Stern Notice

So this guy walks into a really nice restaurant, right? He gets a warm welcome walking in, great service, and an incredible meal. He's awestruck. When he's done eating he sees that he owes the bill, and roughly $15 for tip. He loved it so much that he was feeling generous enough to leave $20. After leaving the $20 on the table and walking toward the door, he stops in his tracks. He remembers that his kids actually need lunch money for school tomorrow. He walks back to the table, picks his $20 up, and leaves $8 and some change. As he turns around to leave, the waitress can't help but stare in disbelief. Getting more flustered by the second, the man finally utters "umm...forgot I needed this...". He quickly leaves the restaurant.


...You get it? I mean obviously it's a rude thing to do anytime you under-tip great service, but for God's sake the man needed the money to get his kids fed at school the next day. If you had kids in school who needed money for things like lunch and for other supplies, etc., isn't this what you would do? As appauled as that waitress was, if you actually explained the purpose of what you were doin, she'd be heartless not to understand. However, I wish we were talking about a restaurant. I wish we were talking about a regular waitress. And I really wish we were talking about a forgetful dad, who simply needed tip money for his children's lunch. Unfortunately, as the "The Nosebleed" would have it, we're not. Instead, it's actually an issue a lot like this, only with more people, more power, and more money.

"According to the NBA Commissioner David Stern, the NBA lost about $370 million in the 2009-2010 NBA season. This reported loss was good news to the NBA's ears seeing that they expected to lose more money this season. Stern was expecting to lose $400 million this year, and has stated that the NBA has lost at least $200 million a year for the four previous years."
-David Nelson
(Seattle City Brights)

You get it now? No? Good, 'cause you're not really supposed to. I trust that it didn't take you long to realize that what you just read isn't actually a good thing. In fact it's quite the opposite. But I also trust that many of you read that, and had no idea why it had to do with anything; and that's precisely why it's so important. As many of you know, 2011 is a dark cloud over the NBA universe right now. This is the year that the NBA will likely see yet another player lockout. For those of you who dont know, we also know this simply as a boycott. A boycott of all basketball games. But as I said, this is yet another NBA lockout. As in this has happened before in the '98-'99 NBA season, in which the standoff between owners and players caused an 82 game season to be cut down to 50 (191 days). It's widely understood that that lockout was simply the result of player and owner greed. Niether party would take less money, pretty cut 'n dry situation. Today's issue with the potential 2011 lockout is significantly different, even if it may not seem like it.

Although it's been said that NBA Commissioner David Stern's numbers are somewhat exaggurated, the issue is not in the numbers. The issue, rather, is in the tactical (or lack thereof) use of the numbers. Fan or not, we're all fully aware that when you enter the NBA you're almost guaranteed to be a millionaire, correct? How many of us have spited NBA players for whining about a missed call or a petty injury? Basically all of us. And our biggest argument is usually that they have no right to be upset with anything if they're making the kinds of money they do. While that would seem like the most logical target to aim at, it's not the correct one. Do you know why the league lost hundreds of millions of dollars last year? Because the league has allowed teams to spend money that goes way beyond their salary cap. In fact, to cover the excess money owed to players, the NBA has had to take out loans just to make good on their contract obligations. To be specific, the NBA's Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) is what is currently allowing team GM's to sign blank checks to whichever player they want. The ultimate downfall has been the large contracts signed to average players for more than enough seasons. This is a problem for several reasons. These max contracts hold about 10-10.5% interest rate per season, which won't exactly make things any easier on the wallet. But mainly because the players that are getting these contracts typically don't show any promise, so when you go to get another star to come help, you can't because you simply can't afford it with your dead-beat still on the team. It's predicted that the league will drop it's salary cap by up to $3 million next season to help decrease the league's careless spending. They actually plan to drop it even more the following season as well. Now while that's all fine and good, I can't buy it. How else do you think their going to cut careless spending? You guessed it, by forcing the majority of players to take a hefty paycut. While that doesn't sound like a huge deal considering the money we all know they make, it's actually a very big deal.

Remember that guy who walked into the restaurant earlier? There was another problem other than the obvious one. Once he gave that fancy $20 tip to the waitress, he gave her the impression that he could afford to do so and that it was hers to take. While the money he went back for was understandably for his kids, he had already neglected his obligation to them in the first place. He forgot about what was important. The Commissioner of the NBA is allowing very generous tips to be given to these players. While we may hate the players for making so much, understand that they very rarely ask for such contracts. For example, Wesley Matthews who was recently aquired from the Utah Jazz to the Portland Trailblazers is in his second year in the NBA, and was given a $34 million contract for 5 years. He is what we would consider an average player. This is my point people. When asked if he thought he was overpaid, he said "I might be, you never know. But I'll be in gym" .These players don't even know if they deserve this kind of money, but it's given to them anyway.

Because of this kind of spending, Mr. Stern is now having to go back to the table and take his tip back, so to speak. That's the worst thing you can do as the Commissioner of any billion dollar organization. When you tell players that they can have a certain amount of money, they put a level of confidence in you and the league that you can support that, as well as fullfilling all other obligations at the same time. Oddly enough, players have willingly showed up at negotiation meeting with owners and other league officials to sort out this financial mess.

I don't know about you, but personally I would feel pretty dumb if the waitress I tipped was openly coming to me to find a way for everyone to benefit.

...isn't that the commissioner's job?