[Hou Chron] Labor road always winding

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/3202529

Labor road always winding

Friday's meeting gives some reason for encouragement

By JONATHAN FEIGEN

Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

SAN ANTONIO - The road to labor peace always seemed unpredictable.

On one hand, the NBA was not rebuilding its system as it did seven years ago and the NHL is now. The system, NBA commissioner David Stern had said, needed "tweaks." Perhaps then compromise should be easy.

But because the league was not reworking the framework of its collective bargaining agreement, the sides seemed entrenched in their positions with little room to maneuver. If the owners would allow five-year contracts and the players wanted six, where is the compromise?

Several sources said Friday's meeting went surprisingly well, particularly given the angry accusations in the previous week's negotiating.

In some ways, the sides returning to the bargaining table so quickly after the blowup indicated how badly they do want a deal. Stern was able to excuse that union leader Billy Hunter said his comments were racist. Hunter was willing to ignore he was negotiating with someone he charged with making a racist comment.

At least one or both were willing to visit the high road.


Carlesimo right for T-Wolves
The Timberwolves went from the top seed in the West to the lottery, largely because of putting self-interests ahead of team.

With Kevin Garnett, the Timberwolves would seem attractive to any candidate. But in P.J. Carlesimo, who has rebuilt his career back to being a coveted coaching candidate by working as Gregg Popovich's right hand in San Antonio, they might stumble into an ideal fit. And when the Wolves desperately need to give up their tendency to be concerned with everything but simply winning, they would have a coach that preaches selfless professionalism.

Perhaps every coach does, but the Spurs have created that mindset as well as any team in the league. Carlesimo and Latrell Sprewell have made their peace, but Sprewell would be moving on anyway. And there are other roster tweaks needed. But the Wolves need a major comeback, and Carlesimo has shown he knows the way.


Deal expires June 30
But several sources also said the union seems to be hoping to reach compromises from numbers the owners already considered to be compromises, and the owners have backed off on several offers they only grudgingly allowed when they thought they were close to a deal. It could take the time left before the current collective bargaining agreement expires June 30 just to get where the NBA thought it was in April.

The issues seem reasonably clear, and there could be compromises.

•The length of contracts could be the biggest issue. The owners want a reduction in the maximum years they can offer, currently seven years for players remaining on their team and six for free agents who sign with another team. The owners wanted four- and five-year maximums and compromised on five years maximum for all contracts.
This is where the league feared the agents got too involved. To protect the players' income from a reduction with the shorter contracts, the owners offered to guarantee that they would be paid 57 percent of basketball-related income. If salaries fell short of that, they would write a check to the union. In years that say the salaries were only 55 percent of the BRI, for example, that's roughly $25 million of which the agents would not receive a cut.

The players and their agents, however, have many reasons to prefer and demand longer contracts. And agents have pointed out that an owner does not have to give out a seven-year deal.

The April compromise is probably the best the players can do. Moving from four years to five on free-agent contracts was pretty big. The owners are not going to go to six. Take the five, the guaranteed money and the offer to increase the salary cap from 47 percent of the BRI to in excess of 50 percent.

It's a better deal for far more players than the current collective bargaining agreement.

•The age requirement gets the most attention but will not be a deal-breaker. Stern wanted to require that players be at least 20 years old when drafted. Hunter has said he is philosophically opposed to any change from the current 18 years old.
The math on a compromise is not difficult here, but requiring players to be 19 will not get scouts out of the high schools; it would only hold back some high school players.


Down on the farm
The union seems more amenable to using an expanded NBDL as a limited farm system. The league is hesitant to pay NBA money to minor-league players, but that might have to be the compromise. Stern might even get a bump in the age requirement to 19. Neither side seems to want to fight too much over that.

•The mid-level exception, currently at a maximum of $4.9 million, with as much as 10 percent annual raises, has become a problem for the owners who have destroyed the salary cap with exceptions.
The owners have wanted to split the exception to two contracts, worth about $3.7 million and $1.2 million (in current economics) so the raises won't make the contracts too heavy at the end. They could still offer $3.7 million to free agents that could do no better and pocket the $1.2 million.

The players can fairly argue that limiting contract length would protect owners from enormous "mid-level" contracts. The players likely will not give in here, and it's hard to call a contract mid-level at $3.7 million when the average contract is $4.9 million (and would be $5.5 million in the deal proposed). The owners might find out if the players want this enough to allow a reduction in the length of mid-level contracts, but that would probably have to be a last compromise.

•Other issues seem less difficult to compromise. The players would love to get rid of the luxury taxes and escrow withholding used to hold down salaries, but that's not going to happen. The league might, however, distribute rebates from the teams that overspend to every team, rather than just the ones under the tax threshold, which players rightfully argue rewards the wrong teams.
Overall, compromises don't seem difficult, but a lockout remains a threat both sides are willing to make.

All of which leaves the sides close, but far from a deal.


Tough competition
There could be better summers for former Rockets guard Cuttino Mobley to become a free agent. There are at most four teams with salary-cap room to fill. He is at best fourth — behind Ray Allen, Michael Redd and Joe Johnson — among available shooting guards, with Larry Hughes in the mix.

But Mobley will opt out of his contract looking for a contract in excess of the mid-level money, and don't be surprised if he gets it.

Mobley's agent, Andy Miller, said Mobley will be opting out and that the potential reduction of the mid-level exception discussed as part of the collective bargaining agreement negotiations would not be an issue, because Mobley will be worth much more than that anyway.

Sacramento would seem the most likely team to offer that. The Kings might have fallen from their contender status, but Mobley has become one of their key offensive weapons.


Can we talk?
Incidentally, Phil Jackson is reportedly trying to set up a sit-down with the Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant, presumably to discuss working together again.