The NBA IS BACK! Woohoo!

[JudeBaldo]

Thank The Tebow!

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/7281052/nba-owners-players-get-tentative-agreement

[onejayhawk]

I almost posted on the lockout thread yesterday. Here are some tweats that were posted on another site.

Adrian Wojnarowski: As for progress in today's NBA talks, high-ranking league source says: "They literally just started talking about the actual deal points."

Alex Kennedy: Derek Fisher and Mo Evans are at today's meeting. They didn't want to leave their families but were told that the NBA is ready to negotiate.

Alan Hahn: Hours upon hours of time the #NBA and players have spent talking. Today should have been simple: give on 2 system issues and shake hands.

Mike Wells: George Hill's deal to Olympiakos which could be complete within 24 hours, will allow him to return to the NBA once the lockout ends.

Howard Beck: Jim Quinn, the attorney who helped get talks going again, is not present, tho one of his associates is. Jeff Kessler is not here.

Howard Beck: NBPA lineup: Hunter, Fisher, MoEvans, plus attorney Ron Klempner, economist Kevin Murphy. NBA lineup: Stern, Silver, Holt, attorneys Rube and Buchanan.

Howard Beck: Break in NBA talks, which will resume shortly. Could be another long one...

Chris Broussard: Another good sign: NBA owners have Labor Relations Committee conference call scheduled for later tonite, sources say. Labor Relations committee must approve any changes owners make in proposal to players.

Sam Amico: In restroom at D-League game, prominent NBA agent says: "I think we're close to getting this thing over with." Have fun with that one.

Chris Broussard: Source close to talks gives vague update, says progress being made...

Alvaro Martin: ESPN: NBA Labor Committee will hold a teleconference tonight; could review/ approve changes to Monday's offer (concessions).

Alvaro Martin: Even if they agree on economics, sides need to reach agreement on drug testing, player discipline and age minimums.

Alvaro Martin: This negotiation/settlement will extend into Saturday or even Sunday IMO, with no guarantee (but with great expectations) of an agreement.

Steve Aschburner: Source invlvd w/ NBA talks told TNT's David Aldridge there's "genuine desire" to get a deal tonight. Two sides are "engaged," if not closer.

Chris Broussard: One league owner not on the Labor Relations committee told one of his team's executives he's optimistic about deal getting done this weekend.

That was late last night.

J

[onejayhawk]

Early this morning

Chris Broussard: Owners dismayed by players asking for 51% BRI 2nite,League source says no way deal getting done if players insist on more than 50% BRI.

Dwight Jaynes: Incredible a group of people who have been negotiating for weeks could go this late WITHOUT progress. Are they just yelling at each other?

Chris Mannix: As the night drags on and reports of the BRI split (again) being an issue, the optimism is quickly draining.

Howard Beck: Have confirmed that Kessler, via speakerphone, asked for 51% tonight, as reported by Yahoo and ESPN. Step backwards in negotiations.

Sam Amico: NBA GM: "You writers seem little loopy tonight. But not nearly as loopy as union that asks for 51% of BRI." Same NBA GM: "Jeffrey Kessler is the worst thing that's happened to the NBA since Tim Donaghy. Except Donaghy was way less sneaky."

Ken Berger: Players had agreed to 50-50 split. But if max stays same (up for some), rookie/min stays same, no rollbacks, how do they get to 50? Easiest way to get owners relief without touching majority of players was always to reduce max contracts. Was never an option for players.

Ken Berger: Thus, they've spent months trying to fit square system peg into round BRI hole. It's never going to fit.

Steve Aschburner: Understand basis of NBA players' new stab at 51% (owners "buy" the system issues they want). But that's unringing a bell, esp in PR game.

Chris Palmer: But seriously my positivity is based on the hope that common sense will prevail. Simply too much at stake.

Chris Broussard: League source also said players not getting full midlevel from luxury tax teams..players not asking for full ml, just increase from $3 mill.

Alex Kennedy: It sounds like BRI is causing problems again. I hate those three letters.

Chris Broussard: Owners' Labor relations committee deflated when told on conference call that players asked for 51% BRI.

