CASPER
New member
The NBA players union' and owners met for the first time in two and a half months with both sides agreeing to hold more labor talks before the end of the month.
The two sides are at odds over issues including the sharing of league revenues and how the salary cap should be structured.
Bill Hunter, executive director of National Basketball Players Association, said the union asked the owners to open their books further and reiterated their opposition to a hard salary cap.
"They (owners) thought there might be fireworks coming from some of our guys but they were very cordial," Hunter said Friday at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.
"The meeting was somewhat amicable. We tried to keep the volatility down. We spelled out the impediments to getting a deal done."
Hunter admitted little progress was made other than a verbal commitment from the owners to provide financial information from the 2009-10 season and to sit down again in the next two weeks to try and hammer out a new deal before the current collective bargaining agreement expires at midnight on June 30.
He said 50 people, including owners, player reps and negotiators, met for about two hours Friday.
"You can't point to five or six things that have been negotiated in the deal but I think progress has been made," said Los Angeles Lakers Derek Fisher who is on the players' side of the bargaining table.
Fisher spoke for the players Friday when he said they need to get a new deal signed before the deadline to avoid having the owners lock out the players.
Fisher said he is personally motivated to get it done because at age 36 he is not getting any younger.
"Everybody realizes time is of the essence," Fisher said. "What happens to athletes when they go through a protracted long lockout is the emotional and mental aspects of staying at that level necessary to be an elite athlete.
"I can imagine it would be difficult if you lose some of that ability to get back to that place if you are one of the top athletes in the world. But for me, I am not thinking of it that way. I don't want (lockout) to happen but if it does it would be a year long offseason."
A lockout from a labor fight shortened the 1998-1999 NBA season, wiped out the 1999 NBA all-star game and kept NBA players from taking part on the US team in the 1998 world championships.
The two sides are at odds over issues including the sharing of league revenues and how the salary cap should be structured.
Bill Hunter, executive director of National Basketball Players Association, said the union asked the owners to open their books further and reiterated their opposition to a hard salary cap.
"They (owners) thought there might be fireworks coming from some of our guys but they were very cordial," Hunter said Friday at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.
"The meeting was somewhat amicable. We tried to keep the volatility down. We spelled out the impediments to getting a deal done."
Hunter admitted little progress was made other than a verbal commitment from the owners to provide financial information from the 2009-10 season and to sit down again in the next two weeks to try and hammer out a new deal before the current collective bargaining agreement expires at midnight on June 30.
He said 50 people, including owners, player reps and negotiators, met for about two hours Friday.
"You can't point to five or six things that have been negotiated in the deal but I think progress has been made," said Los Angeles Lakers Derek Fisher who is on the players' side of the bargaining table.
Fisher spoke for the players Friday when he said they need to get a new deal signed before the deadline to avoid having the owners lock out the players.
Fisher said he is personally motivated to get it done because at age 36 he is not getting any younger.
"Everybody realizes time is of the essence," Fisher said. "What happens to athletes when they go through a protracted long lockout is the emotional and mental aspects of staying at that level necessary to be an elite athlete.
"I can imagine it would be difficult if you lose some of that ability to get back to that place if you are one of the top athletes in the world. But for me, I am not thinking of it that way. I don't want (lockout) to happen but if it does it would be a year long offseason."
A lockout from a labor fight shortened the 1998-1999 NBA season, wiped out the 1999 NBA all-star game and kept NBA players from taking part on the US team in the 1998 world championships.
