RE: [CBA] NBA Business practices and Antoine (was ANTOINE IS A SCUMBAG!!!)

["Noah P. Evans" <ishbak@conknet.com>]

> 	If this is the case then the Celtics should definitely not give in
> to Falk.  If they let Falk bully them now, he'll do the same when it's
> Mercer's turn to resign.   Let's see how things work out in Minnesota with
> the Garnett/Marbury/Gugliotta situation.

The problem lies in the results of the Celtics taking the hardline. Losing
Antoine without getting compensation in return would hurt the Celtics far
more than paying too much for him. To use the colloquial the Celtics would
"cut off their nose despite their face".

> And it may seem like a good
> business tactic to you, but it could backfire if it causes Antoine's value
> to drop due to character problems.

I used "good" in quotations for a reason. Maybe it will cause Antoine's
value to drop, but I was stating what I thought was Falk's point of view.
	As for my own opinion, I think that Falk has the situation assessed
perfectly. The other owners, especially Chicago, are almost always desperate
for a flashy, young and most of all marketable player like Antoine. I think
Falk realizes that if the Celtics don't pay Antoine somebody else will.

>Our only hope is that the owners push
> for a right of first refusal option on these third year free agents.  That
> would take away all of Falk's leverage.

It probably will. But wouldn't that only count for contracts signed after
the new CBA? Bentz? Do you know?

> 	Not quite.  First of all I doubt that you know anyone who actually
> works outside of a university.  But even so, it would be comparable to
> someone demanding that his company pay him an outrageous amount of money.
> When the company refuses he takes his chances in the free market possibly
> having to settle for a lot less than he demanded because he burned his
> bridges with the original company.

Not neccesarily. I was talking to an executive from Nortel on the plane a
few months ago and he bitterly denounced the current state of technical
workforce. He stated that there were ~180,000 technology jobs(i.e.
programming, computer engineering etc.) unfilled because there weren't
enough skilled employees. He stated that companies resorted to stealing and
enticing employees from other companies in order to fill their demand. He
also stated that the result of this demand was a boom in the salaries for
technically skilled employees.
	I think this applies directly to the NBA. Expansion has left a dearth of
qualified employees(good players) and NBA teams have to pay through the nose
to keep their players because of this lack.


> 	The scary part is that everyone in the league knows this.  No one
> is going to give us fair value for Antoine at this point.  And if he's
> ready to leave the Celtics for not resigning him early, he is also ready
> to leave any other team that we trade him to.  The only way someone will
> give us anything reasonable (but still not quite fair) for Antoine is if
> they already have a contract extension worked out with Falk before the
> trade.

 I agree.

> 	It seems like a somewhat pointless argument to have until the new
> CBA is determined.  At that point we'll have a much better idea of what
> options the Celtics have and who has the most leverage.  I'm going to wait
> until the lockout is over before posting again on this subject.

Once again I agree.

Noah