Derek Fisher not too optimistic about the recent developments in the NBA labour dispute
On a day when NBA Commissioner David Stern and National Basketball Players Association Executive Director Billy Hunter hinted towards some progress in the long running NBA labour dispute, Derek Fisher has preached caution.
The NBPA President believes that a lot of work still needs to be done before there is cause for a celebration.
The NBA and the players union met for the second consecutive day in New York, Thursday. Negotiations were held over the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, focusing specifically on the salary cap structure that has become a major
sticking point in the dispute.
What the media could gather from Stern and Hunter after the meeting was that some progress had been made, as both suggested that another session on Friday could be the key.
Fisher though says the sides are not on the verge of an agreement just yet. The Los Angeles Lakers point guard warned that the negotiations are very complicated and that until every last detail was ironed out, everyone should stay
focused.
"We're working at it," Fisher said. "It's a tough process and as we move through and try to close the gap in as many places as we can, it gets tougher towards the end."
He did say that there was a will to get the deal done soon. Fisher reasoned that the players had been for a compromise right from the start and were just looking out for their interests, just as the owners were looking out for
theirs.
"Our position hasn't changed much," Derek Fisher said. "We're just trying to make sure that players have an opportunity to have a market for themselves and for their services, the same way we're trying to meet the league and our
teams on all 30 teams being competitive."
Even with Fisher’s comments, the briefings given by the two sides to the press were much more positive than what has become the norm over the last month or so. Talks broke down near the start of the month before a federal mediator
was brought in to help facilitate matters.
George Cohen, director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, supervised 3 days of talks last week before they broke off on Thursday. Afterwards, David Stern was expected to cancel more NBA regular season games, having
already cancelled the first two weeks.
That, though, hasn’t happened, and the negotiations started again on Wednesday, somewhat unexpectedly.
More talks are scheduled for Friday when the two sides are expected to close the deal on the salary cap structure and move onto the thorny issue of a Basketball Related Income split. Stern has hinted that if a deal is reached by
Monday, the NBA could yet have a full 82 game season.
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