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Mavs learn progress is slow on labor issue
Players association chief says a lockout may be looming

By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News

The executive director of the NBA Players Association painted a grim picture Friday when he talked to the Mavericks about the upcoming labor issues facing the league and its players.

He used the word "repugnant" to describe the league's efforts for a hard salary cap and, in short, said players should be saving their money.

The current collective bargaining agreement expires after this season.

"Your strategy has to include everything," Hunter said. "If we don't get it [an agreement], you can expect there's going to be a lockout. There's not much happening. We're having discussions, but we're some distance apart. You can discern that things are moving at a snail's pace, if at all."

A hard salary cap, which would save spendaholic owners from themselves, is the key issue. The owners prefer the term "cost certainty."

"When they talk about cost certainty, they're talking about a hard cap," Hunter said. "To mention hard cap to me is repugnant. Don't even come to me with that.

"If you concede on most of the things they're asking, you'd be backing yourself into a hard cap. We don't want a hard cap. We have a soft cap system with exceptions that enable teams to pay players who deserve to be paid or that they want to pay."

Shawn Bradley is the only Maverick who has gone through the last two lockouts, in 1995 and '98. The first one ended in the summer with no lost games. The second dragged into 1999, with the league eventually having a 50-game season.

He knows this dispute could get ugly.

"I don't know if it [a lockout] is inevitable, but I know it's very likely," Bradley said. "It's an impasse right now.

"It's not like hockey, where the owners said they aren't losing any more money by not playing. But the issue is a hard cap. The last time the union said no,and they came up with a luxury tax, which is packaging a hard cap a different way.

"They don't trust [themselves] with their money; that's why the major issue is a hard cap."

While in '95 only free agents and rookies felt the hit of a lockout, the '98 lockout cost many players money, Bradley said.

"Save your money," he said of advice to teammates. "As odd as it may sound, there are guys who live paycheck to paycheck making a million dollars a paycheck. How that can be, I don't know, but it's true. It's not how much you make, it's how much you put away to live on."

Hunter, however, still believes there is hope to avoid a work stoppage.

"My gut tells me that probably when things get tight, we'll probably reach an agreement when we feel pressure, collectively, them and us," he said.

Passing grade:

Don Nelson likes the way his team is improving, but as it heads into a tough match against Indiana tonight, he wouldn't say the Mavericks have overachieved.

"Right now, we have a passing mark," he said. "I wouldn't say we have an A. I wouldn't say we got a B. We have a C-plus. We've made strides in the right direction. But now as the competition gets better, it'll be more of a test for us.

"But we're also making strides defensively. My hope is when we finish this month that we'll be a very well-rounded team."

Briefly:

Shawn Bradley did not practice because of a bruised right hip. ... Marquis Daniels continues to wear out the exercise bike. He said he's seeing modest improvement in his sore right ankle.