Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Not even Santa can deliver an end to the NBA Lockout

     We're a week into the scheduled start of the NBA Season, and it looks like things are not going to get any better on the lockout front. Owners want money. Players want more money, its as simple as that. The problem is: The two sides can't agree on what would be a sufficient percentage of total profit for each side. In my opinion, it all boils down to one word: GREED. The average NBA player is overpaid, and above average NBA players get overpaid even worse. For example, Rashard Lewis. A streaky shooter that is past his prime, Lewis is the second highest paid player in the NBA, making over $22,000,000 this past year. Gilbert Arenas made over $19,000,000, and he hasn't been good since he did this. It makes no sense that these guys can gets paid more than LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Dwight Howard. Although the Superstars do have a legitimate gripe against the owners, the league is 99 percent role players, and that is why the owners cannot give in to them. 
     The way the market is run is never going to be successful, because the players have been allowed to run things in recent years.  The Rookie wage scale works great. Team Salary Caps are fine. There are no gripes about insurance and retirement benefits like there were in the NFL, only one issue separates the Players Association from the Owners' Association: Money. That one issue, however, is splitting the sides further and further apart as time goes on and representatives get restless.   This evening at 5pm,  the owners' current proposal of about a 50/50 split will expire, and Derek Fischer says the Players Association will not accept it. David Stern, however, says they refuse to back down, and will in fact make their next proposal even worse for the players. After 5pm comes and goes, games can be canceled all the way through Christmas.

When will the NBA Lockout end? We do not know for sure, and it may not be until after the 2011-2012 season. Whether it ends or not, Basketball Never Stops.

1 comment:

  1. I really wonder what will happen next. With David Stern putting this ultimatum on the players that was not met tonight, I can imagine what happens next. It seems to me that eventually the players will have to give in. They need the league. They are not going to get the same pay or popularity overseas. Some speculate as to whether or not they could start their own league, but it is far too late in the game to do that. I think the player's are going to lose this battle. I usually side with the little guy in these situations, but their greed is too much to support. Only time will tell what will happen next.

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