[Los Angeles Times] [SPORTS]
Thursday, October 22, 1998
NBA / MARK HEISLER
'Nuclear' Winter Not Yet an Option
By MARK HEISLER
[L]AS VEGAS--Give peace a chance?
In an NBA lockout marked
by polarization and paranoia on
both sides, the union took a small
step away from the brink,
renouncing decertification as a
tactic--for the moment, of course,
the lion and the lamb have yet to
lie down together--in favor of
returning to the bargaining table.
"We don't think
decertification is necessary at
this point," Billy Hunter, director
of the National Basketball Players
Assn., said Wednesday after meeting
with the agents' advisory
committee.
"Not that it won't become
necessary in the future . . . [but]
we think the fight is just
beginning. While the owners' intent
is to create pain and anxiety among
our membership, the reality is
they're going to feel some of that
pain and anxiety themselves. If
they have to cancel games, they
have to look introspectively and
decide how much are they prepared
to suffer."
Decertification, which would
precede filing an antitrust suit,
is the so-called "nuclear" option,
which would abandon the bargaining
process in favor of a three-to-
five-year court battle, which could
blow up the union or the season or
the existing NBA order.
Most of the agents here are
veterans of an unsuccessful
decertification drive in 1995. With
emotions running high after the
union lost its arbitration case
this week, there were calls on an
agents' conference call Monday for
an encore.
However, sources say this time
around, there were only three
agents baying for decertification--
Mark Fleischer, Mark Bartelstein
and Don Fagan--and none of the
biggies with the glamour stables
like David Falk and Arn Tellem.
Falk's client list includes
the union president (Patrick
Ewing), two members of the board of
directors (Alonzo Mourning, Dikembe
Mutombo) plus Michael Jordan, who
is expected to make a rare
appearance at a union function
today.
Three years ago, Falk says,
decertification was appropriate but
it is less so now.
"I think three years ago, we
felt the union was on the wrong
track," Falk said, "and Michael,
Patrick and Alonzo took the lead.
They had the most to lose, as we
all learned later on. They made a
combined $60 million. And they put
it on the line because they
believed they had a legacy that was
handed down to them, from [former
union presidents] Oscar Robertson
and Bob Lanier . . . and that's
what they wanted to turn over to
the next generation of players. . .
.
"I think it [decertification]
is an option, but it's not a
panacea. I think a unified union
which we have today--we didn't have
that three years ago. You all know
that. It was very divided from the
leadership on through."
Despite a drumbeat of doomsday
scenarios in the news this week,
sources say decertification was
barely discussed Wednesday, with
Hunter all but tabling it himself
as too dire a remedy too early in
the process.
It wasn't a hard sell. Many
agents who fought to decertify in
1995 are cool at present, since
it's a long-term process and, they
have been advised by labor lawyers,
no slam dunk.
If the union decertifies, it
would ask a court to order the
league to lift the lockout. The NBA
would argue that decertification is
a sham, noting union counsel
Jeffrey Kessler also represented
NFL players in a decertification.
In the NFL case, the union
decertified, filed antitrust
charges, went to court, won--and
immediately formed again.
Even if NBA players persuaded
the judge to lift the lockout, the
antitrust case would take years and
could require $10 million in legal
fees.
Even if the players prevailed
ultimately, and a judge struck down
the salary cap and the draft, they
still would have to sit down with
the NBA and work out a new
agreement, as the football players
did with the NFL.
After their victory, the
football players agreed to a deal
with the NFL that is more
restrictive than the present NBA
contract, featuring the dread "hard
cap" that basketball players have
pledged never to accept.
The basketball players won't
be going there, for a while,
anyway. Instead, Hunter signaled
his intention to start talking
again, communication having been
the missing element in this
process, with only four bargaining
sessions since July 1.
What will it take to restart
talks?
"It doesn't take anything but
a call," Hunter said. "As soon as
we get out of Las Vegas, I'll call
them."
Their meeting ends today. It
wasn't an outbreak of peace, but it
wasn't more of the same, either.
Copyright 1998 Los Angeles Times.
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