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    Lockout Update: Checks totaling $161 million being paid to players by NBA



    Any day now, Kobe Bryant will receive a check in the mail for $1,984,400, courtesy of the NBA.

    Rashard Lewis’ check is for $1,565,817.

    Even oversized and overpaid Eddy Curry, whose name has come up in lockout talks as the symbol of what is fundamentally wrong with the NBA’s salary structure, is getting another windfall: $927,746.

    The money represents the 8 percent of each player’s salary that was withheld from their paychecks last season under the NBA’s escrow tax system, which was put in place to ensure that the players received no more than 57 percent of basketball related income in the 2010-11 season.

    A total of $161 million in escrow funds were withheld last season, and the league office sent a stack of more than 350 checks to the Players Association last week to begin issuing the refunds, SheridanHoops has learned.

    In previous seasons, 10 percent of players’ salaries were withheld under the escrow system, and in most years only a portion was returned. But last season, the amount of salaries paid out by the 30 NBA teams came in well below 57 percent, meaning the players will get all of their withheld funds back as soon as they notify the union where they checks should be mailed.

    In addition, the league office sent an additional $26 million in funds to the union to satisfy its obligation to pay out 57 percent of BRI. (The union is hanging onto that $26 million until a vote is held to determine how it should be distributed).

    That means a total of $187 million is going from the owners’ wallets into the players’ wallets at a time when the owners are counting on the prospect of missed paychecks to help force the union to make additional givebacks in collective bargaining talks, which will resume today in New York after a 5 1-2 hour session Wednesday.

    Also, much has been made of the fact that most players will not feel the financial pinch of a lockout until they miss their first scheduled paychecks on Nov. 15, but sources tell SheridanHoops that roughly 25 percent of players with long-term contracts are being paid on a 12-month schedule, meaning millions and millions of more dollars are currently being disbursed by the owners, whose own revenue streams for the upcoming season are imperilled by the prospect of a prolonged work stoppage.

    Just a little more food for thought when the assertion is made that the owners hold all the leverage in this dispute because they are holding onto all the money.

    That is just simply not the case, as locked-out players are learning this month as those withheld escrow funds are finding their way into players’ mailboxes.
    sigpic


    "The last time I was intimidated was when I was 6 years old in karate class. I was an orange belt and the instructor ordered me to fight a black belt who was a couple years older and a lot bigger. I was scared s---less. I mean, I was terrified and he kicked my ass. But then I realized he didn’t kick my ass as bad as I thought he was going to and that there was nothing really to be afraid of. That was around the time I realized that intimidation didn’t really exist if you’re in the right frame of mind." - Kobe Bryant

  • #2
    Smith nears deal to play in China


    Denver Nuggets free-agent guard J.R. Smith(notes) is nearing an agreement on the richest contract in China
    Basketball Association history, sources told Yahoo! Sports.

    Under terms of the deal, Smith would make more than $3 million to play the 2011-12 season with Shanxi, but lose his chance at unrestricted free agency prior to the start of the NBA season. Smith, who turns 26 Friday, has averaged 12.5 points per game in his seven-year NBA career.

    Under league rules, the China Basketball Association is no longer signing NBA players who want opt-out clauses to return to the NBA prior to the end of the China season. China’s season runs through March.

    Smith, an enigmatic but talented scorer, would risk a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract by signing to play in China. If Smith signs with Shanxi, he will be the second free agent the Nuggets have lost to China. Forward Wilson Chandler(notes) has already signed to play in China, which
    could hurt the Nuggets if the NBA and players union reach a labor agreement that salvages all, or part, of the 2011-12 season.

    Neither player will be free to sign with NBA teams until they return from China.


    http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slu...h_china_090811
    sigpic


    "The last time I was intimidated was when I was 6 years old in karate class. I was an orange belt and the instructor ordered me to fight a black belt who was a couple years older and a lot bigger. I was scared s---less. I mean, I was terrified and he kicked my ass. But then I realized he didn’t kick my ass as bad as I thought he was going to and that there was nothing really to be afraid of. That was around the time I realized that intimidation didn’t really exist if you’re in the right frame of mind." - Kobe Bryant

    Comment


    • #3
      NBA owners, union meet again at critical time


      NEW YORK (AP)—NBA owners and players completed another day of meetings Thursday and plan to have larger groups attend a session Tuesday, with negotiations at what Commissioner David Stern said is “getting to be an important time.”

      The sides met in small groups for the second consecutive day, again for about 5 1/2 hours.

      Though Stern and leaders from the players’ association have said they like working in small numbers, Stern said they think it’s “a good idea to have larger group meetings at this point.”

      “At some point, before you can try and make any attempt at any large progress, you have to involve all the respective members that are ultimately going to make the decisions, so we felt it was best to try to do that at this time and Tuesday we’ll give (it) a shot,” players’ association president Derek Fisher(notes) of the Lakers said.

      Stern said there was nothing yet to show the larger groups, which would include members of the owners’ labor relations committee and the union’s executive committee. Nor would offer any insight into what it meant that the number of attendees would be increasing after all the meetings since the lockout began July 1 included just the leadership from each side.

      “I don’t really know that it’s positive or negative, I just think it’s time to bring the parties into the room who are ultimately responsible for either making a deal or deciding that there shouldn’t be a deal,” Stern said.

      The two sides could again meet for consecutive days next week in New York, then both will update their members on the state of the talks next Thursday— not long before a decision would have to be made if any changes in the NBA calendar are in order.


      http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-nbalabor
      sigpic


      "The last time I was intimidated was when I was 6 years old in karate class. I was an orange belt and the instructor ordered me to fight a black belt who was a couple years older and a lot bigger. I was scared s---less. I mean, I was terrified and he kicked my ass. But then I realized he didn’t kick my ass as bad as I thought he was going to and that there was nothing really to be afraid of. That was around the time I realized that intimidation didn’t really exist if you’re in the right frame of mind." - Kobe Bryant

      Comment


      • #4
        Xinjiang Flying Tigers after K-Mart


        The Denver Post reported Friday that Nuggets free-agent forward Kenyon Martin, like Nuggets swingmen Wilson Chandler and J.R. Smith, is talking seriously with teams in China in case the apparent progress that suddenly materialized in labor talks this week turns out to be a mirage.

