The Players

I'm a day late. I over-promised and under-delivered. My bad. But, without further delay....

THE PLAYERS:

Jekyll or Hyde?

The players are mixed up in a Jekyll and Hyde situation in this lockout. They are, in a sense, not at fault for the extended lockout and drama created in the negotiations. The fact, plain and simple, is that the owners locked out the players. The players have not de-certified and gone on strike. That is the first misconception that the majority of casual fans are making about the lockout. The second victim role the players are occupying is actually in the negotiations. David Stern and the owners have been pulling some cheap negotiation tactics, hoping to win over not only public support, but also fool the players into buying what they are trying to sell. The owners presented their original proposal to the players that was filled with all kinds of nonsense and outlandish demands. They included a hard salary cap into their demands. The players obviously were outraged at this because it would place a very strict limit on their salaries. The owners, in their generosity and willingness to work out a deal, took the hard cap off of the table during the next round of negotiations. What is the big deal you ask? That would be like me re-negotiating my contract with my employer. However they told me that I needed to take a pay cut because they took a line out of the contract that said I had to shovel the snow and change the light bulbs. The problem being that I never had to change the light bulbs or shovel the snow. They can't use it as a way to negotiate a lower salary if it was never a part of the job description. The owners tried to come out looking like the good guys. Instead the players saw through their tactic and strengthened their stance and rigidity.

Come in Jekyll. The players are massively overpaid and need to admit it. The max players, the super stars, should be paid mega-dollars. The bench players and the role players are the ones robbing the owners blind. Concessions need to be made by both sides, including the players on this topic. The major roadblock from allowing this to happen is that the player representatives at the negotiations are, you guessed it, ROLE PLAYERS. You can guess Derek Fisher's reaction when the idea of the average player's salary. Nope, he's not thrilled.

Something has to give, I guess we'll just see who wins.