The parking lot outside the Berto Center was nearly empty Wednesday, with only a few tire tracks cutting through the light snow that dusted parts of Deerfield.

Those tire tracks belonged to members of the Bulls' coaching staff. No players were around preparing for what would have been the Bulls' home opener against the Washington Wizards at the United Center, one of hundreds of games canceled because of the NBA lockout.

``It is a little strange,'' assistant coach Frank Hamblen said. ``I'm going into my 30th year in the league and this is the first time anything like this has happened in my career. There's snow on the ground--there's supposed to be basketball.''

But there is no basketball, and there won't be for at least another month, with talks between the players' union and owners breaking off again Wednesday without any semblance of an agreement. The Bulls, who were to open the season in Cleveland on Tuesday, should have been basking in the fans' adulation during their sixth ring ceremony.

It would have been interesting. How would the crowd have reacted to Tim Floyd? Would Michael Jordan and Dennis Rodman have been in street clothes, retired, or in uniform, going after title No. 7? Would Scottie Pippen have been there? Phil Jackson? How long would the ovation for Jackson have lasted?

Bulls General Manager Jerry Krause, by contrast, would have been bracing himself for some boos at the ring ceremony. Instead, things were very quiet.

``This is the first time since I've been about 17 that I haven't been working at this time of year,'' Krause said. ``I'd be preparing for a basketball season. I can't remember when I wasn't active at this time of year.''

Scott Burrell had been counting the days to Wednesday's home opener ever since the Bulls beat Utah in June for their sixth title. The ring ceremony would have been his first, and he was going to have his parents here for it.

``They were supposed to fly in (Wednesday),'' Burrell said. ``They would have loved to be here.''

Burrell and his family are going to have to wait for the celebration.

``I've been thinking about it a whole lot,'' he said. ``But you just have to be patient. I mean, I've waited five years to get a ring. I guess I can wait as long as it takes for this lockout to get over with.''

Normally a game day for the Bulls would have begun at roughly 8:30 a.m., with the coaching staff arriving at Berto Center to watch film of the Wizards and of the Bulls against the Cavaliers on Tuesday. The players would come in a couple of hours later to view film and shoot around on the Berto Center floor.

While the coaching staff watched film anyway, the floor was empty and dark. You could just about hear the whir of the VCR in the viewing room upstairs.

``Our court's been dark for months,'' assistant coach Bill Cartwright said. ``There's nobody working out. There's no clanking of the weights in the back. It's strange.''

Toni Kukoc spent part of Wednesday working out on his own. If there had been a game, Kukoc would have arrived at the United Center complaining about Chicago traffic.

``It's a very strange feeling,'' Kukoc said. ``I usually spend my game days resting and getting ready for the game. Instead, I am bored and just working out every day. I definitely miss the great feeling of walking in the United Center with game time a couple of hours away.''

Strange? Imagine the feelings of longtime Bulls assistant Tex Winter, a coach for more than 50 of his 76 years. Winter has never had this type of interruption to a season.

``I never anticipated this at all,'' he said. ``It's a strange situation, a strange feeling. It's just a wait-and-see proposition right now with us. But we're not just sitting back; we're studying tapes of last year's ballgames, college games, draft prospects and free agents. We're keeping active.

``But it's still strange not knowing what's going to happen. We'd like to be able to put some of the things we've talked about on the floor and see what happens.''

Jim Wooldridge, the newest member of the coaching staff, would have been in charge of the preparations for Washington. But instead of explaining how Mitch Richmond fits in with the Wizards, Wooldridge was sitting in his office talking to a reporter.

``We found out some time ago that there wasn't even going to be a month of November, as far as playing basketball,'' he said. ``So my day-to-day work has been pretty consistent. Quite frankly, I haven't given (Wednesday's game) much thought.''

But Wooldridge, who this time last year was preparing for the college season at Louisiana Tech, has given a lot of thought to experiencing life at the United Center first-hand.

It will happen, eventually.

``I'm like anybody else,'' Wooldridge said. ``You just have to admire what these people have accomplished here. At some point in time, I'm going to get to experience it. Like anybody else, I'm looking forward to it.''