NEW YORK (AP) — Smiling widely but even resorting
to a memorable NBA cliche to avoid specifics, David Stern provided little
insight into the direction of the league's labor situation.
That, he hinted, could come Wednesday.
Negotiators for the NBA and its players met for
only about two hours Tuesday and plan to resume the talks early Wednesday.
Stern said that meeting will determine how soon it's worth sitting down again.
And if it's not later this week, more cancellations
are likely next week.
It's been expected there would be no talks Thursday
because members of both bargaining teams will be observing the Jewish holiday,
but they could resume before the weekend if progress is being made.
"They and we have both agreed that so long as
there is reason to keep discussing, we will keep discussing, undeterred by the
calendar or weekends or things like that," Stern said. "We will know
more after tomorrow's session."
Both sides said neither concern nor optimism should
be read into the brevity of the meeting. They simply needed time to think about
what had been discussed.
"We've talked extensively in ideas and
concepts, these are things that if we can get into the range of, get into the
zone of, then maybe we can put a deal together," players' association
president Derek Fisher of the Lakers said.
Unlike last week, Stern grinned often while
speaking to reporters, but he said that was "only because when I didn't
smile the last time I was described as something between dour and surly, so
this is my smiling face. And we're looking forward to reconvening
tomorrow."
He repeatedly said the sides discussed
"concepts," but wouldn't get into any of them. And when asked if more
exhibition games would be scrapped without a breakthrough this week, he
borrowed a line from Rasheed Wallace in answering.
"Both teams played hard," he said.
"And the calendar is not our friend."
Training camps were postponed and all 43 preseason
games scheduled for Oct. 9-15 were canceled Friday. With the lockout nearly
three months complete, players and owners are trying to agree on a labor deal
in time to avoid any further damage to the NBA calendar. The regular season
begins Nov. 1.
The format was again with small groups, and that
will remain the case Wednesday. However, Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver said
the owners' labor relations committee would be prepared to return to the table
this week if necessary.
"They stand ready to come to New York, or
wherever else, if there's a reason to continue on Friday," he said.
"So the groups may expand."
Stern and Silver were joined by Spurs owner Peter
Holt, who leads the labor relations committee, and NBA senior vice president
and deputy general counsel Dan Rube.
Fisher and union executive director Billy Hunter
had attorneys Jeffrey Kessler and Ron Klempner with them, and economist Kevin
Murphy will return Wednesday.
Neither side would say if there were any new
proposals, with Fisher also using the word concepts.
"We're not holding anybody accountable to
ideas being thrown out in the room," he said. "It's really just a
process that we're trying to go through to see if we can get a deal done."
Stern and Fisher said there was discussion of both
major obstacles to a deal, the salary cap system and the split of revenues.
Players were guaranteed 57 percent under the previous collective bargaining
agreement, but have said the owners' proposals would have them in the 40s.
Stern was asked if the sides would continue to meet
often if this wasn't headed somewhere. Though he assumed they would, a clearer
idea could emerge Wednesday.
"We won't really be able to answer that
question fully until after tomorrow's session," he said.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
