By Mike Kahn
CBS SportsLine Executive Editor
Oct. 20, 1998

You are Pete Babcock, GM of the Atlanta Hawks and there is an NBA lockout.

What

Related Links Lockout coverage: Feerick rules for owners Players weigh options Kahn: Negotiation at a standstill Lockout timeline Audio: Both sides speak out Forum: Will the season be canceled?

does that mean? Players can't use the team's facilities, talk to any team official or negotiate contracts.

As for Babcock, neither he nor any other team official is allowed to talk to players, talk about the lockout or players or negotiate contracts. A call to the Hawks office reinforced what was already known, "Mr. Babcock is not permitted to talk to the media about the lockout."

THAT MEANS AS GENERAL MANAGER of the Hawks, Babcock is in an unenviable position. He has just four players under contract. There are 12 players on each NBA team. You do the math.

"This is craziness," one NBA general manager said. "All you have to do is look around the league to understand how bad this really is. Agents keep saying, 'Don't worry. Everybody knows where they're going. A contract can get done in a matter of hours. Well, guess what? It isn't going to be that easy. We don't know the rules (of the salary cap) yet, so you can't really target players unless you are already under the cap and you have an idea of needs.

"Let's

With the lockout keeping them from team facilities, Avery Johnson, right, and Nick Van Exel play the only way they can. (AP)

just say this is all pretty vague."

What isn't vague are the numbers. Only eight of last year's 16 playoff teams have eight or more players under contract, led by the Utah Jazz, New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets with 10 apiece. The Los Angeles Lakers, Indiana Pacers, Cleveland Cavaliers and Portland Trail Blazers each have nine players under contract.

In fact, ten of the 29 teams have six players or less.

And that's not even getting into who the returning players are.

It isn't as if the Hawks are the only team with only four players returning. Just imagine what Michael Jordan is pondering when it comes down to the perspective of to retire or not to retire. Only Toni Kukoc, Ron Harper, Randy Brown and Keith Booth are under contract for the Bulls next season. Is Jerry Krause as brilliant at scouting talent as he purports to be?

We'll find out soon enough.

THE HOUSTON ROCKETS ALSO HAVE just four players. Clyde Drexler retired to try coaching his alma mater Houston Cougars back to respectability and Charles Barkley is hoping to find a championship ring somewhere, but probably not in Houston. That leaves Hakeem Olajuwon to sort things out with Brent Price, Rodrick Rhodes and Roy Rogers. Maybe they can sign Dale Evans with a little help from Roy.

Not much better off, considering he has just five players to start with, is Chuck Daly and the Orlando Magic. That's assuming Penny Hardaway is healthy not only physically, but mentally considering all the animosity that's built up the past year or so over his continuous injuries and impending free agency. Hardaway could be a bigger hurdle than finding seven more players to dress.

Fresh from another 60-plus win season are the Seattle SuperSonics, with Paul Westphal having replaced deposed coach George Karl. Westphal has all five starters returning and the sixth man is Aaron Williams. Who are the rest of his players?

"Well, there is one advantage to this -- I'm able to spend a lot more time watching free agents on tape," Westphal said. "I'm also getting to know my own players much better with all the time I have to watch tape."

A sense of humor is mandatory at this point. Obviously, Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling still finds this amusing. He doesn't even have a coach yet.

Scouting and exceptional relationships with agents will be a necessity if the lockout ends during the next month or so. The NBA front office continues to insist it will require 3-4 weeks after a new collective bargaining agreement has been completed for games to start.

FREE AGENCY NOTWITHSTANDING, there is this not-so-small matter of working players into game condition, getting players used to each other again, and in some cases -- like the Sonics -- playing for a new coach under a different system.

By all accounts, the NBA and the Players Association have seven weeks left to negotiate before the entire season is in serious jeopardy. Some people believe it's less than that. Meanwhile, the Hawks, Bulls and Rockets each have just four players under contract.

Considering what an awful state the NBA is in now with the negotiating process, just imagine how bad the games will be if and when they do settle. The games won't be much better than the charity All-Star games we've been watching.

At least those tickets are affordable.

Here is a list of all NBA teams with the players they have under contract:

New Jersey -- 10 (Michael Cage, Sam Cassell, Brian Evans, Chris Gatling, Kendall Gill, Lucious Harris, Kerry Kittles, Don MacLean, Rony Seikaly, Keith Van Horn).

New York -- 10 (Marcus Camby, Chris Childs, Terry Cummings, Patrick Ewing, Allan Houston, DeMarco Johnson, Larry Johnson, Chris Mills, John Starks, Anthony Bowie).

Golden State -- 10 (Tyrone Bogues, Bimbo Coles, Erick Dampier, Tony Delk, Duane Ferrell, Adonal Foyle, Todd Fuller, Jeff Grayer, Donyell Marshall, Felton Spencer).

