[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Peter May/Jim Baker Columns
We learn that there will be two free exhibition games; Pitino begins his
Coaches Corner show on Channel 4 in Boston on Feb. 7; Tom Heinsohn
blames
the players; Scott Fleisher the agent, thinks the deal is horrible...
[The Boston Globe Online][Boston.com]
[Boston Globe Online / Sports]
NBA takes next step: Owners approve deal
By Peter May, Globe Staff, 01/08/99
NEW YORK - The NBA and the NBA Players Association exchanged wet
kisses in public yesterday, tossed bouquets to their fans, and
announced plans to play a 50-game season with or without Michael Jordan.
As expected, the owners approved Wednesday's 11th-hour deal that ended the
six-month lockout and did so unanimously. ''We are happy to be back in
business,'' said Celtics chairman of the board Paul Gaston. ''But I know
there's a long road ahead to win back our fans. We're going to work at it.''
Among the nuggets offered up were the following:
* The season will start Feb. 5 and consist of 50 games, running into the
first week of May. Deputy NBA commissioner Russ Granik said a schedule won't
be available until after the deal is reduced to writing, which may take 7-10
days. Teams can expect mostly in-conference games, with perhaps 6-8
nonconference games. There will be instances of three games in three days,
something that hasn't happened in years but was commonplace in the 1970s.
* Each team will play two exhibition games, one home, and they will be free
to the public. Each team also will have one open scrimmage for the fans. The
league left the logistics up to the individual teams. In addition, all teams
have been directed to offer 500 seats to every game at $10 a ticket,
something that will go into effect next season if this year's seats have
been sold. The Celtics already offer 1,394 $10 seats for each home game.
* The playoff schedule will be the same, with the last possible date for the
NBA Finals June 29 or 30. Why not longer? ''It's due to our lack of desire
to play in July and the network's [NBC's] lack of desire to show us in
July,'' Granik said. He added no date has been set for the draft, usually in
the last week of June.
* On Monday, all team facilities will open for players to work out, shoot
around, exchange high fives, and, in the case of the Celtics, get measured
for IVs. The league feels that with almost a month of workout time, the
players will be less susceptible to injury. Until camps officially open, no
one from the coaching staff is allowed to be present when the players are
practicing (yeah, right). ''We don't want to be a police state,'' Granik
said, ''but that would result in a huge fine.''
* Once the deal is reduced to writing and there are no unexpected delays or
bombs, camps will open. Granik said the earliest that would be is probably a
week from today. At the same time, teams will be allowed to sign players.
Granik, commissioner David Stern, and union executive director Billy Hunter
appeared together at a press conference following the owners' vote and made
the predictable statements about rebuilding the game's image and how they
really didn't dislike each other. Stern called the union ''a formidable
adversary,'' and Hunter, who is looking more like Neville Chamberlain to
many agents, called the deal ''a win-win situation.''
''We know we have some winning back of the fans to do and we're going to do
it,'' said Stern.
Asked about numerous polls that say fans don't care that the league has
settled and have lost interest, Stern said, ''The proof will be in the
pudding. A lot of fans remain NBA fans. We're comfortable that if we work
hard, we can redeem ourselves.''
Hunter may have some serious fence-mending ahead of him with the agents.
Marc Fleisher, whose late father, Larry, was the union's first and foremost
executive director, pronounced the deal ''somewhere between horrible and
awful. I told my wife that my father is spinning in his grave.''
Fleisher said the deal was the worst he has seen in at least 15 years and
possibly longer.
''It's mind-boggling,'' he said. ''The money these players had a week ago,
they don't have anymore. I don't know anybody who likes it [among his
peers]. I for one would have preferred not to have a deal than to have the
one that's there. And it's there for seven years. It's really bad.''
Fleisher went on, ''It's too bad they couldn't translate the union's early
unity into some gains. But David just sat back and said, `I'm not giving
anything.' And the union couldn't convince the players that his threat to
cancel the season was a bluff. Anyone with half a brain knew he was
bluffing.''
Stern, asked if he was bluffing, said simply, ''You didn't pay to find
out.'' Utah owner Larry Miller said he was ''absolutely convinced'' Monday
that the season was gone.
