owners is foolish to me. What is the owner's urgency to settle this when they know that the players are willing to go play for less money, and less guarantees, overseas?

 

[Denny Crane]

I blame barfo.

"It's never barfo" is a lie!

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

I retract my previous statements.

I blame the tea party.

 

[huevonkiller]

As for the owners not being able to pursue other interests during the lockout, that's not a good analogy at all. If the owners were to try and disband the NBA and create a new league, I'd agree. But nothing is keeping the players from working or owning things in any industry. It's specifically going overseas to play basketball while players like Steve Nash are talking about "solidarity" and "standunited" that rings hollow and defeats that message. What is the revenue sharing in the Euroleague? Is there any, or is it just a contractual obligation? Whining about the NBA while going to play in league even more controlled by owners is foolish to me. What is the owner's urgency to settle this when they know that the players are willing to go play for less money, and less guarantees, overseas?

Pretty good point.

I think players should be paid based on what their salaries would be in Europe, or other professional leagues. If they want to strike that is fine, but their beliefs are mostly illogical.