Tick tick tick.
Now on the clock -- the NBA players.
Well it’s not quite a clock.
It’s more like a ticking time bomb.
The owners have given the players until Wednesday to accept the latest offer they scribbled on the bargaining table.
And if not.
The NBA will blow up.
Now these players are used to making pressure decisions in 24 seconds.
Or less.
But if they miss this shot, the Association will fadeaway faster than a Kobe Bryant jumper.
Midnight will strike.
And the NBA will explode.
Implode.
Whatever.
At this point, the damage that both sides have done to this once great league is immeasurable.
Immeasurable for now.
When they finally do agree, it is going to be a long road to recovery.
How long?
We’ll find out Wednesday.
The bottom line is that none of us can relate to what these guys are bitching about.
NONE of us.
The debate seems to center around something called BRI.
Basketball Related Income.
What’s that you say?
Let me catch you up.
The players used to get 57% of the BRI.
The owners said, WHOA... that’s too much.
So they offered 47%.
The players said, WHOA... that’s too little.
Enter Newton's Cradle.
53.. no 48... 52... no 49...
Now it’s 49 with a chance to go to 51.
You lost me at hello.
For the last few weeks, they’ve been bickering over 1%.
ONE PERCENT!
Now in this case, 1% is still a ton of cash.
But enough already.
I couldn’t figure out a sudoku puzzle if you gave me a month.
But give me 10 minutes with these idiots and we’ll have a deal done.
15 minutes if we order chinese food.
Honestly, I don’t get it.
The bottom line is the NBA brings in a lot of money.
And as long as these games keep getting cancelled.
Nobody gets nothin’.
Times are tough these days.
Everywhere.
The OUT OF BUSINESS sign.
Has replaced the OPEN sign.
On way too many storefronts.
And there’s no reason to believe that’s going to change anytime soon.
Businesses are cutting back like Barry Sanders.
And those are the ones trying to stay open.
But the NBA has nothing in common with Joe’s Shoe Repair.
Or Borders bookstore.
Or Blockbuster Video.
Yet.
They are still sitting on a goldmine.
Still.
Last year, the league brought in a record 4.3 billion dollars in net revenue.
That’s billion with a B.
63 players earned 10 million dollars or more last year.
140 players earned 5 million or more last year.
336 players earned a million or more last year.
That’s enough for nearly 34 different 5x5 pickup games.
Between millionaires.
Armani Shirts vs Lamb Skins.
According to the NBA, five million dollars was the average salary in the league last year.
The average.
Per year.
Guaranteed.
That’s one Dr. Evil for every finger.
On your right hand.
And five dozen guys made enough to take care of the left too.
Of course some of the bottom feeders aren’t making nearly that much.
In fact, the minimum salary is not even 10% of the average.
Last year the minimum salary in the NBA was a measly $473,604.
That’s right.
Can you imagine -- the benchiest of bench warmers made “just” $473k last year.
How do you feel about this lockout now?
The owners say that 22 of the 30 teams have been losing money.
Duh!
Throwing around cash like that, it’s no surprise.
That’s why they said that something had to change.
No surprise there either.
Personally, I have chosen to believe that the NBA owners are telling the truth about their bad financial situation.
Even if they are the ones to blame.
Exhibit A, B, C, D & E.
July 8, 2010 -- just one year ago.
The Atlanta Hawks resigned free agent Joe Johnson to a six-year deal.
A six-year deal worth $119 million dollars.
Guaranteed!
And if the Hawks didn’t sign him, a dozen other teams probably would have.
Johnson is no ordinary Joe when it comes to playing the game of basketball.
But when it comes to playing in the NBA, he is nothing special.
In the six years he has played in Atlanta.
He has never made it to the NBA finals.
In fact, he’s never led the Hawks to the conference finals.
But he does have a 500-square foot shoe closet.
Really.
Hey you gotta spend that money on something.
The bottom line here is a whole bunch of rich people have a chance to stay rich if they just check their egos at the door.
And get a deal done.
Saturday night we turned our clocks back.
But that extra hour of negotiating really didn’t help.
At the end of the latest bargaining session -- BS for short.
1:45am ET.
NBA Commissioner David Stern said to the players, this is our offer.
You have until Wednesday to take it.
But if you leave it.
The next offer will by yuckier.
Guaranteed.
Imagine that -- the NBA Commissioner used the word “yuckier”.
Now if you don’t care about the NBA.
You probably don’t care if they ever kiss and make up.
And you definitely don’t care about this blog.
But I do.
I love the NBA.
Well, I love the game of basketball.
It is this BS game of millionaires whining over who gets the bigger car that I could do without.
Make the right call.
And sign on the dotted line.
Both of you.
Tick tick tick.
1 comment:
The players need a reality check and the owners need protection from themselves. No one forced the T'Wolves to give Darko Milicic a 4-year/$20M contract. No one forced the Warriors to give Rony Turiaf a 4-year/$17M contract. The same owners who made smart biz decisions to get the money needed to buy a franchise are the same ones making stupid decisions costing themselves tons of money.
The Biggest Losers in all this isn't the players or owners........it is people like the single mother who works at a bar near an NBA Arena and gets 41 nights (or more if her team makes the playoffs) or tips and nice wages to help keep her off welfare. It is the hotel maid/cab driver/security guard/arena concessionaire and so one who count on the extra revenue generated from working these games or having these teams in town for the game.
The players are the clueless ones as seen by Latrell Sprewell who was insulted by the T'Wolves 3-year/$27-$30M contract saying, "I've got my family to feed" and turned it down - never got another contract again and not too long ago filed for Bankruptcy despite the fact he made almost $100M for his career.
The players need to wake up and smell the Coffee. The public has ZERO support for them (not that they care) and every day that goes by the public leans more and more to the owners' side.
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