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Players Union Bargining Power

The league would come crawling back on bended knee though.

Do you think pokhorov and gilbert would allow their hundred million dollar investment be reduced to nothing? Jerry Buss would see billions of his net worth evaporate in this scenario.

both sides can engage in brinksmanship, and if the owners want to play hardball the players should dish it right back.

Remember, most of the players came from nothing, and many of them will end up bankrupt (as some of you have gleefully noted). Thats the most dangerous person to get into a standoff with.
 
TheItinerantSon said:
The league would come crawling back on bended knee though.

Do you think pokhorov and gilbert would allow their hundred million dollar investment be reduced to nothing? Jerry Buss would see billions of his net worth evaporate in this scenario.

both sides can engage in brinksmanship, and if the owners want to play hardball the players should dish it right back.

Remember, most of the players came from nothing, and many of them will end up bankrupt (as some of you have gleefully noted). Thats the most dangerous person to get into a standoff with.
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I can't speak for other fans, but I wouldn't care about a new league even if it had the same talent. That would probably be the death of my professional basketball interest. Oh and I have been very close to that point in the past. I guess there would be a lot of people that would still follow it but give me a good reason to follow it. The NBA as has been said has its own brand. Will this new league create a Utah franchise? Doubtful.
 
TheItinerantSon said:
The league would come crawling back on bended knee though.

Do you think pokhorov and gilbert would allow their hundred million dollar investment be reduced to nothing? Jerry Buss would see billions of his net worth evaporate in this scenario.

both sides can engage in brinksmanship, and if the owners want to play hardball the players should dish it right back.

Remember, most of the players came from nothing, and many of them will end up bankrupt (as some of you have gleefully noted). Thats the most dangerous person to get into a standoff with.
Click to expand...

The only way the threat of a breakaway league would work is if there was a reasonable chance that it would employ most players currently under contract. I'm not saying LeBron and his buddies couldn't get a 10-team touring ensemble going reasonably quickly, but can you get a league with 30 teams, where the players would be getting the same pay the NBA gives them now?

The NBPA is 400-450 guys. Their votes all count the same, be they LeBron James or Brian Scalabrine. If there was a threat of a breakaway league that would only take a third of the players, what do you think the other two thirds would do? Call a full-membership vote and accept the most recent offer by the owners. They'd have the majority and what can LeBron do? He's got a contract with Miami Heat, he's got a CBA with the league -- he has to play.

To get a 30-team league that would pay even close to what the NBA does would take more than a few months. Considering all the logistics, and even lawsuits that would be inevitable, it might take a couple of years. How does it make sense to not get paid for the remainder of your NBA contract to play in a league 2 years from now, unless your pay in that league was so much higher than your NBA pay as to make up for the two years you missed.

It's just not a very realistic threat, and the players using it would just make them sound even more like they don't really have a plan.
 
im not a lawyer but i'll bet the players could get out of their contracts.

Besides if the players association signs another CBA, and league play resumes, the top 50 guys could hold out while the owners were still on the hook for paying all the rank and file players.

Now thats a business model that won't work.
 
TheItinerantSon said:
im not a lawyer but i'll bet the players could get out of their contracts.

Besides if the players association signs another CBA, and league play resumes, the top 50 guys could hold out while the owners were still on the hook for paying all the rank and file players.

Now thats a business model that won't work.
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All this assumes lawsuits and lots of them. Holding out means lawsuits, too. And since you're not a lawyer, nor am I, I'm not sure we can speculate on the outcome of those cases. What we can be sure of is that it would take a long time to settle them. Judgments, decisions, appeals. Lather, rinse, repeat.

It's fine to talk about possibilities, but for a threat to work, it has to be realistic. Among other things, it has to take less effort than the original thing you're threatening against. Threatening to run away from home because your mum makes you take out the garbage only makes sense if you believe that your life on the run will be easier than taking out the garbage. Sure, the players could conceivably start their own league, but by all accounts, it sounds like it'd be harder and more costly than simply saying "We'll take the 50-50."
 
TheItinerantSon said:
im not a lawyer but i'll bet the players could get out of their contracts.

Besides if the players association signs another CBA, and league play resumes, the top 50 guys could hold out while the owners were still on the hook for paying all the rank and file players.

Now thats a business model that won't work.
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I think the players should start riding fire-breathing dragons. The owners would have to take them seriously. Nobody wants to **** with a guy on a dragon.
 
I would love to see the players start their own league. These are the same people that sent Paul Pierce in to negotiate a new deal with Stern. Pathetic.
 
freakazoid said:
I think the players should start riding fire-breathing dragons. The owners would have to take them seriously. Nobody wants to **** with a guy on a dragon.
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wrong
dragons are gay

Public service anouncemnt: the gay used in this message refers to :"having or showing a merry, lively mood eg : gay spirits; gay music."
or "bright or showy eg : gay colors; gay ornaments. "
 
DutchJazzer said:
wrong
dragons are gay

Public service anouncemnt: the gay used in this message refers to :"having or showing a merry, lively mood eg : gay spirits; gay music."
or "bright or showy eg : gay colors; gay ornaments. "
Click to expand...

No, not gypsy dragons. The full-on real dragon .. scary type, ya' know?
 
TheItinerantSon said:
The league would come crawling back on bended knee though.

Do you think pokhorov and gilbert would allow their hundred million dollar investment be reduced to nothing? Jerry Buss would see billions of his net worth evaporate in this scenario.

both sides can engage in brinksmanship, and if the owners want to play hardball the players should dish it right back.

Remember, most of the players came from nothing, and many of them will end up bankrupt (as some of you have gleefully noted). Thats the most dangerous person to get into a standoff with.
Click to expand...

If the players/agents/nike actually thought this could work then they'd have done it by now, or at least use it as a bargaining chip. Why haven't they threatened to do this? Because everyone knows it won't work. And I'm pretty sure "The Russian Mark Cuban" has already allowed his big/chubby investment to be reduced to nothing by playing in some crap league in Europe.

If I were making $200K working for Google, and they came to me and said, "times are tough, we're going to have to bring your salary down to $185K". I'm pretty sure I'd be upset, but I'd understand it. And, I don't think it would be the smartest idea to start my own search engine where I'd make $70K, but hey at least I'd have equity in my crappy company.
 
I've said it before, but I'll say it again, the players have very little, to no leverage in this thing. Players want long term contracts that are guaranteed with big time salaries. So how are a decent portion of the NBPA demonstrating how firm they are on this position? They're going overseas to play for 1 yr deals, that aren't guaranteed for 1/4 of what they could make in the NBA. Way to "Make a STAND"
 
The dragons idea might just work, now that neither George Shinn nor George Gund own a team anymore.
 
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