I'm pretty burned out by the disappointment of Oden and Roy and the fucked-up way the GM spot has been handled. I want the NBA back, but I could live without it for a year, especially if the rules change so we don't need to worry about more Miami Heat-like situations. Ed O.
Baseball > Basketball 365. You don't see anything like what St. Louis did this year happen in the NBA. The NBA is such a joke. I'll be making the pilgrimage to Stl for games 1 and 2.
It may be age related, but other than the Blazers (and players I like that used to play for the Blazers), I hate watching NBA basketball. I would rather sit and watch an MLB game any day. I also like watching college basketball more than the NBA.
Outside of the Trail Blazers, the NBA is the worst thing in the world for me to watch. I just wait for the day Hulk Hogan pops out from the rafters and smashes someone with a steel chair.
I'm tired of the endless articles on ESPN on the NBA lockout and its obvious the two sides are still apart on the $$ side of things. The players don't care about the fans, the employee's, the troubled economy since 2009 (at least), and the local business owners, etc. Screw em and the players will see how much the fans will be pissed off next year if the season is scrapped.
Since long before the lockout began, the players have offered an actual pay decrease, from 57% to 53%. 53/57 = 93%, so they are offering to decrease their own pay 7%. Do you know of any other American employees who are offering the same? Are you offering that?
Stern has even said the money isn't the main obstacle now to getting a deal done, both sides are fairly close on the money. The owners want a system where all teams have a chance to compete such as in the NFL or even MLB. When your sport is looking to a league dominated by exhorbent payroll yankee franchises as a model of fairness you know there is a problem! The NBA is the least competitive sports league for small market teams in less than glamourous cities. The players want to create Miami Heat superteams in New York and LA which the majority of owners are strongly against.
They are offering a reduced percentage of BRI. Not an absolute pay decrease. If BRI goes up enough, they could still get a collective raise in pay even if they went 50/50. Ed O.
With a prolonged lockout I'd wager BRI is going to shink over the coming years with an increase in fan apathy ... maybe I'm over-estimating the blowback, but something tells me this whole ordeal isn't exactly burnishing the image of the product these two sides are trying to sell.
That's true. And points out another side of what I was saying: the players could demand 60% of BRI and eventually get it but take a pay cut if the BRI goes down. Ed O.
Between personal economic issues and my own apathy towards the NBA right now, I doubt I will buy any tickets this year.
With the apparent apathy these two sides appear to have for getting a deal done ... I doubt you will be buying any tickets this year also.
I really don't follow the rest of the NBA outside of the Blazers until February/March anyways, at which point I follow it closely But I follow my Blazers fanatically year round, so in a way I'm really happy there has been a lockout as it has forced me to withdraw and take a break. After 10 years of non-stop fandom a break is refreshingly good. As Ed O mentioned the Roy/Oden situation has become extremely depressing, sure LaMarcus has improved tremendously but considering he had the lowest ceiling of the three I'm not sure if that makes me happy or sad. So a break has been nice, we really have no chance at competing this season and we don't have any new exciting rookies or young players. Gerald Wallace is the guy I'm most excited to see but he should really be the 3rd/4th best player on a contending team. I do enjoy the NBA offseason, free agent signings, trades, salary cap, so I'm very interested in the details and mechanics of the new CBA. NFL style competition with surprising up and coming teams and rapidly declining veteran teams would be a welcome change. The current NBA could virtually pencil in the 4 contenders from each conference in the preseason and basically skip ahead to the playoffs. The other 22 teams have zero chance. And finding a way to get players like Darius Miles off the roster when management and fans no longer want them would be very healthy for the league. Even if the player is still paid in some way or whatever. So whatever NBA, take your time, I'll always be back to follow my Blazers fanatatically because I'm a fanatic. I'll be less inclined to pony up money for 100 level tickets, I may just watch at Big Al's more often instead. I do want the lockout to end this year, but I hope the parties agree on a more equitable agreement and we still get at least half a season. I loved the Mavs title run last year and would really miss not having an NBA playoffs.
Players don't, CAN'T create teams. If they want to play they must do as they are told and work where they are told. The plantation owners buy, sell and trade them like livestock. Did I say plantation owners? I meant player owners...uh...TEAM OWNERS! That's what I meant. The team owners buy, sell and trade them like livestock.
