Derek Fisher talks about the lockout; Makes a point – NBA Update
Derek Fisher, the president of the National Basketball Players Association which is basically the players union, talked to a radio show recently about the ongoing NBA lockout.
Fisher, who plays as point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers and was ousted from the playoffs this year by the eventual NBA World Champions the Dallas Mavericks, has been overseeing and directly participating in labour negotiations
for over an year now.
The negotiations revolved around the now expired Collective Bargaining Agreement, CBA, and the terms and conditions for a new one. However, after over a year of formal talks the players and the NBA owners failed to find a compromise
solution which has resulted in the current NBA lockout.
The fans around the world are worried about the very real threat of losing part, or whole, of the next NBA season and the radio host wanted to know if Derek Fisher could provide any assurances to them. However, Fisher refused to
divulge too much information regarding the negotiations, which have seemingly stopped since the lockout began on 1st July 2011. However he did say the players are working to end the lockout,
“That’s what we’ll focus on, still trying to get a fair deal done over the course of the summer.”
He also said progress had been made before and dismissed the notion that since the two sides could not prevent a lockout, all the work done by Fisher and the NBA in trying to find a solution had been for nothing.
There have been questioned asked of both sides handling of the issue by a lot of critics. Although the owners seem to have bore the brunt of the public ire so far, the players have not been left untouched as well. There has been
a lot of talk in the media about the players earning very high amounts and one of the points of the owners, that the players past their primes or not performing well still earn bucket loads of money, seems to go down well with the common NBA fan.
At the radio show Fisher was asked for his view on the matter and the Lakers player responded with a well thought of counter argument,
“Is that just because the players can’t perform anymore, physically, or is it about a change in coaching style or management style. … In reality, there are very few of those compared to the other scenario where you have players
like a Derrick Rose or Kevin Durant, guys that come in and in those first three, four or five years, far outpace what they’re being paid initially in their rookie contracts. It cuts both ways.”
Point well made.
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