Y13 [EN]: Chapter 173

Y13-173 2011 Off-Season

July 1, 2011

[NBA Lockout After 13 Years…]

The NBA has entered a lockout as of 00:00 today. The NBA league office and the players’ union failed to reach a new agreement to replace the collective bargaining agreement (CBA), which expired on June 30, leading to the third lockout in 13 years since 1998.

The two major entities representing the NBA league, the owners’ group and the union, are in fierce conflict over the application of the salary cap system, which is currently a total salary limit system.

The owners argue that the recent excessive increase in players’ salaries has led to increased deficits, and they are proposing to change the salary cap system from a soft cap to a hard cap. It seems they haven’t been able to avoid the fallout from the economic recession following the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States.

A hard cap is a system that does not allow exceeding the NBA salary cap of $58 million last season for any reason. A soft cap allows teams to spend more than the salary cap on players through various exception clauses.

On the other hand, the players’ union is strongly opposed to changing the salary cap system because it believes that players’ income will inevitably decrease if the soft cap system is changed to a hard cap.

In response, the owners argue that introducing a hard cap system will equalize the power of the 30 teams, leading to more exciting matches.

The owners have also proposed reducing the current regulation that allows players to take 57% of NBA revenue to 39%, but the players are only willing to concede up to 54.3%. The difference of opinion is too great compared to the conflicts during previous lockouts, making the opening of the season uncertain.

Other major issues include the maximum contract length (owners: 4 years for existing teams, 3 years for new teams VS players: 6 years for existing teams, 5 years for new teams), sign-and-trade (owners: prohibited VS players: liquidity expansion), and CBA validity period (owners: 10 years, players: 5 years). In addition, both sides are in sharp conflict with proposals for 8 clauses each, including the abolition of the draft age limit and the creation and modification of exception clauses.

The lockout has prevented free agent negotiations, which were scheduled to begin on July 1, and the NBA Summer League, which was scheduled to be held in Las Vegas, has been canceled. The holding of exhibition games in Europe has also become uncertain.

During the lockout, all NBA operations will be suspended. All contact between players and teams, including contract negotiations, is prohibited, and players will not be able to use training facilities.

Re: Seriously… does that mean there won’t be a 2011-2012 season?

Re: That’s not true. If negotiations are settled before the opening, the season will open normally, or it may be held as a shortened season like in 1998.

Re: Hmm… isn’t this advantageous for the players? Players can take a salary cut and go to other leagues, but what are the owners going to do without players…

Re: That’s not true. Players who are not free agents can’t go to other leagues, and they suffer because they can’t receive training or management at their home stadium. Money is a problem, and they can go downhill if they don’t manage their bodies like Shawn Kemp. Rich players don’t care, but players who receive low salaries will be hit hard.

Re: That’s right. That’s why the players’ union eventually surrendered first in the 98-99 season.

Re: I heard some players are going to advance to Europe?

Re: They can’t do that as they please. This requires the approval of FIBA (International Basketball Federation), and they won’t make it that easy.

“Hoo…. It’s finally been officially declared.”

Youngjae recalled Duffy’s message from last night.

‘Yoon, the NBA Secretariat will officially declare a lockout soon. Spend the remaining time as you have prepared in advance. Contact me if anything else is needed later.’

[Please visit the office after training.]

“??”

Youngjae looked at his smartphone after showering following training, and for some reason, there was a message left by Duffy. It seemed that he was considerate of him because it was daytime. Youngjae had been staying in a hotel near LA for three weeks after the lockout, training daily with Jonas at a gym affiliated with the agency, BDM, so the office was nearby.

“Jonas, I have to go to the office today, so I’ll head out. See you tomorrow.”

“Ah, Youngjae. Then I’ll be on my way too. Get some rest, and see you tomorrow.”

Youngjae said goodbye to Jonas, who had trained and showered together, and packed his bags. After leaving the training center, Youngjae sent a text message to Duffy and drove to the company.

“Duffy. It’s Yoon. What’s going on?”

“Haha, please sit down first. I asked you to come because there are a few things I need to tell you while you’re in the area. And there’s someone I need to introduce you to.”

“It hasn’t been a few weeks since we met last time, did something else happen? And someone to introduce?”

Youngjae was puzzled that Duffy had called him when it hadn’t been three weeks since they had met. Moreover, someone to introduce to him? He had never asked Duffy to find or get someone for him since Jonas, so he couldn’t help but be more curious.

“I’ll explain each of them one by one. First of all, there are some things I need to reconfirm about the national team issue. That’s why I asked you to come in person instead of by email or phone.”

