Billups can see beyond

Chauncey Billups has 14.1 million reasons to push Derek Fisher and the National Basketball Players Association to take whatever deal the league puts on the table just to ensure the season starts on time.

For the Knicks point guard, who turns 35 Sept. 25, his 14th NBA season is supposed to produce the biggest payday of his career. But if the lockout cuts into the regular season, that $14.1-million salary, in the final year of his contract, slowly will disappear every two weeks, each time the check is missed.

"I don't want to lose that money,'' Billups told Newsday by telephone from his home in suburban Denver. "Nobody wants to lose the biggest payday they are ever going to get. I'm never going to get another payday like that again.

"However, I've got to look at the big picture and say, 'Is it about me, selfishly?' Say, 'Just strike a deal, I don't care what it is, because I just want to get my money?' Or do I care about all these young guys who have 10 to 15 years to play?''

Although the NBA and the union seem to have an understanding of how the revenue should be split, they are at odds over the salary-cap system that should be used to distribute it. The disagreement is strong enough to threaten not only the start of training camps, scheduled for Oct. 3, but possibly the season, scheduled to open Nov. 1.

Billups was going into his second NBA season in 1998-99 when the league last endured a lockout, and he recalled the example set by Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone and Michael Jordan, each of whom was in the twilight of his careers.

"They were in the position I am now, getting their biggest payday they've ever seen,'' Billups said. "And what they said was, 'No, we're going to fight and make sure the game is going to be OK when we're far gone from here.' And, yes, they lost a lot of money doing that, and I stand the chance of losing a lot of money as well, but I care about the game and the future of the game.''

But, yes, he also cares about the immediate future. Not only his salary, but the potential of this Knicks team, led by stars Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire. Billups, who suffered a bruised left knee in the first game of the first-round playoff sweep by the Celtics, has been back on the court for two weeks. He will play next week with several other Knicks in Las Vegas at the Impact League.

"Man, I wish the collective bargaining agreement was two years from now,'' Billups said. "I just want to get in here and have a camp with our team and really show New York City and the rest of the league the special team that we can be. I'm really looking forward to that.''

The Dolan family owns controlling interests in the Knicks, MSG and Cablevision. Cablevision owns Newsday.