LOCK-OUT UPDATE: Report: All points agreed upon in new NBA deal

[gmf1369]

The Celtics want to follow the Bruins' championship pattern next season and may be following the Bruins in a more dramatic way for years to come. The NBA owners offered the league's players a $62 million "flex cap", commissioner David Stern revealed Tuesday at the Omni Berkshire Hotel in midtown Manhattan, a plan that deputy commissioner Adam Silver said is similar to the current National Hockey League salary structure.

Owners and players met for four hours today and the league offered more details about their proposal, which would set a $62 million salary limit for all teams that could be exceeded by teams re-signing their own players to contracts (Larry Bird Rule) and mid-level exception contracts. However, this proposal is dramatically different than the current plan that sets a $58.044 million salary cap and levies a dollar-for-dollar luxury tax at teams that exceed $70.3 million, which the Celtics have done the past several seasons.

This plan would set a median for salaries for all 30 teams at $62 million, and if the total aggregate salaries for the league's teams exceed that, the players would have to return dollars from their basketball related income (BRI) to make up for the losses. Under the current system, the players bear no responsibility for teams over the salary cap.

The players did not respond to the owners' proposal and requested another meeting for Friday in New York. The current collective bargaining agreement expires June 30 and the owners have threatened to lockout the players, similar to the current NFL situation.

"The owners believe that the system modifications that we have requested make a lot of sense to make sure that our teams are both competitive and profitable," Stern said today. "We have modified our proposal to a 'flex cap' where there is a targeted salary but teams can go above it and a minimum below, which is more flexible than our last offer. The (owners) committee met for a long time alone and decided to make what we think is a very significant offer to the players in order to avoid a work stoppage."

Players Association representatives and NBPA director Billy Hunter reiterated their refusal to accept a hard salary cap, which would limit guaranteed salaries, reduce salaries league-wide and shrink players basketball related income. The question is whether the players view this new proposal as a hard salary cap disguised by semantics, and it appears they do.

"So far there hasn't been much movement at all," Players Association President Derek Fisher said. "It's been characterized in different ways but essentially they want to create a hard salary cap. We just don't see for the reasons we've been given as being necessary. We feel that teams have shown the ability to be creative and pay the guys that they want to play and not pay the guys they don't want to pay. We feel they should have the opportunity independently and be able to run their businesses they way they see fit."

When asked if the players would accept any deal with a hard salary cap, Fisher said, "No."

The NBA Board of Governors has a scheduled meeting next Tuesday in Dallas, which they could vote to institute a lockout.

'flex cap'

[Reg]

Lemme see if I have this straight...

When the owners fug up their caps, the players pay for it.

Oh sure...the players are gonna go for that one

[Reg]

By Chris Sheridan
ESPN.com

NEW YORK -- It is not just about future money. It's about past money, too.

The union for NBA players spoke out Wednesday about how livid they are that owners are not only asking for $7 to $8 billion in concessions in a proposed new collective bargaining agreement, but also are asking players to give back $160 million that was withheld from their paychecks last season.

The $160 million was collected under the so-called "escrow tax" system to ensure that players received no more than 57 percent of basketball-related income. That money is scheduled to be disbursed to players in August.

"To me, it speaks to the arrogance they have in approaching us," union president Derek Fisher said. "Trust and loyalty pretty much go out the window when it comes to business.

"We haven't been partners in this venture from day one. We've been employees, the talent that has grown the game. It's difficult to be partners in recovery when we haven't been partners in generating those losses."

Commissioner David Stern issued a statement later Wednesday.

"Players have benefited from the current system more than the teams," Stern said. "For them it has been a much better partnership. We are sorry that the players' union feels that way since it doesn't seem designed to get us to the agreement that is so important to the teams, and we had hoped, the players."

In calling the meeting Wednesday on the eve of a meeting of player representatives from all 30 teams, the union sought to gain some measure of control over the public discourse surrounding the negotiations.

Owners made a substantial move off their previous financial position Tuesday in a three-hour bargaining session, offering a guaranteed $2 billion per year in salaries over the life of a 10-year agreement. But the union Wednesday sought to hammer home the point that players are already earning $2.17 billion in salary and benefits under the current system, and they would not surpass that figure under the owners' proposed terms until the 10th year of the proposed 10-year deal.

They also questioned why the owners have not been forthcoming on details of a revenue sharing plan for local television revenues, saying it was fundamentally at odds with the "partnership" ethic the sides have tried to cultivate.

Collective bargaining negotiations will resume Friday in New York, and owners will meet Tuesday in Dallas and could vote to authorize a lockout if a new labor agreement is not reached to replace the one expiring June 30.

Players made a half-billion dollar concession in Tuesday's meeting in proposing a five-year agreement that would keep the current salary cap system but would reduce their share of basketball-related income from 57 percent to 54.6 percent in the first several years of a new labor deal.

According to the union, if the players agreed to the owners' request to return the $160 million in escrow funds, it would have the effect of retroactively reducing their share of basketball-related income for the 2010-11 season from 57 percent to 52.8 percent.

"If we were inclined to do that deal, we would be giving up $8.2 billion over 10 years," union director Billy Hunter said, adding that he has told team owners in the past that the only way the players would agree to a hard salary cap would be if they were guaranteed 60 to 65 percent of basketball-related income. It was the first time Hunter publicly disclosed that he would accept a "hard" cap under any terms.

In one of his bolder comments, Hunter also declared that when Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert promised his fans their team would win a championship before the Miami Heat would, he said those words with the underlying motivation that the rules of the new collective bargaining agreement would preclude the Heat from keeping their core of three superstars together.

"Gilbert's ambition, when speaking post-LeBron, was to split the Heat up in the new system," Hunter said.

