i'm surprised that no one has brought up plaxico yet. dude shot himself in the leg-the same thigh with the bad hamstring.

Dumars runs the ship. Dumars had to know there would be practice and approve. Stupid move by Iverson. And he knows it. And one of the reasons stated for the practice was to do some work on how to better utilize Iverson.
Iverson has backed down and the Pistons forgive so all is good.
Except that Detroit made themselves worse with the trade imo. Not that its gonna matter.

Making the analogy of what people in other jobs have to do is meaningless here. Danzig, if your husband knew that if he didn't show up on Christmas, nothing would happen to him, would he still show up? If you work at gas station or supermarket and don't show up and you know that nothing will happen to you at all, do you still bother to show up? I don't. What was Iverson's punishment? Not being allowed to start. Maybe he was fined a couple of thousand dollars. He still played 27 minutes and led the team scoring for the game.

In the NBA, the coaches don't run things. In college, they do. Not at the pro level. If LeBron James went to Danny Ferry tonight and said "I want Mike Brown out of here this week or there's NO WAY I'm staying", Brown would need the classifieds very quickly. Same thing in Miami with Wade, Toronto with Bosh, etc. The star players have all the power in the NBA. After the players, it's the GM's, then the owners, then the coaches.

was that your letter in the DRF?

sad...but true

yes, he would. neither one of us believes in missing work, for any reason. couldn't tell you the last time he called in. besides, he gets paid pretty well for working a holiday...matter of fact, he got double time on friday while we were at the game-holiday pay + vacation.

years ago, i was an assistant manager at a store that was opened 24-7, 365 days a year. we all took a four hour shift on christmas, which made it fair to everyone.

Ok then he, and you, are the exceptions. I think. I wonder if we can agree on the fact that knowing the penalty (or lack thereof) of your actions beforehand can play a huge part in whatever decision you would make in a circumstance? Perhaps if Iverson had thought his contract could be violated, he wouldn't have done it. But knowing he'd only get what amounted to less than a slap on the wrist, he figured it was more important to do whatever it was he decided to skip practice for.

some people have ethics, some don't. some would miss regardless of the aftermath--plaxico burress for example. then you have those who want to play no matter what-shawn merriman leaps to mind.

Remember, we arent talking about playing.

We talkin bout practice.

for me, it doesn't matter. it kills me every year to see those prima donnas who don't practice, don't show for mandatory mini-camps, etc. even tiger woods practices. i just think it's ridiculous. they play a game for a living, how hard can it be to show up for practice?!?!

I see Kg's point but I disagree that it is representative of EVERYONE. If that were the case, why did the rest of the team show? Why did anyone show up at all? Those contracts arent much different than AI's except for the zeroes.

There are many that take pride in working hard and being professional no matter the situation.