Comments on: Why We Love the Game

By: Zach Horst

Zach Horst — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 18:08:33 +0000

John, just got a chance to read your article now. Great job – really loved how it was laid out! You seemed to have spent a lot of time on it, and it serves as a very interesting perspective.

By: jon abbey

jon abbey — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 23:51:38 +0000

and Simmons defends his statement at length here, at the bottom of the column:

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7131896/proactively-mourning-nba

By: Brian Cronin (@Brian_Cronin)

Brian Cronin (@Brian_Cronin) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 08:36:04 +0000

At least Billy Hunter mentioned James Dolan as one of the owners willing to make a deal. For once we cant blame Dolan lol

I know! How sad is that when Dolan is one of the “good” guys?

By: jon abbey

jon abbey — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 05:52:37 +0000

Simmons with a follow-up tweet just now, FWIW:

“Could anyone else who twists my “limited intellectual capital” comment around from yesterday’s column please note that I’d have the same concerns for NHL/NFL/MLB players? Athletes are trained/conditioned to play sports, not save their sports economically.”

By: latke

latke — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 04:57:37 +0000

The players need to compromise on the luxury tax issue. It’s something they should have immediately jumped on. Let’s say the NBA broke even in terms or real money last season. Local TV deals are a huge financial boom for NBA teams, so it makes sense that there is huge income inequality. Let’s say then that top 10 markets are in the green to the tune of $400 million, and just for the sake of argument, the bottom 20 are in the red for that same $400 million. Even with the 5% BRI cut the players would likely take were the owners to offer it (57% to 52%), if we distribute that cash back evenly, it is only $100 million dollars.

Now, most of that giveback is going to line the pockets of the teams that are already in the green, since they have higher salaries, so if we are generous and say the bottom 2/3s of the teams get half of the $100 million, we get $50 million. That’s nothing compared to the $400 million in losses. It’s maybe enough to get a few of the borderline teams narrowly into the green.

Now, you could tell these teams to just spend less, but many of those teams are already at or near the current NBA minimum for total salaries. And if they don’t invest in players, they’re never going to be competitive, which means they won’t fill the stands or improve their television deals. It’s a real problem, and in my opinion the only legitimate problem that the NBA has.

I think if the players stop looking at the NBA as a whole as the issue and instead look at it on a team by team level and make an offer with the revenue sharing that gets a good chunk of the smaller market teams a big payday, they’ll get a deal done.

By: jon abbey

jon abbey — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 03:52:23 +0000

would you be equally offended if he said that the owners were “saddled with limited physical capital”? just curious, I hate kneejerk political correctness and there are a lot of really stupid professional athletes (I have no real opinion pro or con on Simmons’ original statement).

and yeah, it’s looking less and less likely we’ll ever see Billups in orange and blue again (under contract for just this season) unless he takes a really small deal to come back.

By: njasdjdh

njasdjdh — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 02:58:27 +0000

jon abbey: actually he says that they’re “saddled with limited intellectual capital” (why would you use quotation marks and paraphrase on something like that? lame), and since he’s interacted with many more players than you or I, maybe he’s right. Kevin Garnett is certainly a good example for his position.

I wasn't paraphrasing, my memory was off. Regardless, my point stands.

By: BigBlueAL

BigBlueAL — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 02:45:35 +0000

At least Billy Hunter mentioned James Dolan as one of the owners willing to make a deal. For once we cant blame Dolan lol

By: BigBlueAL

BigBlueAL — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 02:15:37 +0000

Its not about whose fault is it or whats fair, fact is the players are going to have to accept the owner’s deal or else there wont be a season period.

By: daJudge

daJudge — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 01:54:13 +0000

njasdjdh, For what it’s worth, I found the quote highly offensive as well.