Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Kobe Bryant....shot down 50/50 deal!

[DutchJazzer]

I alreayd got a warning for stating jew negotiator so i go on a limb here.
but from this article the writer makes it as a black white thing. well Billy hunter seems black. and a lot of the players who are actively on tv with rpess conference all seme black. always ik see fisher with african americans and billy hunter.
seems like the white players are out og the picture for this moment. so is their a racial spin to this

There's another thing that could be happening, too.

Remember The Decision? That night in July 2010, something happened that angered basketball fans like nothing else. It can be framed as LeBron James being egotistical, or cowardly, or whatever else. But it can also be framed as a young black man just being sick of doing what old white guys tell him to do.

There was a playbook for free agency, a procedure, some decorum. And James tossed it. No, after earning Dan Gilbert the sun, the moon and the stars, he does not also owe him a phone call. No, he doesn't have to let some other, whiter, older entity control the production of his announcement. No, he doesn't have to stick to the storyline of local hero, or even player. He really does have the power to play GM, to assemble a super team, and that's what he would do.

The message to a lot of fans was that James just got it all wrong. But the message to a lot of players was that James did what 1,000 players have been dreaming of doing for years -- he acted fully empowered -- and it's hard to say he failed at it. He made his millions, and the Finals. His team is intact. His business life is sound. He'll be contending for championships for years.

It's a business revolution with young blackmen, basketball players, in the corner offices. A new way of doing things, long overdue, and happening now.

And maybe that's what Stern encountered in that hotel room in New York: a new generation of fully empowered players who no longer believe they have to conform to much of anything.

Just three days earlier, with James in attendance, James' teammate Dwyane Wade had yelled at Stern. "You're not pointing your finger at me," Wade said, sources told ESPN The Magazine's Ric Bucher. "I'm not your child."

dirk is a SUPERSTAR(ala wade lebrick KG) but he disapeared during the season.

 

[billyshelby]

The unasked question is why these guys were told to come (or why they weren't told to keep their distance.) When I read this, I see it as a failed power play by Hunter hoping to make duck soup out of duck ****.

This is on Hunter. He's been overplaying his hand for 2 years. Unable to negotiate a 50/50 after all his rhetoric and posturing, he went for the hail mary. Now he desperately needs the federal mediator to give him something he can sell so he doesn't have to look like the guy with duck **** all over his face.

Yeah, the owners are being greedy. But anyone with the upper hand like they have would be real greedy in a negotiation. Hunter's mistake is in not knowing what the compromise would be and then setting his strategy accordingly. He should have primed his constituents to accept a 50/51 BRI package with the bells and whistles of whatever wrangling he would pull off like 'magic.' Instead, he LET THEM believe 53 was realistic. He's a complete moron.

 

[NUMBERICA]

Please keep these up. I can't wait for you to get banned.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

The unasked question is why these guys were told to come (or why they weren't told to keep their distance.) When I read this, I see it as a failed power play by Hunter hoping to make duck soup out of duck ****.

This is on Hunter. He's been overplaying his hand for 2 years. Unable to negotiate a 50/50 after all his rhetoric and posturing, he went for the hail mary. Now he desperately needs the federal mediator to give him something he can sell so he doesn't have to look like the guy with duck **** all over his face.

Yeah, the owners are being greedy. But anyone with the upper hand like they have would be real greedy in a negotiation. Hunter's mistake is in not knowing what the compromise would be and then setting his strategy accordingly. He should have primed his constituents to accept a 50/51 BRI package with the bells and whistles of whatever wrangling he would pull off like 'magic.' Instead, he LET THEM believe 53 was realistic. He's a complete moron.

If any of yall would read the complete article it clearly says this never happened.

Here's one explanation of why the players rejected that 50/50 offer: Perhaps they never made it.

Union vice president and Spurs forward Matt Bonner says "Kessler definitely didn't offer 50/50. There's no way."

The story that Pierce and company flat out denied an "offer" is something David Stern told the press.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

I'm quite frankly disgusted how each side is trying to turn the fans on the other side. Each side acts like they are completely innocent and the other side is the only thing stopping us from watching basketball.

