Matt Bonner | SAN ANTONIO SPURS TICKETS

Players receive last NBA proposal

By Mike Monroe
mikemonroe@express-news.net

NEW YORK – After another 10-and-a-half hours of talks on the 133rd day of the NBA lockout, a revised proposal from the league to its players’ union brought a halt to negotiations so the players have time to consider a proposal that appears to be the last, best hope for an agreement that would save a relatively full NBA season.

Commissioner David Stern said if the union agrees to the proposal offered them Thursday a 72-game season would begin on Dec. 15.

Should the union reject the proposal, Stern said the “reset” proposal that has been hanging over the negotiations all week – an offer that will be much worse than that which the league offered Thursday – will become the league’s position.

That offer, Stern said, will be at a 47 percent share of basketball related income for the players and will include a much harder salary cap.

The executive board of the National Basketball Players Association has summoned the player representatives from all 30 teams to return to New York, hopefully by Monday, for a meeting to decide what to do about the proposal that Stern said has gone as far as the league can go in meeting the players’ demands.

“There comes a time when you have to be through negotiating,” Stern said, “and we are.”

Union president Derek Fisher, the Lakers guard, gave no indication what he thought the player representatives would decide.

“(The revised proposal) does not meet us entirely on the system issues we felt were extremely important to close this deal out,” Fisher said, “so at this point we’ve decided to take a step back.

“We’ll go back as an executive committee, as a board, confer with our player reps and some additional players over the next few days and then we’ll make decisions about what our next steps will be at that point.

“Obviously, we’d like to continue to negotiate and find a way to get a deal done, but right now it’s not that time.”

If Fisher is hoping rejection of the proposal by the player representatives will produce more talks, Stern made it clear it won’t happen.

There are ancillary issues – union executive director Billy Hunter identified age limit for draftees and disciplinary issues among these – that will have to be negotiated even if the union accepts the league’s revised offer, but Stern stressed that the owners have gone as far as they will go on the “A list” issues that have consumed the last week.

Asked if the league’s offer was indeed a “last, best” proposal, Stern didn’t equivocate.

“We took pains, out of respect to the efforts of everybody, not to characterize it precisely that way, but if this offer is not accepted then we will revert to our 47 percent proposal.”

Hunter said the player representatives will determine the union’s next move.

“There has been movement by the NBA,” he said. “Obviously, not enough. The question is how will those reps respond when we sit down with them next week. We want to get them in here next week, hopefully Monday, Tuesday at the latest.

“Now let’s decide what we are going to do: Engage the NBA again or what are our other options.”

The player representatives could decide to put the proposal to a vote of the entire membership of the union, but at least one executive committee member, the Spurs’ Matt Bonner, would oppose such a move.

Bonner, who prefers that the union’s board ask the league to continue negotiating, said he would vote against a proposal to submit the league’s proposal to the full membership.

One of the union’s other options could be a disclaimer of interest in continuing as the bargaining entity for the players or the movement, already underway by some players, to decertify the union by a vote of all players. Either action would clear the way for an anti-trust lawsuit by the players against the league.

Disclaimer of interest would allow for an immediate filing; decertification is a much longer process that would allow negotiations to continue in the interim.

The owners were represented Thursday by the same five men who were in the room Wednesday: Stern, deputy commissioner Adam Silver, Spurs owner Peter Holt, and attorneys Dan Rube and Rick Buchanan. The NBPA team on Thursday grew, Bonner, Chris Paul, Theo Ratliff, Keyon Dooling, and Roger Mason of the union’s executive committee joining Fisher, Hunter, outside attorney Jeffrey Kessler and economist Kevin Murphy.

Spurs’ opening night now just another Wednesday

Around 7:30 tonight, Spurs radio man Bill Schoening will be hunkered down in his Austin home, finalizing last-minute preparations for an Internet-only broadcast of the Vista Ridge High School football team’s season finale this week.

