NBA Saturday: Learning From The NFL
The NFL lockout officially began last night at 11:59 p.m. The NFL Players Association decertified, ten players filed antitrust lawsuit against the league and the negotiations officially came to an end even though both sides made progress after two extensions.
Football fans across the country have been watching this situation unfold for months, and hoped that this scenario wouldn’t play out. But they’re not the only ones watching the process closely.
If the NBA wants to avoid a lockout of their own, they’ll need to have a new collective bargaining agreement in place by July 1, 2011. The NBA and the Players Association will pay close attention to the situation, and learn from the NFL’s mistakes.
“They’re taking notes,” said one league source. “Trust me, they’re watching very closely.”
Derek Fisher, president of the Players Association, believes that the NFL’s events will certainly play a part in what happens between the NBA’s players and owners.
“We are paying attention,” Fisher told HOOPSWORLD last month. “We have one of our attorneys, Jeffrey Kessler, who has done some work for us and the NFL. There are some things that apply to both sides. We’re paying close attention to a lot of things going on, but then there are things that are unique to our game that we’ll remain focused on. I think they will impact each other, because they will be – theoretically – four months ahead of us in terms of their deadline… There will be some things we can see and observe.”
It’s only been several hours since the NFL’s decision became official, but problems have already started to arise.
With no collective bargaining agreement, there is no conduct policy or drug testing, which has drawn criticism. There is also the issue that agents can now freely poach clients. The NFLPA discontinued its agent regulation system and attempts to steal clients have already started occurring, according to reports. The NBA has a chance to learn from these mistakes, and can benefit from the NFL even if the proceedings are a train wreck.
“If it’s a train wreck it all depends on how the process goes,” said Fisher. “I think it’s not easy, for either sport, to figure these things out. At the end of the day I don’t think there is anyone that’s willing, or desiring, to take away something so great in terms of providing that kind of entertainment and competition the fans in both sports have enjoyed for so long.”
Players around the league aren’t confident that the union and owners will be able to come up with a resolution in the next three months. The NBPA has distributed a 56-page lockout preparation manual to players with the motto, “Hope for the best. Prepare for the worst.”
The union has been helping players prepare for a potential lockout throughout the season by passing along tips and reminders through team representatives. In September, the NBPA also delivered the message to newly drafted players during the Rookie Transition Program. Rookies were told that a lockout was likely, and were given tips on how to plan for the work stoppage.
All of the preparation has players believing that a lockout is inevitable.
“We know there will be a lockout,” said one Eastern Conference player. “For sure. There’s no doubt about it. They have made that clear and I think most players are expecting it by now.”
There is still some hope that the two sides can iron out an agreement and veer from the path set by the NFL. But if that doesn’t happen, at least the union and owners will have another league’s blueprint to follow and mistakes to learn from. It’s always good to have company, especially when they’re leading the way.
Orlando’s New Defensive Stopper: When Earl Clark checks into games, he’s usually given the same set of instructions. Stan Van Gundy tells him who he’ll be guarding and almost always adds, “We’re not going to double.”
Clark has emerged as the Orlando Magic’s best perimeter defender and has been asked to guard some of the league’s elite scorers since being acquired from Phoenix in December. LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Dirk Nowitzki, Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire are just some of the players that Clark has been assigned to slow down this season.
{AUTHOR_BOX}He has long arms and quick feet, which allows him to defend wings. But his six-foot-eleven frame and athleticism gives him the ability to match up against big men as well. Clark has displayed his versatility all season, which is why Van Gundy trusts the 23-year-old on the defensive end.
“It’s just from practice,” Clark said. “In games, I always want to stop my man from scoring. A lot of people ask me about my defense and I want to keep it going. I want to be known as a defensive player because there are not a lot of them out there today.”
Most players earning minutes for their defense would then try to do too much on the offensive end. But Clark knows why he’s on the floor, and he’s shed the trigger happy reputation he had from his days with the Suns.
“I just try to focus on getting stops on the other end. You’re going to make mistakes and I think Coach knows that, but as long as you know the defensive schemes and you’re in the right places then you’ll be fine,” Clark said.
“I really don’t try to do [too much] because then I just get away from what Stan is trying to do, and he doesn’t like that,” he added with a laugh. “I just try to stay within the team concept, play hard on defense and rebound the ball. I just try to bring everybody’s energy up.”
Clark has been a pleasant surprise for the Magic, and gives them a much needed perimeter defender after they parted ways with Matt Barnes and Mickael Pietrus in the past year.
NBA News and Notes: Here are some items from this week’s news and notes bin.
• Blake Griffin is one double-double performance away from tying the Los Angeles Clippers’ team record for double-doubles in a season. The previous record holder was Elton Brand, who recorded 55 double-doubles set during the 2001-02 season.
• The Milwaukee Bucks have signed center Earl Barron to a second 10-day contract. In three games with the Bucks, Barron is averaging 4.0 points, 4.7 rebounds and 0.7 blocks.
• Last season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James won 61 games. The only way he can match that total this year is if the Miami Heat win out the remaining 17 games on their schedule.
HOOPSWORLD Chats: There is one chat on today’s schedule. Susan Bible, who covers the Oklahoma City Thunder and NBA for HOOPSWORLD, will be taking your questions at 11am EST. As always you can check out our entire upcoming chat schedule.
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