Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 21, 1995 TAG: 9506210100
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Seven years ago, Dell Curry's career opportunities, like the league in which he played, were about to expand.
One of eight Charlotte players who will be unavailable to Toronto and Vancouver in Saturday's NBA expansion draft, he knows how unprotected Hornets teammates Kenny Gattison, Michael Adams, David Wingate and Robert Parish feel.
``There's one difference,'' Curry said Tuesday at the first session of coach Page Moir's basketball camp at Roanoke College. ``I was a young guy. It turned out great for me. I went to a new team where I had a chance. Those guys are older and they've gotten used to success now. I don't think those two teams are going to be in the playoffs anytime soon.''
Curry, the former Virginia Tech star, will begin his 10th NBA season as Charlotte's sixth man in the fall. The original Hornet, selected first by the club in the 1988 expansion draft, will turn 31 on Sunday. He has two seasons and an option year left on a contract that will pay him $1.6 million next season.
``Ten years,'' Curry said, somewhat wide-eyed. ``When I came into the league, I remember reading the average player lasted in the NBA four years. I just wanted to beat that, get into a second contract and go from there. Then I knew I and they would know whether I could play or not.''
Curry, who won the NBA Sixth Man Award in 1993-94 and was runner-up for the honor during the past season, isn't worried about the beginning of his 10th season being delayed by labor problems. The NBA and its players' union are well into contract negotiations, and Curry said he doesn't see the league allowing a strike or lockout to curtail schedules as occurred in baseball and hockey.
``I hope we're smarter than that, and [commissioner] David Stern has done a good job in this,'' Curry said. ``They say they're close to a deal, but they can't make a deal without the players, and I'm not sure how much the players know. All I know is what I read in the papers or hear on TV.''
The Hornets guard said a rookie salary cap ``is a lock. I don't know anybody in the league now that's against that. The hard issues will be free agency [length of service before that's an option] and the salary cap.''
Curry, who was the 15th pick in the first round of the 1986 draft by Utah, started in the NBA with a four-year, $1 million contract. ``That's a lot of money,'' Curry said, ``until you start talking about what rookies are getting now, and then $250,000 a year is peanuts.
``Maybe I shouldn't say this, but if we had a rookie cap, then maybe it would change some of the rookie attitudes in the league. Some rookies, you can't even talk to them. Everybody wants money, and that's great, but you shouldn't give a guy $5 million a year until he earns it or shows he's worth it.''
Curry said attitudes have changed the NBA, ``and I think it's lost a little, because the players who were the marquee names left. The young players come in, and they get so much attention, and they still need time - and to take time - to learn what the league is all about.''
The shooting guard said he believes the Hornets ``are right there with Orlando, the same caliber team'' and that Charlotte's first-round playoff loss to Chicago was ``a bad draw'' after Michael Jordan returned to the Bulls. ``A lot of what happened to us this year [in a 50-32 season] was a follow-up to us missing the playoffs by one game last year,'' Curry said.
Curry said Houston's repeat championship wasn't stunning. ``I thought once the Rockets got past Phoenix [in the Western Conference semifinals], they'd win it all,'' he said. ``San Antonio [a Western finals loser to Houston] never plays the Rockets well, and I thought Houston would beat Orlando because of experience and momentum.
``I didn't think they'd sweep. I didn't think they'd play as well on the road [9-3 in the playoffs after going 22-19 during the regular season],'' Curry said. ``It's all about playing well at the right time. That's what you learn in the NBA.''
by CNB