Chris McCoskey of the Detroit News reports that there are a lot of jobless NBA players out there and they are not happy. Frustration is building in the NBA veterans who are being negatively effected by the new financial climate in the league.

They claim the current Collective bargaining Agreement is to blame. "I think it has (become unfair)," said Greg Foster, 34, who was out of the league until this week, when he was signed by injury-depleted Toronto. "But you know, who's to blame except us? We voted on the deal, simple as that."

"It's unfortunate, but obviously I think it has to change," Foster said. "There are a lot of pretty good players still out there floating around. We have all these rules (in the agreement) to help veteran players, but that has turned around and it's killing us. Having veteran minimums (salaries that increase yearly based on years of service) and those types of things are hurting guys."

Many teams are choosing to go with younger, less expensive players instead of tested NBA veterans. In addition, many teams are no longer keeping the full 15 players on the roster in order to keep payrolls beneath the luxury-tax threshold. The Celtics, for example, are keeping just 12 and refused to add a player when Kedrick Brown suffered an injury.

This leaves several capable veterans like Grant Long, Dana Barros, Tony Massenburg, George McCloud, Jim Jackson, Danny Manning, Greg Anthony, Dell Curry,and Bryant Stith out of work.

Pistons forward Michael Curry, who is president of the NBA Players Association, doesn?t blame the CBA. Curry believes that the influx of foreign-born players and an increase in high school, junior college and college underclassmen has decreased the number of available spots for these veterans.

Curry also points out that there are several players who have been able to work themselves into a good contract during these trying times. He mentioned players such as Matt Harpring, Jerome James, Bruce Bowen, Greg Buckner, Kendall Gill, Malik Rose, Corliss Williamson and Chauncey Billups as examples of veteran players who managed to earn excellent contracts within this climate.

Curry contends that the players have to adapt to the new system. "We are going to a system now where it's important that you show what you can contribute to a team and show what type of person you are, as far as your conduct on and off the court," Curry said. "These veteran players who don't have jobs, I guarantee you most could have gone to a camp and tried to earn a job. The problem is, they wouldn't have been given a guarantee and a lot of veteran players don't want to go to a camp without a guarantee. But that's the way it is now."