Checketts Adds Fuel to Lockout Fire

On the day before the NBA was to respond to the players’ latest offer, union director Billy Hunter said hard-line remarks Thursday by Dave Checketts, president of the New York Knicks, showed that the league is intent on breaking the union.

Checketts compared the basketball lockout to the baseball strike of 1994-95 and said baseball owners made a mistake by settling too soon, and “We must keep them out as long as it takes.”

“Even though we’d like to say we learned from baseball--what they did to the World Series and when they went through this long labor situation, it ruined the sport,” Checketts said at a breakfast symposium in New York. “It ruined fan interest. People were angry at the game. But the reality is, once they had incurred that damage, the mistake they made was coming back too soon, perhaps, and not getting a labor agreement that would carry them into the next century.”

In his response, Hunter said, “Our players desperately want to play ball. The fans want us to play. But apparently the owners want to shut down, according to Mr. Checketts. It’s unfortunate and very apparent from his remarks that the NBA and its owners will stop at nothing short of breaking the union and the morale of the players.

“Our most recent proposal was extremely fair, and submitted with the intent of bringing compromise.”

Despite an internal gag order prohibiting NBA employees from commenting about the lockout, Checketts will not be fined, a league spokesman said.

The lockout has lasted 107 days. The NBA has already canceled the first two weeks of the season, and more games will be lost if the sides can’t reach agreement soon on a new collective bargaining proposal.

*

The union, meanwhile, had a new skirmish to deal with. Agent Stephen Woods, who represents Kevin Willis of Toronto and Willie Burton of San Antonio, filed a grievance with the National Labor Relations Board accusing the union of mismanaging negotiations with the NBA.

Woods believes union leadership is overmatched by Commissioner David Stern and the 29 owners.

“They’re still using rotary phones at the union,” Woods said. “I don’t think [union president] Patrick Ewing and [executive board member] Alonzo Mourning are equipped to make a $10-billion deal. I don’t want to be on the bus going over the cliff with Patrick Ewing and Alonzo Mourning driving it.”

*

A Chicago jury ruled in favor of Michael Jordan in a breach-of-contract lawsuit that accused him of breaking a deal to star in a 1991 basketball movie that ended up flopping without him.

The jury, also ruling on a counterclaim Jordan filed, found the producers of “Heaven is a Playground,” falsely informed the Bulls superstar that they had obtained sufficient financing for the film.

The jury awarded Jordan $50,000 in compensatory damages for the fee Jordan was paid--and then gave back--to Heaven Corp. He was awarded no punitive damages.

*

Former Seattle SuperSonic assistant Tim Grgurich was added to the Portland Trail Blazers’ coaching staff.

Tennis

Second-seeded Venus Williams began play in the $1-million European Championships at Zurich, Switzerland, with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Corina Morariu.

In other matches, Barbara Schett of Austria beat fifth-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7-4), and Nathalie Tauziat of France defeated Lisa Raymond, 6-2, 6-3.

Second-seeded Patrick Rafter of Australia advanced to the quarterfinals of the $800,000 CA Trophy tournament at Vienna, defeating Magnus Norman of Sweden, 6-3, 6-2. . . . Top-seeded Marcelo Rios of Chile was the only seeded player to advance to the quarterfinals of the $575,000 Singapore Open, beating Romania’s Andrei Pavel, 6-2, 6-4. Second-seeded Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia was eliminated by Australia’s Mark Woodforde, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), and Jim Courier beat sixth-seeded Mikael Tillstrom of Sweden, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7-3).

Soccer

Ivo Wortmann, who became coach of the Miami Fusion of Major League Soccer at midseason, has had his contract extended through the 1999 season. The Fusion had a 9-10 record when he replaced Carlos Cordoba on July 24 and went 7-6 the rest of the season.

Ramon Ramirez scored with an assist from Alberto Coyote late in the first half to break a tie as Chivas of Guadalajara defeated Pumas of Mexico, 2-1, late Wednesday night at the Coliseum before 27,278 in the semifinals of the Coliseum Cup.

Australia and New Zealand will play Saturday to decide Oceania’s representative in the women’s World Cup next year in the United States. Australia beat Fiji, 17-0, in its semifinal, and New Zealand defeated Papua New Guinea 5-0.

Miscellany

Evander Holyfield signed a contract with promoter Don King for a heavyweight championship unification fight with Lennox Lewis of Britain. Lewis’ British promoter and manager said they were ready to sign.

U.S. and world figure skating champion Michelle Kwan was denied entry into Skate America by the International Skating Union. She did not originally apply, and when she changed her mind there was no spot for her in the field.

Junior middle blocker Jamie Hill and freshman setter Melissa Plass of Pepperdine’s volleyball team will sit out the rest of the season because of injuries suffered during matches earlier this month. Coach Nina Matthies also announced that senior setter Amanda Spoor has been suspended indefinitely for a violation of team rules. . . . The UCLA and California women’s soccer teams, who share the Pacific 10 Conference lead with 2-0 records, meet tonight at UCLA’s Spaulding Field at 7:30.