Matt Steinmetz: Good NBA Column

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   Published on December 6, 1998                     
                                                           
   NBA: MATT STEINMETZ                                     

   A novel notion: NBA labor war needs TV time

      * If Clinton and O.J. can testify before cameras, why can't the
        negotiations air, asks ex-Warrior Armstrong

   WITH THE NBA SEASON in peril, and the league and players still far
   apart in negotiations, it's as good a time as any for bold ideas to
   bring the sides together.

   And former Warriors guard B.J. Armstrong has some.

   "We need to get the media in on the negotiations," said Armstrong,
   now a member of the Charlotte Hornets. "I want fans to see what's
   going on. Now, if these guys make mistakes people will see it. If I
   make a mistake on the court, people see it. But if these guys are
   making mistakes, no one sees it. I want to look at (Commissioner)
   David Stern's face. I don't want to see sound bites. I want to see
   what he looks like and acts like at the table."

   Armstrong, a nine-year veteran and three-time member of Bulls
   championship teams, is part of a growing number of players frustrated
   by both sides' inability to hammer out a new collective bargaining
   agreement.

   "If I can see the O.J. (Simpson) trial, and I can see Bill Clinton
   testifying before Kenneth Starr, why can't I see negotiations on TV?"
   he said. "I want the media in on the sessions. I need to find out the
   truth because right now there are three sides to the truth: their
   side, our side and the truth. Right now, I don't know the truth."

   One truth is this: If the owner-imposed lockout goes on much longer,
   the season will be canceled and the commissioner, owners and players
   will do irreparable harm to the sport.

   Armstrong suggested that if the union negotiating team consisted of
   former senator and NBA player Bill Bradley, former player and union
   pioneer Oscar Robertson, former 76er Julius Erving (now a member of
   Magic management) and Bulls guard Michael Jordan, "this thing would
   be settled in five hours."

   Although the union and owners already have lost millions of dollars,
   the disintegration of the sport is a greater loss, according to
   Armstrong.

   "It's about the integrity of the game," Armstrong said. "I'm losing
   my dream. I dreamt about playing in the NBA ever since I was a little
   kid. That's all I ever wanted."

   MAGIC IN MINNESOTA: Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders, who already has
   transformed his team from the periphery to the playoffs, has used his
   idle time during the lockout to brush up on magic tricks.

   About once a week, Saunders visits an old storefront in downtown
   Minneapolis to meet with Larry Kahlow, owner of the Eagle Magic
   Store.

   "Magic is one of my hobbies," Saunders said. "I'm always messing
   around with it."

   Said Kahlow, who has known Saunders for 20 years: "Flip has been
   buying stuff off the shelf for years and years and years. He loves
   it. But there are only so many hours in the day. I think he would
   like more time to pursue it. He wants to learn some of the more
   complicated sleight-of-hand things that can fool people. I think
   we'll go until he's got his work back.

   "It's an interesting art, and for somebody who has to perform under
   pressure, they can lose themselves in it. When somebody gets into it,
   it can be really good therapy. They will put away their golf clubs
   and tennis rackets."

   Maybe for Saunders' next trick he can make the lockout disappear.

   MILLER TIME? NOT YET: Bucks coach George Karl said he considered
   hiring TNT analyst and Phoenix Mercury coach Cheryl Miller as an
   assistant coach, which would have made her the first female on an NBA
   staff.

   While coaching the Sonics, Karl sometimes talked of hiring a woman
   coach, rationalizing that since so many NBA players were raised by
   single mothers, there might be a natural connection between a female
   coach and players.

   "I actually discussed the possibility of Cheryl Miller with our
   management," Karl said. "We felt in a new situation it was better to
   go out and make the sure call, the confident call, than maybe take a
   chance. I think Cheryl Miller is a lady who could end up on an NBA
   bench someday ...

   "You've got to have players understand what you want and you've got
   to understand them more than they've ever been understood. There are
   some negatives that have to be worked out, but I honestly think it
   will happen someday soon."

   THE BONUS: One-time Bucks assistant and current coach at the
   University of Utah Rick Majerus comparing Rhode Island's Lamar Odom,
   who is likely to enter the NBA draft after one year in college, to
   Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, who bypassed college altogether for the
   NBA: "Odom's a great talent. He's such a talent that he'll be baited
   to go to the pros right away. I know he's got his 'friends,' and I
   put that in quotation marks, who are going to tell him, 'You're
   ready.' My first thought is that he's a tremendous talent. He can
   pass; he can shoot; he can rebound. My second thought is I hope he
   stays. ...Bryant is heading more in the direction of Dominique
   Wilkins than Michael Jordan."

   BOTTOM LINE: Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal on Dennis Rodman, who
   told Jay Leno on "The Tonight Show," that O'Neal is overpaid: "You
   put it on the air. I'll knock Rodman's ass out. Let's get down to the
   facts now. He played with Isiah (Thomas), one of the great players in
   the world. He got a ring. He played with Mike (Jordan), he got a
   ring. When he was by himself, what happened? When he was with San
   Antonio, what happened? They got sent home early. Last year, he was
   just hiding behind Michael Jordan and (Scottie) Pippen. They did all
   the work. All he did was rebound. In other words, he's a bum."

   Edition: LD,  Section: B,  Page: 8

  
                         © 1998 Contra Costa Times