[NY Post] NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement update

NBA, PLAYERS WANT NEW DEAL

By PETER VECSEY

April 15, 2005 -- A CERTAIN someone recently revealed to me how he knows the NBA and the Players Association are serious about reaching an agreement on a new contract between the two platonic partners.

"There have been no leaks. That's always an infallible indicator that the league and the union understand they have a good thing goin' on and don't want to blow it," the voice of reason underscored. "Neither side has tried to put pressure on the other apropos to one issue or another. Nobody has looked to establish leverage in the media. Both sides have been positive, professional and private."

Clearly, their good faith negotiations are paying off. According to sources on opposite sides following Tuesday's session in New York City, "We feel we're a brush stroke or two away" from completing the picture — meaning a new collective bargaining agreement could very well be in place by the end of tomorrow's Manhattan meeting and announced prior to the start of the playoffs April 23.

Does that mean the majority of subject matter has been settled? No. Nobody's saying anything of import has been resolved in the absolute. What I'm told is everything is close to a wrap, but that nothing gets decided if everything isn't decided, that's how tightly bound together the major topics of discussion are.

"No issue is isolated," explained a high-ranking member of the negotiating committee. "Everything is discussed in the same breath. You can't thrash out this issue without thrashing out that issue. You know, we provide something here and they provide something there and, in the end, hopefully everything falls into place."

The popular perception is that this harmonious haggle is being driven by mad money. Certainly there's some truth to that. But it's not all about the Benjamins.

It's safe to deduce players will receive significant financial rewards (a lowering or the elimination of the 10-percent escrow, as well as an increase of the NBA's total gross revenue percentages), etc., for every compromise they appear willing to make regarding the reduction in the length of guaranteed contracts and the raising of the minimum playing age to 20, etc.

At the same time, they recognize they, too, have a vested interest to protect the overall game — to terminate an increasingly negative image and freeze the fan base erosion. Seemingly, executive director Billy Hunter and his constituency are as eager as commissioner David Stern and his electorate to stiffen drug testing and enforce a stricter code of conduct with harsher penalties when expectations are undermined and boundaries are breached.

"Everyone agrees we need to better manage players' behavior on and off the court," a league official confirmed. "During the negotiations we've had players who've actually pleaded for more discipline. The union realizes a players' job description is beyond points and rebounds.

"Yes, both sides would like to enhance their position in our financial system. But the paramount issue in these talks is protecting the health and welfare of the goose, not the golden egg."


Notes

The Hawks' three ownership factions are experiencing the kinds of friction that makes it almost impossible to accomplish anything constructive. Accordingly, say sources, Steven Belkin, Boston's boss, is attempting to buy out the two groups from Washington and Atlanta.

*

Contrary to a report out of Chicago, Nate McMillan and the Sonics have not agreed to a new coaching contract. Far from it; they're not even discussing one. From the get-go, the two sides stated there'd be no conversation until after the season. Far be it from me to make the Sonics nervous, but several teams are prepared to make a bid for McMillan.

*

Kevin Garnett cursed everyone in the locker room after the T'wolves' humiliating loss to the Hawks. When you flaunt his kind of MVP numbers such shame is never your fault.

*

How delinquent is Jamal Crawford's defense? The Bulls claim he was so disinterested about bending his back when in Chicago he didn't even want to be bothered yelling "Help!" when his man breezed by him . . . If Stephon Marbury enjoyed playing so much for Flip Saunders, how come he forced the T'wolves to trade him to the Nets at a time when the NBA's No. 1 punk guard and Garnett were starting to make beautiful music?


http://www.nypost.com/sports/44580.htm

 

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sonics/2002243837_allen17.html

Another lockout? The clock is ticking


Sunday, April 17, 2005 - Page updated at 12:00 a.m.
Percy Allen / NBA reporter


Remember this quote?

"There will be a deal in place by the end of the season."

That came from commissioner David Stern two months ago when he made a point of referring to himself as "Easy Dave" and was full of optimism that the NBA and the union representing its players would come to terms on a new collective-bargaining agreement.