 

[billyshelby]

That hardly explains why idiots like Pierce, KG, and Kobe would even be allowed to show up. Hunter controls that. And if they had the frothing at the mouth pit bull anger at anything less than 53, he knew that would happen, too. It was effectively orchestrated by him whether he told them to do that or not. Now he's reaping the consequences of a last failed power play. And he has even less leverage to deal with his own constituents because of it. He's truly screwed in this scenario. He NEEDS the mediator to bail him out badly.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

That hardly explains why idiots like Pierce, KG, and Kobe would even be allowed to show up. Hunter controls that. And if they had the frothing at the mouth pit bull anger at anything less than 53, he knew that would happen, too. It was effectively orchestrated by him whether he told them to do that or not. Now he's reaping the consequences of a last failed power play. And he has even less leverage to deal with his own constituents because of it. He's truly screwed in this scenario. He NEEDS the mediator to bail him out badly.

So you believe the Stern leaked story full on? Personally, I think it's clear the Owners want to hold out the entire season. That will ensure they don't lose money and get the best possible deal for themselves.

 

[Sneakers]

The jumping straight from HS generation of players is rearing its ugly, uneducated head during these negotiations.

 

[billyshelby]

So you believe the Stern leaked story full on? Personally, I think it's clear the Owners want to hold out the entire season. That will ensure they don't lose money and get the best possible deal for themselves.

No way this is true. There are owners who definitely make money and don't want to lose a season. That's what Hunter believes his "leverage" is. He thinks the longer he holds firm, the better chance monied owners make concessions to struggling owners (by way of a better revenue sharing package.)

What he has consistently failed to recognize is the owners will never announce their new revenue sharing package before they have an agreement with players. Why would they? It diminishes their bargaining position. They want the players to agree to a deal before they make nice with themselves so they win on both ends (or, to get really nitty gritty, the monied owners would rather know the player package before they start giving up money.)

There are at least 10 owners who don't want to give up a day of the regular season. But they're in the minority because the other owners losing money will outvote them. Inside the owners cadre, the money guys don't have the leverage.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

The jumping straight from HS generation of players is rearing its ugly, uneducated head during these negotiations.

That is kind of a rash judgement. I'm sure Kobe and KG know a thing or two about how the NBA is run. They have have been in the league over 15 years. Also, just because they didn't go to college, doesn't make them idiots.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

No way this is true. There are owners who definitely make money and don't want to lose a season. That's what Hunter believes his "leverage" is. He thinks the longer he holds firm, the better chance monied owners make concessions to struggling owners (by way of a better revenue sharing package.)

What he has consistently failed to recognize is the owners will never announce their new revenue sharing package before they have an agreement with players. Why would they? It diminishes their bargaining position. They want the players to agree to a deal before they make nice with themselves so they win on both ends (or, to get really nitty gritty, the monied owners would rather know the player package before they start giving up money.)

There are at least 10 owners who don't want to give up a day of the regular season. But they're in the minority because the other owners losing money will outvote them. Inside the owners cadre, the money guys don't have the leverage.

So do you believe the Stern leaked story? I'm curious? I hate this thread because it only tells the headline from one side of the article, but fails to acknowledge the other half says it may be bogus.

 

[billyshelby]

So do you believe the Stern leaked story? I'm curious? I hate this thread because it only tells the headline from one side of the article, but fails to acknowledge the other half says it may be bogus.

The leaked story about a 50/50? More or less. I believe owners were willing to make a deal at that level. They were probably prepared for the players to bump it to 51, probably had contingencies on that, and the 50/51 range was the fertile ground.

I also believe firmly that Hunter knew this. But he had already dug himself a hole. The soap box was worn down from his telling players 53 was the line. He very VERY foolishly thought that a power play could get the owner to 53 at which point he would make his concessions.

As I've said, I think he really believed that the monied owners who stood to make a real profit this year would facilitate this. In fact, I would guess he was calling a bluff. He thought the owners had already reached a generally principled agreement on how revenue sharing would work, and thus they would nudge up to 53. Absolutely insane. Even if that agreement exists (in secret), the owners have all the leverage and will get their pie and eat it too.

This isn't "one sided." The owners have the winning hand. Hunter has failed to lose his effectively. That's the only story.