Ewing Not As Confident As Mailman
Karl Malone called the NBA's latest offer "fair" and "decent." Patrick Ewing disagrees, and many other players are standing with him.
"That deal is the same deal we've been going over for the last two or three weeks -- maybe even longer," the New York Knicks star and union president said.
Malone was referring to a nine-page letter the league sent to players Thursday, outlining the owners' concessions.
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"They haven't changed their position one iota. All they did was make the numbers look great, but it's not a good deal," Ewing said.
The players' association negotiating committee held an internal meeting Monday, with about 125 players listening in on a conference call. The players gave union director Billy Hunter their thoughts should the sides meet in the near future.
Monday marked the ninth day since the last round of bargaining, and players continue to lose $50 million a week in salaries as the lockout drags on. No new talks are scheduled, with commissioner David Stern on vacation.
If a deal isn't reached soon, the entire season will be scrapped. Stern has steadfastly refused to say when it will be too late to save the season.
The league and the players are trying to determine how to divide about $2 billion in annual revenues.
Sonics center Jim McIlvaine was among those who attended the union meeting in New York. He sided with Ewing.
"We came out on this morning's meeting the same," McIlvaine said at an event in Harlem where he and Ewing handed out Christmas presents to underprivileged children. Knicks teammates Herb Williams, John Starks and Marcus Camby also attended.
"We just wanted to clarify some things. There's a lot of stumbling blocks in order to make the deal and the big one is control," McIlvaine said.
He added Malone's version of adjustment might not be the same as everyone else's.
"That could be a presidential definition of 'tweak,'" McIlvaine added. "`Tweak' for him could mean a major modification for someone else."
One of the items that cotinued to be a topic for the players was to try to take care of the middle-range salary players.
"Karl said he liked the deal, but he also said there's things that need to be changed," Herb Williams said. "If you look at the numbers, they look good. The superstars are going to get their money, but we're trying to take care of the guys in the middle."
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