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Players Ask Isiah To Intercede
January 2, 1999
Group of NBA players asks former star's help
The players want Isiah Thomas to intervene for
them with the union.
By Stephen A. Smith
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Since the season is five days from cancellation,
if another meeting between the NBA and its
players union does not happen by Monday night,
Isiah Thomas may become a significant player in
the collective-bargaining negotiations, Thomas
and four players said last night.
Thomas, a future Hall of Famer and a former
executive director of the National Basketball
Players Association (NBPA), has been approached
by at least 20 players, including the Detroit
Pistons' Grant Hill and the Los Angeles Lakers'
Shaquille O'Neal, according to sources.
Staring at a drop-dead date of Jan. 7, the
players want the league's latest proposal put to
a vote by the union members before the season
can be canceled.
Two players said that if Billy Hunter, the
union's executive director, did not have a
voting system set up by Monday night, Thomas was
likely to step into the picture before Stern
recommended to the league's Board of Governors
on Thursday that the season be canceled.
"That is what [ the players ] asked of me when
they called," said Thomas, who declined to name
the players when reached at his home. "I think
there's a system and a process in place that
should allow the players to vote on their deal.
However, if that process doesn't take place,
I'll step up and support them, as they've asked
me to."
When asked if the players who have asked for his
intervention would attempt to remove the union's
leadership if the NBPA refused to allow a vote,
Thomas said: "I would hope things would not come
to that. But if it did and the players asked me
to push for a change, again, I'd support them."
The players seem willing to support Thomas as
well.
Thomas, a member of the NBA's 50th anniversary
all-time team who retired in 1994 as the
Pistons' all-time leader in scoring (18,822
points), assists (9,061) and steals (1,861),
served as president of the NBPA from 1988 to
1994.
Thomas said that he was responsible for
diminishing agents' shares of players' contracts
from 20 percent to 4 percent in 1988. That same
year, he said, the players "avoided a lockout,
avoided a strike."
Thomas also said that union leadership once had
a level of trust in the league, something
lacking now, and that the players were able to
play while working out collective-bargaining
issues.
With the lockout by the owners that began July 1
having changed all that, Thomas is dismayed.
As he had done before publicly, Thomas
questioned the union's leadership and blasted
agent David Falk's influence, saying: "He's been
trying to take over the union for years."
When Thomas was asked about those in the union
who would consider his position a conflict of
interest -- he began working as an announcer on
NBA telecasts for NBC in November 1997 -- he
snapped: "I'll put my record [ of union
leadership ] up against theirs any day."
According to Thomas and two players, many
players have complained about the union's stance
prohibiting a vote. Many players believe that
union president Patrick Ewing, Juwan Howard,
Dikembe Mutombo and Alonzo Mourning -- all
members of the union's executive and negotiating
committees -- are controlled by Falk, their
agent.
Because Stern mailed the league's last two
proposals to each player, some players have
expressed concern that the league seems more
interested in showing them its proposals than
the union's leaders do in showing them theirs.
Many players' most significant gripe revolves
around "intimidation tactics" by the union.
"Patrick Ewing tells Jayson Williams in the
newspapers, 'If you've got anything to say, say
it to my face,' just because Jayson had the guts
to stand up and speak his mind," one player
said. "Now what kind of nonsense is that? We
probably need Isiah."
"My agenda as a past president of the union is
to protect the players," Thomas said. "Now if I
didn't have players calling me and asking me for
their help, then I wouldn't be involved. They
want a voice."
They will need to be heard before Thursday, but
that would appear to be improbable. Stern
rejected the union's request for a full-scale
negotiating session last Thursday because of the
NBPA's unwillingness to present the league's
latest proposal to its members.
"Our Labor Relations Committee has told us
enough is enough," Stern said. "No more
concessions."
That means that, despite its unprecedented move
of proposing an absolute maximum on player
salaries, the union is left with two choices:
Allow the members to vote or let the 19-member
negotiating committee to, in effect, permit the
season to be canceled.
One union official, who did not want to be
identified, responded to Thomas' contention.
"Within the last three days, we've talked with
Leonard Armato [ O'Neal's agent ] and Lon Babby
[ Hill's agent ] , and neither agent indicated
whatsoever that their players were interested in
calling for a vote," he said. "Without
confirmation from the players or their
representatives, we question the validity of any
assertion that they're calling for a vote."
©1998 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.