Long Lockout Looming

Just look at Derron Williams signing to play in the Turkish League. Rumor is that same league is interested in signing Kobe Bryant. The NBA cannot keep players from playing overseas so they (the players) have more leverage than the owners counted on. As long as there is an alternate source for employment, these guys won't be so quick to cave to the owners' proposals. This makes me think there is a greater chance to lose the entire 2011-'12 season

also saw an article about our two rookies playing on Europe.

said if they do, they may not be able to play at all this season.

if this lockout continues into September, a lot of young players and low salary veterans may head out of town.

dboss

Pathetic.

The greedy vs. the greedy, facing off during a terrible recession.

Talk about being out of touch with your fan base.

TO: mrkleen: I think there's a Hall & Oats song from the 80's that would apply to your post. Outta' Touch, Outta'' Time from about 1982, I think!

MD

please keep in mind that this was brought on by the owners. and players are bring asked to take a big pay cut.

dboss

The players aren't being paid and have no health insurance. Playing pick-up games is mostly out, so if they want to stay sharp or develop, in the case of younger players, that means finding a paying playing job or some other job that has health insurance (or through a working spouse - right, lots of NBA wives have jobs. Some do but most don't and not all players are married). A tragedy would be a badly sprained knee or ankle and then less than ideal treatment and rehab - what happens when said player tries to play once the lockout ends? I think it would be a great thing if college bball boosters "adopted" one of the former players from his/her college (sorry Kobe) and funds them during the lockout and provide health insurance. Players (no longer being watched by the NCAA) could have jobs to get them through. I'm not talking about keeping them in the style to which they've become accustomed, but a living wage to keep the players who need it from having to go out of the country and drag themselves around the Mediterranean or the Balkans. Besides, there are numbers restrictions of American players in many Euro leagues, so not everyone can "go overseas" just because they want to. One question I have is what is the players union doing for the bottom-rung players, the guys who don't make millions, usually the younger players? Are they getting any help?

My guess would be nothing. If they were going to do anything, I would think you would have heard about it all by now to prevent some of these guys from going overseas.

I watched an interview last week with Marc Spears of Yahoo. Marc said that he felt that there would be very few going overseas, that alot of the teams
over there make all kinds of promises, then when it comes time to pay up, they hold back. Think of it, a team in Turkey???? They would probably say go ahead, sue me!

The one issue he brought up which is troublesome is that if someone like
Deron Williams were to get badly injured over there, where would they get
the quality of care that they get here in America. To ruin a whole career because you didn't take care of yourself would be a shame. Guys in their
last year or two, like Scal, may make out okay, but that is not what the Euro's are looking for. I can't imagine Kobe putting himself on the line like that, or KG, for that matter.

It is the kid's just drafted who will really suffer.

Overseas is a good option for those who have no options here, but it's not so good for established players - what's the gain really? Correctly, an injury might be disastrous to anyone, but to a top player it would be devastating.

I do not know about Turkey specifically but I would not really worry about the quality of health care when it comes to sports injuries.

The US would be the definite place to be when it comes to things like heart, neuro or maybe cancer but for sports injuries there are some very good people in europe, especially the "western" parts.

I know that a lot of the Swedish NHL players chose to have things done in Sweden (Forsberg comes to mind) although I am sure they have the money and such to get it done where ever they want to.

Painter, welcome to the board. Nice to have some new blood coming in, especially when there's not much basketball-related stuff to discuss right now.

As for the difficult times players may be going through, I would like to think that most of them—especially the better-paid ones—might actually have saved a buck or two to tide them over. It might be tougher on the younger players, but I thought the union had some kind of self-insurance or slush fund or reserve fund or whatever it might be called that could help players in times of work stoppage (regardless of which side caused it). I don't think it's a lot, but I bet it's on the order that will keep them from starving.

Sam

Sam - The point I was trying to make is one that I have heard from many basketball people on television and the internet.

If a player of good stature goes overseas, plays for a foreign team, and injures himself to the point where his career is in jeopardy, is this really worth it??

I know what everyone means about the rookies and first and second year players, however, the foreign teams do not exactly have the best reputations for taking care of their players. Deron Williams going overseas for $5 million dollars just doesn't make sense. (One would think I am loaded or something saying that $5million is a lowly figure!). There seem to
be more con's than pro's for making these moves.

As far as the rookies are concerned, they haven't had the chance to even
earn one contract yet, so I can see why they would jump overseas. Very few will get the option of being able to return to the states when the strike is settled.

WHAT A MESS!!

painter,

You think a college basketball booster should help a locked out NBA player? Don't feel too sorry for the players. Even players that were in the league for 1 year made at least $400+k and I hope they lived conservatively knowing a lock out was looming.
The players can buy health insurance on their own.
The players are also eligible for collecting unemployment.
The Union should not be responsible for helping younger players.
If any help is provided it should be for all players.

The gain for an established player to play oversees is income and leverage.
If the Owners know that many will play oversees this only helps the players leverage against the owners. Deron Williams can live with making $5m next year. A struggling small market owner might not be able to withstand a year with no games and revenue.

Also to a certain degree it should be somewhat refreshing for us to see players taking "less pay for more risk" to play basketball, just because they want to.

Sometimes you do not make the "best" decisions, you just follow your passion.

Rosalie,

I should have made it clearer that I was answering Painter's post rather than yours. I agree with your stand on foreign teams. At some point, players have to learn that the ability to make big money usually comes with some risk. Heck, with most of us, the ability to make small money comes with some risk.

Go for the bucks! Assume the risk!

Sam

Hi,
Here is an interesting take on the matter.
Once again, whatever is the case I hope both sides come to their senses sooner rather than later.

AK