NBA season heading towards a slow death
With the rejection of the owner’s revised proposal by the players association on Monday, the NBA season is now on its way to a slow death
In the early days of the lockout, the representatives of the players association threatened to decertify the union if the NBA owners fail to offer a fair deal on the negotiation table. Now, when the union believes that owners have
been trying to negotiate their own interest only, since the lockout took its first breath, the players have officially announced that they are moving forward with their threat.
The Executive Director of the players association Billy Hunter stated that it was extremely unfair to push the union to make a settlement by dishing out ultimatums and threatening a rollback in the revised offer. The hard-pressed
tactics of the league to force players in accepting the deal was one main reason union decided for decertification.
"The players feel that they're not prepared to accept the ultimatums. They thought that it was extremely unfair on the part of the NBA ownership, management, to give them an ultimatum that they had to accept their proposal or confront
a rollback of 47%." Hunter said.
While players are well aware of the fact that their move has now put the entire 2011-2012 season in jeopardy, they believe that filing antitrust lawsuits is the only way to secure the future of the NBA players against the unfair
demands of the owners.
The Vice President of the union Maurice Evans declared that although the future of the players is at stake however this is the right move to make at the moment after more than four years of negotiations.
"We understand the consequences of potentially missing the season; we understand the consequences that players could potentially face if things don't go our way, but it's a risk worth taking. It's the right move to do."
On the other hand, the NBA Commissioner David Stern clearly stated last week that decertifying the union is a losing strategy and players will never get what they are looking for. Stern is of the view that a new Collective Bargaining
Agreement will be formed ultimately however the beginning of the 2011-2012 season is now is in great danger.
At this point when both the parties are not really looking at playing the season and striving to get what they feel is right for them, it seems like NBA is going to face a complete season wipe out for the first time in the history
of NBA and only some miracle can save this from happening.
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