About the same time, retired schoolteacher Jane Ann Craig, a die-hard Spurs season-ticket holder who also lives in Austin, figures to be settling in for a night of television after a busy day of planning a long-awaited kitchen remodel.

Spurs forward Matt Bonner has his own method for killing time on what, if not for the NBA’s ongoing labor dispute, should have been opening night at the ATT Center.

“I’ve got my Nerf hoop set up, I’m going to put on my jersey,” Bonner said. “I’m still going to play the game.”

In an alternate universe, one with an infinite collective bargaining agreement and no such word as “lockout,” a throng of 20,000 or so would have converged on the ATT Center tonight to see the Spurs open a new season against the Milwaukee Bucks.

With the entire November schedule of games already lost and the threat of more cancellations looming if a new deal isn’t soon reached, members of the Spurs community — a group as wide-ranging as Tim Duncan and the Silver Dancers, Manu Ginobili and the arena ushers, Gregg Popovich and The Coyote — have been forced to find a Plan B.

For many who count on Spurs games as either a money-maker or a diversion, the lockout has affected the normal biorhythms of day-to-day life. And it has transformed opening night — normally one of any season’s red-letter days — into just another Wednesday.

Spurs season-ticket holder Jane Ann Craig often has brought signs to Spurs games at the ATT Center. She rarely misses a game, despite having to travel from her home in Austin. (William Luther / wluther@express-news.net)

The superfan

Forty-one times a year, not counting the preseason and postseason, the 66-year-old Craig loads up her black Chevrolet Malibu, festooned front to back in Spurs paraphernalia, and embarks on a 150-mile round trip from her home in west Austin to the ATT Center.

For a 7:30 tipoff, she leaves at 3:30.

“You have to leave early,” she says, “or traffic is just awful.”

Once at the arena, Craig will slip into her seats on the baseline, a few rows up from the Spurs bench.

When she retired from teaching three years ago, Craig bought this prime piece of ATT Center real estate almost on a whim. In the time since, she has come to view her little corner of the building as its own ecosystem.

She has become friendly with the fans to her right and left, with the ushers working her section, with the players that pass her on the way to the pregame layup line.

These are the people who will be on Craig’s mind tonight, as she endures the first of an indefinite number of nights without Spurs basketball.

“I’ll miss it because of the friendships I’ve made there over the years,” said Craig, who has skipped exactly one preseason game since buying season tickets before the 2008-09 campaign. “It’s kind of like a big Spurs family.”

A brokenhearted fan, Craig struggles to find any silver lining to the lockout, but there is one.

“I guess it will save some wear and tear on my car,” she said.

The radio voice

For as long as Schoening cares to remember, there has always been a game to call. Even with the NBA lockout in full swing, this fall is no different.

Schoening, the voice of the Spurs since 2001, has been moonlighting as the voice of the Vista Ridge Rangers, a Class 4A school near Leander.

“I was a little rusty at first,” said Schoening, who last called a football game 10 years ago as play-by-play man for the University of Texas. “It took me a couple of weeks to find my groove.”

With his 20-year-old son Karl, a sophomore at Texas State, serving as color commentator, Schoening has chronicled every snap of Vista Ridge’s disappointing 2-7 season.

“I’m just trying to keep myself busy,” Schoening said.

On Friday night, Schoening will be back on the business end of a microphone, calling Vista Ridge’s season-ender against district rival Rouse. Tonight, at a time when he should be courtside at the ATT Center, Schoening will instead be holed up in his house, preparing for a prep broadcast.

“I’ll be working on my color-coded, two-deep depth charts,” Schoening said. “Maybe watching a little game film.”

A radio man whose began his career calling high school games in Lamesa in the early 1980s, Schoening says he’s enjoyed the return his roots.

That’s not to say he wouldn’t welcome a return to his day job. Like the Spurs players he covers, Schoening is paid by the game, and every one of them scuttled is a check not going into his pocket.

