“I don’t know what kind of feedback or backlash came from it but I didn’t think there was a need for anybody to panic whatsoever,” he said. “Either on our side as a players’ union or as owners. I thought the call was strictly (to explore options). It was never call to organize (union) business. It was purely educational from a player perspective.“
”The guys that were on the phone call, it was purely informative,” Allen said. “And we talked among ourselves about where we were and what guys thought about the situation that we’re in. We talked about decertification because where we stood at that moment we didn’t know when the next meeting was. That was one option was decertification. I don’t think anybody on the call assumed that’s what we were going to do. We talked about if that was something we were thinking about doing.”
“We have complete faith in our union to get the job done,” Allen said. “I don’t know what was said (Thursday) on the call but I do know from the guys that were on the call (last week), nobody was anxious to pull the trigger like we’ve got to decertify now. Most of the guys that asked question was like ‘what exactly would we be doing if we decertified. Who would take over? How it would take over?’ That’s all we talked about. I don’t think anybody was panicking.”
“I don’t think he was frustrated,” Allen said. “I don’t think he had any malicious intent when he got everybody together. Paul’s ready to play and I just saw his sense of urgency in trying to move this thing forward and really just try to inform everybody. So the guys, if they are not speaking first hand with the union, at least getting everybody on the call because the players, we’re what makes up the league. If you’re not in a meeting, at least you get some feedback.”
Ray Allen Courtesy Of Gary Washburn And The Bosotn Globe
Of course the news dominating the Celtics news feeds are that Paul Pierce and his fellow misguided NBPA union souls have begun discussing decertifying the Union. Ray Allen gave a great interview to Gary Washburn of the Globe that was in Sunday’s paper. Ray was his usual calming matter of fact Ray Allen self. Ray ahs made it clear that the talks were merely a set up to show and explain to the players about one of the options that they have. There were no meeting scheduled and Pierce is just trying to help move the negotiations along one way or another according to Allen. Somehow I am just not buying all this. I believe Pierce is determined to not give in to less than 53 percent and is looking for a way to take action if his union heads fail him and do the right thing and take the 51 percent.
“Yes, I do find that (unacceptable),” Rondo said of a 50-50 split. “We’ve already gone down more than 4 percent from 57. That’s a $400 million cutback that we’ve already agreed to give back. I mean, (performing) artists don’t give up 50 percent of their revenues. There’s no business model for what they want us to do.”
“We’re together,” he said. “We’ve been talking about this for a long time, getting ready. There haven’t been a lot of public words from players.”Decertification — an extreme measure that appears to be back on the table for players — is an option Rondo would consider.
“If I had to, yes,” he said of decertifying.
“It’s a possibility with the way things are looking. But it’s day by day in this situation. You really don’t know what’s going to happen next.
“I’ve read a couple of the comments about how the players aren’t unified, but I think we’re doing a pretty good job of sticking together. Guys are bored. They’re anxious to play.”
Rajon Rondo Courtesy Of Mark Murphy And The Bosotn Herald
I am not surprised here one bit. Rajon Rondo is a determined winner. The fact the players have already given back a lot in his eyes is fueling his desire like Pierce to make sure the players get their 52.5 percent. They do not want to give up one penny more than they have too. The players have given up 400 million, but the fact is they never should have had that much in the first place in order to maintain competitive balance and the owners finally have figured that out. The question about the Union being unified was a dumb one. Rondo is of course going to say that the players are unified. Why in the world would he help kill any leverage the players think that they might have? In any game including negotiations, Rondo is just too smart to screw it up. Remember Go Green Or Go Home!!!!!!!!!!!
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