Quick Post: Alec Burks and the NBA lockout

The NBA lockout reached what I perceive to be the brink of a lost season yesterday.  The time-frame had been continually moved to accommodate more talks, an attempt by the owners to goad the players into taking a 50-50 split of basketball revenue, but yesterday the players association walked away from the negotiating table and began the process of "disclaiming" their union rights... whatever the hell that means.  The end result, however, may very well be the cancellation of the whole NBA season.

We all know the NBA system is ineffective when players like Rashard Lewis are getting $118 million in guaranteed money, but I'd rather not see how that sausage is cleaned up.  The owners shafted themselves in the old collective bargaining agreements by giving themselves the financial freedom to overpay for middling talent, and are now desperate to grab some cash and tie their own hands to secure guaranteed profits.  The players, after securing a pretty good system with the old CBA's, are trying desperately to hold on to what they once had. But, knowing the situation doesn't make the process of fixing it any easier to consume.

Frankly, I'm lost and disinterested at this point.  Regardless of who's right, or who's eventually going to win, I'm sick and tired of hearing about this as cancelled games slip by.

What I am growing more and more concerned about is the future of former CU hoops phenom Alec Burks. 
Yesterday, just hours after the NBA labor negotiations broke down, Alec tweeted this photo:

This whole situation has got to be killing the kid.  While he is reaping many of the minor benefits of being a NBA draftee, like getting his face on a card (I want one by the way), it all seems rather hollow.  Instead of playing ball, learning how to win in the NBA, and making a name for himself, Alec is sitting on the sideline in a fucked-up basketball purgatory. 

While he was drafted by the Utah Jazz, without a new CBA he doesn't have a contract, and is essentially lost in the shuffle.  Rookies like Burks and OKC draftee Reggie Jackson have to turn to loans and insurance payments just to make a living, and really have no guarantees or voice in this process.  Yes, they're still getting paid, but it's crazy awkward.

Certainly, talented players like Burks will find a way onto an NBA roster once this thing is settled, but if a year goes by, do the teams still retain their draft rights to the player?  Do first round picks like Alec still get a guaranteed contract from the team that drafted them? There's more questions than answers at this point. 

I just hope for his sake that this is cleared up soon, and he can get back to playing ball.  If the season gets pushed back a year, and he gets lost in the shuffle of the overly talented 2012 draft class, his career progress may be permanently stunted. 

I'm starting to side with Coach Abatemarco: leaving after last season may have been a mistake.

There's going to be an NBA season.... right?

Last week, I flippantly threw out the possibility that the NBA may not have a 2011-12 season.  Now, what was only last week a "gallows analysis" look at what would happen in the NBA lost its damn mind and canceled at least part of another season, may be very probable.

The preseason is now gone, and, should a deal remain elusive through Monday, the regular season will start to get trimmed as well.  Sure, few really care about lost preseason games, but we're starting to talk real, honest-to-goodness regular season dates.  This would hurt everyone: owners, players, team employees, advertisers, broadcasters, the guy selling a parking spot for 20 bucks... frickin' everyone.  This is no way for a league to operate, important labor dispute or no.

I had been conditioned, from being force-fed Billy Simmons' Stern-as-Godfather meme, that NBA Commish David Stern, in the parlance of the times, "don't give a fuck."  However, it's been Stern who has been moving towards a deal, bringing the owners close to what the players recently asked for.  It was the players who spiked the deal, holding out for more than what they recently asked for, and then had union executive director Billy Hunter up there saying that they it could be months before they talk again.  MONTHS!

This hasn't been the implacable Stern that I was expecting.  Rather it's the players who are playing roadblock.  From: ESPN

“Our guys have indicated a willingness to lose games,” said Hunter.  Maybe it's just posturing, or maybe the players really don't give a fuck.  They probably should.  The owners have moved up from paying out 47% of basketball related income to a 50-50 split (with a chunk lobbed off the top).  It took over a year to get the owners to budge on that number and it's less than NFL owners got out of football's labor negotiations. 

While the players used to get 57% of BRI, lord knows they were never going to get anything close to that number again.  That number was insane, and was a root cause of much of "the Association's" financial woes.  I think the players need to take a closer look at what the NBA owners are offering.  Moving the owners up from 47% isn't the time to cut off negotiations; it's a number to work with. 

The owners have already given ground on a hard cap, salary roll-backs, and an opt-out clause, so all they're haggling over now is the final slice of the pie.  I'm usually a steadfastly pro-Union kind of guy, but it's time for the players to play ball and get this thing settled before we're all stuck watching Arena League Football in the dead of winter.