        Sources told ESPN.com on Friday night that the team Martin has engaged with most seriously is Xinjiang Guanghui ... or the Flying Tigers of Xinjiang.

        Xinjiang is also among the teams in China that have entered into serious talks with Philadelphia 76ers restricted free agent Thaddeus Young. Yet one source close to the situation says that the Flying Tigers are focusing more now on Martin, with the Post reporting that K-Mart has been offered more than the reported $3 million that Smith has been offered by Shanxi Zhongyu.

        Chandler, remember, has already committed to sign with Zheijiang Guangsha, despite the fact that the Chinese Basketball Association will not allow its teams to include an NBA out in its contract offers. That means any NBA player who signs in China theoretically can’t return to the NBA until the Chinese season ends in mid-March, although sources close to the situation say that some Chinese teams believe they can simply release NBA players such as Chandler if necessary -- under the guise of dissatisfaction or injury -- to get around the restriction and keep a handshake promise to an established NBA player that getting back to the States is possible when the lockout ends.

        The far tougher restriction enacted by Chinese authorities for this season forbids teams from pursuing anyone with an active NBA contract, making unrestricted free agents such as Martin and Smith prime targets.

        Word is that the Yao Ming-owned Shanghai Sharks were actually one of the strongest behind-the-scenes backers of that rule, since the Sharks don’t currently rank as one of China’s big-spending teams alongside Shanxi and Xinjiang and knew they realistically couldn’t join the bidding back when Chinese clubs were chasing the likes of Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard earlier in the summer.


        http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/pos...-flying-tigers
        sigpic


        "The last time I was intimidated was when I was 6 years old in karate class. I was an orange belt and the instructor ordered me to fight a black belt who was a couple years older and a lot bigger. I was scared s---less. I mean, I was terrified and he kicked my ass. But then I realized he didn’t kick my ass as bad as I thought he was going to and that there was nothing really to be afraid of. That was around the time I realized that intimidation didn’t really exist if you’re in the right frame of mind." - Kobe Bryant

        Comment


        • #5
          Love and money lure Adelman to Minny


          After Rick Adelman coached his final game with the Houston Rockets in April, Minnesota Timberwolves general manager David Kahn found the coach in the corridors of the Target Center. It wouldn’t be long until Adelman would be searching for a job, and Kahn a coach. Let’s talk this summer, Kahn was heard to tell him. This was a conversation that Adelman preferred to never have again in his life, but circumstances change. And money matters.

          Privately, Adelman didn’t disguise his disdain for Kahn. They go back to Adelman’s glory days coaching the Portland Trail Blazers in the late 1980s and 1990s, when Kahn was covering the NBA beat as a sportswriter for the Oregonian. The idea that a bad sportswriter had turned into a brutal NBA executive troubled him, sources said. He couldn’t stand him then, and had no intention of resurrecting a working relationship with the man.

          As they say, you can’t pick your family members, or your beat writers. Your GM? Well, that’s different. Adelman badly wanted the Los Angeles Lakers job, and he would’ve been hired had GM Mitch Kupchak not had to defer to Jim Buss’ desire for Mike Brown.

          Once Kurt Rambis was fired, Kahn reached out, and Adelman resisted. Ultimately, Kahn needed Minnesota owner Glen Taylor to get involved in the recruitment of Adelman, because the GM had no chance with him.

          Five months ago, Adelman never would’ve imagined he’d coach the Timberwolves. He was 65 years old, wanted a contender, and the Wolves are a long, long way away. Well, $5 million a season can change a man’s mind. It’s no crime, but understand: The money mattered here. Probably mattered the most. Yes, Adelman wanted to coach Kevin Love(notes), but he had no intention of doing it on a discount. In the end,
          money overrode everything – including the presence of Kahn.

          “Rick would never agree to anything with Kahn,” one league official connected to Adelman said Monday. “This had to be [a deal] with Taylor. …Rick has talked many times of his dislike for Kahn.”

          Adelman understands the coaching landscape has changed, and $5 million-a-year contracts are rarities these days. He talked himself into this job, because the owner coughed up the money, and because Kahn knows he effectively works for Adelman now. Adelman took the job despite Kahn, and the owner won’t let Kahn get in the way of what Adelman wants, and what he tells him needs to happen there.

          Yes, this happened because Adelman finally found a way to justify the possibilities against the biggest drawback of the job: walking into the office and getting a daily dose of Kahn’s empty thoughts on basketball, his embarrassing management style. No, Adelman doesn’t come unless Taylor made a strong pitch of autonomy for the coach, unless Taylor paid Adelman like few small-market owners pay coaches in the NBA anymore.


          Adelman has a longer contract than Kahn, and far more now. Taylor had to get Adelman, and had to overpay market value for him. He had no choice because his franchise has been a laughingstock with Kahn, and he needed the credibility of Adelman for a chance to re-sign Kevin Love.

          The chance to coach Love had been the most intriguing part of the job for Adelman, sources said, because he thinks Love will be fantastic in his offense. Adelman watched Love grow up in Oregon, watched his son share a friendship with Love, and now Adelman and Love are the powerbrokers for the Wolves. They give the operation professionalism.

          This leaves Kahn’s personal project, Ricky Rubio(notes), in a strange sort of limbo. A different coach, with
          Adelman’s stature, would’ve been made to commit completely to the rookie point guard, to play him through his mistakes. That won’t happen with Adelman, who won’t have to adhere to Kahn’s commands. Kahn went to great lengths to get Rubio into a Wolves uniform, and Adelman wouldn’t have taken this job had there been mandates to play him. That partnership will be on the coach’s terms, not Rubio’s.

