November 26, 2011

NBA Labor Deal Reached: The NBA will be back on Christmas Day, pending approval of a tentative settlement of the lockout. The season will be 66 games long. The deal includes a tougher luxury tax and increases minimum team salary from 75 percent to 90 percent. "You never can be sure, with how a new system will work. But we feel ultimately it will give fans in every community hope that their team can compete for championships," said deputy commissioner Adam Silver.

posted by rcade to basketballl at 08:50 AM - 10 comments

"You never can be sure, with how a new system will work. But we feel ultimately it will give fans in every community hope that their team can compete for championships," said deputy commissioner Adam Silver.*

* Offer not valid in Golden State, Minnesota, Toronto or Washington

posted by wfrazerjr at 10:12 AM on November 26, 2011

I'm glad about this, not for the greedy players and owners, but for the little guys who were pushed aside in all of this--the hawkers, ticket takers, maintenance crews, etc.

posted by roberts at 10:31 AM on November 26, 2011

Didn't miss the league - doesn't matter if they come back or not.

The Heat got beat - that's all that matters. They can take a year off and it's OK.

Maybe some college players would stay enrolled a year longer if there was temporarily no major US pro league for them to go to. They might come out of school able to shoot free throws and make intermediate range 2 point jumpers.

posted by beaverboard at 10:46 AM on November 26, 2011

I'm glad the NBA's coming back. The playoffs were great last year. It'll be interesting to see how Cuban and the Mavs respond to their championship and whether the Heat trio can put things together without an implosion.

posted by rcade at 10:51 AM on November 26, 2011

Yeah, wfrazerjr's caveat notwithstanding, the Adelman hire gives me the first stirrings of optimism for the Timberwolves in a long time, and I've been looking forward to seeing how they develop. The work stoppage was really annoyingly-timed for me.

posted by cobra! at 11:40 AM on November 26, 2011

I went from excited to disgusted in the time it took me to read the article. So this lockout was about fixing the system, right? The only substantial change from the last system was that the player's share of BRI went from 57 to 50. The system is a mess, we spend months in lockout, and nothing gets fixed. What a fucking joke.

posted by tron7 at 01:48 PM on November 26, 2011

TrueHoop runs down the winners and losers of the deal.

posted by rcade at 05:22 PM on November 26, 2011

WINNER: David Stern WINNER: Billy Hunter WINNER: Adam Silver WINNER: Derek Fisher's next career

What the hell? I would have tapped all four of those guys as losers. Looking at this rundown of what's in the deal, I don't see anything in there that makes the league work much better than the last deal.

posted by tron7 at 07:59 PM on November 26, 2011

It's a 10-year deal with an opt-out for either side after 6 years. Look for a repeat of the lockout in 2017. Until there is some sort of realistic salary cap in the NBA, there will be no competitive balance. The big-market teams and those with deep pockets will continue to find the best teams money can buy, while those owners in the smaller markets or who actually want to make a little money will not find any cost certainty in this new agreement. Many predicted the death of the NHL when hockey underwent a lockout. The owners were able to push a salary cap onto the players in spite of the players' objections. Much to the delight of all parties in the NHL, the pie has gotten larger, the players are profiting along with the owners, and the league has become more balanced. I cannot see this happening in the NBA until a hard salary cap is established.

posted by Howard_T at 01:29 PM on November 27, 2011

Parity is overrated. No one wants to see the Spurs in the NBA finals. People want to see NBA stars or teams they can hate. Evil Lebron in the finals is good for ratings. And, just like in football, unless there is a high minimum salary, putting in a salary cap isn't a recipe for parity. There will always be cheap owners.

posted by bperk at 05:47 PM on November 27, 2011

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