Thirty-five NBA players are "scheduled to attend a
strategy meeting" today in N.Y. to decide whether to present
a new proposal to the owners, according to Mike Wise of the
N.Y. TIMES. Meanwhile, the union "issued some relief last
Friday, releasing $20,000 group-licensing checks to many of
its members" (N.Y. TIMES, 11/11). NBPA Dir of
Communications Dan Wasserman also said that players will be
receiving another $20,000 check for licensing "in early
December." Wasserman: "It's not going to make up for lost
paychecks, but...." Wasserman, on whether the union will
make a new offer: "It'll be up to the guys -- if they want
to put out another proposal, we will. If not, we won't. ...
We've been doing an awful lot of reaching out to players
over the last couple of days ... and the prevailing
sentiment we're hearing on the calls is, 'You know what?
We've been negotiating against ourselves since day one and
all we've done is give them (the owners) things and find
ways to appease them. Let's just dig in. If they don't
want to move, we won't move" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 11/11).
SOME SUPPORT: Heat C Duane Causwell and free agent G
Eric Murdock believe the offer on the table "benefits the
non-superstars, and Causwell hopes to tell that to the union
today." Causwell: "To me it's pretty much a good deal.
What I will say is, 'Can you tell me the negatives of the
deal?'" Murdock said he learned more about the deal after
speaking with Heat Owner Micky Arison and coach Pat Riley:
"This deal is really going to benefit a player like myself,
the middle-class player. It's not a terrible deal for 80 or
90 percent of the players." But Murdock added that he is a
"union guy" and he will support NBPA Exec Dir Billy Hunter
(P.B. POST, 11/11). On CBS SportsLine, Mike Kahn: "Soon
enough, the players who aren't financially secure may begin
to break ranks if put to a vote" (CBS SportsLine, 11/11).
FRAMEWORK FELL APART: Magic C Danny Schayes tells Dave
Krieger of the ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS that the "framework" for
a deal fell apart last week when "owners refused to put a
limit on the amount of players salaries that would be held
in escrow to compensate for owner overspending." Schayes:
"The owners were insisting on an unlimited escrow, meaning
that no matter how far they chose to spend over whatever
limits there were, that we would pay them back, with no
mechanism to have any type of controls on their end."
Schayes said that system gave owners "no incentive at all to
control their own spending" (ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS, 11/11).
NBPA VP Herb Williams said it may be time to drop the escrow
system and start over, because "from listening to guys, they
still wonder what the difference is between escrow and a
hard cap. ... So I don't know how committed everyone is
anymore to the luxury tax and escrow" (STAR-LEDGER, 11/11).
TWO PROPOSALS FROM THE OUTSIDE: On ESPN.com, David
Aldridge proposes his plan to end the stalemate -- with no
escrow system -- by using "the cap credit system the players
came up with, with 54-46 split of BRI, with 54% for the
players. If players' salaries "exceed" 54% in a given year,
the cap is reduced the following season by the amount of
money that exceeded 54% (ESPN.com, 11/11). Smith College
Professor Andrew Zimbalist, who has worked as a consultant
for the NBPA, contributed an op-ed to the WALL STREET
JOURNAL. Zimbalist concluded that the "logical policy for
the NBA is to abandon the salary cap and allow the market to
work" with a luxury tax that would provide the "disincentive
for the owners to overspend" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 11/10).