          Adelman knows he can outlast Kahn on the job, and probably pick his successor – Adelman himself, or someone else – once Taylor finally runs the GM out. There were times this summer, sources say, when Kahn was paranoid over the possibility of Taylor conducting a clandestine search for a new GM, but it never happened.

          Yet, Rubio has to prove himself in the NBA, and he’ll probably have to do it without a GM running interference for him. Rubio still has a chance to be very good, but he needs to get out of Europe, get to the NBA with some young finishers surrounding him.

          For now, Kahn is back on the Adelman beat, and one thing hasn’t changed: The coach doesn’t have to answer his questions, doesn’t have to return his calls. Only the masthead says Kahn is above him now. This wasn’t Rick Adelman’s big idea when he left the Rockets, but it became one more big-money score when the Wolves had to try to buy back credibility. David Kahn still has his office, his business cards, but a lousy sportswriter turned farce of a GM is back where he started: trying to win Adelman’s respect, trying to stay an insider on the coach’s team.


          http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_yl...twolves_091211
          sigpic


          "The last time I was intimidated was when I was 6 years old in karate class. I was an orange belt and the instructor ordered me to fight a black belt who was a couple years older and a lot bigger. I was scared s---less. I mean, I was terrified and he kicked my ass. But then I realized he didn’t kick my ass as bad as I thought he was going to and that there was nothing really to be afraid of. That was around the time I realized that intimidation didn’t really exist if you’re in the right frame of mind." - Kobe Bryant

          Comment


          • #6
            Sources: Agents want union to decertify



            Five of the most powerful agents in the NBA spoke via conference call Monday about how they can help the players union in its stalemate with the league's owners. Their answer: blow the union up.


            Arn Tellem, Bill Duffy, Mark Bartelstein, Jeff Schwartz and Dan Fegan -- who collectively represent nearly one-third of the league's players -- spoke Monday about the process of decertifying the union, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.


            The agents' view is that the owners currently have most, if not all, of the leverage in these talks and that something needs to be done to turn the tide. They believe decertification will do the trick, creating uncertainty and wresting control away from the owners.

            "The union has been negotiating with the league for a year and a half and the owners haven't changed their stance, so the conversation the agents had was about how to work with the union to enhance its strategy," a person close to the situation said on condition of anonymity. "The feeling is that decertification is the weapon that has to be pulled out of the arsenal, that it's the most effective way to change the dynamics of the negotiations."


            The agents have spoken with Billy Hunter, the executive director of the players association, about the need for decertification, but he has thus far resisted their plan. He said Tuesday that the players are not yet considering decertifying.


            "We've never really had any discussion about decertification," Hunter said after meeting with the owners. "As you're aware, we've obviously been experiencing some pressure in the media from some of the agents about decertification. That's not a message that has crossed our lips."


            Hunter believes he has his own weapon to change the tenor of the talks in the lawsuit the union filed with the National Labor Relations Board. The suit claims that the NBA is not negotiating in good faith. Hunter said he hopes there will be a ruling within the next few weeks.


            If the union wins its suit, the NLRB could declare the lockout illegal and end it, though the number of cases in which the NLRB has done that in the past decade is miniscule. Nevertheless, Hunter is not likely to consider decertification until getting the results of the suit.

            The agents could push for an involuntary decertification by getting 30 percent of the league's players to sign a petition saying it supports decertification. And that's almost exactly the percentage of NBA players the five agents represent. While the agents have talked to their players about decertifying, sources say they have not started asking for signatures.


            If they were to get 30 percent of the union's membership to sign a petition, the matter would go to a vote before all the league's players. A simple majority would be enough to decertify.


            By law, labor unions cannot file antitrust lawsuits. Were the union to disband, however, the law would then view NBA players as individuals, instead of a union, and different laws would apply. They could file an antitrust motion against the owners and request an injunction that would force the owners to bring the players back to work.

            The tactic effectively replaces the head of the union with an antitrust lawyer -- in American sports history, typically Jeffrey Kessler, who works for the players' union already -- and puts a lot of the key decisions in the hands of federal judges, which carries significant risks for both sides.

            Not all agents believe decertification is the way, though. Happy Walters, Jeff Austin and Rob Pelinka, who represents Kobe Bryant and union president Derek Fisher, are among the agents who are not pushing for decertification.


            Fisher emerged from Tuesday's labor meetings with a pessimistic view after the two sides made little to no progress during a full committee meeting.

            "I think coming out of today, obviously because of the calendar, we can't come out of here feeling as though training camps and the season is going to start on time at this point," Fisher said.

            That notion was shared by NBA commissioner David Stern.

            "Well, we did not have a great day, I think it's fair to say that," Stern said. "On the other hand, we did say that it is our collective task to decide what we want on the one hand on each side, and two, what each side needs if we choose to work ourselves in such a way as to have the season start on time. That's still our goal."

            Training camps have been expected to open Oct. 3 and the regular season's opening night is scheduled for Nov. 1.


            http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/69...nion-decertify
            sigpic


            "The last time I was intimidated was when I was 6 years old in karate class. I was an orange belt and the instructor ordered me to fight a black belt who was a couple years older and a lot bigger. I was scared s---less. I mean, I was terrified and he kicked my ass. But then I realized he didn’t kick my ass as bad as I thought he was going to and that there was nothing really to be afraid of. That was around the time I realized that intimidation didn’t really exist if you’re in the right frame of mind." - Kobe Bryant

            Comment


            • #7
              Pessimism and Little Progress After Day of Negotiations Ends


              Negotiators for the N.B.A. and its players union departed Manhattan under a cloud of frustration Tuesday, a labor deal still out of reach, and the season appearing increasingly in doubt.

              Despite perceptible movement on the economic issues, union leaders sounded the alarm after a five-hour bargaining session, saying that they were prepared for a long battle and the loss of regular-season games.

              “Right now, we can’t find a place with the league and our owners where we can reach a deal sooner rather than later,” the union president Derek Fisher said after the meeting. “It’s discouraging and unfortunate, but that’s the reality of where we stand right now.”

