In case you missed it, the NBA just spent almost five months embroiled in a lockout which centered around the negotiation of a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA). Ultimately, sixteen games were lopped off of the regular season before the players and the owners finally came to an agreement. What was it about? For the players, it was pretty simple. They wanted the status quo. For the owners, there was a two-headed goal. First, they wanted to reduce player salaries, and second they wanted to change the system rules (salary cap rules, luxury tax, etc.) to improve competitive balance.
On the first point, the owners did win, bringing the player salary pool down to a band of 49-51% of basketball-related income (BRI) after the previous value of 57%. But everybody knew the owners were going to win that fight – the owners, the media, the fans, and even the players. 57% of BRI going to the players was a number that was just unworkable with the league claiming losses of $300M annually.
On the second point, however, the owners lost out miserably. Although there were minor changes to the system, none of them had much in the way of teeth, and the most aggressive (the new luxury tax brackets) don’t even take effect for two years.
Meanwhile, it’s business as usual for the star players of the NBA, who take advantage of the rules to force their way into major markets. In fact, it has already been tried at least four times in the two days since teams were allowed to make transactions. And rather than sit quietly, I’m going to call out the guilty. But hey, I can be magnanimous. I’ll do it in alphabetical order so nobody thinks I’m playing favorites.
Gilbert Arenas
Gilbert’s fall from grace has been sudden and unforgiving. Signed to a six-year, $110M contract in Washington in 2008 despite a pre-existing knee injury, he played only two games in the first year of his contract, and only 32 games in the second year before getting suspended for the remainder of the season for the whole “guns in the locker room” thing. You remember. Although there was talk of the Wizards trying to use the “morals clause” in his contract to invalidate it and get out from under the huge monetary obligation they had to an injured player who was also a jerk, they did not, and eventually traded him to the Magic for another inflated contract in Rashard Lewis.
Prior to this season, the Orlando Magic decided to amnesty the remaining $62M on Arenas’ contract. Due to the amnesty provision in the new CBA, teams who were under the salary cap had the first opportunity to “bid” on Arenas – to the best of our knowledge, if even one team under the cap had bid at least a minimum salary value on his contract, the highest bid would pick up him on the cheap. Naturally, Arenas didn’t like the idea of playing for just any team, so he and his agent quietly discouraged teams from bidding on him:
Arenas’ agent Dan Fegan, sources said, successfully convinced teams that showed interest in lodging a bargain bid on the former All-Star that Arenas was determined to make his own choice about where he wants to resume his career.
The CBA, designed to help teams that follow the salary cap “rules” – read: not the Lakers, Heat, Knicks, etc. – utterly failed. No team bid on Arenas and he is free to sign with anybody. It’s thought he’s going to try to join Assistant GM Dwight Howard in Dwighthowardland. Do you think that Arenas could have helped the (nearly playerless) New Orleans Hornets? Of course! But they didn’t get that chance due to Arenas’ threats, despite the owners’ intentions otherwise.
Chauncey Billups
You’ve almost got to feel for Chauncey Billups. He was a reluctant cap-space piece in the deal that sent Allen Iverson from Denver to Detroit. He had wanted to stay in Detroit, but he eventually warmed to Denver – just in time to be another throw-in in the deal that sent Carmelo Anthony to the Knicks. He didn’t want to go to New York, but he eventually warmed to it just in time to be amnestied by the Knicks so that they could have the cap space to sign Tyson Chandler just this weekend. Well, Billups is tired of being that guy. But instead of taking it out on the Knicks, who actually did this to him, he takes it out on everybody else in a massive rant:
“I’m tired of being the glue guy, I’m tired of being viewed as the good guy. After a while, you just kind of get taken advantage of in these situations. I’ve been known as a leader, and I am a leader, but a leader can be as disruptive as he can be productive, especially when you carry a strong voice and people rally around you. This is about me now. This is about me, and teams should know that right now. I just don’t deserve the treatment that I’ve continually gotten. Historically, these things never happen to the supposed great players and good guys. They continually happen to me, and it gets old. Listen, I feel I’ve been blessed in the game, and I’ve been given back, but these things start to wear on you. But there’s not another guy in history who keeps dealing with this, getting thrown into these things to make the money right. I really believe it’s because people take my kindness and professionalism for weakness. They think I’ll be OK with this. I won’t be OK with this. I’ve saved my money. I may just retire if I don’t get my freedom here. I want my freedom. My goal is to control my own destiny. And as you’ve seen in my career, I’ve never been in a position to do that. I know some teams out there are saying, ‘Oh, Chauncey will be great in mentoring’ and I’m tired of that. I’ve got a few good years left to play, and I’m not trying to come in and sit on the bench, or be a mentor. I’m not going to be that guy. I want to go somewhere and win. I want to choose.”
