As vice president of the NBA players association, Antonio Davis watched the cancellation of the NHL season with interest.
“I think the hockey players were thinking, `If we accept a [salary] cap, we’re never going to get off these numbers. It’s going to get worse,'” Davis said. “My thing is if you know it’s going to get worse, start at a high number, work your way back, have your final number and deal with it. That’s easy for me to say on the outside looking in. But we can’t have that.”
“That” is an entire season being lost to labor struggles. The NBA’s collective-bargaining agreement expires on June 30. The 1998-99 NBA lockout is fresh in Davis’ mind.
“Negotiation is a little give and take,” Davis said. “I think that’s where we went wrong the last negotiations. We had big groups of guys who for one reason or another may have been a little angry or upset. I think we’re going to have smaller groups.”
The Bulls activated Davis from the injured list and placed Jared Reiner back on it.
Big shot
Kyle Benge, a senior at Plymouth (Ind.) High School, broke Scott Skiles’ school record for career points Tuesday night in a victory over Culver Academy. Skiles’ record of 1,788 points had stood for 23 years.
“And [Skiles] didn’t have the benefit of the three-pointer,” said Roy Benge, Kyle’s father and the school’s athletic director. “Scott sent a letter of congratulations and we stopped the game and read it. He said if it had been the All-Star break, he would have been here and given Kyle the game ball. He didn’t have to say those things.”
Making the night more poignant was the attendance of Skiles’ dad, Rick, who suffered a severe stroke last summer. Rick served as a custodian at the school for 16 years.
Benge now has 1,806 points. Jack Edison, a legendary high school coach in Indiana, coached both players.
Bull session
Toronto’s Jalen Rose joked that he would be poor if he still played for the Bulls because he used to have to pay Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler to motivate them to get double-doubles.
“Now they’re darn near averaging it,” Rose said. “I don’t know if Eddy’s trying to get paid or the real deal. But I’m happy for him.”
Neither Rose nor Donyell Marshall, who didn’t rule out re-signing with the Bulls this summer, is surprised by the Bulls’ success.
“They got enough lottery picks,” Rose said. “You look out on their court, they sometimes have five guys from the top 10. They should be productive. It’ll be interesting to see if they make the playoffs.”
