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Peter May: No Trading Deadline
[The Boston Globe Online][Boston.com]
[Boston Globe Online / Sports]
Big deal is done; now the others begin
By Peter May, Globe Staff, 01/22/99
NBA players and coaches got to bond yesterday for the first time
since labor peace was declared 15 days ago. The league office,
already on circuit overload after 13 days of fine-tuning the new 400-page
Collective Bargaining Agreement, was faced with the thankless task of
rubber-stamping all the deals, which held up practice time for the Celtics.
As the day wore on, the league released its much-anticipated 50-game
schedule, undoubtedly prompting howls from Miami to Vancouver. The Celtics
play 15 of their first 22 on the road, but also have an entire free week
after opening with four games in five days. Among their rivals, the Knicks,
Heat, and Magic make only one Boston appearance apiece, while the Pacers are
in twice. So, too, is Chicago, which might have meant something at one time.
Three teams from the West come through, the best being the Timberwolves,
although the reloaded Nuggets are in as well. Chris Ford will be back with
his Clippers on St. Patrick's Day.
There also was an unbelievable amount of player activity yesterday,
unprecedented in league history. All the agreed-to deals from last week were
at last approved by the league and publicly announced. Scottie Pippen is now
a Rocket, and was joined by hacker Charles Barkley, who signed on for one
more year in Houston. The Suns renounced 10 players, saving only Rex Chapman
and Cliff Robinson, to make their anticipated run at Tom Gugliotta. There
were reports late in the day that he was leaning toward Phoenix, which also
acquired Luc Longley in a deal with the Bulls.
Gugliotta also was mulling an $85-plus million offer from the Timberwolves,
who expected an answer no later than today; they do not plan to sign
Gugliotta and trade him to the Lakers, which had been one rumor.
The Wolves did have a Plan B, however, and that might be the signing of free
agent Joe Smith, once a surefire superstar who turned down a $10
million-per-year deal with the Warriors. He'll probably end up in the
''middle class'' exception slot starting at $1.75 million. The Wolves also
have been fielding calls from the agent of free agent Corliss Williamson,
whom the Kings were thinking of renouncing to make more room to sign Vlade
Divac, who turns 31 in 12 days. The Kings could have signed Michael Stewart,
who is 23, but didn't want to dent the stash for Divac. Stewart spurned the
Celtics, signing a one-year deal with Toronto, undoubtedly with the (wink,
wink) understanding that he would re-sign next year for more dough when the
Raptors had cap room.
The Celtics opened camp at 2 p.m., the hour that signings, trades, and other
personnel moves could be officially consummated. Rick Pitino, however, found
himself without four bodies for the first session, as deals for Tony Battie,
Popeye Jones, and free agents Dwayne Schintzius and Marlon Garnett had not
been approved by then. All was expected to be fine for the night session.
One of the many once-a-year twists in the new agreement is that there is no
trading deadline. Teams will be able to move players right up to the end of
the season, at which time they will, if lucky enough, submit a playoff
roster. That could lead to an interesting final two weeks for teams that
feel they need that extra special someone. Teams also will have the rest of
the season to re-sign their two-year players to long-term extensions. The
Celtics took care of that already with Antoine Walker, but other teams and
players (Ray Allen with Milwaukee, for example) will have some time to get
it done.
In addition, for the next group of rookies, which includes Boston's Ron
Mercer, the period will start once the team is eliminated from playoff
competition.
The 400-page agreement is almost twice as long as the previous one, which
helps explain why it took so long to get it signed. League consigliore Jeff
Mishkin said there were ''dozens and dozens'' of real disputes, one of the
biggest coming on length of contracts for players signed out of the
middle-class exception. The players had said it was six; the league insisted
there had been no such agreement and fought for three. The union prevailed.
The added length is due mainly to a 50-page drug agreement and sections on
the escrow arrangement and management in Years 4-6 of the deal. Under the
terms of the drug deal, all players will be subject to random testing during
training camp and rookies three more times during the season. For the first
time, marijuana and unspecified performance-enhancing drugs are included,
but penalties for their misuse are not as severe as those for using cocaine,
heroin, or Ecstasy.
There also is a new ''behavior'' clause prompted by the Latrell Sprewell
episode from early last season. Any player who engages in ''significant and
inexcusable'' physical attack on team personnel or anyone in an arena can
have his contract terminated.
The league also insisted on stronger language for deals it feels clearly
circumvent the salary cap. Teams and agents can be subject to fines if
determined to have acted in a suspicious manner, something that has been
commonplace (e.g. Chris Dudley, Danny Manning) in the past.
This story ran on page E08 of the Boston Globe on 01/22/99.
© Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company.