Revisionist History 0205: Thorny Issues…

…Elden Campbell is the latest example why NBA players’ contracts are out of control.

by Guichard Cadet

When it comes to management issues, I always side with players (workers) because I know the grind of working for people who treat one’s livelihood as a game. This past sports year – begins in April with the first pitch – has forced me to soften my stance.

Having heard the threat of a NHL lockout, I figured the hockey players would realize they are paid well, and with guaranteed contracts. Hence, there would be no lockout or strike. I was wrong, yet I could care less – it’s just ice hockey, a sport that never resonated enough curiosity, because it lacks crossover appeal and the ability to translate well into one’s living room.

B-Ball is a different matter. It is easy to shoot solo or play a pick-up game with friends. Basketball has been the foremost expression of race and socio-economic warfare, in which black males continue to prosper.

NBA players are not only ballers on the court; they are also an international marketing force. Armed with guaranteed contracts that range up to 7 years, the players have learned how to flex their muscle by maneuvering to force trades and buyouts. These moves range from under-performing, airing their grievances in the media, to just plain sulking.

The season started with Lattrell Sprewell’s ‘have to feed my family’ statement. Though the media took it out of context in order to blow it out of proportion, Sprewell articulated what many in management wanted to squash, as they entered this final year of the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The two sides of the agreement are the players who are represented by the NBA Players Association; and the league (team owners), as represented by the commissioner’s office. NBA Commissioner David Stern is a proven shrewd marketer and negotiator. In the same sentence, he often points to the vitality and malaise plaguing the NBA.

Except for the brawl in Detroit between fans and players, this season, Stern has been tolerant of the players’ antics. Here is a representative sample, from just New York and New Jersey: Shandon Anderson, Alonzo Mourning, Vince Carter, and Elden Campbell.

New Jersey Nets president Rod Thorn was on the brink of leaving the organization after the new ownership indicated it planned to “bottom out” the next few years, in order to save cash, until the team’s move to Brooklyn. Somewhere along the line, owner Bruce Rattner listened to the fans and players, eventually deciding this was not the way to go.

Battling through a season filled with injuries and players grumbling, Thorn has made many moves to stabilize the team. Though the Vince Carter trade was the coup, other moves confirm why Thorn was the league’s Executive of the Year for the 2001-2002 season.

In claiming Elden Campbell off the waiver wire, Thorn achieved two goals: get a big man to help his depleted front line; and prevent Detroit from getting Campbell back after trading him, with expectations that the Utah Jazz would waive the player.

Thorn also knew Campbell only wanted to play for Detroit, and proceeded with the showdown. Campbell played very few minutes, was ineffective and generally looked unhappy. By buying out Campbell, the league once again backed down; or so it appears.

The league is in essence playing Ali’s rope-a-dope with the players. At the negotiating table, while NBA Players Association union director Billy Hunter points to healthy fiscal numbers, Stern will cite these player power moves as proof that contracts favor players, and the need to curb long-term guaranteed contracts.

As one who frowns at non-guaranteed NFL contracts and a players union who allow teams to cut veterans for the most asinine, money-driven reasons, I agree with the NBA. Long-term, guaranteed NBA contracts need restructuring, but not as one-sided as the league would like.

Suggestions:

1. Maximum number of contract years to decrease down to 4 years. Increase first year minimum dollar value by 25%, and keep the same yearly escalating scale.

2. A player to sit out half of remaining contract’s length, after a buyout worth at least 50% of contract’s total value. If another team agrees to acquire the player, then the new team takes the remaining percentage balance of the contract, plus the salary cap hit of the former team.

3. A player traded who then clears waivers is to be paid two times the original salary if reacquired during the same season by the team who traded him.

4. The Jimmy Jackson Rule: traded to a “non-contending” team during the season, a player with more than 10 years experience who does not report can be suspended and fined by the acquiring team. But, the fine is to be paid by the team that traded him, and player’s salary still counts against said team’s salary cap.

Though I am quite sure the two-sides will come up with their own working agreements, these suggestions point to the compromise needed by both parties in order to avoid another NBA lockout.