In total, the union's actions Wednesday were meant to placate the growing notion that a settlement is near, while also calling attention to the size of the financial concessions the owners are seeking.

"A lot of players are calling thinking we've gotten beyond the flex-cap issue, and that's just not true," Fisher said, adding that when the sides' respective positions are spelled out in greater detail to players, the tone of the conversations shift.

"Guys are in total disbelief and are asking 'Why are we even meeting?'" Fisher said.

[Reg]

By Chris Sheridan
ESPN.com

NEW YORK -- No progress was made in NBA labor talks Friday, unless progress can be measured by the absence of angry rhetoric or the unveiling of a fashion statement.

Owners and players met for about four hours Friday with just six days remaining until the expiration of the current collective bargaining agreement, and they agreed to meet again next Wednesday or Thursday after the owners hold a meeting in Dallas on Tuesday.

But neither side made a proposal after each made one in the previous meeting, and the sides remained several billion dollars apart with the possibility of a lockout growing stronger by the day.

About 50 players attended the meeting dressed in matching dark gray T-shirts with the word "STAND" written on the front in block letters, perhaps sending a signal that the union is taking a harder stance after its recent $500 million giveback was dismissed by commissioner David Stern as "modest."

"They didn't break off. We don't view the process as over in any way, so I wouldn't say the talks are off just because there wasn't a lot of movement in terms of economic numbers being given back and forth. It doesn't mean that we're not still negotiating," union president Derek Fisher said. "It's not about meeting every day just for the sake of meeting."

Stern made it a point not to comment on any aspect of the substance of Friday's meeting, intimating that both sides needed to amp down the tone of their public comments following two days of jabbing and jousting by the union in the wake of Tuesday's contentious bargaining session.

[Reg]

08:10 AM ET 06.28 | In a Monday radio interview, Charles Barkley said owner opposition to players building super teams is helping pave the way to a lockout. Barkley went on to praise David Stern, but commented the NBA commissioner must do some serious dealing for the season to start without some form of a lockout. "It would take a miracle on (Stern's) part not to have a lockout and I truly believe that," Barkley said. "I think there's going to be a lockout, I think the owners are dug in, I think they want to send a message to these players. I think they're really upset by this LeBron James/Chris Bosh situation, because their teams don't have to be really good, but I feel like if they have a star in their market they can make some money. And if all the stars want to play together ... we're almost becoming like baseball." Sporting News

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Originally Posted by Reg

Lemme see if I have this straight...

When the owners fug up their caps, the players pay for it.

Oh sure...the players are gonna go for that one

I thought the expectation from the players and the owners going in was that the players were going to lose some ground on their pay. That's why there were all those crazy deals the other offseason like Darko Milicic getting 4 years and the like

[SJ Town Crier]

The show must go on. But for how long nobody knows when it comes to the NBA lockout. The league’s draft took place as scheduled on June 23, but a work stoppage still seems a real possibility as owners and players have a wide gap that needs to be narrowed. It’s believed the owners and players are still almost $7 billion apart in their dealings over a new 10-year agreement.



Billy Hunter, the executive director of the Players’ Association said the players wouldn’t even get back to where they stand now financially until the last year of a 10-year collective bargaining agreement. The present agreement runs out on June 30, so time is limited if they want to get a deal done.

The NBA recently proposed something they called a flex salary cap to the players. But the players’ union said it’s a hard cap not a flexible one and they’re not interested in it. So at the moment, the salary cap issue seems to be the biggest hurdling point.

NBA boss David Stern said the flex cap places a limit on spending, but teams would still be able to go over it up to a certain point. However, the players say there’s still a spending limit that eventually comes into play. Stern added that the players would be guaranteed at least $2 billion every year of a 10-year agreement, which is a little less than what they made this year.

Stern said a player’s average wage would be approximately $5 million and the players and owners would eventually split revenues 50-50. Right now the players are raking in 57 per cent of them and the league wants to reduce that to 54.3 per cent over the first five years of a new deal by reducing salaries by more than $500 million. This includes an eight per cent cut in pay in the first year. Stern didn’t say this was the league’s final offer, but did admit it’s getting close.

The NBA wants to introduce a salary cap of about $62 million and teams could spend more than that before reaching a limit that they can’t go over. At the moment, there’s a soft salary cap in place and clubs can exceed it as long as they pay a luxury tax when reaching the limit. This year’s cap was set at $58 million, but some teams, such as Dallas, spent more than that with the Mavericks shelling out well over $70 million.

The league also wanted to introduce non-guaranteed contracts, but later dropped the issue and said they’d leave things the way they are now. But the players said they’ve had guaranteed contracts for 40 years, so the league isn’t really making any concession by dropping the issue.

There is some light at the end of the tunnel though as Hunter feels the owners are interested in coming to an agreement and is hoping the NBA won’t see its first stoppage since back in 1998. But the union and the league said they’re still far apart and more meetings will need to take place soon to get things done in time.


The two sides have exchanged a total of 10 proposals since negotiations began and there’s likely to be a couple more before this thing gets settled.

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[Reg]

08:07 AM ET 06.30 | According to a report, Shane Battier took the occasion of a meeting in New York to ask players association leader Billy Hunter if he, like DeMaurice Smith, would cut his salary to $1. The mere suggestion seemed to offend Hunter, players witnessing the exchange privately told Yahoo! Sports. After Hunter told Battier he hadn't given it much thought, members of the union's executive board came to Hunter's defense. Hunter had taken the union from the red to the black in his term, done a good job, they said. Hunter never did give Battier a firm answer, nor would he answer the question for Yahoo! Sports on Wednesday. ... [There] are those in the rank-and-file who think Hunter and his executive board members have a habit of getting too snippy, too defensive with dissenting voices. Yahoo! Sports