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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 1999)
NBA settlement remains unfinished as season nears Rumors about trades and retirements loom as the settlement continues By Chris Sheridan The Associated Press NEW YORK — With opening night less than 2 1/2 weeks away, the NBA lockout settlement still hasn’t been completed. By the time the lawyers are fin ished, who knows? Maybe Dennis Rodman will be unretired and Antonio McDyess will finally have made up his mind. The laborious task of reducing the lockout settlement into writ ten form dragged on today. After meeting all night and settling the most contentious issue, lawyers for the league and the union were still haggling over a few last stick ing points. Both sides seemed to think an agreement coidd be reached later today, which would clear the way for deals to commence and train ing camps to open before the weekend. In the meantime, the rumors kept coming and the plots kept twisting as teams maneuvered to get ready for the scheduled Feb. 5 start of the season. “It'll get done. It always gets done,” agent David Falk said. “This just gives us more time to talk to people and refine our num bers.” The main sticking point be tween the sides had been whether the new middle-class exception can be used for a three-year con tract (the league’s contention) or a six-year contract (the union’s con tention). The union won that argument, but a final snag developed over the league’s insistence upon hav ing discipline authority over agents involved in salary cap cir cumvention. Another snag con cerned whether bonus money would be counted in trade calcu lations. Rod Strickland, meanwhile, was miffed at the offer being made by the Washington Wiz ards. The Washington Post said the Wizards were offering three years and $30 million, with two additional years non-guaranteed, and had given Strickland a dead line of midnight tonight. ”1 don’t think he’ll be back here,” Falk told The Associated Press today. “We’re trying to get him to New York. He loves it that they have (Latrell) Sprewell, Al lan Houston and Larry Johnson there, and he thinks they can win a championship. I’d like to get him there so Patrick (Ewing) can win a championship.” Falk was exploring other op tions for Strickland, including several sign-and-trade deals that would send last season’s NBA as sist leader to another team. He said four or five teams were mak ing bids, but refused to name any one other than the Knicks. Rodman added a strange sub plot to Tuesday’s events as his agent, Dwight Manley, an nounced that Rodman was retir ing. Hours later, the league’s lead ing rebounder for the past seven seasons said he was more in a state of “limbo" than retirement. McDyess put off until today a decision on where he’ll play — Denver or Phoenix, and several signs seemed to be pointing to die Nuggets. The Tom Gugliotta rumors were strong, too, with the Nuggets, Suns and Lakers all in terested. A source close to the Lakers said Los Angeles was offer ing Elden Campbell, Eddie Jones and rookie Sam Jacobsen to the Timberwolves in a sign-and-trade deal for Gugliotta. “It defies logic, in my opinion,” Suns owner Jerry Colangelo said of the deliberations concerning McDyess. “We think this is a great spot for him. He seemed very hap py here. We love him as a young guy and a future star in this league. But a lot of things have happened this offseason.” The Nuggets also were wonder ing whether they would be spurned by Gugliotta in the event that McDyess stays in Phoenix. If so, they were expected to look to sign free-agent center Vlade Di vac. No event symbolized the day’s craziness like the “retirement" of Rodman. “I’m not going to play this year," Rodman told Fox Sports News. “I am in limbo, but I'm not going to say I’m retired.” That's not how his former coach heard it. In a strange twist earlier in the day, Chuck Daly of the Or lando Magic said he heard Rod man was traded to the New York Knicks for Buck Williams — a ru mor that was quickly shot down. Also Tuesday, it was learned that John Starks and Chris Mills are the players who will be traded from the Knicks to the Golden State Warriors for Latrell Sprewell. Word of the Sprewell trade got out Monday night, just a few hours after another major trade was revealed — Scottie Pip pen going from the Chicago Bulls to the Houston Rockets. The Bulls also have sign-and trade deals worked out for Luc Longley and Steve Kerr. Colangelo confirmed that the Suns will