Agents Take Cautious Approach : Pro basketball: Most not ready to endorse labor agreement, but there are signs of a softer stance.

Insurgent agents greeted the latest agreement between the NBA and the players’ union they tried to take over as if it had arrived on their doorsteps ticking.

They didn’t endorse the deal, but after a summer of sticking pins into union and league leaders, they simply might not have felt like it. However, there were no ringing denunciations, either, suggesting a grudging approval.

“Maybe we have a good deal here, but I said that in July [of the first agreement, which the players refused to ratify], and it didn’t turn out that way, so we’ll see,” said Fred Slaughter, one of the 14 insurgents named by the NBA in its unfair-practices complaint to the National Labor Relations Board. “Am I cautiously optimistic? I’m just cautious.”

Meanwhile, Leonard Armato, agent for Shaquille O’Neal and Hakeem Olajuwon, who has not aligned himself with anyone in this three-sided skirmish, came out for the agreement.

“I was not in support of the old deal, but the new deal I am supportive of,” Armato said. “I think it’s a fair compromise of the forces out there and I feel my guys are protected.”

David Falk, agent for insurgent heavy hitters Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing and Alonzo Mourning, was said to be traveling by a spokesman and had no comment. However, a canvass of four other insurgents suggested a softening of their decertify-and-sue position.

“I’m not Falk or [Arn] Tellem,” one of the insurgents said. “Their position is painted. My position isn’t painted.

“I just want to do the right thing for my players. I know $1 million [a new NBA concession, allowing capped teams to spend that much for a free agent every two years] is a lot of money. I don’t know if they know $1 million is a lot of money.

“What’s our position if we [brought a suit and] lost a preliminary injunction? Horrible, that’s what it is.”

Another insurgent said: “While I still think the deal could have and should have been a lot better, this deal is probably 80% to 85% of what it should have been. It’s probably to the point where you just say, ‘OK, the hell with it.’

“I think it’s close enough.”

Keith Glass, a New Jersey-based insurgent said: “I think it puts everybody on hold, at least. Everybody has accused everybody of having different agendas. My agenda is very clear from the first day. I need a deal that isn’t going to kill my players. And if I can get that deal, I don’t have an agenda outside of that.

“I’m happy to make a deal if it makes sense. Now, in the current climate, it’s not going to be a great deal for my guys, but I think we’re way past that. If we don’t decertify the union, we’re not going to get a great deal.

“At first glance, it looks like there’s some things that have been added to the deal that make it favorable [as compared with] the first deal.”

Several of the insurgents noted that without their involvement, the players would have had to accept a deal inferior to this one.

A vote on decertification, with players required to appear at regional NLRB offices, will be held on Aug. 30 and Sept. 7. The union will accept that as a referendum on this agreement.

If the union survives, it will then have its player-representatives ratify the deal.

There is speculation that Falk, a hard-liner in any negotiation, might fight on.

“I think there are other issues involved here for certain people,” an insurgent agent said. “There are some personality things going on here. You saw it in [Commissioner] David Stern’s face [Tuesday] night. He’s angry.”

However, Stern tried to deal with the insurgents’ best issues, removing the luxury tax and adding two more exceptions--the $1 million for free agents and the restoration of the old slot of 50% of the salary of seriously injured players--to what would have been a hard cap.

The union also tried to widen its support by bringing more players, including respected veterans John Stockton, Joe Dumars, Mark Price and Clyde Drexler, into negotiations. On Aug. 30, it will begin to find out if it succeeded.