NBA LOCKOUT MADNESS! Dwyane Wade told
Commissioner Stern…..Str8 up “I'M NOT YOUR CHILD"
David Stern (left) and Dwyane Wade reportedly engaged
in a heated exchange during negotiations.
It seemed like things took a turn for the worse on
Friday during a meeting between the NBA brass and the players. According to
multiple reports from ESPN, Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade flipped out at
commissioner David Stern.
According to Chris Broussard, the meeting became "incredibly heated," especially when Wade made "pointed
remarks" at Stern.
Fellow ESPN reporter Ric Bucher tweeted that a source
informed him that Stern had been pointing his finger at the players while
speaking. That is apparently when Wade shouted, "You're not pointing your finger at me. I'm not your
child."
Broussard reported that Wade and the other superstars
"nearly stormed out of the hotel." Union chief Billy Hunter was said to have
calmed the players down. Not surprisingly, Broussard tweeted that the owners
were "stunned" by the players' resolve.
Yahoo! Sports reporters Adrian Wojnarowski and Marc J.
Spears confirmed the confrontation and wrote that Wade had "referred to Stern as
'David' twice during the exchange."
To make matters worse, Wade, LeBron James and Chris
Paul reportedly told the union that they're actually willing to sit out a year
instead of making any more sacrifices.
Speaking to NBC's Darren Rovell on Saturday morning,
Wade revealed that he hasn't felt that the owners have shown they're willing to
meet the players half way during any of the many meetings between the
sides.
"We may lose a year," he said….Great, just
great...
NBA 2011-2012 season under jeopardy
Owners have
grown increasingly unhappy about the state of their franchises, especially new
owners wanting more return for the risk that they take. The NBA lost in the
vicinity of $300 million last year, and this was during one of the most positive
seasons in recent years.
There are still a host of issues that need to be
resolved for the league to get back to work. Issues include the competitive
balance in the association, deciding what type of salary cap to enforce, lengths
of contracts and guarantees, but the biggest hurdle is how the $4 billion or so
of revenue will be split. The players earn 57% of the total revenue in the
current state, but owners would like to see that go down as a majority of the
teams have been in the red the past few season. The players have agreed to cut
back that percentage somewhat to around the 54% mark, but owners would like to
see it in the low 40s and as a result, the negotiations are still far from
reaching an agreement.
Billy Hunter noted that there is a $800 million gap
per year and when asked whether there would be a 2011-2012 NBA season, he firmly
replied “if I had to bet on it at this moment, I would probably say no.” Already
stakeholders are taking necessary precautions in case of a lengthy work
stoppage. Players as noted before are planning ‘year abroads’ as casually as an
exchange student in university would.
Deron Williams, Sasha Vujacic,Jordan Farmar, Nicolas
Batum, Darius Songalia, Sonny Weems have all already set themselves up in case
of the cancellation of the 2011-2012 NBA season. NBA 2K 12 has set their
strategy to focus on old legends this year instead of the crop of current
generation players. Other like Kevin Love are planning other pursuits, in his
case playing competitive volleyball. ESPN on the other hand have started rolling
out their team previews as if the season will start on
schedule.
Whatever the resolution, a lengthy break is certainly
not to the benefit of anyone involved with the NBA. Fan interest was at an all
time high since MJ’s retirement and a slew of interesting stories were followed
with keen interest by sports fans around the world. A cancelled season, or even
a partial season will only end up hurting player performance, team chemistry,
fan interest, and eventually player legacy. We can only wish a speedy recovery,
and hopefully we’ll get to see some interesting developments as we break free of
this lock out that in many people’s eyes is nothing more than a
circus.
Players hold your ground!
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