              Fisher was flanked by the union’s executive director, Billy Hunter, and eight players from the union’s executive board, all with dour expressions as they sat along one side of a long conference room table.

              Hunter said there had been “little or no progress” made, and said he was “a bit pessimistic and discouraged” about the ability to start the season on time. A short time later, speaking in another room, Commissioner David Stern conceded: “We did not have a great day. I think it’s fair to say that.”

              No additional meetings are scheduled, although there will probably be some informal dialogue this weekend, after separate meetings of the owners (in Dallas) and the players (in Las Vegas) on Thursday.

              Yet the gloomy commentary on Tuesday obscured the fact that the parties are inching toward each other on the financial component of a new labor deal. Each side put a new proposal on the board last week, when the top negotiators met in a smaller group, according to a league official. A significant gap remains in dollars, but it is gradually shrinking, the official said.

              Stern referred multiple times Tuesday to the prospect of an agreement on the financial parameters.

              “We have a sense that, within a certain tolerances, there’s a potential economic deal that may be within view,” Stern said.

              At Tuesday’s session — with full labor committees in attendance — the players outlined a proposal in which they would accept a significant salary reduction.

              But the offer was predicated on the N.B.A.’s retaining all aspects of the current “soft” salary-cap system, with all of its exceptions and loopholes.

              “We said we couldn’t agree to that,” said Adam Silver, the deputy commissioner.

              N.B.A. owners are pushing for a hard cap, similar to the N.F.L.’s, or an N.H.L.-style “flex” cap, which allows a broad payroll range but still has a hard ceiling. The union has fought against a hard cap for decades and remains strongly opposed to it.

              Hunter said, “It could be characterized maybe as a blood issue” — a remark that Silver seized on as evidence of the union’s rigidity.

              “That doesn’t seem a constructive way to negotiate,” Silver said.

              Stern belittled the union as having “an emotional attachment” to the soft cap. Yet he seemed heartened by the financial part of the players’ proposal, saying it contained “economic goals that we could probably mutually meet.”

              Hunter said the proposal — which he referred to as more conceptual than specific — “whetted their palates.”

              But Hunter disagreed with Stern on everything else, including Stern’s insistence that the league has made a number of new proposals this summer. Hunter said the owners’ position had not changed since June, before the lockout began.

              When asked if the league might begin postponing training camps after Thursday’s owners meeting, Stern said no.

              But if history is an accurate guide, that day could be arriving in the next 10 days. In 1998, the N.B.A. started postponing camps and canceling preseason games Sept. 24.

              If a deal is not reached by mid-October, the league would probably start canceling regular-season games.

              The union has been advising its players for two years that a lockout was likely and that a loss of part or all of the season was possible, if the owners were truly determined to impose a hard cap and a salary rollback. Hunter said his constituents were prepared for the worst.

              “There’s no question in my mind the players are unified, that if this deal and this is the best deal they can get, they’ve instructed us that they’re prepared to sit out,” he said. “They’re not prepared to accept this deal under any circumstance.”


              http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/14/sp...alks.html?_r=1
              sigpic


              "The last time I was intimidated was when I was 6 years old in karate class. I was an orange belt and the instructor ordered me to fight a black belt who was a couple years older and a lot bigger. I was scared s---less. I mean, I was terrified and he kicked my ass. But then I realized he didn’t kick my ass as bad as I thought he was going to and that there was nothing really to be afraid of. That was around the time I realized that intimidation didn’t really exist if you’re in the right frame of mind." - Kobe Bryant

              Comment


              • #8
                Derek Fisher: Rift among owners


                Before the NBA's owners and players' union returned to their respective corners on Thursday -- the owners in Dallas, the players in Las Vegas -- to regroup following Tuesday's negotiating session that ended with the lockout still very much intact, union president Derek Fisher sent out an email to his colleagues asking for solidarity.

                The email, first printed by SI.com, challenges the faction of player agents who wish to decertify the union and it also hints that there may be some division growing between the league's 29 owners.

                "The most recent meetings in New York were effective," Fisher wrote. "What you have been told by your agents, representatives and the media is probably speculative and inaccurate.

                "What actually happened in those meetings was discussion, brainstorming and a sharing of options by both sides. The turning point this past Tuesday was not a disagreement between the players and the owners. It was actually a fundamental divide between the owners internally. They could not agree with each other on specific points of the deal and therefore it caused conflict within the league and its owners."

                Sources confirm to ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard that there were disagreements among owners.

                Owners and players initially found reason for optimism during Tuesday's meetings. Commissioner David Stern and Peter Holt, the head of the owners' executive committee, felt that the players' proposal to take 52 or 53 percent of basketball-related income, compared to 57 under the previous agreement, was basically fair, sources said.

                Owners were seriously considering coming off of their demand for a salary freeze and would allow players' future earnings to be tied into the league's revenue growth, a critical point for players. The owners also were willing to allow the players to maintain their current salaries, without rollbacks, sources said.

                But when the owners left the players to meet among themselves for around three hours, Cleveland's Dan Gilbert and Phoenix's Robert Sarver expressed their dissatisfaction with many of the points, sources said. The sources said that the Knicks' James Dolan and the Lakers' Jerry Buss were visibly annoyed by the hardline demands of Gilbert and Sarver.

                Owners now are working on ironing out those differences Thursday in Dallas.

                Meanwhile, with decertification surely to be a hot-button issue at the union's Vegas meeting, which was expected to draw more than 70 players, Fisher used his letter to challenge the motives of the agents seeking to disband the NBPA.

                "What would be appreciated by the 400-plus players would be the support of our agents and constructive ideas, suggestions and solutions that are in our best interests," wrote Fisher. "Not the push for a drastic move that leaves their players without a union, without pensions, without health care. We just aren't there."

                Broussard and ESPN.com's Henry Abbott reported that five of the league's most influential player agents -- Arn Tellem, Bill Duffy, Mark Bartelstein, Jeff Schwartz and Dan Fegan -- spoke Monday about the process of decertifying the union.

