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The original message was received at Sat, 28 Nov 1998 07:54:31 -0600 (CST) from smap@localhost ----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors ----- <celtics@igttc.com> ----- Transcript of session follows ----- 550 <celtics@igttc.com>... Host unknown (Name server: igttc.com: host not found) ----- Original message follows ----- Return-Path: <wayray@ix.netcom.com> Received: (from smap@localhost) by dfw-ix4.ix.netcom.com (8.8.4/8.8.4) id HAA10412 for <celtics@igttc.com>; Sat, 28 Nov 1998 07:54:31 -0600 (CST) Received: from tnt-ma1-54.ix.netcom.com(206.214.112.118) by dfw-ix4.ix.netcom.com via smap (V1.3) id rma010394; Sat Nov 28 07:53:58 1998 Message-ID: <366000A1.4C9C@ix.netcom.com> Date: Sat, 28 Nov 1998 08:54:41 -0500 From: Way Of The Ray <wayray@ix.netcom.com> Organization: Way Of The Ray X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.0C-NC320 (Win95; U) MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: alt.sports.basketball.nba.boston-celtics,rec.sport.basketball.pro CC: celtics@igttc.com Subject: Bart Hubbuch Looks At NBA Free Agency Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="------------7164625D1490" This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------7164625D1490 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Well he's optimistic at least. --------------7164625D1490 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; name="0.txt" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline; filename="0.txt" NBA signing day to be fast and furious 11/28/98 04:59:14 AM By Bart Hubbuch ---------------------------------------------------- The Dallas Morning News (KRT) DALLAS -- Once the NBA lockout ends, hopefully sometime before the millennium, fans truly won't be able to tell the players without an $8 program. With 10 players under contract, the Dallas Mavericks are one of the exceptions. Teams like the Houston Rockets, with just three players signed, are more the rule. That's why the end of the lockout is going to prompt a free-agent signing frenzy unlike the NBA -- or just about any other sport, for that matter -- has ever seen. Frenzy, as in more than 200 players all signing within two weeks, which is all the time the league says it can allow before training camp must start in advance of the abbreviated regular season. ``In the past, guys had two or three months to look around and work out the best deal,'' agent Steve Woods said. ``Now they're going to have about 15 minutes.'' That's only a slight exaggeration. Top-line free agents such as Scottie Pippen, Tom Gugliotta and Antonio McDyess still will command big contracts, but the vast majority can expect take-it-or-leave-it offers from teams that suddenly will have no shortage of talented players from which to choose. With the signing period so compressed, free agents won't be able to dawdle. ``You wait too long and teams will go on to somebody else,'' Woods said. ``There's not going to be much time to think.'' Still, despite NBA rules to the contrary, the free-agent wooing process already has begun behind the scenes for most teams. Direct contact is prohibited by the league because of the lockout, but clubs are alerting free agents of their interest through friends and associates. There are even reports that the New York Knicks recently brought in Loy Vaught for a surreptitious workout. Some coaches, namely New Jersey's John Calipari, were so desperate for an advantage in free agency, that they scouted pickup games like the ones held daily in Houston until the league squelched it. Calipari joked about the ban. Neither he nor the players will have time to laugh once the lockout ends and free agency begins. X X X LOOKING ELSEWHERE: So much for conventional wisdom. Assuming he didn't re-sign with Chicago, the thinking all along was that Scottie Pippen's next stop would be Phoenix -- the potential last piece in the Suns' never-ending title quest. Uh, scratch that. Reports out of Phoenix indicate that the Suns will pass on Pippen once the lockout ends, mostly because of his recent back surgery, his age (33) and his expected desire for a long, big-money contract. Phoenix owner Jerry Colangelo has no problem with money, but the Suns now want to focus on getting bigger. That's why 6-10 Tom Gugliotta, not the 6-7 Pippen, is likely to be their main target. X X X STILL IN DEMAND: Former Mavericks' guard Derek Harper has been talking retirement for two years now, but he just can't seem to walk away. Not when teams keep calling him, begging him to provide veteran leadership for young backcourts. It's happening again, although no club has contacted him directly because of the lockout. The Knicks have sent word through channels that they would like to re-sign Harper after renouncing his rights two years ago. Orlando, where Harper spent last season, also reportedly is interested, as are Detroit and Portland. ``I think I'm the best catch out there,'' Harper said. ``I won't demand $20 million like all the other guys are demanding. I just want a good deal.'' It seems that front-office job the Mavericks have promised Harper will have to wait at least one more season. X X X ABL TROUBLES: The American Basketball League continues to move closer to oblivion. Following in the footsteps of some of the ABL's top stars, Columbus Quest Coach Brian Agler became the latest refugee from the struggling women's league to jump to the much-stronger WNBA. Agler, the most successful coach in the ABL's short life, accepted a job as coach of the WNBA's expansion Minnesota franchise -- even though the ABL season had just started. Agler's WNBA job doesn't start for another four or five months, but he decided to resign immediately, taking his coaching staff with him. The league then named Tonya Edwards as player-coach. The departure of Agler marks a dubious milestone for the ABL. All eight coaches from the league's inaugural season -- just two years ago -- have resigned or been fired. (c) 1998, The Dallas Morning News. AP-NY-11-28-98 0556EST --------------7164625D1490--
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