Sprewell Looks for Favorable Ruling

When Latrell Sprewell of the Golden State Warriors lost his temper and began choking his coach, P.J. Carlesimo, well-oiled wheels were set in motion.

The NBA has long experienced volatile events and has processes to deal with their aftermath. A common one is arbitration, which begins for Sprewell today.

Sprewell was fired by Golden State and banned for one calendar year by the NBA. Commissioner David Stern described the incident as a “premeditated assault.” The ban was the longest not involving drug abuse in league history. The incident is costing Sprewell the $23.7 million he had left on his contract.

The National Basketball Players’ Assn. filed a grievance against the league, calling the punishment too severe. Before Sprewell’s, the longest suspension was 60 days for Kermit Washington of the Lakers in 1977, for a punch that broke the jaw of Rudy Tomjanovich, then a player for Houston.

The hearing in Portland, Ore., is scheduled to take at least three days. Given the length of the witness lists, it may well take longer.

Meanwhile, representatives from the players association are expected to argue:

* There was no precedent for a one-year suspension, even in the most egregious altercations. No suspensions were issued when Alvin Robertson of the Detroit Pistons choked assistant coach Billy McKinney several years ago, nor was any action early this season when Tom Chambers of Phoenix punched strength and conditioning coach Robin Pound.

* The length of suspensions for other players.

Vernon Maxwell of Houston received a 10-game ban for going into the stands and punching a fan, Chicago’s Dennis Rodman got 11 games for kicking a cameraman and six for head-butting a referee, and the Lakers’ Nick Van Exel got seven for shoving a referee with his forearm.

Also, Utah Jazz owner Larry Miller received no severe penalty in 1994 when he had a physical altercation with three Denver Nugget fans.

* A double dose of penalties for Sprewell.

Historically, the league has taken disciplinary action for incidents that happen in games; teams have taken action for incidents that happened at practices. Sprewell was punished by both the team and the league.

* No due process for Sprewell.

In the days after the altercation, union director Billy Hunter tried to arrange a meeting between Sprewell and league officials. Hunter claims that when he called deputy commissioner Russ Granik to finalize the meeting, he was told that it was too late--a one-year suspension already had been decided upon.

The league will contend Sprewell had a chance to explain his side of the story in his phone conversation with director of security Horace Balmer. The union will counter by saying Sprewell had a right to union representation during the investigation--an issue the league and union had supposedly settled just two weeks earlier.

As for the arbitration system, it normally works well, even if all sides don’t always walk away happy.

Arbitration has been a part of the collective bargaining agreement between the NBA and the players’ association since 1983. The agreement calls for two forms of arbitration:

* Systems arbitration, used to solve economic disputes, such as salary cap issues. Kenneth Dam of the University of Chicago law school is the arbitrator in these cases. His decision is not binding and can be appealed to a three-person panel. The panel’s decision is binding.

Dam resolved a situation involving the New York Knicks and the Portland Trailblazers last October. The teams disagreed over whether a first-round draft pick going from New York to Portland was lottery protected in 1999 and thereafter.

Lottery protection allows the team that traded the pick to keep it if it is among the first 13.

The hearings ran over four 16-hour days. Dam ruled in the Knicks’ favor and the team got Chris Dudley.

The acrimonious trade was called by Portland General Manager Bob Whitsitt, “The most drawn-out deal since the league has been doing deals,”

* Grievance arbitration, the most common form, which deals with virtually everything systems arbitration doesn’t--discipline, behavior and issues rising from the uniform player contract. John D. Feerick, dean of the Fordham law school, is the arbitrator in these cases. Feerick has 30 days after the end of the hearing to reach a decision, which is final and binding.

Feerick, citing ethical concerns, declined to comment for this story. He is an arbitrator for the American Arbitration Assn., and is specifically named in the collective bargaining agreement to settle disputes. Both the players’ association and the NBA pay Feerick for his time.

The American Arbitration Assn. is a nonprofit group founded in 1926 to help relieve what were then considered to be overcrowded courts. The organization now handles about 72,000 cases a year. Arbitrators do not have to be lawyers, although many are.

For more than 70 years, arbitration has been used to settle disputes, more recently in sports.

“[Leagues and teams] want to stay out of the morass of the courts,” said Kelvin Chin, regional vice president for the American Arbitration Assn. Center for Mediation. “It saves time, it saves money, and they have someone who’s an expert on the subject matter hearing the case.

“Any time you have collective bargaining agreements--and there are collective bargaining agreements in many businesses and trades--if you have disputes arising, binding arbitration is a good way to solve the problem. We’re neutral. The issue is always fairness, fairness toward both parties.”

Cases can takes hours or days to resolve. The form of a hearing can be like a trial, according to Chris Brienza of the NBA. Both sides may be represented by attorneys, and both in-house and outside counsel are common. Usually the attorneys are experts in labor law and are trial lawyers.

In many ways, however, an arbitration hearing is different from a court case.

The rules of evidence do not apply in arbitration cases, except to whatever extent the parties agree. As in criminal and civil cases, pre-hearing discovery is allowed. Depositions may be taken.

The claimant presents his side and the grievant presents his. Opening and closing statements may be made. Witnesses may be called. Objections can be raised and there is an opportunity for rebuttal.

“The decision of an arbitrator [or appeals panel] is final and binding,” Chin said. “There is very little opportunity for an arbitration case to be overturned. It would be very rare.”

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Associated Press contributed to this story.