                With the lockout reaching 2½ months and union executive director Billy Hunter telling reporters Tuesday that he has already cautioned players to expect to miss up to half of the upcoming season, Fisher made another move in addition to the email to try to inspire trust and patience amongst his players.

                According to Broussard, NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith spoke to the players in Las Vegas at the behest of Fisher. Sources said that his message centered around the pros and cons of decertification.

                The union had hoped that Smith's story of the NFL players enduring a 4½-month lockout before securing a season-saving deal will convince NBA players that the same outcome can be achieved if they, too, stay unified.

                Dave McMenamin covers the Lakers for ESPNLosAngeles.com.


                http://espn.go.com/dallas/nba/story/...ys-owners-rift
                sigpic


                "The last time I was intimidated was when I was 6 years old in karate class. I was an orange belt and the instructor ordered me to fight a black belt who was a couple years older and a lot bigger. I was scared s---less. I mean, I was terrified and he kicked my ass. But then I realized he didn’t kick my ass as bad as I thought he was going to and that there was nothing really to be afraid of. That was around the time I realized that intimidation didn’t really exist if you’re in the right frame of mind." - Kobe Bryant

                Comment


                • #9
                  Union president Fisher sets record straight in letter to players

                  LAS VEGAS -- Derek Fisher is determined to make the NBA players meeting productive instead of divisive.

                  With about 70 players expected to meet here on Thursday, the National Basketball Players' Association president sent an impassioned email to his colleagues. The letter, obtained by SI.com from a player and published in full below, criticizes agents who have been calling for the decertification of the union and asks players to remain supportive of its efforts.

                  It's the second deliberate and creative wrinkle Fisher has added to the meeting. As reported Wednesday night by SI.com, NFLPA head DeMaurice Smith will be speaking at the session after accepting an invitation from the Lakers' guard.

                  ***

                  To Each & Every Player,

                  After the latest round of meetings, I thought it would be best to update you personally as to where the leadership of the National Basketball Players Association stands, where the negotiations stand where we are headed and the reasons why.

                  Without a doubt, someone will be leaking this. I know it. The moment you read this you will know it. So, I say all with the fullest transparency.

                  I was elected as your President. By you. For you. I take great pride and am honored to serve the over 400 members of our association. I and our Executive Committee take this job and this role seriously and will not agree to an unfair deal on behalf of you and our players. Period.

                  I'm not looking out just for the marquee guy, I'm looking out for the guy that dreams of being a professional basketball player and gets a minimum deal. I'm not just trying to protect the guy on a team in a huge market. I'm protecting the player that is in a small market with incredibly loyal fans.

                  I've made it clear, I want to play. You have each made it clear, you want to play. The fans have been unwavering, they want their basketball. The thousand of employees that work in the arenas, the ticket offices, the concession stands, they want a season. We all want to go back to work.

                  The league and the team owners have locked us out. This was not our choice. Our employers decided to stop allowing us to do our jobs.

                  My job since July 1st is to find a solution. To find an outcome that protects each of you and your livelihoods and continues to allow us to play the game we love so much and the fans love supporting.

                  Since before the lockout began, I have spent hours upon hours, days, months, years, working on preparing you, the fans and the media about the possibilities. Now as the lockout has set in, reality of the situation is here.

                  The most recent meetings in New York were effective. What you have been told by your agents, representatives and the media is probably speculative and inaccurate.

                  What actually happened in those meetings was discussion, brainstorming and a sharing of options by both sides. The turning point this past Tuesday was not a disagreement between the players and the owners. It was actually a fundamental divide between the owners internally. They could not agree with each other on specific points of the deal and therefore it caused conflict within the league and its owners.

                  So it is our hope that today, Thursday, at the owners meeting in Dallas that they work out their differences, come up with a revenue sharing plan that will protect their teams and are then ready to come together and sign off on the agreement we as a smaller group deemed reasonable.

                  Decertification seems to be a hot button issue today in the media. So I'd like to address it. I've read yesterday's stories and find the position of these agents interesting. I have made myself available to each and every agent. But not once have I heard from them. If they are so concerned about the direction of the union, then why have they not contacted me? Each and every one of them mentioned has been in meetings with me. I've answered their questions, I've been told they support you, their players and our Players Association. So if there is a genuine concern, a suggestion, a question, call me. Email me. Text me. I'm working tirelessly each and every day on behalf of the over 400 players that they represent. Working for nothing but the best interests of THEIR guys. I don't make a commission, I don't make a salary for serving as President. I have NO ulterior motives. None.

                  It is because they have not come to me once that I question their motives.

                  I work every day on these negotiations. I work so that each player from Blake Griffin to Tyler Hansbrough, Pau Gasol to De'Andre Jordan, Dwight Howard to Jrue Holiday, Taj Gibson to Danny Granger, Steve Nash to Luke Babbit and every single player get a fair and reasonable deal. Not just for this year, not just for next year but for years to come. So that the league that WE the players largely helped build, continues to grow and thrive.

                  So to address the agents that have decided to say their piece yesterday, I don't mind. Perhaps they are trying to make news. Perhaps they just want to show you, their clients, they are working hard. But what would be appreciated by the 400+ players would be the support of our agents and constructive ideas, suggestions and solutions that are in our best interests. Not the push for a drastic move that leaves their players without a union, without pensions, without health care. We just aren't there.

                  I will remain committed to finding resolution to this because I know how important this is. I ask you to remain united with me and your over 400 allies, friends, brothers and colleagues. We are a powerful group if we remain united and focused on the task at hand.

                  I urge every single one of you to call me, text me, email me with anything. An idea, a suggestion, a concern, a question. I represent you. I work for you.

                  So to each player, each fan, each agent, each media member who ends up reading this...I stand behind this message. It comes from me, a 15 year veteran of basketball, the game I dreamt of playing as a kid, the game I love so much. I'm a teammate, I'm a father, I'm a son, I'm a husband, I'm a brother, but right now, the role I must work so hard to honor is the one as PA President. And I ask each of you to stand with me, stand by me and urge the league and the owners to come together and allow the game of basketball to continue to grow and thrive. We're ready.

