Peter May On The NBA Talks From Today's Globe

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                                [The Boston Globe Online][Boston.com]
                                [Boston Globe Online / Sports]

                                NBA makes case, not progress

                                By Peter May, Globe Staff, 10/09/98

                                Five hours of talking yesterday did nothing to bridge the wide gap
                                between the men who play in the NBA and the men who sign their checks.
                                The two sides agreed to meet again next Tuesday, all but ensuring that the
                                1998-99 season will not start as scheduled Nov. 3.

                                While league executives said no formal announcement regarding the cancellation
                                of games will be made until Tuesday, deputy commissioner Russ Granik stated
                                the obvious.

                                ''Realistically, it's getting very difficult,'' he said. ''Even in the
                                best-case scenario, it would be difficult to start on time.''

                                Granik said four weeks would be needed between the time the dispute is
                                resolved and games begin. As of Tuesday, there will be three weeks before the
                                season opens. The NBA imposed a lockout July 1, and yesterday's bargaining
                                session was only the second since then.

                                Neither Granik nor commissioner David Stern seemed especially hopeful,
                                although both said they were happy to report that the players did not take
                                their latest set of proposals and send them immediately to the circular file,
                                although that is the expectation. The union asked some questions and said it
                                would be back Tuesday to present its answers.

                                ''We didn't make what you could call progress,'' Stern said during a
                                conference call. ''But we talked and we agreed to talk again soon, and from
                                our perspective, that is better than the alternative.''

                                Players Association executive director Billy Hunter said, ''We are prepared to
                                address their concerns. But so far, they've taken an intransigent position in
                                which they are not inclined to respond to anything other than what they're
                                demanding. This is not going to be a concession deal where they make demands
                                and the players simply concede.''

                                Stern backed away from recent remarks attributed to him that the NBA would
                                need 60 games to have a legitimate season. He said yesterday, ''We'd like to
                                have a season that we can call a season. It would not be smart to fix a
                                date.''

                                Granik repeated that there were ''a handful of teams'' that would do better by
                                not operating this year than returning to the old system.

                                Player agent Marc Fleisher said last night that one possible scenario is that
                                the league will declare an impasse in negotiations and then impose its own
                                system, daring the players to either show up or go on strike.

                                ''[The league] can't be serious about their latest proposals,'' Fleisher said.

                                The NBA says it needs a set number, which it can use to determine the amount
                                it will pay the players. The operative phrase is ''cost certainty.'' The
                                owners, unable to discipline themselves, feel they must have it in writing.
                                The union says it will have no part of any ceiling on player salaries.

                                Yesterday's session at the Sheraton in New York included Stern, Granik, and
                                the league's legal team representing the NBA. The union was represented by
                                Hunter, union president Patrick Ewing, Dikembe Mutombo, and its lawyers.

                                Complicating the matter is the yet-to-be-delivered arbitration ruling from
                                John Feerick on whether players with guaranteed salaries should be paid during
                                a lockout. That ruling is due any day. A decision for the players would be a
                                crushing blow for the NBA, given that arbitration decisions rarely are
                                reversed.

                                This story ran on page E19 of the Boston Globe on 10/09/98.
                                © Copyright 1998 Globe Newspaper Company.