Clippers’ Gordon says players not ready to give in
Eric Gordon believes his fellow NBA players will stand strong
throughout the lockout.
About 60 minutes before the Indiana Hoosiers started basketball
practice Saturday night, Gordon told reporters at his former
college that he did not believe players would fold under the
pressure to save the NBA season.
”It’s hard to say, but I don’t think the players are going to
give up so easily,” he said.
The comments came one day after Washington Wizards center JaVale
McGee said a few players were ready to give in to the owners’
demands though, McGee added, the majority would continue to
fight.
Gordon, who played one season at Indiana, concurred with the
second part of McGee’s assertion.
He said he has attended some negotiating sessions and has been
getting regular updates. During the wait, Gordon said he is working
out and hoping the two sides can reach an agreement.
But Gordon also thinks the league’s owners have more leverage at
the moment.
”It’s kind of tough because the owners almost have the upper
hand in terms of what we have to give,” Gordon said. ”It almost
seems like the owners always come with something new and different
every meeting.”
The lockout, which began in July, already has wiped out the
first two weeks of the regular season.
The sides are scheduled to meet in front of a federal mediator
Tuesday, a session Commissioner David Stern has said could
determine whether there will be games by Christmas.
Gordon agreed with that assessment.
”I’d say Tuesday determines a lot of what’s going to be done
through the first half of the season,” he said. ”All I’ve been
doing is working out.”
Working out is about all most players can do right now.
Gordon and former college teammate D.J. White played in a
lockout league game last month in Indianapolis. Gordon is scheduled
to appear in a similar game Oct. 24 at Rupp Arena in Lexington,
Ky.
White, also an Indiana alum and NBA player, attended Saturday
night’s festivities in Bloomington and acknowledged he, too, would
be willing to continue playing in those games.
But, like everyone else, White would rather get back to
work.
”I’m just working out, working out every day,” said White, who
has promised to keep his growing beard until the lockout ends.
”That’s pretty much all you can do now. I’m bored out of my mind,
so that’s about it.”