No Basketball Association

The NBA Finals just ended in dramatic fashion with a game 7 that crowned San Antonio as the World Champions. Tomorrow is the beginning of the offseason with the NBA draft. This year's draft is stocked with underclassmen that have declared early with dollar signs in their eyes including two from the University of Kentucky (Azubuike and Morris, along with Chuck Hayes who is not listed on ESPN's draft board). It has been reported that UK was the 2nd hardest hit by the draft this year. But will Kentucky's sacrifice be all for not? On the heels of an NHL lockout that has soured hockey fans, will the NBA make the mistake of following suit? Here are a few key points that David Stern and union chief Billy Hunter are haggling over:

Minimum age requirement:
This has been called everything from stupid to racist. A minimum age of 19 to play pro ball will mean that a young man can be sent overseas for war before being allowed to make a living with his jumpshot. Seems nonsensical to me. The NBA is just trying to make it look like they care about these kids. Unless we make getting a college education (and even a collegiate national title) more attractive, kids are going to jump to the pros. And there are so few King James's out there, that we need to let these kids develop first, on and off the court.

Raises and contract length:
Players can receive a 12.5% annual raise if they stay with their team or 10% if they sign with a new team. Owners want to cut this to 5%. There is definitely some middle ground to work with here. The same goes for contract length. Players can sign guaranteed contracts for a maximum of seven years with their current team or six with a new team. The league wants to cut those numbers to four and three. It seems to me the owners are the ones that would have to step in here. If you get six years out of every seven year contract, keep offering them. If you get about three years out of a seven year contract, cut the players off.

There are some other issues including the salary cap, luxury tax and minimum number of players on each roster. The point is all these things are negotiable and should not prevent the NBA from holding court next season. If there is a lockout, the NBA could face a backlash much larger than the NHL and MLB (steriod testing) combined.