Hawks coach Larry Drew wrapped up the team’s minicamp Wednesday and headed to his home in the Los Angeles area to assume the same posture as most people associated with the NBA.
“Wait and see,” he said.
The most recent collective bargaining agreement expires at midnight Thursday, and owners have authorized a lockout of players. All league business is on hold as the two sides try to agree on a new labor deal.
Drew said he and his staff still would have work to do even as the usual player signings, trades and summer leagues are on hold. “We carry on as usual,” Drew said.
But there really won’t be much to do until the league’s owners and players agree on a new collective bargaining agreement.
The Hawks won’t be able to seek free agents to fill several open roster spots or even talk to players who ended the season under contract with NBA teams. The seven Hawks players who were set to become free agents Friday remain in limbo.
Training camps are set to open in late September, and the regular season begins about a month later. Casual fans not interested in the trades and free-agent rumblings that mark the NBA summer may not notice the difference unless games are canceled.
Free-agent players are a different matter. The Hawks have said they hope to re-sign two of their free agents, guard Jamal Crawford and center Jason Collins.
Crawford in particular figures to find a competitive market for his services when league business resumes. The situation is more complicated for lesser free agents such as those who participated in the Hawks’ minicamp.
Forward Joe Alexander appears to have a good chance of catching on with a team. He played in the NBA Development League last season in an attempt to get back in the NBA.
“I guess if I get some kind of word from [an NBA] team, I might stick around [this summer],” he said. “But otherwise I will have to look at options overseas.”
Hilton Armstrong apparently decided he didn’t want to wait. Armstrong finished the season with the Hawks and is eligible to become a free agent, but reportedly signed with a French club this week.
Players already under contract won’t start missing paychecks unless they aren’t back to work by the start of the season. But Hawks center Al Horford, who signed a five-year extension worth $60 million in November, said even that’s of no comfort since owners’ proposals have included rolling back salaries on current contracts.
“I know the players association has been telling us to expect the worst,” Horford said. “Hopefully they can resolve something. Our sport is at its high right now, so I would hate to waste that.”
As the players and owners squabble over money, the people whose jobs are built around the games — from arena personnel to team marketing departments — wait to see if their livelihoods will be affected.
Teams have been told to avoid using player likenesses on their websites and in other promotional materials. This is a prime time for selling season tickets, but the Hawks have instructed their sales staff not to mention names of players when making their pitches.
There seems to be general pessimism about an agreement coming anytime soon.
The owners say the current economic system, which was first adopted in 1999 and then tweaked in 2005, is not sustainable. Commissioner David Stern says the league lost $300 million last season despite reporting record ratings for national TV games, the fifth-highest average attendance in history and a 20 percent increase in merchandise sales.
The players have complained that the proposals offered by owners have been unfair. Hawks free agent Etan Thomas, writing for hoopshype.com, said the latest proposal “appeared to be more like a Christmas List to Santa Claus than the start of an actual negotiation.
Thomas went on to write: “They wanted to ensure that no matter what poor business decisions individual teams make — economic, personnel, etcetera — they all can expect guaranteed profits. Greed should not be the determining factor that takes an entire season, or possibly more, away from the fans. They deserve better than that.”
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