"A group of about 25 high-profile players -- including
Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, and Alonzo Mourning -- met by
conference call Monday afternoon and reaffirmed their efforts to
decertify the NBA players' union and reject a tentative labor
agreement," according to Tim Povtak in this morning's ORLANDO
SENTINEL. The players will hold a news conference in Chicago on
Wednesday to explain their reasoning. Other players on the call:
Brian Shaw, Dennis Scott, Reggie Miller, A.C. Green, Chris
Webber, Xavier McDaniel, and Latrell Sprewell. Agents on the
call: David Falk, Ron Grinker, Len Elmore, Eric Fleisher, Arn
Tellem, Keith Glass, and Jeffrey Kessler. One unidentified
agent: "I was definitely surprised by the level of passion in
the voices for decertification today. Until this meeting, I
thought there was a good chance for ratification of the deal.
I'm not so sure anymore" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 8/15).
MALONE CALLS DECERTIFICATION "DUMB": In an interview today
with the BOSTON GLOBE's Jackie MacMullan, Karl Malone says,
"Decertification is the dumbest move we could possibly make," and
that those "big-time players" who are pushing it "should step up
and look at themselves in the mirror." Malone: "The players who
are part of this are not leaders. They're followers. I'm upset
it's come down to players vs. players, but they've given us no
choice. ... As far as I'm concerned, any players on the Utah Jazz
that want to decertify are scabs. That's how I'll look at them
from now on. Scabs." Agent Marc Fleisher: "Karl Malone has
renegotiated his contract several times now, maybe more than any
other NBA star. Maybe somebody should tell him under this new
proposed agreement, he won't be able to do that anymore."
Malone: "The hell with the agents. Show me one agent who has
ever put his player's interest ahead of his own" (Jackie
MacMullan, BOSTON GLOBE, 8/15).
