J.J. Redick slams NBA owners; Says they have screwed players in NBA lockout
Orlando Magic star J.J. Redick has lashed out against the NBA owners.
The Magic guard was visibly angry at the tactics employed by NBA owners during the lockout and believed that they had screwed the players, who were foolish to negotiate in good faith.
Redick claimed that the owners’ stance was extremely despicable and their greed knew no end. The Magic star warned that he was ready to sit out a whole season if a fair deal was not presented to the players by the NBA.
Redick believed that the players were sincere from the start and wanted to get a deal done so that play could resume, however the owners had no such intention. He said earlier he had held the hope that things will take a turn for
the better sooner rather than later but that hope was fast fading out.
“There was a time when I thought common sense and logic would prevail,” Redick said, according to the Orlando Sentinel “but in the last week or so I think the tide has turned and there’s a lot of emotion involved. And when emotion
is involved, it’s a huge wildcard.”
He said NBA owners had consistently whined about losing money because of the old Collective Bargaining Agreement but the truth was contrary to that. The figures quoted by NBA authorities were disputed and most of their losses stemmed
from stupid management decisions made by incompetent owners.
In spite of all that, the NBA players made many concessions and did all they could to get a season under way. However, instead of reciprocating and meeting players halfway, the NBA showed bad faith in negotiations and the greed
of the owners reared its ugly head time and time again.
“There are a lot of players that are very angry. We feel as a group we’ve given and given and conceded and conceded and we’ve got nothing in return. To use an analogy, the owners are essentially up by four touchdowns on us. And
instead of running the clock out in the fourth quarter, they’re running trick plays and double reverses to run up the score and embarrass us.” Redick fumed.
He categorically stated that a large number of NBA players, including himself, would not take the deal currently proposed by NBA Commissioner David Stern.
He further criticized Michael Jordan, owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. Redick contended that Jordan had been exposed as a hypocrite this offseason due to his greed and ignorance. Jordan once battled for players to get a larger share
of the Basketball Related Income but now that he was an owner, he was battling hard to deprive them of each and every penny.
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