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2B Daily News – Friday, July 1, 2011 NBAto lock out players A’s NEW YORK (AP) — The NBA’s thrilling season came with a high price tag. LeBron’s move to Miami and Dirk’s title in Dallas couldn’t hide a simple fact: Owners insisted they were losing money, perhaps $300 million this season, and weren’t interested in subsidizing a system they felt guaran- teed they’d keep losing more. So the NBA will lock out its play- ers, a long-expected move that puts the 2011-12 season in jeopardy and comes as the NFL is trying to end its own work stoppage that began in March. The latest lockout begins at 12:01 EDT on Friday. It will last until player and owners can agree on a new collec- tive bargaining agreement, one owners demand must give all teams a chance to profit. ‘‘We had a great year in terms of the appreciation of our fans for our game. It just wasn’t a profitable one for the owners, and it wasn’t one that many of the smaller market teams particularly enjoyed or felt included in,’’ Commis- sioner David Stern said. ‘‘The goal here has been to make the league prof- itable and to have a league where all 30 teams can compete.’’ Despite a three-hour meeting Thursday and a final proposal from the players — which NBA leaders said would have raised average player salaries to $7 million in the sixth year of the deal — the sides could not close the enormous gulf between their posi- tions. ‘‘The problem is that there’s such a gap in terms of the numbers, where they are and where we are, and we just can’t find any way to bridge that gap,’’ union chief Billy Hunter said. All league business is officially on hold, starting with the free agency peri- od that would have opened Friday. The NBA’s summer league in Las Vegas already has been canceled, preseason games in Europe were never sched- uled, and players might have to decide if they want to risk playing in this sum- mer’s Olympic qualifying tournaments without the NBA’s help in securing insurance in case of injury. And teams will be prohibited from having any contact with their players, most of whom won’t be paid until a deal is done but insist they’ll hang in anyway. ‘‘We’re going to stand up for what we have to do, no matter how long it’s going to take,’’ Thunder star Kevin Durant told The Associated Press. ‘‘No matter how long the lockout’s going to take, we’re going to stand up. We’re not going to give in.’’ The lockout comes exactly one year after one of the NBA’s most anticipat- ed days in recent years, when James, Dwyane Wade and the rest of the cele- brated class of 2010 became free agents. That free agency bonanza — high- light by the James, Wade, Chris Bosh trio in Miami — got the league started on a season where ticket and merchan- dise sales, ratings and buzz were all up. That weakened the owners’ case that the system was broken beyond repair, but it also demonstrated why they wanted changes, with Stern saying owners feel pressured to spend as much as possible to prove their com- mitment to winning to fans. The last lockout reduced the 1998- 99 season to just a 50-game schedule, the only time the NBA missed games for a work stoppage. Hunter said it’s too early to be concerned about that. ‘‘I hope it doesn’t come down to that,’’ he said. ‘‘Obviously, the clock is now running with regard to whether or not there will or will be a loss of games, and so I’m hoping that over the next month or so that there will be sort of a softening on their side and maybe we have to soften our position as well.’’ The NBA appeared headed this route from the start of negotiations. Owners said they lost hundreds of mil- lions in every season of this CBA, rati- fied in 2005. League officials said 22 of the 30 teams would lose money. So they took a hard-line stance from the start, with their initial proposal in 2010 calling for a hard salary cap sys- tem, reducing contract lengths and eliminating contract guarantees, as well as reducing player salary costs by about $750 million annually. Though the proposal was withdrawn after a contentious meeting with players at the 2010 All-Star weekend, the league never moved from its wish list until recently, and Hunter said he believes negotiations never recovered from that rocky beginning. The union had previously filed an unfair labor charge against the league with the National Labor Relations Board for unfair bargaining practices, complaining the NBA’s goal was to avoid meaningful negotiation until a lockout was