Well, the clock is ticking.

The regular season ends Wednesday, and conflicting league sources are split on the sides reaching a settlement any time soon.

Those subscribing to the no-news-is-good-news theory suggest the lack of verbiage out of league's office is a positive sign, to which I would agree.

Anytime you see Billy Hunter, the executive director of the players' association, pleading his case on CNN or ESPN, you better believe negotiations aren't going well.

But when you talk to players, there seems to be reason for concern.

"I haven't heard anything," Denver guard Andre Miller said.

"It's not looking too good from everything I'm hearing," Dallas guard Jason Terry said.

"We should all get ready for a long summer," Sonics guard Ray Allen said.

Maybe the commish meant the end of the playoff season. If so, he has another two months to find common ground with Hunter on a range of issues, including a 20-year-old age minimum, an increase in the salary cap, shortening the length of maximum contracts and lowering or eliminating luxury taxes.

Or maybe Stern meant there will be a deal in place before the current deal expires on July 1. If that's the case, then add an additional two weeks to the talks.

In any regard, as the playoffs are set to begin in less than a week, we must think about and talk about and perhaps even plan for the worst scenario in all of sports ... a lockout.

It's an ugly word with even uglier consequences.

Remember what the last lockout in 1998 did to the league?

Four words: Vin. Baker. Expanding. Waistline.

"A lot of guys didn't have the discipline to handle the time off and not knowing when they were going to play again," said Boston's Gary Payton, who included his former Sonics teammate Shawn Kemp among the casualties of the work stoppage.

"Guys are used to having two months off, then going back to work. But then you throw five, six, seven months at them and they came back not like they were and never really recovered from that."

After the last lockout, not even the celebrated return of Michael Jordan was able to repair the tattered relationship between the NBA and its fans.

Don't think the 42-year-old MJ has a third comeback in him, and chances are slim that Karl Malone fancies another shot at the title.

But that's pure speculation, and it's difficult to be certain about anything concerning the future of this league.

Who could have predicted all that has taken place in the past season?

The destruction of the Lakers dynasty and the demise of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Shaquille O'Neal going to Miami and setting fire to the Heat, Steve Nash performing a resurrection in Phoenix, and the Denver Nuggets fruitlessly panhandling for coaches before striking gold with George Karl.

Locking the doors this summer would be an awful ending to a season defined by the basketball brilliance of Allen Iverson, the growth of super sophs LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony, and the indomitable will of Reggie Miller, who refused to let his final season be defined by The Malice in the Palace.

This game is too good to go away again. Not now. Not when playoff basketball has finally returned to Chicago, Washington D.C., and Seattle.

Not when the Bulls overcame six lottery-bound years, an 0-9 start to the season, the loss of leading scorer Eddy Curry to a heart ailment and top rookie Luol Deng to injury.

Not when coach Eddie Jordan does what MJ the general manager and aging superstar could never do — deliver a winning team in the nation's capital.

And not when the Sonics, despite their Gail Devers-esque stumbling finish to the regular season, wrote one of the sweetest rags-to-riches stories in the league.

A lockout ruins it all.

So maybe we should enjoy the playoffs while they last and not think about what's to come. Savor Detroit's attempt at repeating as champions and San Antonio's bid at winning its third title in six years.

Still, whatever happens between the start of the postseason and the presentation of the Larry O'Brien trophy in mid-June, you should know this: If Stern and Hunter do not stand side by side and announce that a deal is done this week, then there will almost certainly be a lockout this summer.

The doors will close, and who knows when they'll open again? Maybe in September. Maybe next year. Maybe ... never again.

If the architects of the league don't settle their differences, then they will have forgotten how they nearly destroyed the game seven years ago.

And forgotten how the NHL has become an afterthought.


Percy Allen: 206-464-2278 or pallen@seattletimes.com

 

Me too. Everything I have heard so far has been positive and I will prefer it stay that way. The NHL lesson will not be lost of NBA commissioner and NBAPA reps.