trade three of the five players they have under contract — Mark Bryant, Martin Muursepp and Bubba Wells — for Longley. In another agreed-upon deal, the Seattle SuperSonics were set to send center )im Mcllvaine to the New Jersey Nets for veteran forwards Michael Cage and Don MacLean. The Utah Jazz were expected to sign Nuggets free-agent forward Johnny Newman, who would take the place of free agent Chris Mor ris. The Jazz also went looking for another big man after learning that Greg Foster fractured an ankle. Utah was believed to have spoken to Chicago about a sign-and-trade deal involving Bill Wennington. although no trade agreement was reached. The Miami Heat and Golden State Warriors, who couldn’t agree on a Sprewell deal, nonetheless continued to discuss several mul tiplayer deals. Heat coach Pat Ri ley was thought to have interest in reuniting with Starks, and a deal was being discussed that would sent Brent Barry, Terry Mills and Duane Causwell to the Warriors for Clarence Weatherspoon, Tony Delkand Felton Spencer. There were reports of a possi ble Starks-Barry deal, but it would not work salary-cap wise under the league’s complicated trade rules. Colorado hires Barnett for top job Barnett, an assistant for eight seasons under McCartney, will return as head coach By John Mossman The Associated Press BOULDER, Colo. — Gary Bar nett, who led a turnaround of the Northwestern football program that included an appearance in the Rose Bowl, was hired as coach at Colorado on Wednesday. Colorado athletic director Dick Tharp said Barnett’s hiring is sub ject to the approval of the universi ty’s board of regents, which will meet on Thursday morning to dis cuss the matter. If the board approves the hiring, as expected, Barnett would be in troduced during a press confer ence on Friday. Barnett, 52, planned to meet with the current Colorado team on Thursday, as well as assemble his staff and familiarize himself with the status of Colorado’s recruiting effort. "I’m pleased to bring forward to the board an individual who is deeply committed to young peo pie and the University of Col orado,” Tharp said Wednesday. Barnett, returning to the school where he was an assistant for eight seasons under Bill McCartney, re places Rick Neuheisel, who left Colorado on Jan. 9 to coach Wash ington at $1 million a year. Barnett was Tharp’s original choice last week, but when negoti ations broke down, the Buffaloes turned to Denver Broncos offen sive coordinator Gary Kubiak. Ku biak turned down the offer on Monday, and Tharp renewed his campaign to woo Barnett, contact ing the coach in Houston where he was on a recruiting trip. Barnett had nine years remain ing on an 11-year contract he signed with Northwestern in 1996. An expensive buyout clause in his contract apparently was a stumbling block in the original talks with Colorado. In seven seasons at Northwest ern, Barnett compiled a 35-45-1 record, including 3-9 in 1998. He took over a perennial cellar dweller, however, and guided the team to two conference titles and a Rose Bowl appearance after the 1995 season. Before Barnett arrived, North western failed to win more than four games in a season since 1971. The Wildcats won only eight games in Barnett’s first three sea sons, but the following year he led them to a 10-2 mark, includ ing a 41-32 loss to Southern Cali fornia in the Rose Bowl. The Wildcats went 9-3 the fol lowing season, which ended with a 48-28 loss to Tennessee in the Citrus Bowl. Northwestern returned to its losing ways the last two years. The school also was rocked by a sports betting scandal in which four former Wildcats football players were indicted Dec. 3, ac cused of lying about their gam bling activities. Barnett was not implicated. Barnett has been a hot coach ing commodity in recent years. His name was mentioned in con nection with openings at Georgia, Texas, UCLA, Notre Dame and Oklahoma. His only other head coaching job was at Fort Lewis, a Division II school in Durango, Colo., where he had an 8-11-1 record in 1982-83. 