                  Sincerely,

                  Derek


                  http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/201...ter/index.html
                  sigpic


                  "The last time I was intimidated was when I was 6 years old in karate class. I was an orange belt and the instructor ordered me to fight a black belt who was a couple years older and a lot bigger. I was scared s---less. I mean, I was terrified and he kicked my ass. But then I realized he didn’t kick my ass as bad as I thought he was going to and that there was nothing really to be afraid of. That was around the time I realized that intimidation didn’t really exist if you’re in the right frame of mind." - Kobe Bryant

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    NBA reaches labor deal with referees


                    The NBA has reached an agreement with the National Basketball Referee’s Association on a new collective bargaining agreement, avoiding the use of replacement officials once the league eventually resumes play, a league source told Yahoo! Sports.

                    The NBA’s owners will ratify the agreement at their meeting in Dallas on Thursday.

                    The existing two-year labor agreement between the NBA and referee’s union expired Sept. 1, and the league was facing the possibility of using replacement officials for the second time in the past four years. Replacement referees were used in the 2009-10 preseason, but a deal was ratified before opening night of the season.

                    This agreement clears the way for the NBA to focus solely on its negotiations with the National Basketball Players Association. The NBA locked out the players on July 1, and talks have broken down between the two sides. It appears almost impossible for the NBA’s training camps to open as scheduled on Oct. 3.

                    The Associated Press first reported the five-year agreement between the NBA and its referees.


                    [Related: Union’s Hunter rallies players]


                    After a difficult beginning to talks in January between the league and referees, the two sides – led by NBA commissioner David Stern and union executive director Lee Seham – hammered out a deal over the past two months. The NBRA had filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board in February, citing “the league’s refusal to negotiate with the union concerning non-economic issues.”

                    The referee’s union had hired Seham, an experienced labor attorney, as executive director, and his first meeting with Stern on Jan. 24 turned acrimonious, according to union memos obtained by Yahoo! Sports. The memos described an alleged “obscene expression” by Stern directed at NBRA reps.

                    According to the memo, Stern became angry when union attorneys raised the idea of including what the union called “standard language found in many collective bargaining agreements” on discrimination.

                    “One of the league’s negotiators [Stern] reacted to it with hostility and resorted to the use of an obscene expression in describing its effect,” the memo said. “When the NBRA representatives declined his demand to delete the obscene expression from their notes, this negotiator [Stern] abruptly left the room.”

                    In the end, the league and referees were able to move past that acrimony and agree on a deal.


                    http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_yl...s_union_091511
                    sigpic


                    "The last time I was intimidated was when I was 6 years old in karate class. I was an orange belt and the instructor ordered me to fight a black belt who was a couple years older and a lot bigger. I was scared s---less. I mean, I was terrified and he kicked my ass. But then I realized he didn’t kick my ass as bad as I thought he was going to and that there was nothing really to be afraid of. That was around the time I realized that intimidation didn’t really exist if you’re in the right frame of mind." - Kobe Bryant

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Krstic has $1M buyout with CSKA Moscow


                      KAUNAS, Lithuania — Contrary to prior reports, Nenad Krstic does have a buyout clause in his two-year contract with CSKA Moscow, and it’ll cost him $1 million to return to the NBA for the 2012-13 season.

                      Krstic revealed the buyout terms Friday in an exclusive interview with SheridanHoops.com following Serbia’s 87-77 loss to Greece in a classification game at EuroBasket. The loss cost the Serbs a chance to qualify for the 2012 Olympics at next summer’s pre-Olympic tournament in early July.

                      “Actually I have a one plus one,” Krstic told SheridanHoops. “So after the first year I can go back to the NBA. It’s my option, the second year. I can stay if I want, or if I have offers from the NBA I can accept them.”

                      Krstic was one of the first NBA players to sign overseas after last season ended, reaching a two-year deal worth a reported 6 million Euros ($8.2 million) even before NBA owners imposed their lockout following the breakdown in negotiations June 30.

                      Krstic, along with Jeff Green, had been traded from Oklahoma City to Boston in the controversial deal for Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson, and his role declined over the course of the playoffs to the point where he logged only 16 minutes in the Celtics’ Game 5 loss to Miami in the second round that eliminated them from the postseason.

                      After averaging 10.0 points, 5.4 rebounds and 25.2 minutes in 419 regular-season games with New Jersey, the Thunder and Celtics, Krstic took the Moscow money and ran, setting himself up for at least one season playing under legendary Lithuanian coach Jonas Kaslauskas.

                      “It’s tough to say now (what will happen in the future), but I can say I am proud to be a member of one of the best teams in Europe with a great history. I always dreamed of playing in the NBA, that was always my goal, and maybe someday I will try to come back,” Krstic said. “I followed the EuroLeague on the Internet and on TV, but I didn’t play there for like 10 years, and it’s one of the things where I don’t know exactly what to expect. The NBA is the best league in the world. I’m going to miss playing with the best players in the world, plus the lifestyle.

                      But if he so chooses, he can return.

                      Under the old collective bargaining agreement, NBA teams were forbidden from paying more than $500,000 toward a buyout. It is unclear whether that rule will change when the new labor agreement is completed, but if it stays the same Krstic will have to reach into his own wallet for the remaining half-million it would take to purchase his freedom.

                      http://sheridanhoops.com/2011/09/16/...h-cska-moscow/

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        It’s official, J.R. Smith signs to play in China next season


                        What is the Chinese word for “gunner?”

                        That word might now be J.R. Smith. The talented, athletic Denver swingman who never saw a shot he didn’t like has signed to play in China for next season, according to reports out of China via Nuibball.com as well as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo. He will be the most talented player in that league.

                        The deal is Zhejiang Chouzhou for $3 million — the richest deal in Chinese league history — and he cannot leave the team before next March, according to the reports. The Chinese Basketball Association has put in a rule banning opt-out contracts and only allowing NBA free agents to sign there. Smith had been close to a deal with the richest team in China — Shanxi — but that fell apart recently.

