By Mike Kahn
CBS SportsLine Executive Editor
Nov. 25, 1998

To hear Billy Hunter tell it, this collective bargaining between the NBA and its players association is turning into the New York Whipsaw Massacre.

"The

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only conclusion I can come up with is they're trying to play head games ... mind games with the players,'' said Hunter, the executive director of the players association, in a conference call with the media Wednesday.

"It's just a whipsaw ... get the players expectations up, and snatch the rug out and start all over again."

THIS IS THE SNAP ANALYSIS OF Hunter after he said the NBA reneged on its agreement to go full blast this weekend with hopes of completing a new collective bargaining agreement. At the end of the fifth month of the lockout, this is the second time there appeared to be dramatic progress, only to see giant steps backward.

Last Friday, the two sides met well into the night -- for more than 12 hours -- and were apparently in total accord on the framework of a new deal. Hunter, NBA commissioner David Stern, deputy commissioner Russ Granik and the key negotiators on both sides all agreed it was late, they had made significant movement, and there was time to set up a new meeting where they could hopefully work until the deal was completed.

They agreed during a brief meeting Monday to meet Saturday, following Thanksgiving. Hunter, Stern, Granik and a few others were there. It gave players, who rarely are with their families, a chance to be home and the same for everybody else. Then, it would be unlimited focus on completing a new deal beginning on Saturday. The whole meeting, according to Hunter, took about 40 minutes.

Then Granik dropped a bombshell on Hunter in the form of a fax early Tuesday evening, essentially stating the players had to agree on three major issues before the Saturday meeting. From the letter, Hunter read how Granik demanded the players: 1) accept changes to the timing rules (which eliminates the ability to re-sign your own free agents if you exceed the cap with the signing of another free agent); 2) accept a specific percentage of basketball related income; 3) accept an escrow payment Hunter said would in essence be a 200 percent payback of the salary paid a free agent.

"I informed Russ in a phone call and said as far as we were concerned, all issues are open for discussion," Hunter said. "We would not agree to any set preconditions for the meeting. After that, Russ informed me there was no need for a meeting. In fact, he advised me to get back to him when we were interested in negotiations under those conditions."

NOBODY IN THE NBA OFFICES WAS AVAILABLE for comment beyond Jeff Mishkin, the NBA's chief legal counsel saying what Granik's letter indicated. There was no reason for meeting if the union would not concede to those parameters.

The miscommunication is obvious. The two sides do agree on the framework, but the abyss comes from the numbers involved. The players just do not want to give back the unfettered free agency they have built over the past 15 years. The percentage of basketball-related income going toward players' salaries exceeded 57 percent this season and the owners just don't want to pay it anymore.

So they're stuck right now and, in many respects, completely misinterpreting what the other is saying. They now have officially canceled the first two months of the NBA season -- the first work stoppage of any kind in league history -- and they are just a few weeks away from endangering the whole thing.

"I brought it to David's attention Friday night," Hunter said. "It appears we're on one side of the table, saying something, and they're on the other side with a rote presentation. It appears, from time to time, that neither side is paying attention to what the other is saying. It just becomes repetitious."

Not to mention counterproductive. The dancing is now over. This friendly game of softball that went on Friday night is history. The same goes for a few weeks ago when Michael Jordan, David Robinson and others came to New York. That weekend, rumblings that a deal had been agreed to in principle emerged, only to have Hunter accuse the NBA of planting it.

This appears to be the flip side.

Hunter is right. Are they listening to each other?

FRUSTRATION HAS BEEN THE KEY ELEMENT since the lockout began on July 1. There have been rallying points, and Hunter made it clear Wednesday the players won't consider alternative games and leagues if only because they expect to get a deal done and walk hand-in-hand very soon. But he also talked about how player contracts include an events agreement prohibiting alternative functions that aren't league- or charity-oriented.

Also seeping out of Friday's meeting were some other new concepts, including a maximum salary based on the salary cap and the elimination of the $25 million licensing agreement with the union, instead adding that to basketball related income. That licensing agreement is how each player is getting $20,000 a month right now despite the lockout.

Consequently, the rope is tightening around everybody's neck. Hunter adamantly stated he wouldn't even broach the subject of a vote with the players under the current league proposal. Any possibility of Christmas games is history. The first week of January will soon be in jeopardy and once you get beyond that, we're talking potentially blowing up the entire season, which Stern has talked about.

"I don't know ... he's obviously threatened to do it," Hunter said. "Whether or not he will do it remains to be seen. I'm hoping he's not crazy enough to do it.

"We can't negotiate with ourselves or negotiate with a gun to our heads. We're not going to accept a bad deal after being locked out for almost six months. Their idea is to raise and dash expectations to weaken our players . . . to destroy all efforts we've made thus far."

Hunter will not allow anything to be shoved down the players' throats. The teasing is over. So is the glad-handing. Unmitigated anger is next, and it won't be pretty. There are three weeks to go before canceling the season becomes a serious proposition. And even if they do begin the second week of January, consider:

The NFL playoffs are going full blast, the second week of conference play in college basketball is under way, the NHL All-Star game and midseason will be upon us, and the prospect of considering when pitchers and catchers report to spring training becomes a reality.

So even if they do return, out of shape, out of sync with new teammates because of a late training camp and fans already preoccupied, this season is already ruined. All that's left is the obvious ... how many fans will truly care?