Several top NBA executives had their first meeting Friday with the new lead negotiator for the referees' union, a sitdown that was preceded by considerable public acrimony.

Lamell McMorris, who replaced longtime referees' union counsel Howard Pearl in January, met for 90 minutes with officials including deputy commissioner Russ Granik, chief legal officer Joel Litvin and vice president of operations Stu Jackson. Only Jackson and league attorney Rick Buchanan had met McMorris before.

Also in attendance were three members of the union's five-man executive council, referees Steve Javie, Derrick Stafford and Joe DaRosa. Work assignments kept referees Monte McCutcheon and Tom Washington from attending.

``It was a very constructive meeting centered on the evaluation and development program. We'll move forward with cautious optimism,'' said McMorris, who will be a negotiator for the referees in upcoming labor talks with the NBA.

McMorris was the driving force behind the inside-out jersey protest over the NBA's public reprimanding of official Michael Henderson for a bad call in a Nuggets-Lakers game.

The referees' five-year collective bargaining agreement expires at the conclusion of this season, and the sides have not had any substantive negotiations on a new deal. McMorris has taken a somewhat combative stance _ often a risky strategy historically when negotiating against commissioner David Stern.

McMorris said many referees have complained of a poor ``work environment'' and resented the public condemnation of Henderson's bad call in a news release from Jackson's office.

``All of that led up to'' the jersey protest, in which 29 of 30 referees working last Friday night's games wore their shirts inside out with Henderson's No. 62 drawn on their backs.

McMorris' bio on his consulting company's Web site notes he has an activist history, organizing the 37th ``Redeem The Dream'' march on Washington. The 30-year-old also worked for former Newark, N.J. mayor Sharpe James and Jesse Jackson, along with a stint as executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

McMorris' company specializes in government contract work and implementing corporate diversity programs. In a telephone interview, he said his bargaining experience includes negotiating settlements in diversity cases.

Pearl did not return a call seeking comment.

In a separate meeting Friday at the NBA's New York office, Henderson spoke with Jackson in what was termed a ``developmental meeting'' _ a common occurrence between officiating supervisors and referees.

Henderson was originally supposed to meet Jackson on Tuesday, but it was put off for three days after Henderson cited health concerns related to the stress and anxiety of last week's developments. Henderson also asked that an NBRA representative accompany him, a request that the league denied.

``We requested a separate meeting to address the Michael Henderson case and to take a look at the evaluation and development program and its shortcomings in light of how the staff feels about it in terms of communication and feedback, and how the program is not really managed well,'' McMorris said.

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BAKER CASE:@ The Vin Baker case nearly ended up in federal court before the National Basketball Players Association decided to accept an arbitrator's decision to hear the case Monday.

Now, there are two arbitration cases involving Baker:

_ his case against the Boston Celtics for terminating the final 2{ seasons of his contract;

_ his challenge to the NBA memo sent Monday night informing all 29 teams they cannot sign Baker until his case against the Celtics is resolved.

Union officials gave strong consideration to seeking a temporary restraining order overturning the league's memo. With only five weeks left in the regular season, Baker would like to join one of three teams _ New York, Miami or Toronto _ in contention for a playoff spot in the East.

But the NBA maintains that if Baker wins his case against Boston, he would have to return to the Celtics because his contract with them would be reinstated.

During a 45-minute conference call with arbitrator Roger Kaplan, league attorneys argued that he did not have jurisdiction in the case because he is a grievance arbitrator, rather than a system arbitrator who would normally handle any cases involving collusion.

The system arbitrator position has been vacant for almost five years, the league and union unable to agree on a suitable replacement for John Feerick. Feerick presided in the Latrell Sprewell arbitration hearing in 1998 after the Golden State Warriors terminated Sprewell's contract for attacking then-coach P.J. Carlesimo.

Kaplan initially proposed a hearing focusing solely on whether he had jurisdiction. That prompted union director Billy Hunter to tell the arbitrator and the league he might prefer to take his chances in front of a federal judge, union spokesman Dan Wasserman said.

A compromise was reached within a few hours, the sides agreeing to use Kaplan as a system arbitrator on this one case.

Kaplan is expected to rule by the end of next week.

If the league memo is deemed invalid, Baker could be in uniform next weekend. If the NBA wins, the union will ask Kaplan to hear Baker's original grievance against the Celtics on an expedited basis.