Bye Bye, '11-'12 season

[Panthers128]

Wait, so if they skip the season, Boris Diaw will be gone?

Hell yeah

[Davis83]

what? there's a professional sports league called the NBA?

I thought we only had NFL, NCAA Basketball, NASCAR and the Olympics!

[pantherfan49]

Who from this list would seriously come to Charlotte????

Not trying to be negative nelly.

And here is what will make it even harder to convince all-star FAs to come to Charlotte--- if a hard cap is put in place, then endorsement deals will become an even bigger portion of a superstar player's salary, and those endorsement deals are easier to come by in bigger markets.

[mav1234]

They are already easier to come by, that won't change. These players aren't going to be like "Gee golly, now I need them even MORE!" The same players will be seeking endorsements that were before.

The difference with a better cap system would be that big market teams would have that as the primary draw instead of the fact they can also outpay everyone. As it is now, small markets need to hope for an appeal that is unrelated to cash.

[ckad79]

The NBA sucks...

Well, the NBA is actually slowly climbing back to it's glory days. Fact is, there are more GREAT players than there have been in a long time. Kobe, Durant, Wade, Lebron, etc. It's getting close to the days of Jordan, Barkley, etc.

BUT the NBA does have a major problem... their system is screwed up.

Fact is, if the NFL was run like the NBA, the Panthers would never be in the playoff mix, being in such a small market. The NBA does little to help small markets compete. The NFL on the other hand, creates a more balanced playing field allowing smaller cities like Charlotte and yes, even Green Bay have a chance to compete with the big boys.

Granted, we have seen some shockers, in the NBA, like Oklahoma City crawling it's way deep into the playoffs, but like always, the Finals come down to big towns like Dallas or LA. Granted, San Antonio gets in, but in the NFL because of it's cap, every team has a realistic chance every year to go all the way. When it happens in the NBA, it's once on a very rare occasion.

Plus, NBA players are paid more on average than any other pro sport athletes. Why? Attendance is down. Why are NBA players making more money - on average - than NFL players and the NFL is more popular? The NBA needs a cap. The players will get paid well regardless and incentives will be there with bigger markets regardless.

The system in the NBA is flawed. I'm not even somebody to side with owners either, but Jordan and a lot of the smaller owners behind him, and they should. It's just funny that Jordan, when as a player in Chicago, signed those huge big city contracts and smaller clubs never had a chance to sign him. Go figure, that now, he sees how it makes the system so one sided and out of hand.

[Kitten Diver]

At least NFL players go out on the field and risk injury to entertain us. What do NBA players do? Oh yeah a YMCA pick up game for 2.5 hours.:rolleyes: Let them lock out only .01% of America will care.

[Delhomeboy]

The system in the NBA is flawed. I'm not even somebody to side with owners either, but Jordan and a lot of the smaller owners behind him, and they should. It's just funny that Jordan, when as a player in Chicago, signed those huge big city contracts and smaller clubs never had a chance to sign him. Go figure, that now, he sees how it makes the system so one sided and out of hand.

Jordan's always looked out for himself; not really knocking him, that's just the way he is.

[MadHatter]

I would be really, really pissed about losing the season.......if only I gave a poo about the NBA.

[Implied Volatility]

The system in the NBA is flawed. I'm not even somebody to side with owners either, but Jordan and a lot of the smaller owners behind him, and they should. It's just funny that Jordan, when as a player in Chicago, signed those huge big city contracts and smaller clubs never had a chance to sign him. Go figure, that now, he sees how it makes the system so one sided and out of hand.

I get what you are saying. And I agree. But people always forget this...

Jordan's last two seasons in Chicago were the only years he was paid a big salary. Prior to the 96-97 season MJ never made more than $4 million a/year in salary. Which by the 90s was far less money than other stars in the NBA. The reason for this is that Jordan signed a long-term contract (8-10 year deal) back in the 80s. Remember, it wasn't unusual for players to sign very long contracts in those days. MJ could have renegotiated that deal and asked for more money. But he decided not to because he wanted to honor the contract that he signed. By '96 when his original contract was up, he obviously wasn't going to leave Chicago. So other teams really didn't have an opportunity to sign Jordan during his career.

[Kevin Greene]

Friggin meat heads.

Someone take a 3% cut in pay and get the NBA back on the court.

Do they have any fuging clue what is happening on a daily basis in the USA?

Assholes.

[ckad79]

Jordan's last two seasons in Chicago were the only years he was paid a big salary.

I agree. Players just didn't make that kind of money in Jordan's early days. I think LJ 's $84 million dollar contact in 1993 was, at the time, the most lucrative contract in NBA history. That example of reckless spending by Shinn set off a swarm of guys getting big cash, including Jordan, who was more deserving than most. And once the dust settled, the BIG CASH was only being handed out by a handful of larger markets, which created this talent bubble with 5 or 6 teams and many of the smaller markets just struggled and have continued to do so.

I just know a lot of NBA fans are Heat and Laker fans who only see guys like Kobe and Lebron and think that is all the NBA is about! They don't see the 25 other teams out there that need to exist but barely do. Sure, you can say that some owners are cheap and shouldn't own teams, but seriously, you need competition and competition can't exist unless you have a strong product across the board. Granted, Jerry Jones is worth more than most other owners in the NFL, including Mike Brown who owns the Bengals. Still, Cincinnati competes with the big boys because the NFL system gives everybody a chance allowing everybody to compete and making the NFL popular in every city, not just New York, LA, Dallas, etc. The NFL, unlike th NBA knows in order to exist, they need to create a better program all around. If it continues to focus 95% of it's attention on 5% of it's team, the association will collapse like it already is.

[Ounce]

Haha I love the post by the people claiming they don't give a poo about the NBA and yet here they are in this thread...:confused:

I'm glad the players didn't accept the deal and the hardliner owners won out. The only way the Bobcats (or any other small market team) are ever going to compete is with a hard salary cap. Its ridiculous if you look back in time at past NBA champions and the markets they came out of. Beyond San Antonio, which hit lottery gold with Tim Duncan and built incredibly smart teams, almost all other championship teams over the past decade came from a big market.

A system more like the NFL will make the league much more interesting for all teams involved as parity creates hope and possibilities for every team in the league. This is why the NFL is so popular and well followed, every team and fanbase has a fighting chance any given year, at least with respect to the money being thrown around. If your GM/Coach/Owner are an idiot though, that can't be helped :D

[cbarrier90]

I just know a lot of NBA fans are Heat and Laker fans who only see guys like Kobe and Lebron and think that is all the NBA is about! They don't see the 25 other teams out there that need to exist but barely do. The NFL, unlike th NBA knows in order to exist, they need to create a better program all around. If it continues to focus 95% of it's attention on 5% of it's team, the association will collapse like it already is.

The bolded statement completely contradicts the preceding sentence.

Under the current system, the NBA could essentially contract down to about 8 or so teams in the largest markets in America and be perfectly fine. In fact, I argue that it would make the NBA even more successful if this happened. Ultimately, the NBA relies more on the power of its stars for its business than any other major sport.

The players will ultimately lose this battle in the lockout, because you can't tell two-thirds of the owners to give up their assets in the league just to make the current system actually work.

[R0CKnR0LLA]

Ohh cool, I didn't realize the nba still existed. But it's in lockout now? lol I haven't spent one penny on anything NBA related in years. I used to be a big fan when I was younger but got put off from the blatant racism from basically everyone from coaches, players, managers, even announcers covering games. not to mention the bobcats were pretty much useless for years anyway. oh well, don't care :p