LA Clippers -- 10 (Keith Closs, Lamond Murray, Eric Piatkowski, Pooh Richardson, James Robinson, Rodney Rogers, Charles Smith, Maurice Taylor, Stojko Vrankovic, Lorenzen Wright).

Milwaukee -- 10 (Ray Allen, Terrell Brandon, Michael Curry, Armon Gilliam, Tyrone Hill, Jerald Honeycutt, Ervin Johnson, Andrew Lang, Elliot Perry, Glenn Robinson).

Toronto -- 10 (Chauncey Billups, Dee Brown, Doug Christie, Tracy McGrady, Charles Oakley, Reggie Slater, John Thomas, John Wallace, Kevin Willis, Sharone Wright).

Utah -- 10 (Shandon Anderson, Howard Eisley, Greg Foster, Jeff Hornacek, Adam Keefe, Karl Malone, Greg Ostertag, Bryon Russell, John Stockton, Jacque Vaughn).

Vancouver -- 10 (Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Pete Chilcutt, Carl Herrera, Bobby Hurley, Sam Mack, Tony Massenburg, Lee Mayberry, Bryant Reeves, Michael Smith, Doug West).

Boston -- 9 (Kenny Anderson, Dana Barros, Bruce Bowen, Andrew DeClercq, Pervis Ellison, Travis Knight, Ron Mercer, Greg Minor, Antoine Walker).

LA Lakers -- 9 (Tony Battie, Corie Blount, Kobe Bryant, Elden Campbell, Derek Fisher, Robert Horry, Eddie Jones, Shaquille O'Neal, Sean Rooks).

Cleveland -- 9 (Derek Anderson, Danny Ferry, Cedric Henderson, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Shawn Kemp, Brevin Knight, Wesley Person, Vitaly Potapenko, Bob Sura).

Indiana -- 9 (Austin Croshere, Antonio Davis, Dale Davis, Mark Jackson, Derrick McKey, Reggie Miller, Chris Mullin, Jalen Rose, Haywoode Workman).

Portland -- 9 (Stacey Augmon, Kelvin Cato, John Crotty, Brian Grant, Jermaine O'Neal, Isaiah Rider, Carlos Rogers, Rasheed Wallace, Walt Williams).

Miami -- 8 (P.J. Brown, Duane Causwell, Tim Hardaway, Voshon Lenard, Dan Majerle, Jamal Mashburn, Terry Mills, Alonzo Mourning).

Detroit -- 8 (Grant Hill, Lindsey Hunter, Eric Montross, Charles O'Bannon, Scot Pollard, Don Reid Brian Williams, Jerome Williams).

Washington -- 8 (Calbert Cheaney, Juwan Howard, Tim Legler, Tracy Murray, Mitch Richmond, Otis Thorpe, Chris Whitney, Lorenzo Williams).

Denver -- 7 (Danny Fortson, Dean Garrett, Bobby Jackson, Priest Lauderdale, Bryant Stith, Nick Van Exel, Eric Williams).

Minnesota -- 7 (Chris Carr, Bill Curley, Kevin Garnett, Paul Grant, Stephon Marbury, Anthony Peeler, Micheal Williams).

San Antonio -- 7 (Antonio Daniels, Tim Duncan, Sean Elliott, Avery Johnson, Will Perdue, Chuck Person, David Robinson).

Charlotte -- 6 (B.J. Armstrong, Anthony Mason, Bobby Phills, J.R. Reid, Glen Rice, David Wesley).

Dallas -- 6 (Steve Nash, Robert Pack, Khalid Reeves, Shawn Respert, Erick Strickland Samaki Walker).

Philadelphia -- 6 (Allen Iverson, Aaron McKie, Anthony Parker, Eric Snow, Tim Thomas, Scott Williams).

Phoenix -- 6 (Mark Bryant, Kevin Johnson, Jason Kidd, Danny Manning, Martin Muursepp, Bubba Wells).

Sacramento -- 6 (Tariq Abdul-Wahad, Terry Dehere, Lawrence Funderburke, Chris Robinson, Predrag Stojakovic, Chris Webber).

Seattle -- 6 (Vin Baker, Hersey Hawkins, Jim McIlvaine, Gary Payton, Detlef Schrempf, Aaron Williams).

Orlando -- 5 (Nick Anderson, Horace Grant, Penny Hardaway, Charles Outlaw, Johnny Taylor).

Atlanta -- 4 (Mookie Blaylock, Ed Gray, Dikembe Mutombo, Steve Smith).

Chicago -- 4 (Keith Booth, Randy Brown, Ron Harper, Toni Kukoc).

Houston -- 4 (Hakeem Olajuwon, Brent Price, Rodrick Rhodes, Roy Rogers Jr.)