Steve Bulpett On The Players' Cause

[Way Of The Ray <wayray@ix.netcom.com>]

                  Boston Herald
                  1/1/99

                  Cause adds up to little for players
                  The NBA/by Steve Bulpett

                  Friday, January 1, 1999

                  The NBA players would be wise to avoid using calculators
                  if their season is canceled next Thursday. The numbers
                  that define what their collective bargaining fight has
                  come to will not be pleasant.

                  With the Players Association having already agreed to the
                  most critical principles the owners are seeking, the major
                  difference is that the league is ultimately offering 54
                  percent of revenues. The union wants 57 percent.

                  ``It's impossible to do the math because of how different
                  guys' salaries are,'' said one agent. ``But over the long
                  haul that's not going to amount to a hell of a lot per
                  man.''

                  While the players came away from their latest
                  teleconference preaching unity, it's hard to believe the
                  numerical differences are enough to have them kiss off
                  their season.

                  The main issue that the league needs to relent on is the
                  proposed rule that has a player forfeiting his rights to a
                  Bird Exception contract (his team being allowed to go over
                  the cap to keep him as a free agent) if he's traded in the
                  final year of his present deal.

                  The targets are the Alonzo Mourning types who threaten to
                  leave (in his case, Charlotte) if they're not traded. They
                  then make a big score with the team they desire to go to
                  (Miami for Mourning).

                  But what of the guy who's been waiting his turn for market
                  value and is sent away in his last year?

                  Most of the other rules the players don't like are
                  designed to offer incentive to players for remaining with
                  their teams. While also trying to prevent players from
                  holding financial weaponry to management's head, such
                  clauses attempt to answer a larger matter - that the fans
                  need to be able to identify stars with certain teams to
                  develop rivalries.

                  Or as David Stern has put it, ``Who did Dave Winfield play
                  for?''

                  Stern and the league are trying to get the union rank and
                  file to vote on the latest proposal, and Heat free agent
                  Keith Askins agrees in perhaps the most strongly worded
                  and compelling player statement yet.

                  ``If (union director) Billy Hunter is so strong, the
                  masses will vote it down,'' Askins told a Miami reporter.
                  ``What's wrong with putting it out here, letting us vote
                  on it and see what happens? I feel we all need to have a
                  final say on whether we're going to sit this season out.

                  ``If it went to a vote I believe (the latest NBA offer)
                  would pass. In a bargaining situation, somebody's going to
                  lose and that usually is the smaller guy. Right now we're
                  the smaller guy.

                  ``I understand we're fighting for a cause but if we don't
                  play this year, we're taking a risk we might not be
                  playing next year. I don't have much longer to play and
                  there are a lot of guys out there like me.''

                  Looking at others suffering from the work stoppage, Askins
                  added, ``We're talking about all the money we're losing,
                  (but) look at the guys just selling hot dogs, breaking
                  down the courts. It's hurting them by missing $500 a
                  month. That's a lot of money to a lot of people. A lot of
                  us have totally lost sight about how much this game means
                  to a lot of people.''

                  Gary Payton acknowledged the reason fans view the
                  management side differently: ``The owners still have a
                  billion dollars in the bank. They are in their big houses.
                  But they don't have gold chains around their necks and
                  Rolexes. They don't flaunt it like we do.''