No, I don’t want to encourage anyone to abandon the NBA, whenever it returns. We should welcome it with open arms. We should not be so kind to the owners who have deprived us of games. As a response to this ultra public manifestation of corporate greed, basketball fans should opt of using NBA owners’ businesses. Again, not their playthings, our beloved NBA teams, but the businesses that provide these guys enough money they can feel comfortable simply choosing not to have a season.
If you have to choose between Quicken Loans (Cav owner Dan Gilbert’s company) and Speedy Pay, choose Speedy Pay. It may be surprising to discover how much of a game these negotiations are for some owners for whom the money involved is miniscule. See Paul Allen.
The owners have already gained immense concessions from the players’ union, not because the players have done anything wrong, but because the owners made bad business decisions. Those concessions have still not been enough for them. The players ARE the product yet they are being forced to accept far less of the revenue THEY produce. The owners’ stance is profoundly anti-worker, anti-union and greedy.
The best way to express our disapproval is to use the voice owners are sure to hear; our wallets. This is not a fight between Billionaires and Millionaires. It’s a fight working people, some of whom are millionaires, and their bosses, all of whom are worth more than anyone most of us will ever even meet. Roger Mason Jr. signs the back of his check while Jim Dolan’s name is pre-printed on the front of it.
Whose side are you on?
FDO
PS- To be sure, NBA players have jobs many of us dream about. But the guys we typically think about are the rare exceptions even in that world. For every Tim Duncan and Paul Pierce who have long careers at top dollar, there are dozens of guys who have short careers with league minimum salaries. It’s clearly those folks who need to preserve their incomes; Dwight Howard and Dywane Wade are gonna get theirs.
The WhoDeannyPod 