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Peter Vecsey: Jordan Holds Key To The Lockout
Peter Vecsey is back in the swing of things.
[New York Post]
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JORDAN HOLDS LOCKOUT KEY
By PETER VECSEY
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As emphasized early and often last
season, the one sure way to keep
Jordan on the golf course is to
permit Pippen to get away. No
matter what was said by the
parties concerned, Phil Jackson's
return as coach was always a
secondary condition.
ONLY Larry Bird's Hall of Fame
induction could entice me to cut
short a three-month vacation to
take a road trip to Springfield,
Mass., for the consecrated
ceremony.
But only some promising thoughts
by Michael Jordan about again
playing for the Bulls could
motivate me to clean the cobwebs
off my computer. Now let's see if
commissioner David Stern, the NBA
owners and the Players Association
know what's good for them as well.
When the league's all-time
scrumptious meal ticket indicates
a desire to lace 'em up for
another sacred season, I suspect
it might be a good idea to cease
the litigating, stop the
pontificating and start getting
down to some serious negotiating.
If I feel compelled, er,
manipulated by Jordan's remarks to
return to work, so should everyone
else. That is what this is all
about, isn't it? Or was it a mere
coincidence Jordan's phone chat
with the Chicago Tribune's Skip
Bayless happened the day before
the league and union were to meet
yesterday for over five hours in a
New York hotel for its most
critical bargaining session since
Aug. 6?
Gee, where would I get the notion
David Falk (agent for Jordan,
union president Patrick Ewing -
and most recently, Stephon
Marbury) would have the guile to
coordinate Michael's abrupt
availability to coincide with the
meeting? Then again, you don't
suppose Michael's positive, er,
political message was paid for by
friends of Ewing and union
executive director Billy Hunter?
Hey, whatever works. All's fair in
love and leverage, claims Shawn
Kemp. Invariably, Jordan's
contribution is dramatically
effective. As usual, his timing is
impeccable. As always, he's the
aggressor, putting unbearable
pressure on his opponent, in this
case Stern and the league's 29
owners who've locked out the
players since midnight, June 30.
What's most important for me is to
see where the league is going,
then look deep inside myself and
make a clear-cut decision, Jordan
told Bayless, for years a
distinguished Cowboys columnist
before joining the Tribune last
spring.
So for now I'm keeping my options
open.
His drift is unmistakable. Jordan,
35, still in a class by himself
but running low on domination
time, is publicly putting the
owners on notice:
Don't be like baseball and
force-feed me a reason to retire;
don't make me wait on the
sidelines for months while
negotiations drag on; fail to
revise demands to phase out the
Bird Exception (and you thought
his nickname was Larry Legend)
over the next three seasons, which
would ostensibly transform a mushy
salary cap into a fairly firm one,
and risk losing your biggest draw;
make it impossible for me to come
back by limiting how much teams
are allowed to spend on re-upping
free agents and let's see how many
United Center suites Toni Kukoc
can sell; make it impossible for
me to compete for a championship
and you'll have to globally answer
to fans, advertisers and TV
networks.
Those two last issues are directly
linked to the Bulls' imperative
re-signing of Scottie Pippen ...
and, to a lesser degree, Dennis
Rodman, Luc Longley and Steve
Kerr. As emphasized early and
often last season, the one sure
way to keep Jordan on the golf
course is to permit Pippen to get
away. No matter what was said by
the parties concerned, Phil
Jackson's return as coach was
always a secondary condition, if
not just one friend demonstrating
loyalty to another.
Whether it's Jackson or Tim Floyd
calling the timeouts or directing
the triangle offense, Jordan
remains eminently capable of
winning any one game or taking
over any playoff series. Yet, just
like Magic never won a title
without Kareem, Michael has never
won a title without Scottie and
never will.
Last week on NBC, Pippen once
again expressed interest to return
to Chicago, always his first
choice as long as he doesn't get
shorted. Pippen's long-term
contract and league rules always
provided a convenient excuse for
owner Jerry Reinsdorf not to
reward him. Now the league is
trying to give him another one.
Jordan, his motives not exactly
unselfish, is doing his best to
make sure Pippen gets satisfied.
If somehow the league was able to
legislate Pippen out of his first
and last chance to get fairly
compensated for being obscenely
underpaid the last five seasons,
he'd owe it to himself to sign
with the undercapped Suns or
Rockets, even if it meant taking
less than what the Bulls would be
empowered to offer.
How much would over-the-cap teams
like the Bulls be allowed to offer
their own free agents according to
the league's Bird Exception
proposal currently on the table?
Five percent more than what they
earned the previous season, or
one-third of the cap ($26.9M last
season and projected to expand to
$30M this season), whichever is
less.
Naturally, the union is adamantly
opposed to any modification of the
Bird Exemption. Say it agreed to
that procedure, though. In that
case, Jordan would be entitled to
a five percent raise above $33M,
while Pippen ($2.5M) would be
permitted to re-sign for roughly
$10M. Not nearly enough,
seemingly, but you never know.
Over the summer, those close to
Jordan quietly claimed his passion
for the game remained
undiminished, that he was up for
the challenge of defending the
Bulls' title with or without
Jackson, even if it meant
answering to Floyd.
Because of the uncertainty of the
radical new salary regulations the
league is trying to implement,
it's felt Jordan hesitates to make
a commitment to play for fear the
owners would take advantage of
that edge. Then again, maybe all
this noise he's making about
playing is a plot to lure the
owners into only a partial
correction of its system.
I don't even think Falk and his
flock could be that devious, but
there is that sentiment. That's
how treacherous the Bird Exception
has become. That's how much is at
stake.
The owners insist on controlling
the growth of player salaries yet
can't control themselves from
squandering fortunes made outside
of basketball in the name of
assembling a playoff team.
The league lusts for its
superstars to remain with one team
their entire career so that fans
can identify with them, but is
unwilling to continue to pay such
a steep price for that luxury.
As for the players, they've lost
complete touch with the human race
and the condition it's in if they
believe, as Ewing said, in
essence, We can't live on what the
owners are prepared to pay us. - a
five percent raise per year for
the next four above the $1 billion
they made last season in salary
and benefits.
The trick is to compromise without
feeling you were compromised.
As for Bayless, anything you want
to know about the Cowboys, feel
free to call.
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