The NBA's rookie wage scale was examined by Bryan
Burwell on "Inside the NBA." He said the system "that
management and even some star players wanted so desperately
three years ago ... no longer looks like such a great idea."
Burwell: "Yet in reality, is it the system that's causing so
many problems or just this particularly poor 1995 draft
class?" The first ten picks of the '95 draft have produced
only one All-Star, the worst ratio of any draft from '92-95.
Burwell: "But as one general manager told me, 'If you leave
this one alone it might just correct itself.' Yet just
about everyone else -- players, agents and management --
believes they won't leave well enough alone, and the rookie
contract system will be one of the major battlegrounds in
this summer's labor wars" ("Inside the NBA," TNT, 2/27).
NOTES: FAME's David Falk, on possible NBA action toward
players who refuse to accept trade assignments: "I don't
know what else they can do. If a guy says, 'If I had to
play somewhere I'd retire instead,' and he's sincere about
it and willing to follow through, I don't know what you can
legislate to force him to do that. You can't have specific
enforcement of a personal services contract. A guy doesn't
have to play" (WASHINGTON POST, 2/28)....Pacers Coach Larry
Bird answered questions for an MTV crew Thursday. Afterward
he said, "I don't like MTV. Our league is going MTV and
that's what's wrong with it" (INDIANAPOLIS STAR-NEWS, 3/1).
