Nba Off To A Dribbling Start Stars, Refs Missing For Openers

When the season opens tonight, the NBA’s list of missing persons will be long indeed.

There’s the injured starters, like Shaquille O’Neal, Chris Webber and Rik Smits. There’s the suspended, like Luc Longley and Charles Oakley. And don’t forget the locked-out referees.

Charlotte’s Alonzo Mourning is on the trading block as rumors circulate he could be missing from the Hornets’ roster by tipoff time.

Making up for all the absentees, however, is the presence of His Airness, starting his first full season with the Chicago Bulls since 1992-93.

A record 14 games Friday night will include the NBA debuts of two Canadian expansion teams. The Toronto Raptors tip off in the SkyDome against the New Jersey Nets, and the Vancouver Grizzlies visit the Portland Trail Blazers.

But the long list of injured stars around the league takes some of the glitz off the big opening night.

O’Neal, the league’s leading scorer last season, is out six to eight weeks with a fractured right thumb injured when he was hacked by Miami’s Matt Geiger. Geiger, in turn, was suspended for the incident and will miss the Heat’s opener Saturday.

“With Shaq out, it only makes teams hungrier to beat us,” Orlando’s Anfernee Hardaway said. “Almost 90 percent of our offense was centered around Shaq. If I didn’t say I dread not having Shaq, I’d be lying.”

Smits, the Indiana Pacers’ center, is out for three weeks after having a bone spur removed from his leg. New Jersey forward Derrick Coleman is receiving medical treatment for an irregular heartbeat, and no one knows when he’ll be back.

The Washington Bullets are so depleted by injuries they had to sign assistant coach Derek Smith to a 10-day contract and put him on the floor.

“No way in my mind did I envision this,” said Smith, who hasn’t played in the NBA since 1989.

Webber is out nursing a dislocated shoulder, and veteran point guard Mark Price, traded from Cleveland, is out indefinitely with a sore left foot.

If Webber hadn’t gotten injured, he’d be serving a suspension tonight for fighting with Longley in an exhibition game. Chicago’s starting center also was slapped with a suspension.

“With Luc out, obviously we’re starting right away with a deficit,” Bulls coach Phil Jackson said. “I’m concerned about who’s going to show up in a uniform.”

Oakley, New York’s starting power forward, will miss the Knicks’ opener at Detroit because of an exhibition altercation with Philadelphia’s Scott Williams. Raptors center Oliver Miller has to sit for his team’s debut because he left the bench to join an altercation with the 76ers’ Shawn Bradley.

Players and team executives have blamed the unusually high number of preseason scuffles on the absence of the regular referees.

Replacement referees - in groups of two, not three - will be working until the NBA and its regular officials reach a new contract agreement. The sides remain far apart on salary issues, and deputy commissioner Russ Granik said it would take “a few days to a week” to get the regulars back even after a deal is made.

“In light of the fact our referees appear intransigent on this issue, this is going to be a long confrontation,” commissioner David Stern said. “It’s not an ideal situation. I’ve always been in favor of three-man crews.”

Outside arenas in Chicago, Los Angeles and Philadelphia tonight, the regular officials will walk a picket line.

The salary dispute centers on the referees’ request they be paid the same as officials in major league baseball and hockey, but there’s no agreement on what those numbers should be. The NBA maintains its latest offer would have made its refs the highest-paid in pro sports.

Players aren’t happy about the replacements, especially the two-man crews.

“Experienced referees know the quality of players they’re dealing with, and they’ve seen a lot of different things that are part of the game,” Michael Jordan said. “A lot of young guys may not have seen some of these traits or some of these qualities these professional athletes have and they’re quick to make judgment. A lot of times, that’s not in the best interest of the game.

“But we’ve got them, we’ve got to make the best of them. Hopefully, they won’t decide the outcome of the game.”