I ran across this story on ESPN that emanates out of the Golden State offices that Monta Ellis lied to the team and may actually not have hurt his ankle with a high ankle sprain and deltoid ligament damage while playing a game of pick up basketball.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3574017It got me to thinking, what actions should and can teams do when players are hurt doing things that are outside the bounds of their sport or inside the realms of their sport but against the wishes and advice of the team?
Another case is that of Manu Ginobelli. He was hurt playing for the Spurs last year. The Spurs advised him to seek medical help for the injury and to not play on it this summer. Against team wishes, Ginobelli played in the Olympics this summer and then during the medal round, reinjured the foot and now will be lost to the Spurs until sometime after the start of the season.
http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/26456712/So I guess the first thing that can happen is that the player can be fined and suspended by the team. But except for the chump change fine getting back into the billion dollar coffers of most owners, this doesn't really help the team. They are already being hurt due to the lost time caused by the players injury, how does suspending them further really help the team? It doesn't.
The team, if the case is egregious enough, can file to terminate the contract on the terms of the player breaching the contract, like in Ellis' case because the player was doing an activity that the contract stipulated they couldn't do. The Yankees took this approach with Aaron Boone some years ago and got out of some hefty money owed the player. But let's face it, considering what's left in Golden State, this wouldn't be the smartest approach given that Ellis is one of their best players.
So what becomes of a team when these players put the overall welfare of their team at risk when they do inadvisable or outright contract forbidden activities? I'm a Celtic fan through and through but being a business man I feel for the Spurs and Warriors. Two of the best players on their respective teams will be missing time and possibly costing their team wins because of the selfish whims of the players involved. Both injuries could have been avoided.
I'd like to see the league take some action to possibly help teams in cases of these types but given the way the league treated the Celtics during the Bias and Lewis deaths I guess it's fair to say that nothing should or will come of this. But I think it brings up some interesting and valid points that do need to be addressed so that teams aren't getting screwed by the CBA and the salary cap when their players do things that are against team's advice or outside the language of the contract. Just because the Celtics were once screwed doesn't mean that it is or was the right thing to do.
Look at it this way. If Pierce got hurt while say water skiing and had to miss an entire season, the Celtics are screwed. They are over the cap and are suddenly looking at the loss of their best player and their only recourse is to get the contract nullified. Yet that's not going to help them because the are still over the cap and wouldn'thave the cash to sign anyone to replace the slot Pierce would be vacating.
Should something be done to rectify such issues. Should special circumstances be put in place for a team to be able to use that money slot to replace that player in case of injury or, god forbid, a death?
What do you think. I'm not sure I have as yet formulated an opinion on this and would like to here some views both ways.
Topic: So what's a team to do? Ellis' & Ginobili's avoidable injuries. (Read 2360 times)