They are not within striking distance this time.
Amid yet another report disgruntled players are inquiring about decertifying, Players Association director Billy Hunter announced from his Harlem office the union and owners will reconvene tomorrow at a Manhattan hotel.
However, Hunter gave a bleak assessment on chances of it being an historic weekend that ends David Stern’s 4-month-old lockout. Hunter’s tone was a clear departure from his “within striking distance’’ comment last Friday.
The pessimism is tangible because Hunter knows many players feel he has already given up too many concessions and wants the union to harden its stance on the revenue split, not go below 52 percent. Which should spell disaster tomorrow.
A Yahoo report last night said 50 players, some All-Stars, held a conference call with an anti-trust attorney Tuesday and yesterday without the union’s knowledge inquiring about decertification.
However, sources told The Post it is still unlikely to happen. Decertification can kill the season as easily as it could end the lockout. Furthermore, without union permission, they need 30-percent of the players to sign petitions for an election before the NLRB and then need a majority player vote to decertify, sources said. “Not an easy process,’’ one source said.
Meanwhile, the Players Association and its 13-member player executive committee held a three-hour, rallying-session meeting yesterday and invited writers to their offices to try to show they are unified and claim Derek Fisher and Billy Hunter have no rift as reported. Hunter put his arm around Fisher for emphasis.
Tomorrow’s union-owners meeting was initiated by federal mediator George Cohen, who called Hunter earlier this week, asking to get back into the fray after failing last month. Hunter said he wants Cohen involved tomorrow. Stern has not signed off on it.
It’s the first union-owner meeting since Friday’s blowup in which Hunter stormed out of the room because of Stern’s unwillingness to bend on the revenue split.
“Our attitude is if you’re not at the table talking or engaging, there’s no way you can ever get a deal,’’ Hunter said. “It is not wise or prudent for us not to meet and let huge gaps of time go by and let the clock run. You become more entrenched in our positions.
“At least if we’re around the table something might happen, I can’t predict if we’ll get anything accomplished. We come there with the hope there might be a breakthrough.’’