Several important details of the agreement still need to be worked out, such
as a trading deadline and a window to sign players like Antoine Walker to
contract extensions. Gaston was very up front about not paying Walker
so-called ''Garnett money'' ($120-plus million) under the terms of the old
deal. He was asked yesterday if the club was more inclined to re-sign its
star now that Walker could earn ''only'' $85-plus million over seven years.
''I don't want to get too specific, but this deal, if it gets approved
[after being reduced to writing], does make the playing field more
competitive,'' Gaston said. ''All the teams are in the same boat. I don't
know if there's anything easy about paying anyone'' the kind of money Walker
would command.
As for Jordan, his situation is starting to look a lot like Bob Dylan's at
Woodstock. Is he here? Will he be here? Dylan never did show, and Jordan so
far has remained incommunicado, apparently while playing golf in the
Bahamas.
Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf said he had not spoken with his franchise player
since July (that's what he's supposed to say) and that he needs to get
Jordan's situation resolved before he goes to work on free agent Scottie
Pippen. (Jordan wants Pippen's status clarified first, a classic Catch-22.
Said Reinsdorf, ''We've navigated those waters before.'')
Reinsdorf also said he spoke to coach Phil Jackson Wednesday night, and
Jackson repeated that he is not coming back. Ergo, Tim Floyd is now the
coach. Is that OK with Mike?
''Michael has not proposed another coach,'' Reinsdorf said.
Asked about Jordan, Stern said, ''One of these days, Michael Jordan is going
to retire. It is sad but inevitable, whether it's this year, next year, or
in 10 years.''
This story ran on page E01 of the Boston Globe on 01/08/99.
© Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company.
Celts can't go home again: Early Fleet dates scarce
by Mark Cofman
BOSTON HERALD
Friday, January 8, 1999
The NBA has not released its revised regular-season
schedule, but Celtics fans can expect home games to be
scarce during the first month of the season.
The Celtics, who traditionally make their longest road
trip in February, were originally scheduled to play just
three home games during the month.
Though a 50-game schedule beginning Feb. 5 is being drawn
up by league officials, the FleetCenter has just one open
date available to offer the Celtics for the entire month.
According to Jim Delaney, the arena's director of public
relations, there's little room for change.
``Looking at our (February) calendar of events, I don't
know how we'd be able to fit much of anything else in,''
Delaney said yesterday as the NBA formally announced its
labor agreement. ``During the lockout, we couldn't just
sit around and wait for a settlement.
``We continued to aggressively fill dates on the schedule.
At this point, I would have to say they'd have a maximum
of four home games in February.''
The Celtics were originally scheduled for FleetCenter
games on Feb. 5 (Philadelphia), Feb. 24 (New York) and
Feb. 26 (Cleveland).
Delaney said Feb. 6 was the only additional date available
for a Celtics game during the month.
The rest of the schedule has already been filled by Bruins
games, concerts, the Beanpot, wrestling and Disney on
Ice's Little Mermaid, which sets up on Feb. 9 and runs
Feb. 10-21.
``That's a huge chunk of the schedule right there,''
Delaney said of the annual ice show. ``Doing anything (to
revise the schedule during those 13 days) would be out of
the question. They pack 25 performances in. It's during
school vacation.''
While Delaney painted a grim picture for Celtics fans
eager to see their team on the parquet early in the
makeshift schedule, members of the Celtics' administrative
staff were busy preparing for a makeshift training camp
scheduled to begin Jan. 18.
Under the guidelines of the new agreement, team president
and coach Rick Pitino and general manager Chris Wallace
cannot make trades or sign free agents before that time.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Celtics' front-office staff -
with only a hint of the preseason plans and without a
revised schedule - have been unable to provide fans with
the most basic information. They're reluctant to even
guess when tickets would go on sale.
About the only thing that has gone according to schedule
is construction of the team's new practice facility, which
is a part of the Health Point CareGroup Wellness and
Fitness Center in Waltham.
As expected, the Celtics will leave Brandeis for their new
practice site in mid-to-late February.