Steve Kerr: Most NBA Players Oppose Owners Plan

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

                              [Chicago Sun-Times Sports]
       
      
                          Kerr: Most NBA players oppose owners' offer
   
                          January 4, 1999

                          BY LACY J. BANKS STAFF REPORTER

                          If most NBA players favor the owners' last offer,
                          this is news to Steve Kerr, the Bulls' player
                          representative and a free-agent guard.
  
                          ``How many are there and who are they?'' Kerr said
                          Sunday when asked his opinion about the growing
                          number of players calling for a vote on the
                          proposal, which was rejected by the union
                          negotiating team, then mailed by commissioner David
                          Stern to all players and the media.

                          ``While it is your prerogative to reject our
                          proposal,'' Stern warned union chief Billy Hunter in
                          a cover page with the proposal, ``the consequences
                          of that decision will be so catastrophic to your
                          members that simple fairness suggests they be given
                          a chance to be heard. Accordingly, we request and
                          strongly urge that you put the NBA's final offer to
                          a vote of the entire union membership.''

                          Kevin Willis, Keith Askins, Jayson Williams and
                          Keith Van Horn have been publicly campaigning for a
                          vote. Stern is banking on players voting partly out
                          of desperation to approve his offer. Otherwise, the
                          owners threaten to cancel the season Thursday.

                          ``I've read quotes from about five or six guys
                          asking for a vote,'' Kerr said, ``and I've read
                          reports that 15 to 20 guys [including superstars
                          Shaquille O'Neal and Grant Hill] are asking [former
                          union president] Isiah Thomas to come in and help
                          arrange a vote. But their agents have denied this.
                          So it could be the league planting this.''

                          The NBA has rejected the union's request for another
                          meeting in which the union would give its final
                          proposal to Stern and do what Hunter calls
                          ``trade-offs and tweaking.''

                          ``We're giving them the relief they wanted on
                          high-end players,'' Hunter said. ``We're only about
                          $2 million apart on that issue and roughly $500,000
                          apart on other issues. I can't believe Stern would
                          blow up the season when we're so close and there's
                          so much on the table.''

                          Hunter said he would like to see the owners vote on
                          the players' offer.

                          ``The owners are as divided as they say the players
                          are,'' Knicks guard Charlie Ward said. ``Some owners
                          are satisfied with our proposal and ready to accept
                          it. Their hearts are in the right place, but it
                          doesn't make a deal.''

                          Union president Patrick Ewing said he isn't against
                          submitting the owners' proposal to a vote if that's
                          what most players want.

                          ``But we had a conference call [Tuesday],'' Ewing
                          said, ``and we put the question to them if they want
                          a vote.''

                          Ewing also gave players a number to call to
                          anonymously express the desire for a vote.

                          ``Nobody has called to demand that we put it to a
                          vote,'' Ewing said.

                          ``If NBA owners are smart, they'll tweak their deal
                          because I don't believe that most players would
                          approve their deal as is,'' Kerr said. ``I know I
                          wouldn't. Most of the guys I talk to feel the same
                          way. And if Stern loses his gamble and the players
                          vote it down, then everything is lost. I believe
                          this thing will go down to the last day [Thursday].
                          I'd only favor a vote as a last resort. And I'd vote
                          against the owners' proposal as it is now.''