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Lockout Far From Over
Get ready for a very long lockout
SEPTEMBER 16, 1998
by MARK HEISLER Los Angeles Times
Are you ready
for some
basketball?
------------------- Tough.
David Stern is one
of the main Better try
reasons you won't Classic Sports
be seeing any Network or put
basketball for on your old
quite some time. Chicago Bulls
------------------- videos, because
it doesn't look as if we'll have any
of the NBA variety until December or
1999 or the Al Gore presidency.
The NBA, alone among U.S. major
leagues, has never lost a game to a
labor dispute, but Numero Uno is in
the bullpen, warming up. With
players and owners locked in
litigation that might run to October
18 -- two weeks after camps were to
open -- there seems little chance of
starting the season on time November
3.
The drumroll has already started.
The NBA has postponed its rookie
orientation, the referees' training
camp and an exhibition in Israel.
Next? A source says the league just
alerted teams that next week it will
announce the postponement of
training camps.
Ten weeks into the lockout, there
has been one negotiating session,
which Commissioner David Stern's
posse stomped out of, giving the
parties one more reason to blast
each other.
They are agreed on one thing: Things
are grim.
"It's highly unlikely we'll start
training camp on time," deputy
commissioner Russ Granik said from
New York. "We're not negotiating.
There are no negotiations going on.
"We'd like to be negotiating, but
we're not. It's hard to be anything
but pessimistic."
The league announced refunds to
season-ticket holders for games
lost. (Message to union: "We're
ready to rumble.")
In turn, Billy Hunter, director of
the National Basketball Players
Association, predicted they would
miss two months of the season, or
more. (Reply to message: "Bring it
on, chump. Let's see what you got.")
At this time, that is all that is
known about what used to be the NBA.
Barring a resolution, we don't know
what kinds of contracts teams can
offer the 190 free agents -- among
them Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen,
Dennis Rodman, Rick Fox, Ike Austin,
Tom Gugliotta, Vlade Divac, Jayson
Williams, Rod Strickland, Charles
Barkley, Brent Barry, Corliss
Williamson and Michael Stewart --
whose futures are in limbo.
We don't (officially) know if the
Bulls are over, or who the heir
apparent is, or if the Lakers can
keep Fox, or if the Jazz can get
Austin, or when they'll play, or if,
or anything else. This isn't a
league, for the moment, it's a
missing person.
You know that Jerry West-silhouette
NBA logo? They should put it on milk
cartons.
Ironically, although the parties are
far apart on the central issue of
"cost certainty" or a "hard cap,"
each has something important the
other wants and would trade it.
Although Stern wouldn't put it this
way, he would gladly multiply the
minimum salary for veterans,
$272,500, addressing the union's
concern over its vanished middle
class.
Likewise, Hunter would gladly
lengthen the term of the rookie
scale, three years, relieving teams
of the necessity of committing $126
million contracts to 21-year-olds
such as Kevin Garnett.
Given any good will, they should be
deep in horse trading, but there is
none. Some principals -- notably
Stern and union counsel Jeffrey
Kessler -- are said to loathe each
other.
The problem grows out of the
league's runaway prosperity, the
ensuing loss of community and the
'95 struggle, when the players
repudiated their leader, Si
Gourdine, a former NBA deputy
commissioner, rejected the deal he'd
made with Stern and tried to
decertify their union.
Stern was angry that his deal was
turned down. The players were angry,
contending Stern ran them over.
The players then turned their union
over to the insurgents who led the
unsuccessful decertification drive
-- notably agent David Falk and
Kessler -- setting up certain
warfare.
One of Falk's clients, Patrick
Ewing, is now union president.
Several Falk firebrands such as
Dikembe Mutombo are on the board of
directors, and Falk's crown jewel,
Jordan, issues ringing manifestoes
from whatever celebrity golf
tournament he's playing in, as ex
officio advisor.
Kessler, a former union counsel,
lost his gig when the old leadership
hired another law firm, but is back
in the battle. Stern, a former trial
lawyer, has always played hardball.
Kessler, another strong-willed
barrister, likes hardball.
The summer was lost to litigation as
both sides went to court, seeking to
gain higher ground. They barely got
to the posturing, much less the
negotiating.
In the single post-lockout
negotiating session, Stern walked
out, claiming Kessler had insulted
them by sneering the union would win
its arbitration case and 220 players
on guaranteed contracts would have
to be paid.
Union people say Kessler didn't
mention the arbitration case until
the management guys got up to leave.
You never want to underestimate the
potential for grown-ups in
confrontations to act like
squabbling children. And these kids
are supposed to work out a deal?
"I have great admiration for David
Stern," a labor source says. "But
Kessler is just like Stern.
"He's as smart or smarter than
Stern, but he doesn't have Stern's
class or style. He has kind of a
bull-in-a-china-shop personality,
and he just tees Stern off. It's a
personality conflict."
Hunter, stepping into the trenches
of this undeclared war, has handled
his predicament gracefully, as in
the Latrell Sprewell case, which he
kept from becoming a racial issue.
However, even some labor hawks
wonder why Hunter lets Kessler stay
out front, when Kessler so clearly
antagonizes Stern.
Hunter didn't return calls. but one
answer could be: Why not? Neither
side is interested in bargaining
until the arbitrator, John Feerick,
decides which of them has the
leverage.
Feerick, a Fordham professor, is the
man who trimmed Stern's one-year
suspension of Sprewell and put him
back on the Warriors' roster July 1.
It wasn't outrageous, since Stern's
penalty for attacking coach P.J.
Carlesimo was wildly out of
precedent. Alvin Robertson once
choked Detroit general manager Billy
McKinney with no sanction. Feerick
upheld the rest of the sentence, but
Stern was enraged anew. (So, of
course, was Sprewell, who has twice
filed suits, challenging the
decision.)
The league, noting that Feerick's
term expired July 1, asked a federal
district judge in New York to have
him removed but was turned down.
For the record, the league insists
it was only trying to avoid
arbitration and has nothing personal
against Feerick.
This case centers on one issue --
can the league shut down, according
to labor precedents, or must teams
pay players their guarantees in any
event?
The union cites Olden Polynice's
contract, which stated he wouldn't
be paid during a lockout, arguing
that demonstrates teams could
bargain for relief but, if they
didn't, aren't entitled to it.
If Feerick rules for the NBA, the
union will have to bargain under the
gun. Owners will lose games while
players lose pay, but none of
management's money from the fat new
NBC contract is at risk until the
first telecast -- Christmas Day.
If Feerick rules for the union, and
if the NBA's certain appeal is
turned down, the owners will lose
much of their leverage and will have
to surrender.
Adding to everyone's anxiety level,
the decision on which everything
hinges might not be coming soon.
Both sides were hoping for October
1, but when hearings ended last
week, Feerick said he might take the
entire 30 days at his discretion.
The clock doesn't even start until
final briefs are filed Friday.
Thirty more days would be October
18, which would be smack-dab in the
middle of the exhibition season.
It promises to be quiet in the NBA
this fall, at least as far as
basketball goes.