NBA owners and players negotiate
By Chris Sheridan
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Just when it
looked like NBA owners and
players might never speak again,
they decided it wouldn’t be a bad
idea to try to save the season.
“Somebody had to call eventu
ally, because we eventually had
to get back to the bargaining
table,” NBA deputy commission
er Russ Granik said Tuesday after
the sides announced that labor
talks will resume Thursday morn
ing.
It will be the first session featur
ing the owners’ and players’ full
bargaining committees since Nov.
20, when the sides met for 9 1/2
hours and called it their most pro
ductive meeting to date.
But in order to facilitate this
new session, the sides agreed to
toss out any and all agreements
made Nov. 20 and start from
scratch.
That means the owners are
back asking for a 50-50 split, the
players want a 60-40 split and
their movement to 52 and 53 per
cent (by the owners) and 57 per
cent (by the players) are null and
void.
“1 don’t know that we’ll find
our way back to where we were,”
Granik said. “We may have to go
a totally different path.
“Everything is negotiable and
there’s always flexibility, but we
need to bring the percentage
down and they don't really want
to. And that’s the problem,” said
Granik, who described himself as
pessimistic.
Union director Billy
Hunter, whose phone call
to commissioner David
Stern resulted in the re
sumption, did not make
any public comments.
“We’ve agreed that everything
is negotiable, there are no deal
killers or other preconditions, and
neither side is now committed to
anything,” Granik said. “Whatev
er might have been put across the
table at the last meeting is now
undone, and on that basis we
agreed to meet.”
The news came as locked-out
players were feeling another
squeeze on their wallets as they
missed their second payday.
For stars like union president
Patrick Ewing, who was due to
earn $18 million this season, that
meant another lost $900,000.
“The unprepared players are
the ones who are getting hurt,”
said Eric Snow of the Philadel
phia 76ers, who would have had
about $35,000 directly deposited
into his bank account. "If you
paid attention to the threats, you
planned ahead and saved more
money than you ever thought
you’d have needed.”
Snow took his agent’s advice
and salted away as much of last
season’s $700,000 salary as possi
ble. His pay was supposed go up
to $840,000 this season, but the
length of the lockout means he’ll
lose at least one-third of it.
Snow figures he can make it an
other few months before deciding
whether to liquidate some of his
investments or take out a loan to
meet his living expenses. Mean
time, he’s knows he might never
recoup the money he’s losing.
“It’s a big bite, but you hope the
sacrifice is substantially worth it
in the end,” Snow said. “You take
a hit now and hope it benefits you
later.”
Snow’s salary is actually small
by NBA standards, falling below
the average salary of about $2.4
million and the median of about
$1.2 million.
Since the season won’t start un
til January at the earliest, players
also will miss checks Dec. 15 and
Jan. 1.
Nick Medley/Ememld
Akili Smith tushes for a first down in the Ducks' 17-13 victory over Southern California.
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Bowden leavesTulane
with fond memories
By Mary Foster
The Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS — Tommy
Bowden is leaving Tulane, the
team he coached to an 11-0
record this season, to become
coach at Clemson.
“This was not an easy deci
sion. Tulane and the city of
New Orleans have been very
good to me and my family both
personally and professionally.
I leave here with nothing but
fond memories,” Bowden said
in a statement released by Tu
lane’s athletic department.
Clemson said earlier that
plans were being made for a
Thursday news conference to
introduce Bowden.
Bowden did not say when he
would depart. The (Columbia)
State newspaper said today,
however, that Bowden will not
coach his Tulane team in the
Liberty Bowl.
Clemson reportedly has of
fered to pay half of Bowden’s
$750,000 buyout clause, the
newspaper said. Bowden
would become the school’s
23rd football coach.
Bowden is a son of Florida
State coach Bobby Bowden
and brother of Terry Bow
den,who quit as Auburn coach
last month.
Clemson and Florida State are
in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The wait for a decision was
hard on Tulane assistants.
“It’s just one of those things
you go through in coaching,”
said Tulane offensive coordi
nator Rich Rodriguez. “We’re
just trying to take care of busi
ness and see what happens.”
Bowden is replacingTommy
West, who was fired just before
completing a 3-8 season last
month. The Tigers reportedly
are offering Bowden a yearly
package of between $750,000
and $800,000.
Bowden, who led Tulane
to a perfect record this year,
toured the Clemson campus
Monday and met with school
President Constantine “Deno”
Curris for about two hours.
Moseley
Continued from Page 7
ly led them to the promised land
— also known as the nation's top
10. He had possibly the greatest in
dividual season in school history.
McNown took a team that is
perennially one of the most tal
ented in the nation and succeed
ed in not screwing things up,
nothing more.
Not only did the Pac-10 deem
McNown worthy of sharing the
conference player of the year
award with Smith, but the Bruin
is among three finalists for the
Davey O’Brien Award as the top
quarterback in the nation. Con
spicuously absent from the list of
three nominees: Akili Smith.
Joining McNown are Kansas
State’s Michael Bishop and Tim
Couch of Kentucky. Bishop is no
doubt a deserving candidate and
should take the award. Couch and
McNown are not so worthy.
Couch has put up some awe
some numbers, but he throws to
one of the best receivers in the
country. Kentucky’s offense with
Couch under center is reminis
cent of Florida’s “Fun-n-Gun”
teams of recent memory.
It comes down to Smith falling
victim to Oregon’s lack of nation
al prominence and respect from
coaches and media alike. This is
the winningest team in the na
tion’s best conference over the last
five years, yet it can’t seem to get
respect from the teams it has been
beating since 1994.
So it seems that, come late De
cember, most likely in the Holi
day Bowl, the Ducks will beat an
other top-25 team on national
television, just as they have
countless times in the past. Smith
will direct a few two-minute
touchdown drives covering 80
yards, Bellotti will make the per
sonnel decisions necessary to en
sure victory and still no one out
side of the state of Oregon or San
Diego, Calif., will notice.
It begs the question: If the No. 17
team in the nation fell to the Oregon
Ducks, would anybody hear it?
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