Detroit Pistons guard Ben Gordon has sympathy for the fans – NBA Update
Ben Gordon says he understands the frustration of the NBA fans due to the lockout because he went through the experience himself.
The NBA has been in lockout since July 1st and the fans have become increasingly disillusioned with the league as a result.
The NBA owners and players have been embroiled in a bitter labour dispute over a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. While the dispute is many faceted, fans only see it as two sets of rich people fighting over money while they
suffer on the sidelines.
Gordon can relate to the experience because he had to go through exactly the same ordeal when the NBA last locked out, back in 1998.
"It was the worst," he said. "I didn't have anything to watch. I'd come home after school and look forward to a big game, but there was nothing to do."
The 1998 lockout lasted much longer than the current one, with a deal to save the season only being reached in January of 1999. A 50 game season was played that year.
"I can understand how a lot of fans are frustrated," he said at a charity function Tuesday. "I know exactly what they're feeling because I was a fan before I was a player."
The lockout though is now set to end. The National Basketball Players Association and NBA owners have agreed a tentative deal to end the labour dispute. Players will get between 49-to-51 percent of share in the Basketball Related
Income, down from 57 percent, as well as some concessions on system issues.
The union will now have to reform and players will withdraw lawsuits against the owners before the deal can be put to a vote for ratification. If ratified, the deal calls for training camps to start on December 9th and
regular season games to commence on Christmas.
Gordon is happy about the development and says he is going to tune up his training program and get into condition for the upcoming season.
"I'm going to start trying to get up and down a little bit more and get into game shape," he said last week. "So who knows how long it's going to take but maybe by the end of the year we'll have something."
Gordon will be facing quite a challenge when he returns to the Detroit Pistons. Since the last season ended, the Pistons have fired former head coach John Kuester and replaced him with Lawrence Frank. There has been a change in
ownership as well although the management is the same, with Joe Dumars retaining his position as President.
Gordon will now be hoping his team can put the troubles of last season behind them and have a successful year under the new setup.
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