                        Smith joins fellow former Nugget Wilson Chandler in China and even in the same province, although they play for different teams.

                        Zhejiang Chouzhou is the team that last season had Mike James and Josh Boone last season.



                        http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.c...a-next-season/
                        sigpic


                        "The last time I was intimidated was when I was 6 years old in karate class. I was an orange belt and the instructor ordered me to fight a black belt who was a couple years older and a lot bigger. I was scared s---less. I mean, I was terrified and he kicked my ass. But then I realized he didn’t kick my ass as bad as I thought he was going to and that there was nothing really to be afraid of. That was around the time I realized that intimidation didn’t really exist if you’re in the right frame of mind." - Kobe Bryant

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Owners' revised proposal means there's hope for full season


                          NEW YORK -- Last we left our negotiating heroes, Billy Hunter had drawn a line in the sand: The players were prepared to make a significant economic move, but only if the owners dropped their insistence on a hard cap.

                          The NBA said, "Nope." Each side retreated to a neutral corner. The brains of both operations got together Wednesday, followed by the heavy hitters on Thursday at a snobby boutique hotel on Manhattan's Upper East Side. And guess what?

                          After more than two years of negotiations, it's finally time to negotiate.

                          Following a series of small compromises by both sides, it was the owners' turn to move the needle in a significant way. And they did: According to a person briefed on the negotiations, the league put forth a new number on the split of revenues, or basketball-related income, on Thursday, a step that could help propel the talks forward even as the start of training camps were set to be delayed and preseason games canceled -- with such gloomy but fully expected and insignificant announcements expected Friday.

                          "It's moving," said another person with knowledge of the talks. "Not as fast as some people would want, but it's moving."

                          According to one of the people familiar with the bargaining, here is some of what transpired Thursday: After signaling last week that the players' offer to move lower than the 54.3 percent share of BRI was a starting point that could lead to a deal on economics, league negotiators came back with their own number. Unsurprisingly, the number was lower than what the players had last proposed, though multiple people involved in the talks refused to specify by how much.

                          The owners' proposed BRI split was made without specific system details tied to it, and the number itself was "unacceptable" to the union leadership, one of the sources said. Thus, the faces of both sides emerged from the Manhattan hotel after five hours of bargaining and delivered the same vague non-answers with strikingly similar flatlined demeanors and monotone voices.

                          "I'm sorry, but the most important thing is to see whether we can't have negotiations conducive to ultimately getting a deal, which is what our committee and our board will like," commissioner David Stern said on his 69th birthday. "And having these conversations with you doesn't add anything to that. And that's the dilemma."

                          But despite hand wringing over the imminent delay of training camps and the cancellation of preseason games -- an announcement is expected Friday, according to sources -- what happened here actually had the potential to be productive. For the first time since their initial proposal in January 2010 -- when they offered a $45 million hard cap that would deliver the players well below 50 percent of BRI -- the owners proposed a revised BRI split that was closer to, but still below what the players have indicated they would be willing to accept. In this impossibly slow negotiating dance, that qualifies as progress.

                          The owners' number, one of the people familiar with the details said, represented a willingness to move off their most recent formal proposal to cap player salaries at $2 billion a year for the bulk of a 10-year proposal. So, do the math: Assuming 4 percent revenue growth next season to $3.95 billion, the owners' $2 billion proposal represented roughly 50.5 percent of BRI for the players. If the players were willing to go down to, say, 53 percent with assurances that a soft cap would remain in place, that would be $2.094 billion -- leaving the two sides only $94 million apart in the first year of the deal.

                          Given that the owners moved off their $2 billion to somewhere between that and the players' number, we're talking about perhaps as little as $75 million per year holding up the future of the NBA. That's why, as one person familiar with the talks said Thursday, a deal is "there for the taking."

                          When will each side be ready to take it? Not yet. Not Thursday, and maybe not next week, either. The drop-dead date to preserve the season intact -- Oct. 13 or 14 -- is still three weeks away.

                          So what happens next? Stern reports by phone to the labor relations committee Friday, cancels preseason games and postpones the start of camps -- as we knew back on July 1 would happen -- and the two sides get back together early next week and negotiate the split further.

                          Now that each side is on record with a number that isn't wildly out of line with the other, that shouldn't take long. That's why both sides left Thursday's bargaining session expecting next week's meeting to mark the beginning of the real dirty work -- negotiating the system that will deliver the money to the players.

                          The BRI split is tied to the cap; the harder the cap, the higher the players believe their share needs to be. But as one of the people familiar with the talks said, once a compromise is reached on the split, figuring out a system to go with it shouldn't be a deal-killer.

                          "There's willingness to deal on both points," said the person, referring to the split and the system. "It's been said from the beginning: If there's agreement on the money, the system should not cause us to lose games."

                          From now until Oct. 14 -- the date I've marked on my calendar when regular-season games will be canceled without a deal -- the most dangerous days of these negotiations are not when the two sides are speaking with each other. It's the days in between, when they talk internally to their constituents.

                          After the two sides felt they were on the verge of agreeing on the economics last Tuesday, they went to their neutral corners and things changed. Agents mobilized players and got them in revolt mode, and owners who aren't on the negotiating committee evidently weren't as prepared to move forward with the economic model that the small groups of negotiators were growing comfortable discussing.

                          A lot can go wrong, and probably will, between now and Oct. 14. But that still leaves three weeks to get a deal, and about half of it's done, as far as I can tell. How hard will each side be willing to push to get what it wants? That we don't know. When will they be ready to take a deal that's there for the taking?

                          They'll be ready when they're ready. They'll be ready when they have to be. If not, shame on all of them.


