Mitch Lawrence
While announcing Thursday that his owners had decided to lock out the players, David Stern managed to come up with one piece of good news on an otherwise brutal day for his NBA.
Stern will not resort to going without a shave as long as the two sides can't agree on a new collective bargaining agreement. Pro basketball fans might not remember, but when the commissioner and his owners locked the players out in 1998, he didn't pick up his razor during the 204-day work stoppage.
"I won't be doing that again," he said. "Sorry, it was really ugly."
Aside from having problems with his appearance, Stern has good reason not to start growing a "lockout" beard. The way this one is shaping up, he could be looking like Rip Van Winkle by the time his owners and players reach an agreement.
"We have a huge philosophical divide," Stern said.
Do they ever.
Owners say the current economic system is broken. All it does is assure them of red ink on their books, and they're tired of losing their shirts.
Players counter that the current system is fine, but they think that owners throw away millions with bad signings, as Isiah Thomas made a career doing when he ran the Knicks.
A plague on both their mansions!
But this is why we're in Day 1 of an NBA lockout, why Stern was talking about all the negative fallout that is coming his way.
"I'm not scared," he said. "I'm resigned to the potential damage it can cause to our league."
There was damage in 1999, with the league needing a good two years to rebuild its goodwill with millions of fans. That's where the two sides are headed again, because they haven't found a way to divide $4.2 billion.
"Our differences are mammoth," said Billy Hunter, executive director of the Players Association.
Here's what is particularly troubling, but not surprising: Everybody has known about the great philosophical divide ever since owners and players decided to start negotiating in 2009. Yet, they have done nothing in all this time to get on the same page.
As Stern admitted Thursday, maybe they need to chuck everything they've done so far and just start over when talks resume in perhaps another two weeks.
In case you really thought the two sides were speaking the same language, the players' last offer Thursday put that to rest. This is where Stern got the players, got them good.
Hunter and his guys had already left the building when Stern revealed that their last offer, made in the three-hour negotiating session leading up to the midnight expiration of the CBA, actually would have increased the average salary from $5 million this season to $7 million.
How do you think that will that play in America today?
Do you think that will help the players, who already are considered overpaid and greedy?
Both sides are going to catch hell for this. Not now, when basketball fans can live without the NBA for a few months. There won't be summer leagues now and free agency is getting delayed, but so what?
But fall will eventually roll around, and fans will start wondering how LeBron James is going to recover from his colossal Finals flop. They're going to begin to ponder if Mike Brown is going to be a good fit with Kobe Bryant. Knicks fans will be consumed with whether Mike D'Antoni can teach defense, and whether Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire will try to play that end of the court.
And when those issues begin to be raised when camps would be starting, at the beginning of October, and there's still no agreement, then the players will get the backlash. They always do.
But as for now, it won't hurt the players. That was evident during a surreal scene Thursday in the lobby of a midtown hotel, when Hunter and player president Derek Fisher were met by a mob of reporters, minutes after they left the last, futile negotiating session.
For a few minutes, reporters and fans mixed and that's never a good combination, especially when there's breaking news. Fisher had just said that owners were still insisting on a hard cap and was about to make another point when a fan walked right into the discussion and rudely interrupted.
"Big fan, Derek!" the fan said. "Can I get a picture?"
Fisher, of course, complied. Because he gets it.
Friday, Saturday and next week, the fan will treasure the shot.
But by the start of next season, if there's still no deal, you can bet he'll be using it for a dart board.
NYDailyNews.com
Robert Rosamilio/News
During the last NBA lockout, commissioner David Stern grew a beard. He will not do that again. While announcing Thursday that his owners had decided to lock out the players, David Stern managed to come up with one piece of good news on an otherwise brutal day for his NBA.
Stern will not resort to going without a shave as long as the two sides can't agree on a new collective bargaining agreement. Pro basketball fans might not remember, but when the commissioner and his owners locked the players out in 1998, he didn't pick up his razor during the 204-day work stoppage.
"I won't be doing that again," he said. "Sorry, it was really ugly."
Aside from having problems with his appearance, Stern has good reason not to start growing a "lockout" beard. The way this one is shaping up, he could be looking like Rip Van Winkle by the time his owners and players reach an agreement.
"We have a huge philosophical divide," Stern said.
Do they ever.
Owners say the current economic system is broken. All it does is assure them of red ink on their books, and they're tired of losing their shirts.
Players counter that the current system is fine, but they think that owners throw away millions with bad signings, as Isiah Thomas made a career doing when he ran the Knicks.
A plague on both their mansions!
But this is why we're in Day 1 of an NBA lockout, why Stern was talking about all the negative fallout that is coming his way.
"I'm not scared," he said. "I'm resigned to the potential damage it can cause to our league."
There was damage in 1999, with the league needing a good two years to rebuild its goodwill with millions of fans. That's where the two sides are headed again, because they haven't found a way to divide $4.2 billion.
"Our differences are mammoth," said Billy Hunter, executive director of the Players Association.
Here's what is particularly troubling, but not surprising: Everybody has known about the great philosophical divide ever since owners and players decided to start negotiating in 2009. Yet, they have done nothing in all this time to get on the same page.
As Stern admitted Thursday, maybe they need to chuck everything they've done so far and just start over when talks resume in perhaps another two weeks.
In case you really thought the two sides were speaking the same language, the players' last offer Thursday put that to rest. This is where Stern got the players, got them good.
Hunter and his guys had already left the building when Stern revealed that their last offer, made in the three-hour negotiating session leading up to the midnight expiration of the CBA, actually would have increased the average salary from $5 million this season to $7 million.
How do you think that will that play in America today?
Do you think that will help the players, who already are considered overpaid and greedy?
Both sides are going to catch hell for this. Not now, when basketball fans can live without the NBA for a few months. There won't be summer leagues now and free agency is getting delayed, but so what?
But fall will eventually roll around, and fans will start wondering how LeBron James is going to recover from his colossal Finals flop. They're going to begin to ponder if Mike Brown is going to be a good fit with Kobe Bryant. Knicks fans will be consumed with whether Mike D'Antoni can teach defense, and whether Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire will try to play that end of the court.
And when those issues begin to be raised when camps would be starting, at the beginning of October, and there's still no agreement, then the players will get the backlash. They always do.
But as for now, it won't hurt the players. That was evident during a surreal scene Thursday in the lobby of a midtown hotel, when Hunter and player president Derek Fisher were met by a mob of reporters, minutes after they left the last, futile negotiating session.
For a few minutes, reporters and fans mixed and that's never a good combination, especially when there's breaking news. Fisher had just said that owners were still insisting on a hard cap and was about to make another point when a fan walked right into the discussion and rudely interrupted.
"Big fan, Derek!" the fan said. "Can I get a picture?"
Fisher, of course, complied. Because he gets it.
Friday, Saturday and next week, the fan will treasure the shot.
But by the start of next season, if there's still no deal, you can bet he'll be using it for a dart board.
NYDailyNews.com
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