Tuesday, October 11th, 2011 at 1:11 pm  |  17 responses

Polladaday: Lockout Blame Game?

It’s impossible to put the NBA lockout squarely on either the owners or the players, but if you had to decide who was more at fault, who would it be?

Who do you think deserves more of the blame for the NBA lockout?

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  • http://Slamonline.com Caboose

    Let’s keep the Owners option at 100%. We all know it’s true.

  • IAMORANGE4EVER

    Owners are mostly to blame, imho. The players decertifying and sending this thing to the courts might be their best option, because both sides are not going to budge. This is definitely shaping up to be a mighty battle of wills, and it will likely go to game 7 and overtime.

  • bull22

    bring on the replacements! somebody wants to work….

  • Hugh Jass

    I voted 50-50 because they are both to blame (maybe players’ agents and not the players directly?) but I think it is more 70-30 owners-players. If these billionaires are willing to pay guys like Rashard Lewis and Joe Johnson $20M+ per year and still manage to cry poor, it’s their own fault. I know there’s more to the lockout than that, but it’s a real sore point for me.

  • sup3rstar

    thank you Caboose, thank you

  • Groves

    i blame the players more than the owners, but its closer to 50-50 than being completely the players fault

  • http://slamonline.com SpaceJam

    Cosign hugh jass. The owner’s are the ones that decided to give rashard lewis a max deal. They didn’t have to give eddie curry all of that money. They’ve been spending way to much. They’re the ones that wanted max deals and mid-level exceptions in the last lockout and now they’re trying to change that. But there is more to it than that. But owner gouging is a huge issue. A player’s not just going to look at a max deal and go, “oh, I’m not worth that much, give me a lower deal. It’ll cripple our team.” No, they’re going to take it

  • http://Slamonline.com Caboose

    To the complete idiots who believe this is all the players’ fault: please explain.

  • Groves

    i don’t think anyone completely blames the players, but they are playing a huge part, i would say more than the owners in the lockout continuing because they fail to recognise that an NBA team is an investment and that it is meant to be profitable. while the owners did hand out huge contracts, the nature of the business is that if you don’t overpay a guy like joe johnson then your team all of a sudden has no go to guy and you drop out of the playoffs. A system needs to be implemented where players are paid on productivity/achievement, basic economics states that, otherwise we’ll see the nba wage inflation of recent times continue. a 50-50 split is perfectly fair in my opinion, assuming that other terms, such as improved revenue sharing are also implemented. however the players are refusing to drop below say 53% which was the last number i heard from their side. They’ve had it too good for too long

  • Groves

    the blame is pretty close to 50-50 at the moment

  • BBaller

    What is the current minimum wage a player can receive? If its over 100k then how can the players really complain. They are playing the game they love , many occupations pay far less and require hard work also. think of a teacher or a doctor who perform brilliant services to the community and are paid miniscule wages to do so. I would LOVE to play BBall for a career, and would be satisfied on a wage of 50k per year. No they have to have $1 million per year! In today’s world their current salaries should suffice, you don’t need 4 ferraris and a mansion in 3 different cities. That is pure greed.The violin is playing loud!

  • BBaller

    Lets give 10% of BRI back to the fans!!!!!

  • Rafio

    I voted 50-50 since I’ve been trying to figure this out for the past 4 months but cannot get over the fact that this is nothing more than a millionaire/billionaire dispute.

    Owners: most of them have other activities which actually is the main source of their revenues.

    Players: when the minimum wage for a rookie is 500K, how much is the American minimum wage again? Are the people who are loosing their jobs today because of this lock out paid this much. Are those the ones able to save millions a year.

    I’m getting fed up with these self-centered NBAers and honestly think that what they are loosing now is not just money. Any deal won’t makeup for this.

  • Rafio

    How can we get them to listen to the fans?

  • http://www.slamonline.com UNFROZEN CAVEMAN LAWYER

    PEOPLE LIKE BBALLER MAKE MY BRAIN MELT. THE GUYS IN THE NBA ARE THE EXTREME ELITE OF THEIR PROFESSION ON THE PLANET. THINK ABOUT THAT. ELITE ACTORS GET PAID 20 MIL PLUS FOR JUST ONE MOVIE, I COULD TAKE PEOPLES LOGIC AND SAY ALL THEY DO IS MEMORIZE LINES AND ACTIONS, VERY SIMPLISTIC ISNT IT? DO YOU KNOW WHY SOME DOCTORS ARE WORLD REKNOWN EXPERTS IN THEIR FIELD, WHILE OTHER WORK AT THE FREE HEALTH CLINIC?

  • http://Slamonline.com Caboose

    Ok, you’re blaming the players for having a very high minimum wage? And you’re blaming them for the FA market? I wonder who helped set those up back in 1999…could it be the owners making bad business decisions?

  • BBaller

    Melt away UCL, you still don’t get it. Probably because you really are a lawyer who charges extraordinary fees to do a civil duty. While people starve in Africa, thousands displaced by American Bombs in the middle East and you support the Basketballers complaining about not getting paid millions. I feel sorry for you. And yes i think its disgusting actors get paid that much too. Go on being the selfish capitalist( EVIDENT BY EVERY POST)( pun intended) that you are.Do some charity work and see how far $1 can go and i promise you that this dispute over the lockout is quite pathetic and self indulgent by both sides.Peace.

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