The NBA and the NBPA "are ready to return to the
bargaining table" as the two parties will meet August 6 in
New York, representing the first negotiating session since
the league imposed a lockout of players on July 1,
according to Tom Enlund of the MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL.
NBA Commissioner David Stern and NBPA Exec Dir Billy Hunter
spoke as late as Thursday after the union filed an unfair
labor practice charge with the NLRB claiming that the
lockout is illegal (JOURNAL SENTINEL, 7/25). Hunter, on the
NLRB action and a grievance seeking pay for players during
the lockout: "Our legal actions have been in response to
what the league has done. At the same time, we are pursuing
collective bargaining, and the legal actions have not
delayed that process in any way" (N.Y. TIMES, 7/25).
SHAQ'S RAP: The AP's Beth Harris wrote to "count"
Shaquille O'Neal "out of a leadership role during the NBA
lockout." Harris wrote that O'Neal feels that the league's
"major stars may have to take charge if the lockout intrudes
on the start of the season, but apparently he doesn't count
himself among them." O'Neal: "I really don't know what
they're fighting about. I make good money and I'm happy
with my life." O'Neal: "I would love for them to keep the
Larry Bird clause. Everything else they're fighting about,
I don't really get involved. That's (for) agents and stuff
to worry about. Things I can't control, I don't ever, ever
worry about. That's called stress" (AP/DETROIT NEWS, 7/25).
DECERTIFICATION ON HORIZON? SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's
Josh Gotthelf reports that "almost 90 percent of NBA players
have signed a petition giving the union's executive
committee the power to decertify the union, say sources
close the union." Gotthelf: "If successful in its efforts,
the players union would abandon its collective-bargaining
rights and essentially become a trade association."
Individual players would be free to pursue antitrust
litigation against the NBA (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 7/27).
EYEING JERRY-MANDERING: In Chicago, Lacy Banks reported
that the NBA is "investigating" a report that Bulls Chair
Jerry Reinsdorf "visited and talked" with Michael Jordan in
violation of the lockout. A report had Reinsdorf leaving
Jordan's downtown office on Wednesday. NBA Senior
VP/Communications Brian McIntyre: "It is a serious offense,
and it carries a stiff fine. But I don't even want to talk
about that until we look into it" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 7/25).
DEUCE GETS THE WORLD: In DC, Athelia Knight reported
that if the U.S. men's team advances to the second round of
the World Championships in Greece, ESPN2 will broadcast its
games. The U.S. "must win one of the three" preliminary
games against Brazil, Lithuania and South Korea to advance
to the second round. ESPN2 "could televise up to five games
in the tournament" (WASHINGTON POST, 7/25). In Colorado,
Mike Spence wrote that while USA Basketball is "hurt" by the
absence of NBA players in the World Championships, the NBA
players union "comes out a loser, too. The union still
faces a lockout. A dozen of its players lose paychecks. ...
More importantly, though, the union loses because the
absence of its players at the world championships will
reinforce a fact that both sides in the NBA labor dispute
will quickly discover this fall: Time marches on. What if
they organized a World Basketball Championships and U.S. NBA
players decided not to come? Well, they didn't cancel the
tournament" (Colorado Springs GAZETTE TELEGRAPH, 7/26).
