NBA Labor Talks Turn Nasty as Negotiations End

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By BRIAN MAHONEY

NEW YORK (AP) - Three days and 30 hours' worth of talks ended on a nasty note Thursday in NBA labor negotiations. And only one thing seemed fairly certain: more games were likely to be cut. Possibly even the season.

Players insist that's the outcome owners wanted all along - "preordained," as union executive director Billy Hunter said.

"We've always felt there was still a place where they would just not go and they would lock us out as long as it would take in order to get us beyond that place. There was never really a willingness to negotiate beyond certain points," union president Derek Fisher of the Lakers said. "There was just a line drawn, and regardless of what's going on, how many times we meet, 'we're not going past that."'

After 30 hours of negotiations before a federal mediator, the sides remained divided over two main issues - the division of revenues and the structure of the salary cap system.

Read more: http://sports.excite.com/news/10202011/v8903.html

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Billy Hunter, executive director of the NBA players union, speaks during a news conference following NBA labor talks Thursday, Oct. 20, 2011, in New York. The breakdown of labor discussions Thursday likely will force more games to be canceled after negotiations failed to yield a deal to end the lockout. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

[Botany]

1. 17 of the 30 NBA teams lost money last year

No business can continue if it keeps losing money.* I feel no sympathy for the rich players and the rich owners but real
sympathy for all those people whose jobs depend on the NBA being up and running.


* The owners in the NBA unlike the owners in the NFL have offered to "open all their books" to the players.

[Ikonoklast]

3. Loss leaders for billionaires looking for a tax shelter for their other businesses.

I own two incorporated entities, and legally shift profits, assets, and losses between the two to minimize my tax liabilities.

I, too, can show a paper loss, it's not a difficult thing to do.

[charlie and algernon]

2. Bill Simmons at Grantland.com made a good point that this is all just BS

Saying that if Hunter and Stern were really serious and smart, they would've met for these long sessions back in May or June. NOT October. The sudden sense of urgency now is just BS and both of them should steop down and let smart, "creative" people take over.

[SoapBox]

4. RIP NBA!

...party is over...DOA...just shut it ALL down...Toast!

I'm over it and I hope hundreds of thousands of others feel the same.