BOO!
Peter Lux
Unfortunately for all the Derrick Rose dunk addicts and Jimmer Fredette sniper-range three junkies, the great entertainment known as the NBA has, for the time being, ceased to exist.
The NBA players want more money and the employers whereas the NBA owners want to give them less.
It all comes down to a contract between both sides called the Collective Bargaining Agreement that states what percentage of the NBA’s total basketball related revenue each side receives.
As of now, the average players get 57 percent to the owners’ 43 percent.
The NBA netted $4 billion for the 2010-2011 season, and out of that they paid the players $2.2 billion.
There are a little more than 400 players in the association, which means the average player earns right around $5 million a year.
The problem is that the players want to increase their average salary to $7 million and will not budge.
“I know there are a lot of our fans and people that follow our game that, although we’re not going to miss any games at this point, still just don’t like the prospect of a lockout,” NBA Players Association Executive Derek Fisher said to nba.com. “We don’t like it either. It’s something that our owners feel like is the best way, I guess, to maybe get what they want. We don’t agree.”
This is the only issue that stands between the fans getting another action-packed year of high performance basketball and having to watch internet clips of Dwight Howard pulling down 40 points and 30 rebounds against CSKA Moscow.
Players also appear to be displeased with not being able to contact their coaches.
“Talks between players and coaches and entire NBA staffs ceased after the lockout started, that is kind of tough,” Tyson Chandler, center for the defending NBA champion Dallas Maverick, said to Bill Simmons during an ESPN radio interview.
So basically the only way an NBA season can be salvaged is if the players and owners can agree on revenue sharing before January, otherwise NBA fans will be forced to stream and buffer meaningless watered-down, uncompetitive Euroleague Basketball.
