Comments on: NBA Lockout: LeBron James and the kingdom ruled by knights

By: justmefwiw

justmefwiw — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 12:24:25 +0000

Millionaires fighting billionaires – no heroes here IMHO.

By: luchts

luchts — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 16:24:39 +0000

Thoughtful, powerful analysis. Thanks!

By: santolonius

santolonius — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:08:23 +0000

no dallas winning the championship is the other central pillar to an unbalanced league. the ability of some teams to spend more than others unchecked. dallas had the third highest payroll of all teams last year. dallas had the ability to buy a championship that other teams do not. but i am still happy to see dallas’s name on the banner over miami or the lakers (for my above reasons)

By: bucsraysboltsfan

bucsraysboltsfan — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 12:54:13 +0000

Of course they aren’t, but when unemployment hovers around 10% and underemployment is much higher, few fans have the stomach for the greed and the gall of both sides.

Trust me, if they keep it up, nobody WILL be doing those things, Blue.

By: skids003

skids003 — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 11:52:06 +0000

The players look stupid? Maybe it’s because they are?

By: seattlesuperchronic

seattlesuperchronic — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 09:44:08 +0000

bucsraysboltsfan

Tell it like it is! I want some hoops!

By: jrhall888

jrhall888 — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 04:24:42 +0000

You probably would care much more about BRI if it was going into your pocket and not someone else’s.

By: jrhall888

jrhall888 — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 04:22:42 +0000

I think Dallas winning the championship blows your theory right out of the water. Having stars helps draw more fans, but it doesn’t insure that you’ll win. Props to Dirk. He’s a stud, but no other player on that team is close to superstar status (though Kidd used to be).

By: jrhall888

jrhall888 — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 04:18:55 +0000

It makes more sense to try and fix the existing system first, before starting a new one. It would take a great deal of time and resources to restart. It’s like building a new car because your engine’s broken down.

By: otng79

otng79 — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 02:08:38 +0000

What makes absolutely no sense to me (and it was brought up in an earlier post) is why the players are so involved in the bargaining process. The union spends millions on legal teams and economists so it would stand to reason players like Lebron would want to let them handle this.
Comments like what Wade said to Stern or what Lebron said about the 43% not only do not help, but they make the group of players look stupid.
30 billionaires (or close to it) and old man Stern and Silver (who have been doing this longer than most of the players have been alive) won’t be intimidated by Garnett walking into a room and pounding his chest. My advice is to the union is to get the players out of the room, and let their agents talk for them. Otherwise, the players just look foolish.
I don’t really care about BRI. Just don’t make me spend Christmas without basketball.

By: santolonius

santolonius — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 21:27:49 +0000

i am all about self determination and all those good old american values. but in the case of basketball, i really think the league would be better off if the players had much less power. yeah it would suck on a philisophical level, but the problem with letting basketball players have unfettered self determination is that too few players have too great an influence on the trajectory of championships and even the history of the league. in the nfl, there are probably 50 or so players every year that make a direct impact on who wins the super bowl. in baseball there are probably about 22 key players in a championship. in basketball, that number is probably about 4. so just letting players decide where they want to go is a recipe for a very dull league – for fans. make no mistake, if you look at the basketball experience from the players’ eyes (as this article does) freedom is correct and well deseved. but from the fans’ point of view, why should people living in the 20 cities or so that can be designated each year as pure chum care about their hometown team? why should they shell out 50 clams to see a game? for most fans the only way to enjoy the nba is to get behind a superstar and root for him, and not for your hometown team. i for one refuse to do that. we need parity. we have needed it for 40 years.

By: blueintown

blueintown — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 20:20:03 +0000

Nobody is forcing you to do any of those things.

By: bucsraysboltsfan

bucsraysboltsfan — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 20:04:27 +0000

This is another PBT piece trying to pursued the fans to be on the players side. When will you guys understand that we are not on the players side or on the owners side. We are on the side that is neglected most of all by PBT and the media, the fans side. We pay for the tickets, we loan eyeballs so that advertising can be sold, we buy the merchandise. We are tired of the grandstanding and bellyaching of both sides, period.

I don’t feel sorry for anybody, other than my fellow fans.

By: ogre2010

ogre2010 — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 19:31:15 +0000

If these guys are so powerful then why don’t they start their league then?

By: rreducla1

rreducla1 — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 19:28:30 +0000

Ambitious, interesting piece. Don’t agree with all of it but glad I read it.