                          http://www.cbssports.com/nba/story/1...fb_na_txt_0001
                          sigpic


                          "The last time I was intimidated was when I was 6 years old in karate class. I was an orange belt and the instructor ordered me to fight a black belt who was a couple years older and a lot bigger. I was scared s---less. I mean, I was terrified and he kicked my ass. But then I realized he didn’t kick my ass as bad as I thought he was going to and that there was nothing really to be afraid of. That was around the time I realized that intimidation didn’t really exist if you’re in the right frame of mind." - Kobe Bryant

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Sources: Owners' offer still below 50 percent



                            NEW YORK -- More details emerged Friday of a revised proposal from the owners on the split of revenues with the players, with two sources telling CBSSports.com that the aggregate share offered by the league remains below 49 percent.

                            The number offered Thursday by commissioner David Stern and deputy commissioner Adam Silver was deemed "unacceptable" by representatives of the National Basketball Players Association, according to one of the sources familiar with the proposal. The two sides emerged from a five-hour negotiation with no deal and with full recognition that training camps would be postponed and preseason games would be canceled.

                            That inevitable and widely expected announcement came Friday, when the league postponed indefinitely the start of camps -- which were supposed to open Oct. 3 -- and scrapped 43 preseason games scheduled from Oct. 9-15.

                            The two sides are communicating Friday to schedule another bargaining session for next week, when the owners' gesture -- however small -- to move off the $2 billion-a-year players' share for the first eight years of a 10-year proposal is expected to accelerate negotiations on the economic portion of the agreement.

                            This is the first time the league has formally offered a number in terms of the BRI split since they proposed an annual guarantee of $2.01 billion as part of a 10-year proposal in late June.

                            It is both curious and an inevitable function of the calendar -- the league is still three weeks away from having to cancel regular season games -- that the owners emerged from a series of productive bargaining sessions and a full Board of Governors meeting to present a BRI split that still has the players receiving less than half of the league's approximately $4 billion in revenues. After NBPA executive director Billy Hunter stated his intention to go below the union's previous offer of a 54.3 percent share for the players, Stern and Silver acknowledged that an agreement on the economics was within reach.

                            Stern told reporters last Tuesday that the players' gesture -- which was preconditioned on the owners dropping their insistence on a hard salary cap -- was "on the road" to a compromise on the overall dollars.

                            "The question is, how long is that road?" one person connected to the talks said Friday. "Is it the Road to Hana?"

                            Under the six-year CBA that expired July 1, the players were guaranteed 57 percent of basketball-related income.


                            http://ken-berger.blogs.cbssports.co...38893/32195570
                            sigpic


                            "The last time I was intimidated was when I was 6 years old in karate class. I was an orange belt and the instructor ordered me to fight a black belt who was a couple years older and a lot bigger. I was scared s---less. I mean, I was terrified and he kicked my ass. But then I realized he didn’t kick my ass as bad as I thought he was going to and that there was nothing really to be afraid of. That was around the time I realized that intimidation didn’t really exist if you’re in the right frame of mind." - Kobe Bryant

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              NBA, union to meet Tuesday


                              NEW YORK -- Officials from the NBA and its players' union are finalizing details of a bargaining session that will take place Tuesday in New York and possibly extend to Wednesday, a person familiar with the details told CBSSports.com.

                              With the prospect of two days of negotiations as the calendar marches toward the eventual canceling of regular season games in less than three weeks, National Basketball Players Association executive director Billy Hunter has postponed a regional meeting that had been scheduled for Tuesday in Miami and will stay in New York for talks with the league, the person with knowledge of the meeting said.

                              On Friday, the league indefinitely postponed the start of training camps and canceled preseason games scheduled for Oct. 9-15. Deputy commissioner Adam Silver said the schedule will be further evaluated on Oct. 1. It is likely that the league would have to begin canceling regular season games by Oct. 14 if it is unable to reach an agreement with the union on a new collective bargaining ageement.

                              The precise composition and format for the negotiations is still being determined due to a scheduling conflict of at least one key member of the parties that have made progress in small-group settings since Aug. 31. Once that is resolved, the goal is to continue with the small-group sessions with commissioner David Stern, Silver, deputy general counsel Dan Rube and Spurs owner Peter Holt representing the league and Hunter, NBPA president Derek Fisher, general counsel Ron Klempner and economist Kevin Murphy representing the players.

                              Tuesday and Wednesday represent the last opportunities to bargain this week with several key members of both sides' negotiating teams observing Rosh Hashanah on Thursday and Friday.

                              Negotiations resume after the league made a slight but significant revision last week to its most recent proposal on how to divide the sport's approximately $4 billion in basketball-related income (BRI). Sources say the owners' latest economic proposal amounted to an average 46 percent of BRI for the players over the life of the deal, which the union deemed "unacceptable." But the revised proposal represented a 2 percent increase from the owners' June proposal of a flat $2.01 billion annual guarantee for the players in the first eight years of a 10-year deal. That proposal started at about a 50-50 split of BRI in the 2011-12 season, but with revenues projected to increase about 4 percent a year, the players' share would shrink over time -- to about 39 percent in the eighth year of the deal.

                              The latest proposal from the owners called for the players' share to decline at a slower rate, sources said. According to one of the people familiar with the negotiations, the players most recently proposed a six-year CBA that would begin with a salary freeze in the first year ($2.17 billion, same as they made last season) and then go to 54 percent -- a 3 percent decline from the players' guarantee of 57 percent in the six-year deal that expired July 1.

                              Hunter also has signaled a willingness to negotiate below the 54 percent offer, with the caveat that it not include the implementation of a hard salary cap. Sources say both sides have expressed a willingness to negotiate on system and cap issues once they agree on the economic aspects of the deal.



                              http://ken-berger.blogs.cbssports.co...38893/32284158
                              sigpic


                              "The last time I was intimidated was when I was 6 years old in karate class. I was an orange belt and the instructor ordered me to fight a black belt who was a couple years older and a lot bigger. I was scared s---less. I mean, I was terrified and he kicked my ass. But then I realized he didn’t kick my ass as bad as I thought he was going to and that there was nothing really to be afraid of. That was around the time I realized that intimidation didn’t really exist if you’re in the right frame of mind." - Kobe Bryant

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