Lockout Talks Grow Uglier

You know all those months of stalling, posturing and suing each other that led up to the current impasse between the NBA and its players?

Wednesday, that was starting to look like the good old days.

The negotiations that had inspired so much optimism so recently resumed in the first full-dress session in a week and promptly blew up, adjourning within two hours in a hail of cross-fire.

Commissioner David Stern pointedly suggested super-agent David Falk as the snake in the woodpile. By way of reply, union head Billy Hunter accused the league of trying to split the players, the agents and the union.

The parties are scheduled to meet again Friday, but if things get any worse between now and then, they’ll be hitting each other with chairs.

Without mentioning Falk by name, Stern noted that the offending agents had even “self-announced” their intention to sabotage talks, an allusion to Falk’s broadside last weekend in the New York Times.

“We believe, with good reason, that the agents for players that would be most affected by the high-end limitation have begun a campaign to defeat any fair deal,” Stern said.

“Their view is that no matter how good the deal may be for 400 players, it won’t be allowed to fly if the top 30 can’t have the ability to receive unlimited amounts. We’re concerned that this entire arrangement and deal will be held hostage by that attitude.”

Replied Hunter in a prepared statement: “The commissioner has continually tried to drive a wedge through the players and repeatedly he has failed. He attempted to pit the superstars against the minimum-salary players and he has tried to buy off the current veterans at the expense of younger and future players.

“Now he wants to split the players, the agents and the union. As David Stern is well aware, despite his current ruse, Patrick Ewing, the negotiating committee and myself have been in charge of these negotiations since Day 1 and that will continue to be the case. When the owners show some willingness to engage in compromise, rather than concession bargaining, the negotiating committee, not the agents, will be glad to recommend a deal to our players.”

Ironically, a number of agents have been bristling privately about Falk’s comments, insisting they want to make a deal.

One--Stephen Woods, a maverick with a tiny stable (Kevin Willis, Willie Burton) who once filed charges against the union with the National Labor Relations Board and was subsequently kicked out of the recent meeting in Las Vegas by Hunter--even went on the record.

“Personally, I’ve talked to probably half a dozen players and three or four agents today,” Woods said Wednesday from his Atlanta office. “All of them want this to be over. And a couple of those agents were people I was at odds with in Las Vegas.”

Nevertheless, as soon as Falk’s comments appeared Sunday, all the momentum generated last week came to a screeching halt.

On Monday, Hunter, who had said he was “optimistic” six days before, called a news conference to announce there was no deal in sight and play might not resume before January.

Stern, who had been telling confidants he was waiting for Falk to make another move like the 1995 revolt, interpreted this as firing on Fort Sumter.

Wednesday, Stern said he and Hunter had “an open and frank exchange.” In diplomatic circles, that phrase generally suggests that everyone took his best shot.

Hunter’s barbed reply suggests he interpreted Stern’s charge about Falk as a suggestion Falk is really in charge.

Nor will Hunter like Stern’s latest initiative. In Wednesday’s news conference, Stern signaled the league is going over the union’s head to sell the deal to players, for the first time, ticking off points of his proposal, including sure-to-please items like a $1-million minimum salary for 10-year veterans.

Stern says teams, which he had forbidden to contact players, can now “answer their questions” about the league’s proposals.

Who knows? Maybe the teams won’t wait for players to call up and ask questions. Maybe the teams will do the calling.

Maybe, the worst is yet to come.