[DaBallsInUrCourtParticipant]

http://espn.go.com/espn/commentary/story/_/page/thomas-111005/nba-player-etan-thomas-goes-minds-league-executives-lockout

[DaBallsInUrCourtParticipant]

2011 Lockout take your time to read this, Etan Thomas Goes in… 

[apb540Participant]

Etan Thomas is an example of one of the reasons we are in this lockout. Here is what he has made throughout his career:

http://content.usatoday.com/sportsdata/basketball/nba/salaries/player/Etan-Thomas

And here are his career stats: 5.7 pts, 4.8 rebounds, and 1 block.

Career highs for a season (’03-’04): 8.9 pts, 6.7, and 1.6.

A player like Etan Thomas should not be making close to $40 million dollars throughout his career. That, ladies and gentleman, is why the owners want to reduce salaries. 

[M-DYMESParticipant]

If I’m making 40 mill over my career for putting a ball through a hoop, you can exploit me all you want.  Stop the &$#%#&@!in and end this damn lockout or feel that rath of the spitting, burning oil of a Mickey D’s deep fryer…and it’s $10/hr compensation.

[TallmanNYCParticipant]

 Why don’t you review what James Dolan has made as owner of the Knicks and compare it to his performance? I’m sure that is a much more material issue for the league than that Etan never developed a jump shot. 

Anyway, the reason we are having a lockout is that the owners want to make more money off their teams and since they’ve pretty much raised ticket prices as high as they think they can and they’ve gotten about as big a TV contract as they can get, then the only way to make more money is to pay the players less. 

I don’t understand how any fans can be siding with the owners and they think the players should just bend over and take a huge pay cut just because it is still good money. I make good money, but I can tell you if the owner of my company walked into my office and said "I need you to take a 20% pay cut and you should do it because, well you still have enough money to be fine after the cut." Well I would piss’ed and I think you would be too.

 

[niQParticipant]

Man, I don’t even play World of Warcraft and that’s what I thought this post was about when I came in. LOL

[apb540Participant]

Idk, or care, what Dolan has made as owner of the Knicks. He is the owner, therefore his goal is to make money. James Dolan would be happier making 50 million off a 30 win team than 25 million off a 60 win team. If he has been able to make tons of money while running the abortion he calls the New York Knicks, good for him. 

As far as someone like Etan Thomas not developing, that is exactly what is wrong with the L right now. Young players getting too rich too soon. Sometimes it stunts their ability to care about getting better, other times players just aren’t that good and owners overpay. Yes, owners (and FO) make the decision so NO DOUBT they are also a large part of the problem, but they own the f’ing team so they get to make the decisions, good or bad.

Most employers in the past years have not only had pay cuts, but also tons of job cuts aka downsizing. Owners are not asking teams to downsize to one coach and 9 players, but they are giving a legitimate request for the players to realize they simply do not deserve this many millions of dollars. I sided with the players in the NFL (100% of the way,) but this is a different situation and I have to side (most of the way) with the owners.

[HitsterParticipant]

Darko will have made about $57 million in NBA career earnings by the end of his current contract!

[stifler101Participant]

For me, I’m 100% behind the players.  Regardless of how a player like Etan Thomas or Darko Milicic does or does not develop, the owners pay the salaries.  Capitalism isn’t built on having guaranteed profits, and that’s what the owners say they want here.  If somebody hands out a stupid deal to Brian Cardinal or Adonal Foyle, their stupidity should yield them bad results, plain and simple.  Regardless of market size, teams can be successful.  If this wasn’t true, then the Kings of the early 2000’s, Spurs for the past decade, and now the Thunder would never have been able to compete year in and year out.

I’m also sick of the owners saying this is about competitive balance, because it’s not.  The NBA is a stars league, always has been, always will be.  The fact of the matter is, if you have someone like Kobe Bryant or Kevin Garnett on your team, their talent has a much greater impact on a team than someone like even Drew Brees or Aaron Rodgers does in football, because there’s only 10 guys on the court at any one time, not 22!  The NBA will never have the parody of the NFL, but the system is obviously doing something right if it’s led to one of the most successful seasons in league history this past year.

The bottom line is, the aforementioned success of the league has owners licking their chops at a chance to take a bigger piece of the exponentially growing pie, and they don’t care who suffers on their way to get it…the players, the fans, everybody

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