Kevin McHale: Class Act

"Corrections need to be made," McHale said. "We're kind of in the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac era of subprime loans. There's some subprime contracts. We've got to be able to have the government absorb them."

McHale thinks the players need to take a pay cut because the NBA's revenues have declined.

"I think you'll see a lot of changes coming down the road," McHale said. "I think that the players' association knows it. You've got to put up the good fight, but I mean, you're not going to get a lot of sympathy from fans for the amount of money and stuff. But there will be changes."

McHale is correct. The owners shouldn't bear all of the losses.

However, what McHale fails to point out is that no player has more of impact on the Timberwolves' bottom line that McHale. 

If fans aren't buying tickets to see the Timberwolves play, is it not in large part because they are a terrible team? (The macroeconimic situation is not the only driver of NBA revenue.)

Who has more on fluence on whether the Timberwolves are competitive than McHale? Maybe 2 people? Certainly no one from the player's association.

You might say the players need to take a pay cut because the owners have done such a terrible job of building teams worth watching. (eg The Timberwolves)

But I liked how McHale, a former player, went ahead and took the owners' side. 

The truth is that a more sensible revenue sharing system would be healthier for both the players and the owners than simply asking the players to take less money. With better revenue sharing, more teams would be competitive, ticket sales would increase, and there would be more money for both sides to share.

I'm not saying you could sign Marko Jaric for whatever McHale decided to pay and have it make financial sense. I'm just saying there are more problems than the players contracts and more solutions than having the players give in.

But I can see how McHale would make the connection between billionaires negotiating with millionaires and poor people losing their homes.

At least the Mayo-Love swap doesn't look as bad anymore.