I’m having lunch with my 87-year-old grandmother one afternoon and while I’m trying my best to catch a playoff game between the OKC Thunder and Memphis Grizzlies on the tube, she’s trying her best to engage me in conversation any which way she can.
She asks me, “Who pays the players?” I tell her, “The owners do.” She looks up at the screen half-satisfied and follows up with, “Where do they get the money to do that?” I took a sip of my drink, realizing this conversation wasn’t going to end until she got it and said, “Well, whatever money they make from ticket sales, merchandise, television rights and sponsorship.”
Then she had an epiphany.
“So then what if they can’t fill the stadiums?” she continued. “Then what? They don’t make any money? That doesn’t seem like a very good business.”
Of course, we didn’t get into the whole big market versus small market issue because there’s only so much info I can spew out at her without it going in one geriatric ear and out the other. But for someone who’s never watched a professional basketball game from start to finish in her life and couldn’t pick David Stern out of a lineup or possibly be familiar with the words “collective bargaining” or “contraction,” she was on to something.
Which leads me to my next point—if she could easily rationalize what has divided owners and players for decades, there’s likely to be an easy solution to the problem. However, when the problem involves money, few things are ever simple.
NBA owners are watching how the NFL labor talks are playing out like hawks. Their plight is a little different than in pro football however. In this case, the players aren’t disputing the numbers the owners are generating like they have in the past. They don’t dispute the fact that owners say they’re losing around $300 million.
Next: Talks will resume despite both sides still divided on the issues
[phpbay]Los Angeles Lakers, 3, “”, “”[/phpbay]
Like any good business owner they want to make a profit. Unfortunately for the players, they want to do it at their expense. The owners want shorter contracts for less money, a hard cap which would do away with exceptions that allow teams to get around the salary cap to sign players and keep their own players on board and even potentially contraction of a couple NBA teams.
Each unsuccessful series of talks between the owners and the players association ultimately signals towards one ugly path. With the playoffs in full bloom and quite possibly the best basketball we’ve all witnessed in recent years, a June 30th deadline is stead-fast approaching for a new agreement, but with both sides still on the fence, the lockout is looming now more than ever.
Lakers guard and National Basketball Players Association president Derek Fisher spoke on the potential lockout during his exit interview last week. While he understands that a deal needs to get done, there’s no emphasis on speed, re-iterating that it’s more important to get a deal in play that sustains them for years to come.
“The NBA sent their most recent proposal about a week or so ago,” said Fisher. “We were able to take a pretty good look at it, frankly we’re disappointed in the concept of it—we’re full steam ahead in trying to get this thing figured out and get a deal done.”
We know the Lakers are a successful organization, a marquee name and an illustrious franchise. The proof lies within the indents of their 16 championship trophies. Fans may not be all too concerned with the potential lockout, outside of not getting to watch basketball for a few months or even a full season, but there are plenty of implications for the Lakers that could have a trickle-down effect to fans.
Next: How does the lockout effect the Lakers next season and beyond?
[phpbay]Los Angeles Lakers, 3, “”, “”[/phpbay]
First, the Lakers all-important star guard Kobe Bryant. So he gets a little extra rest over the summer and into the fall. How could that possibly hurt him? The guy has played deep into the playoffs for three-straight years. So no, the answer is a little rest couldn’t hurt him, but realize that Bryant is like a machine. He’s off in the summer, but works out on a consistent basis. Without playing time in a regulation game, he could experience some rust. It only gets harder as he gets older and while we all get that there are plenty of things that Bryant can do, the one thing he can’t is turn back the sands of time. Over the course of the last season, when he did practice with the team he was on a reduced role and according to him that had an adverse effect on the rest of the players because he wasn’t there to kick them in gear.
In as much as Bryant tries to deny it or steer away from his own mortality as an elite player, it’s hard to negate the fact that his window of opportunity to win a couple more championships with this core group of players is narrowing with each passing year. While a lockout shortened season would lead to some much needed rest and relaxation, it doesn’t come without sacrificing another year of basketball for Bryant. He already claims last year was wasted by not winning a championship—it could easily turn into two wasted years. Unless…
Regardless of how long the players are locked out, the only thing that’s certain is the uncertainty of the terms within the new collective bargaining agreement. Almost as uncertain as the direction the Lakers will choose to go in this post-Phil Jackson era. If the lockout results in only a few months of work stoppage, being a veteran team, the Lakers will benefit from a familiarity in personnel and system making Brian Shaw an ideal candidate to keep this core group together and try to win another title. While the decision on who will be the Lakers next head coach doesn’t hinge on the lockout situation, it’s something the front office might want to consider.
If the new agreement results in the league placing a hard cap on the teams, the Lakers would only be able to sign a couple of maximum contracts and rely on getting crafty by addressing problem areas through the draft process or shifting players via trade. The Lakers have always had the luxury of luring high-impact players, but it’s going to be much harder to do so when they already have two players (Bryant, Pau Gasol) under hefty contracts. In that regard, the main attraction for the Lakers and their fans, Dwight Howard, looks more and more like a Hollywood dream.
Perhaps what would become of the Lakers as a result of the lockout is minuscule compared to the main concern which is having to go without basketball for a whole season. Especially when the game is being played at such a high level.
“But at the end of the day you still have to come back to you know what do you have,” said Fisher. “What’s in place and what we have is an unbelievable game full of unbelievable players. I think the fans have spoken obviously that they want to see NBA basketball…so we’re going to try and do everything we can to make sure that they continue to see NBA basketball.”
[phpbay]Los Angeles Lakers, 3, “”, “”[/phpbay]