Derrick Rose Says It’s Stern’s Fault, Yada Yada… Wait, Who’s in Charge of the Union? at LinesMaker

Derrick Rose Says It’s Stern’s Fault, Yada Yada… Wait, Who’s in Charge of the Union?

This is the para­graph I’m sup­posed to block­quote you and pull the news story off of. Guess what? A mem­ber of the player’s union thinks David Stern and the own­ers are mean and it’s their fault for the lock­out! TOTALLY NEW INFORMATION.

“It’s sad. It’s very sad. But every­body knows it’s not our fault. It’s def­i­nitely not our fault. If it was up to us, we’ll be out there play­ing,” the reign­ing league MVP said Sat­ur­day at the State Street Foot Locker in the Loop. I think that it’s wrong. I know that they can eas­ily take care of it and not take advan­tage of peo­ple, but I guess that’s how peo­ple are.

…

“There’s not too much that we can say. They’re not think­ing about any­thing that we’re say­ing, they’re not tak­ing into con­sid­er­a­tion any­thing that we’re try­ing to give them. We’ll just have to see how it goes.”

via Rose blames own­ers for NBA lockout.

This is sup­posed to be provoca­tive, but really, it’s just Rose’s ultra-simplistic view of what the union holds. The own­ers don’t want a deal, they’re the ones lock­ing the play­ers out, #letus­play and all that jazz. So yeah, Der­rick Rose spoke out against the league, which is of note since Rose has been pretty quiet.

But here’s the excerpt that should actu­ally catch your eye from our friends at CSN Chicago (empha­sis mine):

While fans shouldn’t antic­i­pate Rose sit­ting in on labor nego­ti­a­tions, the per­cep­tion that the shy kid with the loud game won’t speak up isn’t quite so accu­rate these days.

“I’ve been so busy, where I haven’t had time to go into the news or any­thing like that, but my agents, Arn [Tellem] and B.J. [Arm­strong] have been doing a great job with keep­ing me up with the updates and I’m sup­posed to be talk­ing to ‘D-Fish’ in a cou­ple days or Paul Pierce,” said Rose.

via Rose blames own­ers for NBA lockout.

Wait.

What?

Okay, so some back­ground on Pierce. He’s not just one of the guys who blew apart the 50/50 pro­posal last week­end along­side Kevin Gar­nett and Kobe Bryant.He’s promi­nently involved in the union, has been present at more meet­ings than any of the other super­stars, and Ken Berger of CBSSports.com reported that Pierce has con­sid­ered a for­mal pres­ence in the union:

In addi­tion, the Celtics’ Paul Pierce — who was among the stars present Fri­day and who stuck around for Saturday’s and Monday’s ses­sions — will take on a promi­nent role in the nego­ti­a­tions again on Tues­day. Though Pierce has pre­vi­ously expressed inter­est in being involved in the union — per­haps even as a com­mit­tee mem­ber and vice pres­i­dent — his pres­ence is notable for more than his star power. Pierce’s agent, Jeff Schwartz, is one of seven pow­er­ful reps who wrote a pointed let­ter to their clients urg­ing them not to agree to any fur­ther reduc­tions in their share of basketball-related income (BRI) or any fur­ther restric­tions to the sys­tem beyond what the union has negotiated.

via A moment of truth arrives in NBA talks – CBSSports.com.

So I’m not say­ing it’s ran­dom that Rose would want to touch base with him. Pierce does know what’s going on. He’s in the room.

But con­sider that Pierce’s agent sides with those who report­edly want to at least ques­tion if not under­cut Billy Hunter and Derek Fisher’s approach. So does Rose’s agent, Arn Tellem. And you’re telling me Der­rick Rose, the MVP of the league, can’t get Derek Fisher on the phone to tell him what’s going on? He’s going to Pierce?

I’m not try­ing to blow any­thing out of pro­por­tion here, though I can read­ily admit that’s what it looks like. But it seems excep­tion­ally weird that the MVP is check­ing with some­one who’s not a mem­ber of the exec­u­tive com­mit­tee who recently took things into his own hands along with Gar­nett and Bryant and blew up the talks, at least in coop­er­a­tion with the own­ers’ intran­si­gence. It sounds a lot like there are too many cooks in the play­ers’ kitchen.

You need one voice. One expert. One law. Right now, there’s con­fu­sion and unrest com­ing out of the union. Maybe that’s just a flawed per­cep­tion from the media. But the per­cep­tion is still there.

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