Yep, professional good guy Chauncey Billups is now threatening to either be disruptive to a team that picks him up in the amnesty bidding, or retire outright. A team like the Kings could really have used his leadership off the bench. And he’d still be getting his money. But no, it’s all “I, Me, Mine”. Ass act, Billups, ass act.
Update: Despite his threats, several teams put in bids on Billups and the Los Angeles Clippers won (early reports said $3.5M, later reports have put the bid closer to $2M). Now we’ll see just how badly Chauncey wants to disrupt a team in a major media market with Blake Griffin and possibly Chris Paul. Bring it on, Tootie!
Dwight Howard
As you may have heard, Dwight Howard has requested a trade from the Magic. And he has not only requested a trade, he has requested a trade to ONE team – the New Jersey Nets, soon the be the Brooklyn Nets. I mean, there’s no real hubris in demanding a trade to a team just about to take on a new identity so that you can be the first great franchise center, right?
But of course, it’s not about Howard not liking Disneyworld. It’s about being hamstrung by the management in performing his duties as Assistant GM to Otis Smith, as tweeted by ESPN’s Brian Windhorst (sorry, can’t figure out how to link to a permatweet):
Just finished talking with Dwight Howard. Said trade demand stemmed from team not acting on his personnel suggestions. Howard said he made suggestions on trades/signings for years that were ignored. Said he currently has no relationship w/ GM Otis Smith.
Yep, Front Office Dwight knows how to run a team, or at least, how to run a team into the ground as he demands that he get traded for essentially the rebound-allergic Brook Lopez. (Yet, somehow, I don’t think he’d be upset about being traded to the Lakers, either.) Note that there are a lot of teams who could and likely would put together much better trade packages for SuperGM, but SuperGM is going to Brooklyn, or SuperGM is going to pout and leave in free agency for nothing.
Chris Paul
Enter the Whiniest of the Whiners, Chris Paul. CP3, who must have incredible balance (based on the fact that he wears two – TWO – power balance bracelets…right?), has decided that he is going to use his star power to destroy the franchise in New Orleans.
First, he demanded a trade to the New York Knicks to be with his buddies Amare Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony. Then, when it became obvious that the Knicks had no assets outside of Amare Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony (and, you know, he’s just not good enough to win a championship on his own) he changed his mind and decided he wanted to be traded to the Lakers to play alongside Kobe Bryant and either Andrew Bynum, or with any luck, SuperGM. But the NBA, who currently owns the Hornets, nixed a trade proposed by interim GM Dell Demps that would have done just that. Now, Paul has decided that he guesses he could be convinced to play in the bright lights of L.A. if it’s beside reigning Rookie of the Year Blake Griffin:
ESPN.com reported late Saturday that the Clippers had emerged as the “early front-runner” in the race to land Paul after the frustrated Lakers finally withdrew from three-team talks with the Hornets and Houston Rockets. The Hornets remain under pressure to find a palatable deal for Paul, who can become a free agent in July 2012 and has already told the franchise that he does not intend to sign an extension. Paul spoke extensively with the union on Thursday, after Stern squashed the original three-team trade, about what legal options were available.
Hey, what a perfect patriotic American! If he doesn’t get his way, Chris Plaintiff is going to sue!
So there you have it – only two days into the new CBA, and we’ve already got four stars trying to either force their way into the New York or L.A. markets, or trying to prevent anybody who is not an L.A. or New York market from picking them up. Now, can you remind me what the whole fuss on the CBA was about? Competitive balance? The opportunity for small-market franchises to acquire and keep star players?
Yeah right. Not from LeBron’s Generation Entitlement. Maybe, just maybe, the next generation of stars (which we Kings fans hope includes Tyreke Evans and DeMarcus Cousins) might have a bit more integrity, show some loyalty to the teams that drafted them, and find a way to stay with their teams when their teams are desperately trying to stick with them.
Here’s hoping.
