A critical weekend for the N.B.A. labor talks will begin Saturday morning with an owners meeting, during which the league’s hard-liners will insist that no more financial concessions be made to players, according to a person briefed on the agenda.
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uknation 14 years, 8 months ago.
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- Posted on: Fri, 11/04/2011 - 8:27am #33645
mikeyvthedonParticipantHard-Line Factions Threaten Latest N.B.A. Negotiations
By HOWARD BECK
Published: November 4, 2011
Chris Keane/Reuters
The owners’ faction includes between 10 and 14 owners and is being led by Charlotte’s Michael Jordan, according to a person who has spoken with the owners.
The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. in Manhattan. Six hours later, league officials will meet with the players union in what may be the last chance to resolve the lockout.Their efforts may be undermined before they ever reach the table.
A faction of 50 N.B.A. players is threatening to dissolve the union if it compromises further on player salaries. The league is facing an equivalent threat from a trenchant group of owners, who are vowing to oppose any deal that gives players more than 50 percent of revenue.
The owners’ faction includes between 10 and 14 owners and is being led by Charlotte’s Michael Jordan, according to a person who has spoken with the owners. That group wanted the players’ share set no higher than 47 percent, and it was upset when league negotiators proposed a 50-50 split last month.
According to the person who spoke with the owners, Jordan’s faction intends to vote against the 50-50 deal, if negotiations get that far. Saturday’s owners meeting was arranged in part to address that concern.
A majority of the 29 owners are believed to support a 50-50 deal, but they are reluctant to move further.
“There’s no one who’s interested in going above 50 percent,” said the person who has spoken with the owners.
Despite the misgivings of some owners, Commissioner David Stern has said publicly that he can garner support for a 50-50 deal and will continue pushing for it. But the longer the negotiations drag on, and the more games are canceled, it is more likely that the hard-line owners will demand reductions.
That group backed an initial proposal that would have cut the players’ share to 37 percent (from 57), eliminated guaranteed contracts, rolled back current salaries and imposed a hard salary cap. The league has since dropped those demands over the objections of those owners.
The union could also be hamstrung in negotiations because of the threat made by 50 disenchanted players to dissolve the union. Those players, who are working with an antitrust lawyer, intend to seek dissolution if the union accepts anything less than 52.5 percent of revenue, or if no deal is produced this weekend.
The union has not responded to requests for comment. An N.B.A. spokesman declined to comment Friday.
MICHAEL JORDAN? The majority owner who used to be the best basketball player in the world? The guy who made such an exorbitant amount of money during his last few salaries that they came up with the idea of having a max salary that players could make? That Michael Jordan?
I know it is sacrilege to say anything bad about MJ, but, WTF? This guy has to understand where the players are coming from. Michael Jordan made just about as much money off of his basketball playing ability as anyone in basketball. For years he was underpaid by the Bulls, but those last few years, he was making over 30 mill per. This guy is the one leading a faction of hardline owners?
Well, Michael gave his all as a basketball player, but right now, this is definitely not helping the season get started any sooner. 47%? Would Michael Jordan have been happy as a player with that figure? Pardon me for seeing this as pretty freaking weak from the owners perspective. Still think the players have their issues, but I think Michael Jordan and that group of owners seem to be a nice little reason for there being no NBA season right now. To be honest, I would not be surprised if Michael was not indeed "leading" the faction and they are just trying to sling mud, but his being a part of it seems incredibly weak as well.
0 - Posted on: Fri, 11/04/2011 - 8:36am #606607
Bmore_DCParticipantAs a player, i LOVE MJ, and always will…
But i really lost respect for him when he came here to DC and pretty much screwed the Wizards in every way possible…Ted Leonis was supposed to get that team a LONG time ago (from Abe Pollin) but MJ swooped right in with promises and $$$…made terrible draft picks (kwame brown anyone???) …and the Wizards are JUST NOW recovering from the damage he caused to this organization (with Ted Leonis as the owner)…
so this is really not surprising considering he owns a money-pit named the Bobcats who will be lucky to even survive this lockout…
0 - Posted on: Fri, 11/04/2011 - 9:00am #606608
ShekiruBoomParticipanto gilbert arenas antawn jamison and caron butler didnt count for anything? Pretty sure they were after Jordan and before Leonis. All Ted Leonis is really did to recover was get lucky and get John Wall.
0 - Posted on: Fri, 11/04/2011 - 9:00am #606609
ShekiruBoomParticipanto gilbert arenas antawn jamison and caron butler didnt count for anything? Pretty sure they were after Jordan and before Leonis. All Ted Leonis is really did to recover was get lucky and get John Wall.
0 - Posted on: Fri, 11/04/2011 - 9:08am #606610
Bmore_DCParticipantyea so as soon as jordan left they got good…
2 years after he was gone they posted their best record in 26 years
0 - Posted on: Fri, 11/04/2011 - 9:22am #606611
ShekiruBoomParticipantyea so… 2 years since Jordan left isn’t JUST NOW and Ted Leonis wasn’t the owner then Thanks for proving my point!!
0 - Posted on: Fri, 11/04/2011 - 9:41am #606612
Bmore_DCParticipantso what are u saying? that michael jordan did a good job?
0 - Posted on: Fri, 11/04/2011 - 10:10am #606613
ShekiruBoomParticipantnope that the other half of your comment is wrong
0 - Posted on: Sat, 11/05/2011 - 9:50am #606733
uknationParticipantThe deals are only gonna get worst for the players. The only option they have now is decertification
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