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finally an idea that makes a lot of sense...
Below is a great article from Shaun Powell of TSN
My dream for the NBA is this: Every player gets a salary on a scale from,
lets say, 250,000 to 2 million per year. Then the real money comes from
getting into the playoffs, then progressing to the finals. The team that
wins it all gets a really big paycheck. Being paid for productivity... what
a concept.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Just pull the
plug on the
season
DECEMBER 9, 1998
Shaun Powell
Just do it, NBA. Just do today what you'll have to
do in two weeks, anyway. Why wait? Don't
schedule a drop-dead date. Just drop dead. Now.
Cancel the season, quick, before another player
insults the public's intelligence with a silly
comment, before new stubble appears on David
Stern, before you hold another of those productive,
10-hour meetings where the two sides can agree
only on where to send out for lunch.
Yank the season with the same speed that Dennis
Rodman showed Carmen Electra.
You took the only logical step by killing the
All-Star Game Tuesday. Now, take it one further.
There isn't much reason to play an abbreviated
season, which, for the first time in league history,
wouldn't span two years. Don't try to condense
1998-99 into '99. Drop it altogether.
Don't worry. You won't inconvenience too many
people. Mostly, it will be the courtside celebrities
who'll miss out on precious air time. And Ahmad
Rashad.
If the season began a month from now, after two
weeks of trades and signings and two weeks of
training camp, it would last about 45 games. What
the season would gain in suspense, it would lose in
quality.
Teams such as the Phoenix Suns, with only three
players under contract, would need time to blend
as many as four new starters. Rookies would be
worthless. The rust wouldn't wear off most
veterans until March. Scheduling would be a
nightmare.
Plus, everyone knows how it'll end, anyway. A
fresh Michael Jordan returns. Bulls win.
There won't be as much competition on the court
as there has been in the negotiating sessions.
Remember when the lockout used to be about
owners and players dividing a fair share of a
billion-dollar business? Now it's more about
winning and losing, period.
It doesn't sound like either side wants the
embarrassment of being beaten by the other. You
suspect it has evolved like the O.J. trial, where it
stopped being about justice after two weeks. Then
it was just attorneys trying to save face.
So what the NBA should do is cancel the season
and spend the spring negotiating a labor contract
that will satisfy everyone. They can take all the
time they need, as long as the owners and players
raise an issue that hasn't been addressed. An issue
that should top the agenda.
The labor fight is all about splitting the revenue,
when it should be about guaranteed contracts.
They're the real scourge of the NBA. Guaranteed
contracts are what anger the owners. They'll sign
a player to a long and lucrative contract based on
potential, and often the player doesn't live up to the
dollars. The team is then stuck with his cap-killing
contract for years.
The solution for the owners, therefore, is to give in
to the players' desire for 60 percent of revenues.
In exchange, guarantee all contracts on a
year-to-year basis only.
Mark Estepp 704 262 3111
Appalachian State University 704 265 8696 (fax)
Esteppjm@AppState.edu