By Mike Kahn
SportsLine Executive Editor
Dec. 30, 1998
Here's a tough one: Who can remember the last shot made in an NBA game?
Hint:
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Still not sure? Granted, we understand, it seems like a millennium ago.
OK, he wears (make that wore) No.23 for the Chicago Bulls.
If you said Michael Jordan, you've proved you haven't been stranded on a deserted island. You might also recall the shot sealed the sixth NBA title for the Bulls in the past eight seasons -- and sixth straight when Jordan wasn't trying his hand at baseball.
BUT TO CALL THE LAST BULL RUN the highlight of 1998 for the NBA would be ignoring the obvious.
On July 1, the NBA locked out its players after opting out in the third year of the five-year collective bargaining agreement. There's been nothing but vexing and perplexing rhetoric from both sides ever since. The result has been the first work stoppage in NBA history.
The one thing we know for sure is this: There has yet to be a practice or game due to the lockout and the NBA is on the verge of becoming the first professional sports league to cancel an entire season.
That's the short version of the last six months, and that's more space than it deserves. Consequently, we'll look back at the first six months of the year, which had at least a minor impact on why there is no basketball today.
The NBA Finals were, in many respects, a rerun of 1997, with a six-game victory for the Bulls over the Utah Jazz. Chicago's victory marked the end of an era, with Phil Jackson announcing he would not return as coach. The Bulls responded by sort of hiring Tim Floyd as coach, creating the sham of leaving the job open for Jackson to return.
That was merely an overture for Jordan, who said he would rather retire than play for another coach. In the meantime, Jordan has transformed the gym in his house into a cigar bar. And Scottie Pippen? He is a free agent waiting for the new rules before he decides whether he'll return to the Bulls.
WHAT
WE DID NOTICE WAS THE BULLS were far closer to losing in the Eastern Conference Finals than they were to losing to the Jazz. Some guy named Larry Bird was coach of the year, returning to his native Indiana and leading the Pacers to within the final minute of upsetting the Bulls in Game 7 in the East Finals.
Larry Bird provided some unforgettable moments in an otherwise forgettable year.
(Allsport)
Plenty of names cropped up -- from Reggie Miller and Rik Smits to young guard Travis Best, who made the most noise -- but it was Bird's killer demeanor on the sideline that caught everybody's eye.
The question of whether Bird has the patience to coach need not be asked again. The Pacers officially made it clear: they got next.
Once again, the reputation of Jazz forward Karl Malone as the best power forward of his era rose to the forefront. He responded with some good games, but then went off the deep end after the series by joining wacky Dennis Rodman and others in a tag-team wrestling match.
Since then, Malone has hosted a radio show in Los Angeles, asked to be traded and turned on the players union when it mattered most.
No doubt, the Mailman misplaced his zip codes in 1998.
Over the top, we have the awards. Jordan won his annual Most Valuable Player awards for both the season and the NBA Finals. Tim Duncan was a spectacular Rookie of the Year for the San Antonio Spurs. Wayne Embry was named Executive of the Year for rebuilding the Cleveland Cavaliers into a contending team with young players around mercurial Shawn Kemp.
THAT'S THE GOOD STUFF THAT NATURALLY comes from a league filled with nonpareil athletes and the exceptional people who manage them. But there was trouble in paradise from the start of the 1997-98 season which led to this work stoppage and unequivocal acrimony between the league and its players. Money is only one aspect of the problem.
The continuing retirements of the league's top game officials -- and resignations of too many more due to a airline ticket scam of unreported money that the IRS discovered -- has blemished the league. And the officiating of games continues to be subject to more criticism than ever.
That leads us to the game itself, which has become more of a defensive struggle and one-on-one effort, with lower scores, relatively poor shooting and some horrendous franchises led by the Denver Nuggets, who crawled to a nightmarish 11-71 season.
But nothing scarred the league more than the Latrell Sprewell arbitration that began on Dec. 1 of last year when he reportedly attacked Golden State coach P.J. Carlesimo during practice. What followed ranked with some of the most embarrassing moments in NBA -- if not professional sports -- history.
Sprewell first was given a short suspension, then the Warriors terminated his contract and the NBA suspended him for 365 days.
When the dust settled, arbitrator John Feerick shortened Sprewell's suspension to July 1 and disallowed the termination of his contract. Sprewell then sued seemingly any and every name he could remember. It was the consummate humiliation for the league, reiterating its transition from a sport of respectful stars who became the most marketable athletes in the world to a league full of young players without regard for the history and success of the league.
THAT PROBLEM MANIFESTED ITSELF at the All-Star Game in New York, when 19-year-old Kobe Bryant got carried away by press clippings billing him as the heir apparent to Air Jordan. Bryant waved off his fellow All-Stars to go one-on-one anytime he could. Ultimately, Western Conference coach George Karl had to bench him.
All of that and more brings us to where we are today -- wondering if there will even be a 1998-99 season.
Commissioner David Stern sent his second letter in nine days directly to the players Wednesday. This one included what Stern referred to as "the final offer" of a new collective bargaining agreement that the players must accept to avoid having the season canceled following a vote by the league's Board of Governors on Jan. 7.
Do we believe that will actually happen? Well, no games have been played and the All-Star Game scheduled for Philadelphia in February was terminated weeks ago. There seems to be a perspective coming from the league that it wants a complete overhaul of salaries, attitudes, marketing (more international in focus) and a general evaluation of the future.
If that includes abolishing the 1998-99 season, so be it. The fear of what the new millennium will bring to our daily lives has come a year early, if you consider what has happened to everyone whose jobs are predicated on the NBA and the 29 franchises across the country.
Algebraically speaking, this is the NBA's worst nightmare: Y2K minus 1.
Mike Kahn is CBS SportsLine's executive editor.
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