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Sam Smith Article - Antoine Briefly Mentioned
[Chicago Tribune] [SPORTS]
NBA REPORT/Sam Smith
Over-the-edge salaries
present biggest hurdle to
solving lockout
October 17, 1998
Don't say the NBA isn't
trying to keep Michael
Jordan around.
The league's response Friday
to the players union's
proposal for a luxury tax to
limit high salaries, which
the players overall branded
as a step backward,
nevertheless included a
provision for players using
the Larry Bird exemption to
accept a 5 percent raise.
That would allow the Bulls
to re-sign Jordan for $34.7
million and not have to pay
any luxury tax.
Since Jordan's agent, David
Falk, is one of the prime
movers behind the players,
it has to be assumed that
Jordan would settle for the
$34.7 million this
season--prorated, we assume,
for missed games during the
lockout.
But of course this whole
mess is Jordan's fault. OK,
not Jordan himself, but what
he has come to represent
financially. Which is being
paid more than the combined
salary of everyone else on
his team.
And it's beside the point
that he might be able to
beat the other 11 alone.
The union has one big
problem in this negotiation
with the owners, and it's
the high-salaried players.
What kind of a union has as
its point man the
second-highest-paid person
in its business, Patrick
Ewing, whose $18.5 million
salary for next season would
be the league's highest if
Jordan doesn't play?
The union has some
legitimate issues. The
majority of its members earn
less than $1 million a year.
So do the vast, vast, vast
majority of American
workers, even sports
columnists and TV anchors.
But that's's beside the
point.
There is a common ground in
all of this. First, it's
that the NBA needs a salary
cap. In 1984 when it
started, it was at $3.6
million; it's projected to
be more than $30 million
this season. That's not bad
growth.
The problem is the big guys
digest too much of it. It's
time to cut them loose.
Why is Ewing making $18.5
million, or Kevin Garnett
$14 million, or Juwan Howard
$13.1 million, or Dikembe
Mutombo $11.2 million, or
Larry Johnson $10.1 million?
They can still be the
highest-paid players in the
league, but it's time to cap
some of these obscene
salaries and increase
minimum salaries to $1
million or more.
You say you don't come to
see Jud Buechler play? Do
you come to see Mutombo,
Johnson or even Howard?
Young players like Allen
Iverson, Antoine Walker,
Kobe Bryant and Keith Van
Horn are getting ready to
make those jumps to
eight-figure salaries. Is it
really necessary?
Without a salary cap, what
you have is baseball, a
rich-only game in which no
team with a payroll under
$44 million last season even
played .500 ball, and a
half-dozen teams served as
farm clubs for the big
spenders. What's wrong with
Utah, Orlando, Minnesota or
Indiana having success on
occasion?
That's only possible with a
salary cap.
It's time for the players to
accept a hard cap, and for
the owners to create enough
slot exceptions, like the
old system, to ensure
movement among midlevel
players and guaranteed
contracts for players
besides stars.
Perhaps one superstar
exception should be allowed,
but at no more than 25
percent of the salary cap.
Both sides need the Larry
Bird exception, which allows
teams to exceed the cap for
their own players because
small-market teams need to
keep their stars as well,
but the exception needs to
be modified to curtail the
overzealous spending.
A compromise is within
reach, but neither side
seems ready. Both want more.
Greed still exceeds reason.
Clipper life: But life does
go on in the NBA. The
Clippers remain the only
team without a coach--that's
assuming Tim Floyd is the
next Bulls coach. Jim
Brewer, who led the Proviso
East state championship team
in 1969, remains the
favorite for the Clippers'
job over former Bucks coach
Chris Ford (former Bucks
assistant Dick Versace would
be a better candidate) and
former Kings coach Eddie
Jordan. Brewer was a
Clippers assistant last
season. . . . George Karl
tried to get his longtime
buddy and assistant, Tim
Grgurich, to join him, but
was outbid by Portland owner
Paul Allen, who reportedly
paid Grgurich $700,000 to be
the team's fifth assistant.
And that's another reason
the players union says
owners are not in all the
trouble they say they are.
Around the league: In
Detroit a not-so-gentle
irony for former Glenbrook
High School coach Brian
James, who lost his position
as assistant with Alvin
Gentry's hiring and was
replaced by former York High
School coach Bob Ociepka,
who originally was brought
into the NBA by Versace at
Indiana in 1989. The Pistons
also replaced John Bach with
Gar Heard. . . . Also on the
staff front, the Nuggets,
with veteran European coach
Mike D'Antoni taking over as
head coach, put together a
staff that includes former
Dan Issel teammate Louie
Dampier, who admitted, ``The
only coaching I've ever done
is Little League and Babe
Ruth (baseball), but I just
have a knowledge of
basketball.'' He's joined by
former Nugget Mike Evans,
who sold aluminum siding
last year, and former Spurs
and 76ers coach John Lucas,
who has mostly been involved
in drug rehabilitation
efforts with former players.
He should be able to provide
daily counseling to
D'Antoni, taking over the
11-71 Nuggets. . . . Danny
Manning says he'll be ready
even if the league may not
be. The Suns' Manning, after
undergoing his third major
reconstructive knee surgery
last April--this time with
the ligament from a cadaver
to supposedly speed
healing--says he'll be able
to play by December. Also,
the Magic's Anfernee
Hardaway, whose value
dropped drastically after
two years of injuries and
discomfort with coach Chuck
Daly, says he's pain-free
for the first time in two
years.
Sam Smith covers the
National Basketball
Association for the Tribune.