In an August 21 letter from NBPA Exec Dir Simon Gourdine to
all NBA agents, Gourdine said the union will not "'retaliate'
against the agent community at large for the role of certain
agents in the decertification initiative." Gourdine: "If the
Union wins the election, our overriding objective will be to
repair the distasteful dissension among players that has resulted
from the decertification initiative. To this end, we would no
more lash out against player agents for their role in the
decertification effort than we would harbor a grudge against
individual players who have supported decertification" (NBPA).
POSTCARD FROM DALLAS: The NBPA 17-city tour stops in Dallas
and Atlanta today, and in an interview with David Moore of the
DALLAS MORNING NEWS, Gourdine said he is concerned about turnout
in the upcoming election. Gourdine: "I think dissidents, by
their very nature, should be more organized. What we have to do,
what we have focused on doing, is to get the message out that
everyone needs to vote. We can't let it be a small turnout. ...
We don't have a targeted turnout. We don't have any real
history. It is not like a presidential campaign where you can
look back and say in 1992, this percentage came out. The
situation is so unique, I don't know what the benchmark is. Is
it 75 percent? Eighty percent? From our perspective, we want
the turnout as large as we can because we feel that will help
keep the union in tact" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 8/24). In Atlanta,
Jeffrey Denberg reports that free agent Jon Koncak, Hawks player
rep Andrew Lang, and guard Steve Smith support the proposed deal
(ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 8/24).
WHO SAYS STRAW POLLS ARE JUST FOR IOWANS: In today's N.Y.
TIMES, Murray Chass reports that "the dissident camp said that in
a straw poll of slightly more than 300 of the 420 players
eligible to vote, 45 percent said they favored decertification,
26 opposed it and 29 percent said they were undecided." NBA
Deputy Commissioner Russ Granik, however, said the league is
"pretty optimistic" decertification will be voted down. Granik:
"The feedback we're getting is most of the players feel it's a
fair deal." NEED A LIFT? The NBA has offered to pay for
transportation for players to get to NLRB offices to vote (Murray
Chass, N.Y. TIMES, 8/24).
OH, BY THE WAY: Chass also reports that "yesterday players
and agents received an additional seven pages of 'miscellaneous
unmodified terms from the June 21 proposed agreement" that are
part of the latest deal. Jeffrey Kessler, attorney for the
dissidents: "These are terms from the June 21st agreement that
no one ever knew before in many cases. Some I would characterize
as bombshells. ... What they're calling clarification are cap-
tightening devices, not anti-circumvention devises. They're
adding new restrictions." Included in these terms is a provision
which prevents players and teams from "from negotiating a
contract downward" -- a tactic used by NFL teams, such as the
49ers, to create additional room under their salary cap. Granik:
"One thing we explained to everybody from the beginning was that
certain loopholes and abuses in the salary cap had to be closed
up" (N.Y. TIMES, 8/24).
MORE ON THE DOWN STROKE: In Washington, Mark Asher writes
that, in the past, NBA teams did not need to reduce base salaries
and provide signing bonuses like the 49ers, because players
"received loans instead of signing bonuses." Asher adds, "Under
the proposed deal, however, the NBA would significantly tighten
repayment terms of loans, so they have to be paid back, in
effect, by payroll deduction, starting in the first year of the
contract. Previously, loans did not have to be repaid until the
end of the contract, and some never were repaid" (WASHINGTON
POST, 8/24).
