Ira Winderman
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Jordan angry at TV-league deal
October 31, 1998
Face it, Michael Jordan has taken far
too public a stance in the lockout for
someone supposedly contemplating
retirement.
The lockout may even provide a bonus
upon a potential Jordan return -- no more
suck-up jobs to NBC crony Ahmad Rashad.
Among those angered by the NBA's
television partners agreeing to pay the
league even if games were canceled, Jordan
has suggested some sort of boycott once
play resumes.
"I'm not saying that the players
shouldn't give interviews," he said. "But
I'm saying that they should remember what
(the networks) did.
"I know that TV gives the league and
players exposure by televising games. But
when they come to us for interviews, maybe
we should also take that into
consideration."
And that begs the familiar question:
If Michael Jordan ceases to be Rashad's
on-air confidant, does Ahmad cease to
exist?
As for Jordan's assault on ownership
at the most recent negotiation session,
well, that doesn't figure to subside
anytime soon.
"The owners are trying to get us to
(balance) their checkbooks for them," he
said. "It's like you moving into a
neighborhood and you find that you don't
want to pay the high mortgage. So you ask
your neighbors to pass the hat and take up
a collection to enable you to pay your
mortgage.
"If you can't afford the
responsibility, then you should sell the
house."
Using that logic, does it mean that
fans pushed to their breaking point by
ever-increasing ticket prices should just
drop out as season-ticket holders?
SCHEDULING NIGHTMARE
Common sense says only so many games
fit into a five-month schedule. But common
sense obviously has become a fleeting
notion in today's NBA.
Because of that, there has to be
concern about this concept of "recapturing"
games lost to the lockout.
Short of the absurdity of playing
three games in three nights, there are not
enough dates available to make up for the
15 or so games lost with a Dec. 4 start.
Using the Heat's schedule as an
example, leaving out Christmas Eve,
Christmas Day and the All-Star break, the
only dates available for extra games that
would not require three consecutive days of
play would be Dec. 7; Dec. 13 or Dec. 14;
Dec. 22 or Dec. 23; Dec. 26; Jan. 6; Feb.
25; March 5; and April 14 or April 15.
That's eight days out of what should be the
entire season. Two more dates could be
salvaged by playing on the Friday before
and the Monday after the All-Star break
(Feb. 12 and 15).
To "recapture" enough dates for the
players to receive a full 82-game paycheck,
the season would have to be extended two
weeks.
The upshot either could be a modified
postseason or one that includes a
significant number of back-to-back playoff
dates.
Commissioner David Stern hints in
Sporting News of such a format change.
"If we lose a substantial amount of
the season, it wouldn't be fair to go to a
regular playoff," he said. "There'd be all
kinds of variations we'd have to look at.
We're not that experienced at this because
we've never had to deal with it before."
SPREE'S SUIT
Timberwolves Vice President Kevin
McHale couldn't contain himself when it
came to Latrell Sprewell's recent suit
against agent Arn Tellem. The Warriors
guard is seeking damages for Tellem's
failure to insert a contract clause
protecting Sprewell from a conduct-related
loss of salary.
At the time Sprewell went off on
Golden State coach P.J. Carlesimo last
December, fewer than 10 NBA players had
personal-conduct protection clauses in
their contracts.
"Is that ridiculous? That's
ludicrous," McHale said upon reading of
Sprewell's suit. "That's saying, 'Arn
Tellem should have gotten the conduct
clause out of my contract 'cause he knew I
was ready to snap.' Are you kidding me?"
McHale said Sprewell has displayed
multiple personalities with his actions.
"The thing that kills me was, the
first thing, he was really defiant. 'I
don't need basketball. I don't need
anybody. I don't care,' " the former
Celtics legend said. "Then he does
everything in his power to get back in and
everything."
LOCKOUT LOWDOWN
Determined to no longer be the best
player never to win a championship on the
college or pro levels, Shaquille O'Neal
recently sent personal letters to
teammates, urging them to stay in shape and
offering to rent out the Lakers' regular
practice facility for team sessions. Only
three players -- Derek Fisher, Eddie Jones
and Rick Fox -- immediately agreed to
return for such workouts. "There's really
no way we can expect to win a championship
if we just come back together sometime in
December on the fly and try to start
winning games," said Fisher, Los Angeles'
primary floor leader in light of the
draft-night trade of Nick Van Exel to the
Nuggets. . . .
The tap dance by the union over the
decline in attendance from the Las Vegas
rally (240 players) to the New York
negotiating session (no more than 100) was
interesting.
"The numbers were not what they were
in Vegas, because we dissuaded some to
come, to avoid putting them through the
expense," said Billy Hunter, executive
director of the union. With an average
player salary of $2.6 million, a coach
ticket on AirTrans and night at the Holiday
Inn hardly could be described as a
budget-breaker. . . .
For someone who said he planned to
take a more hands-on approach to his
career, 76ers guard Allen Iverson failed to
make it to either the Las Vegas or New York
union meetings.
KARL'S COMMENTS
Weep not about missing out on Karl
Malone's radio show, currently heard only
in Los Angeles and Salt Lake City.
A recent segment featured the Jazz
power forward telling the general manager
of his car dealership in New Mexico,
"You're on in L.A. and Salt Lake, so say hi
to all your friends in Albuquerque."
Another gem from Malone was a claim
that Utah hunters pump $3 billion annually
into the state's economy.
Malone also said that if Texas Gov.
George Bush were elected president, he and
his father would be the first
father-and-son duo ever elected to the post
(uh Karl, you may want to run that by John
and John Quincy Adams).
LOW EXPECTATIONS, TOO
The Clippers being the Clippers have
opted for low-key and low-paid when it
comes to their next coach. Expect incumbent
assistant Jim Brewer to get the nod at an
absurdly low $200,000 per season, about
three percent of what the league's top-paid
coaches earn. . . .
By the time the accounting is over,
the Nets' new ownership group could include
33 names. "What's the tally up to?
Fifty-two? Fifty-three?" forward Keith Van
Horn said. "I never saw the last owners so
I don't expect to see these owners,
either." . . .
Chris Gatling apparently is allergic
to New Jersey. After missing 24 games to
injury last season, the former Heat forward
underwent surgery in late September on his
right ankle. For those who forgot, no
sooner was Gatling obtained by the Nets in
a nine-player trade with Dallas on Feb. 17,
1997 than he played three games, developed
an ear infection and subsequent paralysis,
and missed the rest of that season.
Ira Winderman's NBA column appears
Sundays.
Copyright 1998, Sun-Sentinel Co. and South Florida
Interactive, Inc.