FanHouse BillyHunter

A committee of NBA owners will meet Tuesday in New York with representatives from the players union to open up negotiations on the league's collective bargaining agreement. The contract is set to expire in 2011, and with fiscal strain high, the L-word -- "lock-out" -- has been floated about.

David Aldridge of NBA.com has a primer on what each side wants. A few of the rumored points of contention are a bit shocking.

USA Today's Chris Colston took a look at the pending NBA collective bargaining agreement negotiations through the prism of one of the league's current, fleeting points of concern (or annoyances, depending on the range of your perspective): a lot of players are hurt. The epic Bulls-Celtics series itself is missing Kevin Garnett, Luol Deng and Leon Powe, with Paul Pierce and John Salmons obviously gimpy. Every other first-round series has had injury issues.

Colston ties this to the length of the NBA regular season, long a bugaboo for pundits. Few say the regular season means nothing these days, but the complaints remain, especially as keystone players like Dwyane Wade wear down in the playoffs. Colston suggests the players union, as a condition to taking a smaller slice of the revenue pie, may demand a shorter season in those CBA negotiations.

To date, nearly all the thrusts which concern the matter of the NBA's next collective bargaining agreement -- due in the summer of 2011 -- has represented owner interests. In fairness to David Stern, Secaucus has kept its nose remarkably clean: despite it being in his potential negotiating interest to present dire straits for the league, the commissioner has been overwhelmingly upbeat, both about the condition of the NBA and about the prospect of progress on a new deal with the Players Association.

Why the owners' interests have been more public than those of the players is no mystery: the league has probably 100 high-level surrogates (30 team owners and their deputies) to leak quotes to columnists and present a doomsday scenario. The union has its brass (led by Billy Hunter), players (who have more pressing matters from October to June) and agents (most of whom [ahem] would rather shiv each other than come together for the good of their collective client base). That's it.

But now Hunter has taken a step into the spotlight.

The Rotation is a weekly study on the NBA by one of our All-Star voices. In rotation this week is Tom Ziller.

NBA owners continue to scream bloody apocalypse. The year 2011 marks the doomsday date, with the L-word -- "lock-out" -- graduating from whisper to constant ink. Non-basketball losses and flagging attendance (see update, end of post) make every cent count, and apparently the stars of the show make too many of the dollars. "Two pounds of flesh or stay home," the owners warn.

But David Stern assures you the NBA is fine. Thriving, even. Ratings boom nightly and the league's (to date) soft slip amid global economic Armageddon should reassure those who fret, Stern argues. A $175 $200 million expansion of the league's credit store for franchises -- not a "bail-out," but further proof of the league's health!

Should we believe a commissioner preaching relaxation, or are the owners seizing with (some combination of) fear and blood-lust? Is the NBA really screwed?

For a year now, the L-word -- lockout -- has been bandied about NBA circles. It's nothing that immediately threatens the league, as the collective bargaining agreement between the owners and the players association runs until June 30, 2011. But it's out there, and everyone is adjusting accordingly.

Some say the mini-max deals signed by major Class of '03 stars some 18 months ago were made in part due to assumptions the 2011 CBA would tighten up player salaries much as the 2005 version did. (The 2005 CBA, which the league currently operates under, put stricter limits on salaries and contract length.) But even further, union boss Billy Hunter told reporters Saturday that the association and the league are discussing the framework for a new CBA far in advance of 2011.

The prospect of a collective bargaining agreement stiffer toward players than the current edition has been batted about the fringes for the past year, as folks predict David Stern's requests (a stricter minimum age limit) and wonder just how dire the owners will make things look. CBS Sportsline has an interesting thought from Billy Hunter, head of the players association:

Billy Hunter, executive director of the NBA Players Association, warned last night that any potential free agent who waits around for a new CBA will do so at his own peril. Owners almost certainly won't extend the CBA through the 2011-12 season, so it is set to expire on June 30, 2011.

NBA Players Association chief Billy Hunter told the Boston Globe Sunday the union won't allow the Celtics to terminate troubled guard Sebastian Telfair's contract without a fight.

This is little surprise, of course. Indiana never even tried to terminate the contract of Ron Artest when he was giving Larry Bird ulcers. Eddie Griffin still gets a paycheck. It's considered impossible to get a contract voided in the NBA, and isn't worth the trouble to even try.

Telfair is clearly not welcome in Boston, though. They cleaned out his locker the day after his April arrest in New York on felony gun charges. Rajon Rondo and Tony Allen are in place at the point guard position, and Telfair was less than useful when he got on the court last season. Danny Ainge will either find a new home for him via trade (inclusion in the rumored Shawn Marion trade is one way) or let him walk away with his $2.3 million salary. Telfair won't be a Celtic in 2007-08, but he won't be without a paycheck either.

Is this a problem, that teams are essentially stuck with players who do bad things away from the hardwood? Should teams have some sort of ability, through arbitration or whatever, to get repeat criminal offenders off their salary caps? As it is now, teams are encouraged to weigh character issues heavily when signing players, and that's probably a good thing. But as Indiana has learned all too well, one risk can kill everything under the current rules. That's not fair.

New Orleans, New Orleans. You have dealt with immeasurable sorrows. You were supposed to host the 2007-08 All-Star Game. And then Players Association chief Billy Hunter expressed misgivings, major figures like Shaq and T-Mac followed suit, and soon even Rafer Alston's worries were a news item.

Apparently, Billy Hunter has decided to actually get some first hand information. From Ken Berger at Newsday.com:

The fallout from players' association chief Billy Hunter's comments questioning New Orleans' ability to host the 2008 All-Star Game continued late into the week, with NBA Commissioner David Stern meeting with Hunter on Thursday, according to two people familiar with the situation.

Hunter is scheduled to leave Tuesday for a two-day visit to New Orleans, which is trying to rebuild and combat a serious crime problem 18 months after Hurricane Katrina. Hunter and Stern are expected to meet again after the trip.

Imagine that. Instead of people relying on news channels and Spike's snapshot of a disaster, someone with some influence is actually going to investigate the city of New Orleans. Maybe he'll hear about something called Mardi Gras, and how well that went...or maybe he'll get to tour all the neighborhoods that are still in shambles. I don't think this is an easy decision, but at least now it could be an informed one.