49ers hire Bill Walsh as manager The Hall of Fame coach agreed to a four-year contract as the team’s new general manager By Dennis Georgatos The Associated Press SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Try ing to recharge a front office left in disarray by the departures of its top people, the San Francisco 49ers reached into their past for stability and direction Wednesday by hiring Bill Walsh as general manager. Walsh, the Hall of Fame coach who laid the groundwork for the 49ers’ long-running success, signed a four-year contract. Terms weren’t disclosed. It is his third tour with the club. He coached the 49ers to three Su per Bowl victories in the 1980s and had an uncomfortable year long stint under George Seifert as a consultant in 1996 in which his suggestions were routinely ig nored. “I just couldn’t return to the San Francisco 49ers in a subordinate role, and I think that’s understand able,” Walsh said. “Not that I haven’t worked well with others or for others. I did that for George Seifert for one year. But the role has changed, where I can really, truly express my beliefs and im plement those beliefs.” During a wide-ranging news conference, the 67-year-old Walsh alternately portrayed himself as a mentor for the team’s young exec utives and coaches, a personnel guru and iron-fisted decision maker in the mold of Russian Pres ident Boris Yeltsin. “I still believe 1 can be a value to the organization,” Walsh said. “I certainly have the health and en ergy — of course you’ve heard Boris say the same thing — to sus tain my efforts.” With the 49ers facing a salary cap crunch — they’re a projected $24 million over next season’s limit — Walsh said he and his staff face major challenges in holding the roster together. He took pains to say he was there to complement the efforts of coach Steve Mariucci, signed to a new five-year contract last week, and praised him as one of the finest coaches in the league. San Francisco went 12-4 this season and beat Green Bay in a wild card playoff before losing to Atlanta in the divisional round. NCAA questioned in discrimination lawsuit The NCAA waits to find out if it’s subject to fed eral discrimination laws By AnneGearan The Associated Press WASHINGTON — A law suit drafted by a rookie law stu dent angry that she was denied a spot on her college volleyball team will help the Supreme Court answer whether the NCAA is subject to federal dis crimination laws. The NCAA told the court Wednesday that a key anti-bias law guaranteeing federal pro tection against sex discrimina tion in most schools does not apply to it. "The NCAA is an association of its members and its members ... receive federal money. The NCAA does not,” argued the tax-exempt organi zation’s lawyer, John G. Roberts Jr. Roberts said a federal ap peals court was wrong when it ruled that the NCAA is an indi rect recipient of federal aid be cause of the dues it collects from its 1,200 member schools. The federal law known as Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 applies only to educational programs receiving federal money. The Supreme Court is expect ed to rule in Renee Smith’s case by summer. If the court allows her to continue her lawsuit, the NCAA coidd be on the hook in a host of other discrimination lawsuits based on race or dis ability, both sides have said. The NCAA argues that indi vidual universities are fair game for discrimination complaints, but said it is a step removed. "You don’t just follow the money," Roberts argued. Smith, 26, sued in federal court after the NCAA said she was ineligible for the volleyball teams at two schools where she did postgraduate work. “I want to establish a prece dent, so other intercollegiate athletes don’t have to start at zero,” Smith said outside the court building Wednesday. The NCAA first judged her ineligible in 1993, based on the sports organization’s rules. Al though Smith had two years of eligibility remaining after her early graduation from St. Bonaventure in upstate New York, she lost them when she moved to Hofstra in Hemp stead, N.Y., for graduate school, the NCAA said. The NCAA refused to grant Smith a waiver. Smith tried again when she moved on to law school at the University of Pittsburgh in 1995. Again, the NCAA denied her a waiver. Smith sued in 1996, after completing her first year of law school, alleging that the NCAA was more inclined to grant waivers to male student ath letes. Her lawyer, Carter Phillips, argued that the NCAA ought to be subject to the same anti-dis crimination rules as its mem ber universities. “You can’t stop at the federal funds recipient” such as a uni versity, Phillips told the court. “You have to go beyond that.” The NCAA claims it actually grants waivers to women more often than men. The raw num bers of waivers are much high er for men because far more men ask for them, the NCAA said. But the Supreme Court is not deciding whether the NCAA does or does not favor male athletes — only whether Smith may continue her lawsuit.
