Isiah Thomas: History Lessons Could Solve The Lockout

[Way Of The Ray <wayray@ix.netcom.com>]

Isiah says he's seen the books, and half the teams are losing money.

                                                     [The News & Observer on the Web]    
                                                     11/28/98
                                                     History lesson could solve lockout, Thomas says

                                                      From Wire Reports

                                                      One of the NBA's all-time greatest players said that
                                                      he could single-handedly settle the lockout if players
                                                      were open to a history lesson.
                                                      Former Detroit Pistons star Isiah Thomas said
                                                      today's players need to look at the NBA as a partnership,
                                                      like he and his colleagues did a decade ago.
                                                      "We were trying to take the NBA from a '70s
                                                      drug-infested league to a game that was sellable on Wall
                                                      Street," said Thomas, who played from 1981-1994. "We
                                                      wanted to globalize the sport."
                                                      The 150-day-old lockout has resulted in the
                                                      cancellation of regular-season games for the first time
                                                      in NBA history. Games can't possibly start until 1999, if
                                                      at all. Thomas said he's among those who believe that
                                                      there won't be NBA basketball this winter.
                                                      "I don't think you're going to have a season," the
                                                      12-time All-Star said. "I know how bad things are."
                                                      Besides his 13 years with the Pistons, Thomas spent
                                                      1990-1994 as president of players union, and 1994-1997 as
                                                      vice president and part-owner of the Toronto Raptors.
                                                      Thomas said that the players need to remember their
                                                      predecessors, many of whom conceded personal gain for the
                                                      overall good of the game. Players today aren't willing to
                                                      make the same sacrifices, he said.
                                                      Even though league revenue climbed to $2 billion
                                                      last season, the NBA said that more than half of its 29
                                                      teams lost money. Thomas believes it. "I've been there.
                                                      I've seen the books," Thomas said. "Money is being lost."

                                                           Players need to remember that whatever hurts owners
                                                      eventually hurts themselves, Thomas said.
                                                           "There's a lack of leadership on the management side
                                                      that I've never seen since I've been involved in the
                                                      NBA," he said. "Everything rests on Commissioner [David]
                                                      Stern's desk because the teams can't police themselves."
                                                           PLAYERS CONSIDER EXHIBITION: Locked-out NBA players
                                                      are reportedly in discussions about holding a charity
                                                      exhibition game to be played in Canada next month.
                                                           Player agent David Falk -- who represents Michael
                                                      Jordan and players' association president Patrick Ewing
                                                      -- has approached officials in Hamilton, Ontario, about
                                                      holding the game, Copps Coliseum CEO Gabe Macaluso told
                                                      the Toronto Sun.