NBA Signs New $24 billion Deal with Disney/Time Warner

[bowiac]

Bowiac will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think he's suggesting a proposed modification to the cap mechanics that would require agreement of the owners and players. If the cap were kept artificially low, the existing escrow arrangement would result in more money for players who signed contracts prior to 2016, and less teams with cap room when the new deal kicks in. I don't think it will happen (because the players won't agree) but it's an interesting idea.

Yeah, this is correct. I think it's a long shot for this reason, as I don't know how eager the players will be to help out the players. 

 

[Brickowski]

It will depressing to watch the owners and players squabble viciously in 2017 over how to slice up the enlarged pie.  I wonder how much of the 2017-18 season will be lost.  

 

[wutang112878]

Thats really the owners fault though.  The players have every right to ask for more after how badly they were just beaten in the last CBA.  I sincerely hope they can get themselves a higher BRI% as a result of the new TV deal.

 

[TomRicardo]

Article on how this effects the Celtics:  http://www.celticsblog.com/2014/10/6/6922563/an-early-analysis-of-the-impact-of-the-tv-deal-on-the-celtics
 
In short, generally not good:
 
1.  Now everyone will have cap space in 2016 right around when the C's were maybe going to be one of the few teams with space.  (queue the "no free agents sign in Boston anyway debate")
2.  Rondo - he's a Max player now with all the $ out there.  May be more likely we are the ones to give it to him (if not him then who with all this space?).  Actual advantage to have that max deal start in 2015 vs. 2016.
3. Nets picks - instead of cap hell and no way to improve the team, all those tasty picks may end up not worth much.  From the Zack Lowe article :  "The Nets, even with Deron Williams’s atrocious contract still on the books, could suddenly find themselves with two maximum cap slots — enough for Durant and a costar."

 
Eh, first off all first round picks will become more valuable as the rookie scale is not going to change (the NBA and the NBAPA neither have a real desire to change it).  Secondly it assumes the Nets will do smart things with their cap room.  Placing Kevin Durant and "another star" seems to be a popular idea with the new cap space.  But there is only one Kevin Durant.  He is not going to the Lakers, the Thunder, the Nets, and seven other teams this dream scenario has been written for.
 
The biggest way this hurts us is Crash's contract got even more worthless.  
 
In the end a lot of NBA teams with cap space is not a good thing for NBA teams.  They will send and give even worse contracts to players that simply don't deserve it.  They can't help themselves.

 

[Cesar Crespo]

With the added revenue, it would seem a good time to scrap the max contract. A team could actually win without having a top 10 guy or a big 3. Quality of the game would improve, or at least parity.

It also stops the Rondos of the world getting overpaid when Lebron is getting 45mil a year. The max contract is obsolete in todays tv revenue fueled game.

 

[bowiac]

With the added revenue, it would seem a good time to scrap the max contract. A team could actually win without having a top 10 guy or a big 3. Quality of the game would improve, or at least parity.

It also stops the Rondos of the world getting overpaid when Lebron is getting 45mil a year. The max contract is obsolete in todays tv revenue fueled game.

Can you explain this? I don't see the connection between large/small TV revenues and the max contract.

 

[Cesar Crespo]

I could be remembering wrong but the league thought only a few teams could afford a Shaq. Although KG and the Wolves say hi.

Either way, the max contract needs to go.

 

[67YAZ]

New NBA Players' Association executive director (and extremely successful trial lawyer) Michele Roberts comes out with guns blazing at the owners.  
 

 
So how has the NBA managed to successfully institute legislation that, in Roberts' view, is both opposed to this country's capitalistic principles and her players' best interests?
 
"No one wants to say it out loud, but it's a monopoly," she said. "And were there alternatives, they wouldn't get away with it."
"I'll give the league credit," she added. "They have done a great job controlling the narrative."

 
On the new TV deal:
 

 
Nor does Roberts expect the players to swiftly consent to the current plan for "cap smoothing," as relayed by the NBA's attorneys, wherein the league would avoid a TV-driven spike in the salary cap in 2016 by artificially and incrementally increasing the cap over multiple seasons leading into that season.
 
"You can call it a 'spike,' but it's also just an accurate reflection of what the revenue is," she said. "At first glance, [cap smoothing] is not that attractive, I won't lie. But we're studying it to figure out if there really is some advantage for players."

 
This is going to be fascinating to watch.  

 

[HomeRunBaker]

I fully expect there to be no NBA basketball for a minimum of one full season when this shit hits the fan. At least she's awesome.......I hope.

 

[mauf]

Yeah, this is going to be quite the fight since she's like infinity times more competent than Billy Hunter.

That may be true, but her professional resume doesn't look radically different than Billy Hunter's did when he joined the NBPA. She isn't Marvin Miller, or even DeMaurice Smith.

 

[Cellar-Door]

She's pretty ridiculous.
I assume her strategy is to mix in reasonable stuff with her ridiculous stuff in the hope of winning the PR battle and getting more of the reasonable stuff.
 
The spike/cap smoothing is her best issue, that and the age limit, both are reasonable things for her to consider she might get.
The whole "players are irreplaceable, owners are not" is dumb and targeted at PR to people who are stupid.
 
There are other leagues, they just pay far far less money, that's why the owners are never going to take less than half. The capital outlay to make a new league that could bring in revenue large enough to pay the players more is so high it would never happen.
 
The real question is the max. The max is terrible for Lebron and other top stars, but great for the lesser players in the league, losing the max without losing the cap would be murder on the majority of the members' salaries, same with eliminating the rookie scale. The cap is not going anywhere, the owners know it would be terrible for almost all of them to lose the cap, and outside of 2 or 3 owners most of them can afford to wait out the players, while most players can't afford to miss a season. Her statements so far all seem to be geared towards the top players (which I guess makes sense as they have the most pull) but many of them are actually only good for a small percentage of her union's members.

 

[Infield Infidel]

To go with that last point, the age limit probably helps older vets stay in the game. Those 18 year olds would just take the jobs from fringy vets, unless there's a fully fleshed out farm system

 

[67YAZ]

She's pretty ridiculous.
I assume her strategy is to mix in reasonable stuff with her ridiculous stuff in the hope of winning the PR battle and getting more of the reasonable stuff.
 
 

 
Roberts has a little over 2.5 years to change "the narrative."  She's floating phrases and ideas to see what might gain traction.  She's also putting a huge range of issues on the table, including long settled ones like the salary cap, which will put the owners on the defensive for at least moment.  Today, Adam Silver and every owner is fielding questions like, "Will negotiate whether to keep the salary cap?"  When was the last time Billy Hunter forced the owners to react to anything?
 
But a strike will be won or lost on the Player Association's internal preparations.  Can they build solidarity that will endure a lengthy strike?  Can they get widespread agreement on their priorities heading into negotiations?  Can they get players to financially prepare for an extended stoppage?  Can the Player Association raise funds for significant stoppage fund to distribute to players if necessary?  

 

[mauf]

My prediction is that we'll get to see how DeMaurice Smith's decertification strategy would play out with a membership that's willing to endure a work stoppage.

 

[Kliq]

 
 
This is going to be fascinating to watch.  

 
Maybe for anyone who enjoys plodding legal battles. For anyone that likes watching NBA basketball this is going to SUCK.