“I think we’re all champing at the bit to get back to work,” he said.

The player

As a vice president of the National Basketball Players Association, Bonner has had an at-times too-close view of the sausage-making that is a collective bargaining negotiation. In testament to how draining the process has become, Bonner says he was completely unaware the Spurs were supposed to open the season tonight.

“It never even occurred to me,” said Bonner, in town Tuesday for his annual charity tournament at Canyon Springs Golf Club.

As recently as last week, Bonner would have wagered that teams would at least be in the midst of a belated training camp by now. But even with tangible progress at the negotiating table, talks blew up again last week, and, for now, no new ones are scheduled.

“As it drags on, you go through the whole range of emotions,” Bonner said. “If anything, it gets more frustrating as each day passes.”

In a typical year, Bonner said, Tuesday would have been a day full of nervous energy, followed by a fitful night’s sleep and a full game-day schedule.

There would be a shootaround this morning. Maybe a film session, and a midday nap. Then warmups, a pregame meal and, at last, game time.

This year, Bonner’s new opening-night itinerary sums up the current state of the NBA.

“I really don’t have anything going on,” he said.

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Matt Bonner’s charity golf tournament

Spurs forward Matt Bonner (right) drives a ball on the No. 1 tee box as he hosts the 2011 Matt Bonner Charity Golf Tournament for Kids Sports Network at Canyon Springs Golf Club on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011. Bonner, who is also the vice president of the NBA Players Association and on break from the contentious negotiations, took time to meet with golfers who donated to the 13th annual charity tournament which benefits youth athletics. (Kin Man Hui / SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)

Spurs forward Matt Bonner (foreground) tracks the direction of his tee shot from the No. 1 tee box as he hosts the 2011 Matt Bonner Charity Golf Tournament for Kids Sports Network at Canyon Springs Golf Club on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011. Bonner, who is also the vice president of the NBA Players Association and on break from the contentious negotiations, took time to meet with golfers who donated to the 13th annual charity tournament which benefits youth athletics. (Kin Man Hui / SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)

Spurs forward Matt Bonner (center) tracks his tee shot from the No. 1 tee box as he hosts the 2011 Matt Bonner Charity Golf Tournament for Kids Sports Network at Canyon Springs Golf Club on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011. Bonner, who is also the vice president of the NBA Players Association and on break from the contentious negotiations, took time to meet with golfers who donated to the 13th annual charity tournament which benefits youth athletics. (Kin Man Hui / SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)

Spurs forward Matt Bonner (center) and Boston Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett (left) wish one another well on the golf course as Bonner hosts the 2011 Matt Bonner Charity Golf Tournament for Kids Sports Network at Canyon Springs Golf Club on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011. Bonner, who is also the vice president of the NBA Players Association and on break from the contentious negotiations, took time to meet with golfers who donated to the 13th annual charity tournament which benefits youth athletics. (Kin Man Hui / SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)

UTSA football head coach Larry Coker (right) shares a laugh with Boston Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett (left) and Kids Sports Network CEO Brandon Parrott (second from right) prior to the start of the 2011 Matt Bonner Charity Golf Tournament for Kids Sports Network at Canyon Springs Golf Club on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011. Bonner, who is also the vice president of the NBA Players Association and on break from the contentious negotiations, appeared at the tournament and took time to meet with golfers who donated to the 13th annual charity tournament which benefits youth athletics. (Kin Man Hui / SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)

Spurs forward Matt Bonner (second from right) poses for a photo with golfers at the 2011 Matt Bonner Charity Golf Tournament for Kids Sports Network at Canyon Springs Golf Club on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011. Bonner, who is also the vice president of the NBA Players Association and on break from the contentious negotiations, took time to meet with the golfers who donated to the 13th annual charity tournament which benefits youth athletics. (Kin Man Hui / SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)