in place. Despite frequent meetings this month, the sides just didn’t make much progress. Owners want to reduce the players’ guarantee of 57 percent of basketball revenue and weren’t moved by the players’ offer to drop it to 54.3 percent — though players said that would have cut their salaries by $500 million over five years. They sparred over the league’s char- acterization of its ‘‘flex’’ salary cap proposal — players considered it a hard cap, which they oppose — and any chance of a last-minute deal was quickly lost Thursday when league officials said the union’s move was in the wrong direction financially. ‘‘I don’t think we’re closer; in fact it worries me that we’re not closer. We have a huge philosophical divide,’’ Stern said. Hunter said he hopes the two sides will meet again in the next two weeks, after the union has looked at some additional documents it requested. The players’ association seems unlikely, at least for now, to follow the NFLPA’s model by decertifying and taking the battle into the court system, instead choosing to continue negotia- tions. Hunter said last week he felt owners believe the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis, which is debating the legality of the NFL’s lock- out, will uphold employers’ rights to impose lockouts. ‘‘We’ll just continue to ask our fans to stick with us and remain patient with us. As players we want to play. That’s who we are; we’re basketball players,’’ Lakers guard and union president Derek Fisher said. ‘‘Right now we’re faced with dealing with the business aspect of our game. We’re going to do it the same way we play basketball. We’re going to work hard. We’re going to be focused. We’re going to be dedi- cated to getting the results that we want.’’ About 90 percent of NBA players get paid from Nov. 15 through April 30, so they won’t be missing checks for a while. But Stern has warned that the offers only get worse once a lockout starts, so the league could try to push through elements of its original propos- al when bargaining resumes. ‘‘The fortunate thing about this situ- ation is it didn’t just come up over the past couple of weeks,’’ Hornets guard and players’ executive committee member Chris Paul said at an event in Louisiana. ‘‘We’ve known this could be a possibility the past couple of years. I’ve been telling my teammates the past couple of years, and even the young guys that come in the league, to just be ready for it.’’ (Continued from page 1A) ‘‘It was a difficult day for everybody,’’ A’s manager Bob Melvin said. ‘‘He’s a guy everybody respects. I’m glad Billy sent him to a team who might be playing for something. It would have been hard getting him at-bats here. Billy wasn’t necessari- ly looking for the best deal. He was looking for a good landing spot for Mark.’’ It was a difficult day on the field as well, with Trevor Cahill (8-6) getting knocked out in the fifth inning and the A’s managing just one unearned run in seven innings against Chris Volstad (4-7). Oakland did not score an earned run all series. The strong start by Vol- stad helped Florida end a miserable month with con- secutive wins for the first time in more than a month. The Marlins had won three of their first 26 games in June before the strong starts by Ricky Nolasco and Vol- stad gave them their first consecutive victories and first series win since sweep- ing the Giants across the bay in San Francisco on May 24- 26. ‘‘It was a rough one,’’ Volstad said. ‘‘Hopefully this is a step forward and we can keep building off of this and go into Texas and keep play- ing the way we played these last two games.’’ Nothing went right for the Marlins in between their two trips to the Bay Area as they fell from second place to last, fired hitting coach John Mallee, had manager Edwin Rodriguez resign and had lost 14 straight losses in one-run games before this victory. That turned around for Jack McKeon’s team during the three games against the offensively challenged Ath- letics. ‘‘There’s a little momen- tum,’’ McKeon said. ‘‘They have a good feeling about themselves. All we need to do is win three or four in a row and who knows, maybe it will snowball.’’ Volstad allowed seven Help Our Friends & Place Your business Info in the Daily News for only $25 “Paws & Claws” Adopt A Pet Page runs the last Saturday of every month. To be a Pet Sponsor call Suzy at the Red Bluff Daily (530) 527-2151 ext. 103 Let’s all help the Tehama County & Corning Animal Shelters find homes for these pets. Tehama County Department of Animal Services, Red Bluff This pet sponsored by THE AQUARIUM & PETS 345 So. Main St. Red Bluff 527-4588 Jasper Border Collie [Mix] Male Corning Animal Shelter This pet sponsored by CABERNET APARTMENTS & DUPLEXES 15 Cabernet Ct. Red Bluff 529-0879 Mamma Mia Labrador Retriever Female Corning Animal Shelter This pet sponsored by SUNSHINE CLEANERS 238 S. Main St., Red Bluff 527-0363 Jack Russell Terrier [Mix] Male Nascar hits and an unearned run after an error by third base- man Jose Lopez in the sev- enth inning to win his second straight start after a career- long six-game losing streak. Coco Crisp added a solo homer off Edward Mujica in the eighth inning and Kurt Suzuki hit a two-run shot off Leo Nunez in the ninth to give the A’s their first multi- homer game since May 24 against Anaheim. Nunez recovered for his 22nd save in 25 chances. The Marlins struck first with consecutive doubles by Hanley Ramirez and Logan Morrison to open the second inning against Trevor Cahill (8-6). Ramirez held up ini- tially on Morrison’s drive to right, but scored when David DeJesus’ relay throw to Weeks was low for an error. There was an odd play in the top of the third inning when Florida had runners on first and third with one out. Omar Infante ran from first on a 3-2 pitch that Gaby Sanchez took for a walk. Suzuki threw to second base anyway, but Weeks cut off the throw and threw out Emilio Bonifacio at home. Florida then chased Cahill with four runs in a fifth inning that started with a couple of infield hits. Boni- facio led off with a bunt sin- gle, stole second and went to third on a sacrifice. With two outs, Ramirez reached on a swinging bunt down the third-base line that Adam Rosales didn’t pick up in hopes it would roll foul. The ball died inches from the foul line, giving Ramirez an RBI single. That started a run of four straight hits with Morrison knocking in a run with an RBI single and Buck ending Cahill’s day with his two-run double to center field. Cahill allowed five runs — four earned — and nine hits in 4 2-3 innings, mark- ing the third time in five starts that he has failed to make it through five innings. ‘‘My stuff wasn’t as sharp,’’ Cahill said. ‘‘The first two times through the lineup I was able to keep the damage to a minimum but the third time around was tough. I didn’t have anything to show them. Everything was not as sharp.’’ MLB West Division Texas East Division American League WL Pct GB 43 39 .524 — Angels 42 40 .512 1 Seattle 39 42 .481 3.5 A’s 36 46 .439 7 WL Pct GB New York 48 31 .608 — Boston 46 34 .575 2.5 Tampa Bay 45 36 .556 4 Toronto 40 42 .488 9.5 Baltimore 35 43 .449 12.5 Central Division WL Pct GB Detroit 44 38 .537 — Cleveland 42 37 .532 .5 Chicago 40 42 .488 4 Minnesota 34 45 .430 8.5 Kansas City 33 48 .407 10.5 West Division National League WL Pct GB GIANTS 46 36 .561 — Arizona 44 38 .537 2 Colorado 39 42 .481 6.5 Padres 37 45 .451 9 Dodgers 36 46 .439 10 East Division WL Pct GB Philadelphia 51 31 .622 — Atlanta 47 35 .573 4 New York 41 40 .506 9.5 Washington 40 41 .494 10.5 Florida 36 45 .444 14.5 Central Division WL Pct GB Milwaukee 44 38 .537 — St. Louis 44 38 .537 — Pittsburgh 41 39 .513 2 Cincinnati 42 40 .512 2 Chicago 34 48 .415 10 Houston 29 53 .354 15 ————————————————— Thursday’s Games Chi.Cubs 5,San Francisco 2,13 innings Boston 5, Philadelphia 2 Chicago White Sox 6, Colorado 4, 10 innings Detroit 5, N.Y. Mets 2 Florida 5, Oakland 4 Houston 7, Texas 0 N.Y.Yankees 5, Milwaukee 0 Pittsburgh 6, Toronto 2 St. Louis 9, Baltimore 6 Today’s games San Francisco (Bumgarner 4-9) at Detroit (Penny 5-6), 4:05 p.m. Arizona (Collmenter 4-4) at Oakland (Harden 0-0), 7:05 p.m. Philadelphia (K.Kendrick 4-4) at Toronto (R.Romero 7-7), 10:07 a.m. Chicago White Sox (E.Jackson 4-6) at Chicago Cubs (R.Wells 1-2), 11:20 a.m. Pittsburgh (Morton 7-4) at Washington (Gorzelanny 2-6), 4:05 p.m. Cleveland (Masterson 5-6) at Cincinnati (Arroyo 7-6), 4:10 p.m. N.Y.Yankees (Nova 7-4) at N.Y. Mets (Niese 7-6), 4:10 p.m. St. Louis (Westbrook 6-4) at Tampa Bay (W.Davis 7-5), 4:10 p.m. Baltimore (Guthrie 3-9) at Atlanta (Jurrjens 10-3), 4:35 p.m. Boston (Wakefield 4-3) at Houston (Norris 4-6), 5:05 p.m. Florida (Ani.Sanchez 6-1) at Texas (Ogando 7-3), 5:05 p.m. Kansas City (Duffy 1-2) at Colorado (Nicasio 2-1), 5:10 p.m. Milwaukee (Gallardo 9-4) at Minnesota (Liriano 4-7), 5:10 p.m. L.A. Dodgers (Kuroda 5-9) at L.A.Angels (Chatwood 5-4), 7:05 p.m. San Diego (Moseley 2-7) at Seattle (Vargas 5-5), 7:10 p.m. NBA