For the full write up of the Big Ugly, here is the link
Summary
Before players and owners took their balls and went home, some mediator-led progress was made towards a new CBA. The Luxury Tax and BRI still look to be the main argument points.
I believe the BRI will end up 50/50. I believe the union believes it and the owners believe it. The battle is how much the owners have to give up getting the union to agree to 50/50.
I wonder if the Luxury Tax gets resolved in synch with the owners getting consensus on Shared Revenue.
Proposed Goals for Agreement / Current Status
Contract Length – Agree to 4yr/3yr
Status – Still in work
Bird Rights and the Melo Rule – Agree to no change
Status – Still in work
MLE – Agree to $4m/2yr annual MLE with player Bird rights after the 2years
Status – Tentative agreement in place for $5m and 3years
The owners want a flat $5m/yr for 3yrs; players may want 7-8% annual increase. I'm actually on the owners' side here if the players' get Bird Rights after the MLE contract expires.
Amnesty – Agree to 1x amnesty contingent on amnestied money does not count against the cap or tax
Status – Tentative agreement for a one time Amnesty – 75% of the amnestied money would fall of the cap & luxury tax (players still get paid in full).
Cap Reform – Agree to positive reforms in areas such as Injury Exception, Contract Buyout and such
Status – Tentative agreement for a “Stretch” Exception allowing team to waive players and reduce the salary cap hit by
An area of great interest and hope on my part that some semblance of reform is enacted. The good news is there appears to have been discussion. Compliments of a New York Times article (link below)
“There will be a “stretch” exception, available every year, allowing teams to waive players and stretch out their remaining salary over a number of seasons, thus reducing the annual salary-cap hit.”
Luxury Tax – Agree to current luxury tax in place today
Status – Still in work, appears to be a major negotiation battlefield.
Free Agency – Agree to current free agency framework
Status – Still in work
An interesting development published in sheridanhoops.com is related to Trade Rules. The 125% trade match is being negotiated for a higher ratio.
“The players want the percentage to rise to 225 percent (whereby, for instance, a player making $1 million could be traded for a player making $2.25 million), while the owners have indicated a willingness to allow the percentage to rise to 140 or 150 percent”
I like this development. This does not mean you can trade Luke Walton for Dwight Howard; but what this may mean is teams can now focus more on trading talent for talent than matching contracts.
http://sheridanhoops.com/2011/10/23/nba-lockout-remaining-issues/
Contract Opt Outs – Agree to player and franchise opt-outs every two years
Status – Still in work
Salary Cap – Agree to plan similar to what is in place today
Status – Still in work
BRI – 52/48, 51/49, possibly even 50/50 dependent on successful agreement on the other goals
Status – Still in work
Contract Roll Backs - No
Status – Still in work, wind seems to be blowing towards no roll backs
Franchise Tag – No
Status – Still in work
Union Decertification - No
Status – No Change
NLRB Ruling – Not covered in initial write up
Status – Awaiting Ruling; potential blockbuster either way the ruling goes