Spurs forward Matt Bonner (center) chats with Kids Sports Network CEO Brandon Parrott (left) before taking a swing on the tee box as he hosts the 2011 Matt Bonner Charity Golf Tournament for Kids Sports Network at Canyon Springs Golf Club on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011. Bonner, who is also the vice president of the NBA Players Association and on break from the contentious negotiations, took time to meet with golfers who donated to the 13th annual charity tournament which benefits youth athletics. (Kin Man Hui / SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)

Spurs forward Matt Bonner (second from right) and former Spur Coby Dietrick (left) take directions from a tournament photographer as Bonner hosts the 2011 Matt Bonner Charity Golf Tournament for Kids Sports Network at Canyon Springs Golf Club on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011. Bonner, who is also the vice president of the NBA Players Association and on break from the contentious negotiations, took time to meet with golfers who donated to the 13th annual charity tournament which benefits youth athletics. (Kin Man Hui / SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)

Spurs forward Matt Bonner (left) watches his tee shot off the No. 1 tee box during the 2011 Matt Bonner Charity Golf Tournament for Kids Sports Network at Canyon Springs Golf Club on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011. Bonner, who is also the vice president of the NBA Players Association and on break from the contentious negotiations, took time to meet with golfers who donated to the 13th annual charity tournament which benefits youth athletics. (Kin Man Hui / SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)

Owners put ball in players’ court

By Mike Monroe
mikemonroe@express-news.net

Facing an ultimatum from league owners and dissension within its membership, the leadership of the NBA Players Association will conduct a conference call today to consider its options.

Spurs forward Matt Bonner, a member of the union’s executive committee, said he expects a wide-ranging discussion. One topic will gauge the level of player interest in signing a petition to force a vote that could decertify the union.

The NBA late Saturday night gave the union a formal proposal for a new collective bargaining agreement that Bonner characterized as “basically another 50-50 split” of basketball-related income. It included some changes in the luxury tax system he said represented little change from the owners’ previous positions.

The union rejected the offer on the spot, but commissioner David Stern said it would remain on the table only through the end of business Wednesday.

Details of the league’s offer, which Stern promised to put in writing for the union to assess ahead of the deadline, include:

– A “band” of revenue for the players between 49 and 51 percent, depending on revenue growth.

– Restrictions on teams over the luxury tax threshold, including a ban on both sign-and-trade deals and full use of mid-level salary cap exceptions. The full mid-level would be replaced for tax-paying teams by a “mini” mid-level that would start at $2.5 million, half of the full mid-level.

– An added penalty for teams that exceed the luxury tax threshold three times in five seasons.

If it is not accepted by Wednesday, Stern said the offer would be withdrawn and replaced by a much worse deal, with a revenue split giving the players only 47 percent of BRI and a “flex” salary cap system the players already have characterized as an unacceptable hard cap.

Lakers guard Derek Fisher, the union’s president, told reporters in New York on Saturday that the NBA deal was not one the executive committee could take to its players for a vote.

Bonner said every member of the executive committee is behind the decision to reject it.

“We’re all on the same page,” he said.

Saturday’s session, which was conducted under the guidance of George Cohen, head of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, was frustrating for the players.

“Saturday sucked,” Bonner said. “The way we saw to save the season and get a deal was by saying the system was more important to us, BRI more important to them; we can compromise on BRI if they can come more to us on the remaining system issues.

“That’s what we were hoping would get a deal, and we really thought the approach we took was going to get it done. But when George came back after taking our offer to the owners, what he came back with was five or six changes in system things, and all but one were what the owners wanted. It was basically their deal.”

Disbanding the union would allow players to file an anti-trust lawsuit against the league. The more important, immediate result would be some leverage for the union during the roughly 45 days it would take for the National Labor Relations Board to arrange a vote of all 450 members of the union.

The threat of decertification and the uncertainty that comes with it could give the union the leverage it needs to coax a better offer from the league than the deal it rejected Saturday.

“I’m sure we’ll talk about everything on the call,” Bonner said.