Duffy took a deep breath for a moment, took a sip of water in front of him, and slowly began to speak.

“The lockout has caused an emergency for each national basketball association and players due to insurance issues. Under normal circumstances, NBA players participating in the national team could subscribe to insurance guaranteed by the NBA Secretariat in preparation for injuries that may occur during FIBA [International Basketball Federation] competitions. Even if they were injured and unable to play, their salaries were guaranteed. However, as all support for players has been cut off due to the lockout, this insurance has also lost its effect. Each basketball association has to solve the insurance money for the players themselves without NBA support, but the amount is not easy because they are such big names.”

Youngjae had a slightly embarrassed expression. Originally, the NBA Secretariat would take out insurance to cover the salaries of injured players. The team could save the amount actually spent on the salary of a player who could not play in the salary cap through insurance. The player was to preserve his salary. Youngjae had never imagined that this would be a problem because it had always been the case.

“This is the first time I’ve heard of this. I never imagined this would be a problem. What are the reactions of other players?”

“Other players are also being careful. Most of them say that it is difficult to play unless the association solves the insurance money. It is understandable. This is the same for European players who take it for granted to participate in the national team. For example, Tony Parker and your colleague J.J. Barea also want to join the national team even if a lockout occurs, but they say that it is difficult to participate unless the insurance issue is resolved.”

Bill Duffy continued to talk while looking at the data in front of him.

“For now, FIBA and the NBA are scheduled to talk, but it’s best not to expect good results. And France, Russia, and Spain seem to be preparing insurance money at the association level. The problem is Asia. China seems to be preparing insurance money for Yi Jianlian, and Iran’s Haddadi doesn’t seem to be returning to the NBA. In other words, the prevailing expectation is that these two will participate without any problems. If this happens, the Korean Association will be in trouble…”

Duffy shook his head as if he was fed up.

“They showed me a rather embarrassing reaction. According to my calculations, the insurance money required to subscribe to insurance guaranteed during the rookie scale contract period is about $130,000 (about 140 million won [Korean currency]). Fortunately, Yoon’s salary is cheap, so the insurance money is cheap compared to the long contract period and good skills.”

“What kind of reaction is it? I think the reaction I’m thinking of will come out of Duffy’s mouth…”

Youngjae could only smile bitterly again. It was obvious what Duffy would say. It was well known that the Korean Basketball Association, which supports the national team, was poor. There was no way they could pay his insurance money of over 100 million won. They would just shout patriotism and the country, and ask if he would not come to the national team with that. And if he didn’t go, his image would fall to the bottom with all sorts of media play.

There have been cases in Korea where major leaguers or overseas soccer players refused to join the national team, citing injuries or team adaptation, but this was the story when there was still an excuse. In his current situation, there was no reason to excuse himself. It was not during the season, nor was he transferring teams, nor was he injured.

“Looking at Yoon’s expression, it seems that he knows what I want to say. The Korean Basketball Association said that they don’t have the money to pay for insurance and that they just shouldn’t get injured. They also said that they don’t know why they don’t come when the country calls, even though it’s not during the season or injured.”

“I thought so. Then… if I have to go to the national team, what do you think I should do?”

Duffy was taken aback by Youngjae’s unexpected remark. Do I have to go to the national team? Duffy, who had been watching Youngjae, knew he wasn’t a very patriotic player, and he wasn’t the type to take losses unless it was for his own benefit or for someone he trusted.

“You have to go? Can I ask why?”

“Anyway… Korea is my country. I don’t have many ties, but that’s an undeniable fact. I’ll take a little loss, but I think the honor of representing the country is worth that much loss.”

Duffy’s eyes narrowed as he listened to Youngjae’s words. The Youngjae that Duffy knew didn’t seem to hold such values or image at all. He wasn’t the kind of person who would do that just for such a sense of honor.

“Haha, you’re waiting for me to tell you the truth. The reason before is not wrong. However, I want to live as a Korean in the future. But if I refuse the national team because of money, my image will fall to the bottom. If I refuse, the media will focus on me, and in Korea, if you refuse the national team, public opinion will completely turn around. Even if I look at it practically, I think it’s right to go to the national team, bearing some financial loss, if I want to maintain my Korean nationality.”

Duffy nodded as if he understood.

“Image, image… I didn’t think about that. Since you’re the only Korean player in the NBA, I didn’t think about that. Certainly, a lot of your advertising and sponsorship offers are from Korean companies. The amount was higher than I imagined. It was at a level that I could never receive in the United States. That means it can backfire.”

“That’s right. The three advertisements that Duffy picked out, just shooting those will far exceed my salary for this season. It’s almost ten times the insurance money. It’s better to look at it practically as well as honor. In the long run, if I increase my skills and awareness, my additional income will increase even more.”

