[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Phil Jasner: Talks Show Progress
November 21, 1998
Movement is reported after talks go all day
by Phil Jasner
Daily News Sports Writer
Philosophical question: Can two groups talk
all day about finding a way to split $2
billion in revenue and get nowhere?
Answer: Probably not. Which means having
representatives of the NBA and the National
Basketball Players Association negotiate from
10:30 a.m. until about 11 p.m. should be
viewed as a good thing.
The two sides were locked in their first
full-scale collective bargaining session in
more than three weeks, searching for an
agreement that would end the lockout that has
been in place since July 1.
That it took all day?
"There's an old slogan -- the size of the
guillotine improves your hearing," NBA
commissioner David Stern said. "Maybe we hear
each other a little better, because the
guillotine is being sharpened . . . It's too
bad it has to come to this."
Did the owners threaten to walk out at one
point, as was rumored?
"I don't know if it was that dramatic,
though," said Orlando Magic free agent Danny
Schayes, one of about 20 players in
attendance.
The sides might communicate over the weekend,
but no formal talks were scheduled.
Stern, who met with reporters after the third
break of the day and again at the end of the
night, said there had been no acrimony. He
and deputy commissioner Russ Granik were
joined at the session by seven of the nine
members of the owners' labor relations
committee.
"The only raised voices have been in the
passion of the deal," Stern said, "and we'll
try to see if we can make progress. Everyone
seems determined to sit here and sit here and
sit here. I'd say there's been movement on
both sides."
A little levity?
"I think we're at a point where we'll just
arm-wrestle for it," Schayes said. "We're
thinking Antonio Davis [ of the Indiana
Pacers ] . We're trying to pick a right guy."
Somehow, they reached levels of discussion
that had escaped them in the past.
"Basically, all the time that passed kind of
brought everyone to their senses," said union
president Patrick Ewing, of the New York
Knicks. "We as players don't want the season
to be canceled and the owners don't want the
season to be canceled. We're trying to do the
best we can to make a deal that's fair for
both parties."
No formal talks were scheduled for the
remainder of the weekend, although Granik did
not rule out continuing communication and
also said next week's Thanksgiving holiday
"won't impede our progress."
"I can accurately represent that we made
progress, that each side reached out and
found some common ground," said Billy Hunter,
the executive director of the union. " . . .
You could say the idea of compromise is in
the atmosphere."
The league's offer to the players has
included a ceiling on how much each of the 29
teams can spend and a similar ceiling on the
percentage any player can receive. Both sides
have offered widely varying escrow systems
designed to protect the owners if salaries
exceed an agreed-upon level.
"We're trying hard to reach out for each
other on both sides," Stern said. "I think
it's fair to say there's an evident spirit,
an attempt to reach on both sides. At the
same time, the owners and players are looking
at this entire situation from such a
different perspective that there's still a
very wide gulf for us to try to get across.
The encouraging thing is, we're trying."
Stern said it was hard to foresee a deal
being consummated during the weekend
communications, "but everyone is determined
to put in the time and see if we can somehow
by talking and pushing to narrow the gap or
come up with some new ideas. No one is
against some new ideas, but there are some
serious fundamental differences in the way
the two sides view the issues."
As the lockout enters its 144th day, the
first seven weeks of the season have been
canceled at a cost of more than $250 million
in players salaries. Stern, though, has
steadfastly refused to state a drop-date
after which the entire season would be
canceled.
The owners' overall offer has included a
50-50 split of revenues with a guaranteed
increase of at least 5 percent a year over
the next four seasons, an increase in
contracts for first-round draft choices from
three to four years with a right of first
refusal after the fourth, increases in
minimum salaries for veterans and an annual
salary cap exception that would be valued at
$1.5 million the first year and escalate to
the average league salary in the fourth.
Last night, the Associated Press, citing
sources it did not identify, said the owners
might move off their 50 percent figure and
players might move off their 60 percent
position.
The Larry Bird exception, which allows teams
to re-sign their free agents even if it means
going over the prescribed cap, would be
modified.
©1998 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.