16 replies to this topic

[West Coast]

As the NBA and Players Association trudge toward a possible doomsday deadline, Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant(notes) urged owners to meet with the players union before Wednesday and spare the league from “spiraling into a nuclear winter.”

“We need for the two sides to get together again before Wednesday, because we’re too close to getting a deal done,” Bryant told Yahoo! Sports on Monday. “We need to iron out the last system items and save this from spiraling into a nuclear winter.”

The NBA and Players Association are discussing setting up a meeting for Tuesday to try and reach agreement on a labor deal, a league source told Yahoo! Sports. Nothing is finalized, but the sides were working toward having a session in New York before before Wednesday’s league-imposed deadline for the union to accept the owners’ current offer.

Lakers guard Steve Blake(notes) has been canvassing peers throughout the league over the past 48 hours, pushing them to contact team player representatives to push the Players Association to let its 450-plus membership vote on the owner’s ultimatum offer, sources said.

Blake hasn’t been pushing players to vote “yes” or “no” on the deal, but has gained a groundswell of support with players throughout the league. Nevertheless, Blake is a proponent of accepting the league’s current offer, sources said.

As a counter, there are multiple players pushing to get a petition together to start the process of decertifying the union, perhaps as soon as Wednesday. Agents have little doubt they can muster the 30 percent of the union – approximately 130 players – to push decertification to a formal vote after a 45-day waiting period.

Players representatives of the 30 teams are meeting in New York on Tuesday to discuss the union’s next steps.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-wojnarowski_nba_lockout_kobe_bryant_110711

[lakerswiz]

Just take the damn deal at this point.

[True Lakers Fan]

[expletive] how how is it just to accept the deal (which is pretty fair imo 49-51 for the BRI)

[fido]

Love to hear that Blake is encouraging people to actually participate. sad, that anybody has to do that. I would hope they'd all care about this thing, but apparently not so.

Also great to see Kobe chiming in.

[steven v]

[expletive] how how is it just to accept the deal (which is pretty fair imo 49-51 for the BRI)

and then the next contract the owners claim to have lost money from the current BRI and they need to renegotiate to a 50/50 deal.

and then the next contract the owners claim to have lost money from the current BRI and they need to renegotiate to a 51/49 deal.

and then the next contract the owners claim to have lost money from the current BRI and they need to renegotiate to a 5248 deal.

and then the next contract the owners claim to have lost money from the current BRI and they need to renegotiate to a 53/47 deal.

Ad nauseam.

[last stand 2.0]

lol i could see kobe being the closer as usual. you have lebron unable to close and then kobe will come in with the game winner

"everybody sit the F down and make a deal happen"-Kobe Bryant (stern, owners, and players look at the ground in shame)

[Gotrings?]

When Kobe speaks, everyone needs to shut the hell up and listen.

[GP1_KB24]

I agree with Kobe. I doubt the players will accept this on Wedmesday, sit down one more time and get all the things figured out.

If the players don't accept the deal which I don't think they will, I don't see this coming to an end anytime soon.

[Grandpa Herman]

Just take the damn deal at this point.

Yeah, right. If it were that simple I'm sure they would've done it months ago.

[West Coast]

Yeah, right. If it were that simple I'm sure they would've done it months ago.

I'm pretty sure he isn't implying that its something simple, but is instead implying that the players union need to swallow their pride and take the best deal possible. Members of the players union are out of their mind if they think they are getting a deal in their favor.

[Grandpa Herman]

I'm pretty sure he isn't implying that its something simple, but is instead implying that the players union need to swallow their pride and take the best deal possible. Members of the players union are out of their mind if they think they are getting a deal in their favor.

The union has basically caved on the BRI and are giving the owners what they want. In turn, they're asking for the owners to be willing to negotiate further on some of the system issues. That's all. Now, if the owners aren't willing to do that then progress can't be made. The union obviously isn't going to accept an unfair deal. If the owners are unwilling to negotiate the system even after the players have given them the BRI then it only strengthens the NLRB lawsuit the union filed against the league about not negotiating in good faith. Stern and his team having the muscle in these "negotiations"(I use that term loosely because the owners have thus far proven to have no interest in being fair) is only an illusion. They're expecting the players to fold from lost checks, while a lost season would hurt THEIR OWN pockets tremendously. So for that reason no side really has any more power than the other.

It's easy being a fan and just wanting any type of deal to be agreed on, but reality is that these players deserve to fight for a fair deal and I admire the fact that they aren't allowing Stern and his team to bully them into some crappy deal that they'll regret the next time we have to go through this CBA mess.

Edited by Kid Trill, November 08, 2011 - 09:03 PM.

[Real Deal]

The 50/50 split, no hard cap, fully-guaranteed contracts, and no rollbacks should've been good enough for the players. Even Kobe thinks so.

If they don't take the deal by 5 PM ET tomorrow, it's done. Season over.

And, at the end of the day, the players will run out of money before the owners, because not all of these players are going to make big bucks overseas, and because they have made so much money in the NBA over the last few years, they have quite a bit to pay for.

[West Coast]

The 50/50 split, no hard cap, fully-guaranteed contracts, and no rollbacks should've been good enough for the players. Even Kobe thinks so.

If they don't take the deal by 5 PM ET tomorrow, it's done. Season over.

And, at the end of the day, the players will run out of money before the owners, because not all of these players are going to make big bucks overseas, and because they have made so much money in the NBA over the last few years, they have quite a bit to pay for.

I agree. What is not promising is that as of right now (2am on the east coast) there is no meeting set up for Wednesday.

@kid trill - I understand that the players want the fairest deal possible. I was on board with the players as this drama unfolded but the fact is that the owners, like real deal said, will be okay money wise as opposed to many players who will not get the big contracts overseas. And because of that, the owners have no problem missing a season.

I just hope there is a meeting before the deadline. As it stands right now, it looks like the 50/50 split would be accepted by the players but only if there are some tweaks made to the system issues.

[KittenPuncher]

The 50/50 split, no hard cap, fully-guaranteed contracts, and no rollbacks should've been good enough for the players. Even Kobe thinks so.

like i said, players are lucky to even be offered a 50-50 revenue split.

Edited by Macasero, November 10, 2011 - 10:57 PM.

[Draztik]

like i said, players are lucky to even be offered a 50-50 revenue split.

Word

[LakersGAFan]

The 50/50 split, no hard cap, fully-guaranteed contracts, and no rollbacks should've been good enough for the players. Even Kobe thinks so.

If they don't take the deal by 5 PM ET tomorrow, it's done. Season over.

And, at the end of the day, the players will run out of money before the owners, because not all of these players are going to make big bucks overseas, and because they have made so much money in the NBA over the last few years, they have quite a bit to pay for.

agree with all you said RD 100%. If the deal doesnt go through today the season is done.
I hope it dows.
I WANT MY NBA DAMN IT!

[LakersGAFan]

“It’s not the greatest proposal in the world, but I have an obligation to at least present it to our membership and so that’s what we’re going to do,” Hunter said.

Stern said he didn’t expect the players to like every aspect of the revised proposal, saying there were many teams, too, that didn’t like aspects of the revised offer.

But he said he can get it passed, even with some hardline owners preferring to go to the 53-47 deal already.

“This is the best attempt by the labor relations committee and therefore the NBA to address the concerns that the players expressed coming out of their meeting of the player representatives,” Stern said.

FUUUUUUUUCCCCCCKKKKKK!
Hunter isnt feeling the deal. The season is screwed and the owners next offer will be 53-47, no guaranteed contracts. Players are gonna screw themselves.