In terms of additional income, there was no need to turn to American nationality while enduring invisible discrimination while being called a stranger or mercenary. In addition, no matter how global the era is, even if Youngjae changes his nationality in the NBA league, which has a huge pool of talent like the United States, there were still a lot of guards who could be selected as the American national team right away.

Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, Derrick Rose, Kobe Bryant, Deron Williams, etc… There was no reason to pick an Asian guard who changed his nationality as a national team when there were so many stellar players. In addition, if he maintains his Korean nationality and plays for the national team, he could earn profits that cannot be compared to American nationality in terms of money. Even if the popularity of basketball in Korea hits the bottom, it was an undeniable fact that the heat of the NBA that had cooled down was heating up again just by the existence of Youngjae.

I could be fed up with the KBL’s [Korean Basketball League’s] mess, but if I look at it from a cold business perspective, I could get much better treatment and benefits than moving to American nationality if I had a little patience.

============================ Work Review ============================

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＠There are a lot of stories to tell because it’s the first off-season since the lockout. The insurance money issue is real. France and Russia paid hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars in insurance money from the association and dispatched players. Spain paid 5.67 million dollars (about 6.3 billion won) in insurance money for NBA leaguers. The Gasol brothers, Jose Calderon, Rudy Fernandez, Serge Ibaka, and Ricky Rubio are Spanish national team members.

Britain gave up because Luol Deng’s insurance money was $500,000. Australia also gave up because Bogut and Mills exceeded $1 million. The UK has automatic qualification as the host country, and Australia gave up because there is no problem in winning the qualification in Oceania without those two.

To be honest, I wrote it assuming that the Korean Basketball Association would not spend 150 million won for one player. If they had that money, they would have hired more power analysts or coaches. At that time, they didn’t even properly grasp the roster of the Asian competition team. The directors had to get the games of the opposing teams through personal connections;;;

Eunseolya/// You’re the first commenter again today. Well, it’s still cool in the evening ㅎㅎ

Don’t get in the way/// ㅠ.ㅠ I tried to write it easily yesterday.

Gayeon Eul Lee, ㅎ0ㅎ/// I’m glad ㅎㅎ. Thanks to you, it got a little longer

-DarkANGEL-, goimosp/// I’m glad it was easy to read. Last season, Youngjae had a lot of catch-and-shoot scores due to the team’s characteristics. He’s a slasher, but it happened because his spot-up was so good. Barea is almost a ball hog, so when he catches the ball, he only breaks through, but Youngjae is versatile, so it happened more. And even if you increase your free throw ability, Harden is impossible. Harden’s upper body is really solid. Even if an average center bumps into him, he won’t lose his balance. The same goes for players like Wade and Rose… Youngjae will be closer to Nash, Ginobili, Parker, and Curry due to his physical characteristics. Harden’s free throw this season was close to 9 per game ㄷㄷ;; Wade also exceeded 10 in his prime…

Ultra 10/// There weren’t many slashers, so I assigned him the role of slasher, but he was too good at spot-up and off-the-ball moves to become a slasher like Tony Parker… Moreover, the team tactics themselves don’t use slashers much. As you said, catch and shot is higher than pull-up. But if you look at the previous episode, the difference is too big. The difference between 2 points and 3 points is more than 10%. Surprisingly, ball handlers shoot a lot of pull-up jumpers in the open. They isolate or fake and move to shoot, or screen and shoot. The percentage difference between pull-up and spot-up last year for Klay Thompson, a representative 3&D [three-point shooter and defender] and the Warriors’ 2nd option, is about 6%. If Youngjae is to become the finished version of the 1st option and slasher, he must reduce it to within 5%.

rtg98/// Slam Dunk~ It’s a masterpiece ㅋㅋ. But Youngjae is not a genius among geniuses ㄷㄷ

CountOfDark, Disappearing Soul, Financia, Puhengheong/// Thank you for your comments. Have a nice week!!

Yabes/// Um, I still think Paul is above in terms of career. To be honest, Curry only passed it last year. Of course, there is a championship and MVP without Paul, but to be honest, Paul’s 07-08 season was better than Curry’s last year. Of course, the ability to lead a team to victory with personal skills may be a little different. Paul’s two seasons in his prime were really the pinnacle of point guards. Curry needs to spend at least 3 years in his prime to pass Paul. Paul is still top class. Last year’s mid-range success rate was 1st among guards. A/T ratio is also 1st. Of course, it’s just my subjective opinion. I don’t think the opinions of those who think Curry has passed Paul are wrong.