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.