The NBPA spent Monday in an "informal" meeting with its
negotiating committee in N.Y., "coming to the conclusion
that the offer was not substantive enough to warrant a vote
of the rank and file," according to Michael Murphy of the
HOUSTON CHRONICLE. Magic Player Rep Danny Schayes: "We just
caught up and talked over some things. Out of the
conference call from last week, we had talked over the
viability of voting on [the owners'] proposal. We voted
unanimously in our group not to vote on it. And then the
players on our weekly conference call (Monday) voted
unanimously not to as well." Schayes cited "non-economic
issues like cap restrictions that are the biggest stumbling
blocks." Schayes: "On the economic issues, we are fairly
close. ... But then [the owners] have a laundry list of 20
other things, other issues that relate to freedom of
movement -- things like trying to slip in an increased cap
hold. There are a lot of those things that chip away at the
value of the Larry Bird exception and free agency. We may
be farther apart on those things than on the economic
issues. I'm hoping we can meet between Christmas and New
Year's and hopefully get some action" (CHRONICLE, 12/22).
MERRY CHRIS-RUSS: NBA Deputy Commissioner Russ Granik
spoke with Glenn Rogers of the SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, and
said that while players say that they "would reject" the
current proposal "without further modifications," those
modifications "never may arrive." Granik: "They make
concessions and call them major, but they don't affect
enough contracts. ... They want more exceptions to the
salary cap, like the median-player and the average-player
salary, that would cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
This just shows the gulf in thinking and why we can't seem
to make any progress." More Granik: "We're ready to
negotiate. We don't know if we have anything further to
give. We won't say that this is it. We mailed out the
proposal so the players would understand our thinking. We
are ready to get back to the table" (EXPRESS-NEWS, 12/22).
RE-COUNT: The NJ Sports & Exposition Authority put the
crowd at Saturday's "The Game on Showtime" in Atlantic City
at 5,603 -- "far fewer" than the announced 9,526. FAME
President/Game Dir Curtis Polk said that 9,526 was the
number of tickets distributed. Polk: "We roughly estimated
the crowd between 6,000 and 7,000, so that's not that far
off." The NJSEA said that "only" 1,194 tickets were sold
through the box office/phone system. Polk said "a number of
corporations bought up most" tickets (N.Y. TIMES, 12/22).
AGENTS OF CHANGE? ESPN.com's Frank Hughes writes that a
"group of NBA player agents is trying to convince Billy
Hunter ... to consider a proposal they have developed that
they think would end the lockout almost immediately." The
unidentified agents' proposal "essentially would accept the
league's latest stance for a new [CBA], but add one caveat:
Teams can designate franchise players." Under the system, a
team "could designate one of its players the 'franchise'
player, and that player -- regardless of his service in the
league -- could earn a salary worth 35 percent of his team's
salary cap." Hughes writes that what the agents "want to do
is ensure that one player per team is eligible to make the
maximum salary." Hughes adds that Hunter "could take the
agents' proposal into consideration and, if he likes it,
make the offer to Stern whenever they meet without running
the idea past his constituents" (ESPN.com, 12/22).
