Jason Terry starts training; Roots for Tyson Chandler – NBA Update
After bearing 149 days of depressing NBA lockout, Dallas Mavericks shooting guard Jason Terry was ecstatic when he finally set foot on his team’s practice facility on Thursday, 01 December 2011, as the Mavs prepare to defend their throne in the shortened NBA season.
Being the player representative of Dallas Mavericks in NBPA, the 34-year-old Jason Terry has been a part of quite a few high-level meetings between the NBA owners and players association to resolve the labour dispute. This is why Terry is one of the few players in the league who knows how bad things were during the negotiation process, and knows that the possibility of losing a complete season had started to become a reality.
Living up to his nature, Terry was among the first guys to enter the training camp on Thursday and stated that he was relieved on the culmination of the labour dispute.
“I’m glad my card worked so I can get into the gym. I was a little nervous out there at the front gate.”
Talking about the prospect of defending the championship, Jason Terry was optimistic. However, he was quick to stress upon the importance of re-signing Tyson Chandler, the Dallas Mavericks centre, who is a free agent this off season.
Terry believes that Chandler was one of the many reasons Dallas Mavericks were able to accomplish their biggest dream after years of continuous struggle and his unavailability in the next season might make life difficult for the franchise.
“You can’t see my fingers or toes, but they are crossed hoping that Tyson’s coming back. He was a big part of what we accomplished here. We’ve laid a foundation. To take a step backward would be terrible. I’m not saying that we wouldn’t have a chance to win this year if Tyson doesn’t come back, but it definitely puts things up against us. It’s up to ownership to make it happen. We’ll see.” Terry said.
Tyson Chandler had earlier expressed his desire to re-sign with Dallas, however stated very recently that he didn’t expect to be a Mavs next season. To many people though, it seems as a negotiation tactic as Chandler wants to extract the maximum financial benefit, now that he has established himself as a star.
The problem for Mavericks is that they have to cater for five more members of their championship winning side. If they spend too much on Chandler, then they might not be able to retain players like J.J. Barea, Caron Butler and DeShawn Stevenson due to strict rules on the salary cap in the new CBA.
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