Tag: Deputy Commissioner

NBA talks turn tense, to be continued

By Mike Monroe
mikemonroe@express-news.net

NEW YORK — It’s crunch time in the talks aimed at ending the NBA lockout, and some of basketball’s most prominent closers showed up to take their shots at bringing the two sides closer to a deal.

On Friday, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Chris Paul, Elton Brand, Ben Gordon, Andre Iguodala and Baron Davis, along with union president Derek Fisher and the players’ association executive board conferred with all but two members of the NBA’s labor relations committee, which is headed by Spurs owner Peter Holt.

After five hours of talks that included moments of tension and rancor, the superstars had made no tangible difference in a labor dispute that has entered its third month.

They had, however, shown the owners they would stand up for themselves and their union leadership.

According to a sourced report by NBA.com’s David Aldridge, Wade stood up to NBA commissioner David Stern during a side meeting that did not involve all members of both groups. Angered that Stern had been pointing at him, Wade ordered Stern to stop, saying, “I’m not your child.”

Stern and union executive director Billy Hunter conferred, and after an apology was issued to Wade, the talks resumed.

Fisher clearly appreciated such support.

“Some of our guys standing here right now have been questioned in terms of their commitment to this process, to the players’ association and to the game,” he said, the stars and executive board members standing behind him at a news conference. “Their presence here today .?.?. says a lot. These guys have always been here with us in spirit. They’ve always been here with us in terms of the cause. They’ve been with us in concerns and recommendations.”

Ultimately, when Friday’s meeting ended, the two sides were no closer to a deal than when the day began. But after the day’s tension, an agreement to continue the process today, with hints the talks could continue all weekend, was deemed a good sign.

“At least we’re meeting tomorrow,” said Spurs forward Matt Bonner, a union vice president and member of the negotiating committee. “That’s a silver lining. Just as Derek said, we want to get a deal done and we’re going to keep working at it and try to get there. No progress, per se, was made today, but nobody stormed out and refused to talk.”

Nevertheless, against a backdrop that this weekend’s meetings carried what Stern called “enormous consequences,” Friday’s session seemed anti-climactic.

Fisher, the Lakers point guard, said the talks had been “engaging” and called the participation of the prominent players very meaningful, but admitted no progress had been made toward an agreement that might end the lockout imposed by the owners the moment the old collective bargaining agreement expired on July 1.

“We discussed a lot of different ideas — concepts, system issues, economics, a little bit of everything,” he said. “We did not come out of here with a deal today. We will be back tomorrow at 10 a.m. to continue to discuss.

“Overall, we felt like this … was not a waste of time.”

Deputy commissioner Adam Silver acknowledged there was little likelihood a deal could be reached by the end of the weekend — “I think just the number of hours in the day, I’m not sure if we can complete a deal this weekend,” he said — but Stern insisted failure to do so this weekend would not mean the entire 2011-12 season might be canceled.

“Whatever the eventuality is, the idea that we would at an early stage cancel the season is … ludicrous,” he said.

NBA labor dispute wipes out start of preseason

By Jeff McDonald
jmcdonald@express-news.net

On Friday morning, Spurs forward Matt Bonner was in Montreal, preparing to play in a charity basketball game and feeling even more out of sorts than usual, when he got the news.

As expected, the NBA formally announced the postponement of training camp and the cancellation of a week’s worth of preseason games for lack of a new collective bargaining agreement.

“At this point, we should all be back in San Antonio, getting ready for camp,” said Bonner, a vice president of the players’ union who has been closely involved in negotiations with the league owners. “To not be there, it’s just really weird, you know?”

Training camp, originally slated to open Oct. 4, has been pushed back indefinitely. In addition, the league scuttled all preseason games through Oct. 15 — 43 in all.

The cancellations, forecast for days if not weeks, became necessary when the latest bargaining session broke down Thursday without significant progress made.

Among the carnage were the Spurs’ first three preseason games — exhibitions slated for Oct. 9 against New Orleans, Oct. 11 at Sacramento and Oct. 15 at home against the Kings were all scrapped. For now, the earliest the Spurs might open the preseason is Oct. 17 against Cleveland, and even that seems in peril.

“We have regretfully reached the point on the calendar where we are not able to open training camps on time and need to cancel the first week of preseason games,” deputy commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “We will make further decisions as warranted.”

In 1998-99, when the NBA’s most recent lockout shortened the regular season to 50 games, the league cancelled the remainder of its preseason schedule on Oct. 6. It is assumed a similar timetable would be in effect this time around.

If a deal is not reached by mid-October, it is unlikely the regular season will be able to open as scheduled Nov. 1. Bonner was hopeful Friday’s cancellations might up the ante for both sides to broker a deal before it comes to that.

“Up until now, nothing had been canceled,” Bonner said. “Now it seems more real. Hopefully, the realness of the situation will create some added motivation to get it solved.”

Bound by a gag order issued by the league office, Spurs officials are barred from commenting on labor issues while the lockout remains in effect.

The sticking points between owners and the union are twofold: How to split the league’s revenue pie, and by what mechanism the players’ share should be delivered.

The players have offered to reduce their portion of basketball-related income from 57 percent under the last CBA to 54.3 percent or lower, with the condition that the soft salary-cap system remains in place.

Owners, most of whom the league says are losing money, want the players to take a smaller cut of the pie — in the “mid-40s,” according to Bonner — while instituting a much more restrictive hard salary cap.

“Their offer is way out in left field, and they’re sticking to it,” Bonner said.

With the clock still ticking and the calendar still creeping forward toward doomsday, players can only hope for a return to normalcy soon.

“The unknown is stressful,” Bonner said. “It’s especially frustrating for players, because we want to play. It’s what we do.”

SPURS’ PRESEASON SCHEDULE

At least three of the team’s seven games will not be played because of the lack of an NBA labor deal:

Canceled
Oct. 9: vs. Hornets
Oct. 11: @Kings
Oct. 15: vs. Kings

On for now
Oct. 17: vs. Cavs, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 20: vs. Magic, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 24: @Rockets, 7 p.m.
Oct. 27: @Thunder, 7 p.m.

Another bargaining session set next week for players, owners

After the resumption of talks earlier this week, NBA players and owners have set another meeting next week to continue their dialogue as they try to end the lockout.

Hoop optimists everywhere hope that more talk between the two sides is a good sign.

The realists aren’t necessarily so sure.

But the fact that NBA commissioner David Stern, NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver, players’ association executive director Billy Hunter and union president Derek Fisher of the Los Angeles Lakers will meet again indicates that dialogue is taking place.

Sam Amick of SI.com reports that the , with the hopes of better productivity with fewer raised voices in the discussion. It could take place Wednesday or Thursday of next week and it would be only the third head-to-head negotiating session since the lockout started on July 1.

It is not clear if Spurs majority owner Peter Holt, head of the league’s labor relations committee, will participate.

With the beginning of training camps scheduled for later  this month and still not yet postponed, Fisher told  reporters that “both sides [are] feeling a sense of urgency” to get a deal done.

The owners and players clearly remain far apart. But the fact they weren’t sniping at each other in the media after their most recent meeting is a good sign that helped set up the upcoming one.