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Playing Stall Ball
November 27, 1998
Each side says other is playing stall-ball
by Phil Jasner
Daily News Sports Writer
If the NBA intends to wage psychological
warfare to force a new collective bargaining
agreement, the National Basketball Players
Association and the agents representing the
players have vowed to not let them win.
This does not mean the owners are doing it,
but it does mean the players believe they
are. In turn, it also means that until at
least January, no games will be played. And
perhaps none at all.
"Obviously, what they're doing is
stonewalling, hoping the players at some
point will break," agent Bill Strickland
said. "It's as if they're not quite ready to
negotiate. You can't just say take it or
leave it."
The players flatly refused what they viewed
as a three-pronged ultimatum Tuesday from
deputy commissioner Russ Granik. When union
executive director Billy Hunter rejected what
he termed the preconditions to convene a
full-scale collective bargaining session
tomorrow, Granik said there was no reason to
meet.
Hunter said the preconditions included
acceptance of a specific percentage split of
total revenue, timing rules on the signing of
free agents and the specifics of a proposed
escrow and tax system. The timing rules would
allow teams to go over the salary cap to
re-sign their own free agents or sign free
agents from other teams, but not both.
"I think you have to go ask general managers
who have to put players on the floor what
they think about [ the timing issue ] ," said
Strickland, who represents, among others,
former Simon Gratz High star Rasheed Wallace.
"They're in a situation where they have to
win or be fired, and the league's proposal
would mean no movement [ of free agents ] ,
which flies in the face of attempts at parity
or competitiveness."
With the first eight weeks of the season
wiped off the books, there would appear to be
less and less chance of any type of
compressed schedule. Earlier in the week, the
league canceled the two games scheduled for
Christmas on NBC. The games were the first
scheduled for NBC as part of a four-year
contract with that network and Turner
Broadcasting. Even with the lockout, which
has been in place since July 1, the owners
are receiving their TV money, but will have
to make restitution in money or scheduling in
the fourth year.
"The only conclusion I can arrive at is,
they're trying to play head games, mind games
with the players," Hunter said. "It's sort of
a whipsaw [ effect ] . You get the players'
expectations up, then, boom, you snatch the
rug out and you start all over again."
Jeffrey Mishkin, the league's chief legal
officer, said the owners were told that the
players would not negotiate a revenue split
below last season's figure of 57 percent,
that they had rejected the timing proposal as
non-negotiable and that the agreement on the
owners' escrow proposal had been withdrawn.
The owners most recently reportedly offered
slightly more than 52 percent.
"In light of the union's positions, we fail
to understand Mr. Hunter's new assertion that
the NBA is issuing ultimatums and hindering
the negotiations," Mishkin said. "The union
leadership continues to make a mockery of the
collective bargaining process at a tragic
economic cost to its members."
The players have forfeited nearly $250
million in salaries from what was expected to
be $2 billion in revenue. They were paid $1
billion in salaries last season from a pool
of slightly more than $1.7 billion.
Hunter made it clear he hoped a
teleconference Wednesday with about four
dozen reporters would create a groundswell of
pressure from the media, the public and the
TV networks to help force an agreement.
At the same time, he said he did not believe
commissioner David Stern would declare an
impasse. But Hunter also said the league was
not negotiating in good faith.
"The idea has been an attempt to raise and
dash expectations in an effort to weaken our
players' resolve, so that we'll agree to
their demands and thereby destroy all the
efforts that we've made thus far," Hunter
said.
Hunter said the union's negotiating team,
including 24 players, was prepared to meet
tomorrow, Sunday and Monday if necessary. And
despite all the rhetoric from both sides to
the contrary, he said: "We're not really that
far apart. I'm convinced we can get a deal if
they want one."
Asked how he thought the roughly 400 members
of the union would vote in a closed ballot on
the league's latest effort, he said, "I
wouldn't present it, so there's not going to
be a vote. I'm not going to address the
hypothetical."
"It's quite apparent that we cannot negotiate
against ourselves, and obviously we're not
going to negotiate with a gun to our head,
nor are we going to accept a bad deal after
being locked out for almost six months," he
said.
"I was prepared to try to sell a deal to my
players [ last Friday night ] , and they knew
the numbers, because I gave it to them. They
told me it couldn't happen or wouldn't
happen."
Hunter said agents David Falk and Arn Tellem
were continuing to work on an exhibition game
that could be played about Dec. 12, matching
players from Dream Teams I and II, presumably
in Las Vegas. The Miami Heat's Tim Hardaway
has announced a Dec. 4 game at Miami-Dade
(Fla.) Community College. The union, though,
is prohibited under an events agreement with
the league from directly staging
basketball-related activities.
So what will Hunter do now?
"What I'll do," he said, "is wait."
©1998 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.