Here you are, thanks for alerting me.
I had to find it first........it did not show on Insider, had to go to regular ESPN.
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Chat: NBA Age Limit with Chad Ford
Welcome to The Show! On Tuesday, ESPN NBA Insider Chad Ford will drop by to take your questions on the NBA age limit proposition.
Ford writes the daily NBA Insider column for
ESPN Insider. He also in a frequent contributer to ESPN.com and ESPN the Magazine and makes weekly apperances on ESPN Radio and ESPNEWS.
Chad Ford: Hey everyone. Thanks for coming. They've asked me to come in and talk a little about the state of the CBA negotiations. I'll also try to sneak in a question or two about the draft and the Finals. Let's roll.
Matt (Portland): Are the owners and the players far enough along in the negotiations to have a deal done before current CBA expires?
Chad Ford: The sources I talked to on both sides of the table are saying yes. They say all the major issues have been resolved. They're meeting today in New York in an effort to hammer out the smaller ones. Still awaiting word on what happened at those meetings. If things went well, an announcement could come as soon as today. If they didn't, we'll just have to keep waiting.
Chad Ford: Just got word that the NBA and the Union will hold a press conference at 4 p.m. at the SBC center to announce that they've come to terms on a deal.
Joe Mama, Chicago : Is there an age limit for this chat? I'm only 17.
Chad Ford: Good one, Joe.
Midlothian, TX: Chad, Do you think the proposed age limit of 19 encourages high school kids to attend prep school for another year instead of possibly hurting their draft stock by going to college?
Chad Ford: It might. We don't know the details of the rule yet. It may prohibit this. It may not. If Stern really wants to keep GMs out of high school gyms, you've got to believe that the new rules will prohibit kids from using this loop hole.
Chad Ford: This is as probably as good a time as any to tell you that the agreement still needs to be drafted. We know the broad outline on where the two sides have agreed. We don't know many of the specifics of how each rule will work just yet. In fact, it may be several weeks.
Michael (San Francisco): How does this affect the negotiations on using the NBDL as a minor league? (i.e., will the CBA extend to players signing NBDL contracts, whether they are under the auspices of a NBA team or not). How are the NBDL discussions going?
Chad Ford: From what I've heard, both sides have agreed to expanding the NBDL to 15 teams with two teams sharing one NBDL team. In essence it's a real minor league. Don't know when it will go into effect, but it sounds like it's going to happen. Something that both sides agreed to early on.
Larry (Davis, CA): In your article on the new CBA I didn't see any mention of changes to the league's drug policy. Will there be a stricter performance enhancing drug policy as part of the new CBA?
Chad Ford: It will be changed. As it stands veteran's get tested once per season. My understanding is that under the current proposal it will be increased to four times per season.
Eric (Philly): What are the other details being worked out in the CBA? Salary cap, free agency...
Chad Ford: Salary cap will go up from $43.8 million to between $47-50 million (we won't know the exact number until the revenues for the season are calculated). That's great news for a handful of teams like Cleveland, Atlanta, the Clippers and Bobcats who are already under the cap.
Chad Ford: Maximum contract lengths will be shortened to 6 years if a player re-signs with his own team and 5 years if he signs with a new team.
Chad Ford: Sorry, I've got to run and write the story on this development. Thanks for coming and I'll come back and do another full chat soon.
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