Brian Mahoney: Will say this: If owners were as committed to making a deal as they were to blaming Kessler, we'd be 25 days into the season by now. Instead, the only deal owners wanted is the one they knew Kessler would never make. So we're still here, and might be a month from now.

Jan Hubbard:Kessler: My chances of getting 51 percent?Like 1 in 100? Stern:I'd say more like 1 in a million.Kessler: Yeah!

Chris Mannix: My sense is they are upstairs trying to make enough progress to justify coming back tomorrow. Otherwise, kaboom.

Steve Aschburner: Imagine Stern/owners' side of table reacted, when Kessler raised 51%, like Delta House when Flounder's picture popped up.

Steve Aschburner: Imagine Stern/owners' side of table reacted, when Kessler raised 51%, like Delta House when Flounder's picture popped up.

Dwight Jaynes: I can honestly not imagine how grumpy David Stern could be at 3 a.m. MAN, it must be tense in that room.

Kate Fagan: Meeting is over. Stay tuned. We're heading up. Chris Sheridan: Meeting is over. News briefing upcoming.

Ken Berger: BREAKING: Tentative agreement reached, according to one of the negotiators.

Chris Mannix: We may have a deal. Reports coming in... Chris Palmer: Meetings are over. Word coming out of NY is that a tentative agreement has been reached..

http://busersports.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=4160&start=480

This set was posted long after I went to bed, about 4:15 AM EST.

When I saw that Fischer left a family gathering to attend a negotiation session, my eyebrows went up. I almost post the tweat, but these flags have gone up before.

Tripleheader on Christmas day, Camp starts 9 December, assuming no snags. I get the feeling that both sides badly wanted to start on Christmas, and were running out of time to get it done.

J

[JudeBaldo]

Between the NFL and the NBA, decertification will have forever change the sports labor landscape. I wish I was in law school studying this stuff, fascinating.

[onejayhawk]

Between the NFL and the NBA, decertification will have forever change the sports labor landscape. I wish I was in law school studying this stuff, fascinating.

The NFL yes. In that case it was somewhat effective. In the NBA case, it just changed the names of the negotiators.

J

[frae]

I'll take things I didn't know left for $200 Alex. (I know most of you feel this way about the NHL )

[nots]

NBA? Sounds vaguely familiar.

[onejayhawk]

NBA? Sounds vaguely familiar.

Not Being Attended

About the tweats, he came clean.

Yess, I have comp.program for choosing tweets related basketball and automaticly copying/paste over here, nothing biggy, even when I sleep this program doing job what is necessary to make all the "work" super easy... Dont worry, I probably have more sleep than most of you:-)

J

[JudeBaldo]

The NFL yes. In that case it was somewhat effective. In the NBA case, it just changed the names of the negotiators.

J

So my point still stands. David Boies is not to be trifled with and I think by moving the case to the Minnesota court, the owners would rather settle than take it to litigation and risk losing their anti-trust exemption.

[onejayhawk]

We will see how the proposal reads. I suspect getting someting done for Christmas played a bigger part than any one person.

Baseball has an antitrust exemption. The NBA never has IIRC.

J

[JudeBaldo]

We will see how the proposal reads. I suspect getting someting done for Christmas played a bigger part than any one person.

Baseball has an antitrust exemption. The NBA never has IIRC.

J

The point of decertifying WAS to break the NBA's antitrust exemption.

[onejayhawk]

The point of decertifying WAS to break the NBA's antitrust exemption.

No.I can see how that might be how it looks. The point of decertifying is that the Union cannot file an antitrust suit,it has to be a player. So the Union had to dissolve in order for the suits to be filed. Now the Union will have to reform in order to sign the contract. If the NBA had an antitrust exemption, as MLB does, the suit could nt be filed at all. The Union would have to petition Congress to revoke the exemption.

Here is an article on some of the many legal issues.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/michael_mccann/11/26/nba.labor.agreement/

J

[JudeBaldo]

OJH, again you are wrong, the NBA has an antitrust exemption as result of non-statutory labor exemption.