Ben Gordon sits in the stands at the COX Pavilion, peering down on the Summer League action, taking notes and listening to his iPod. He isnt here working on his game, but rather working on life after the game.
As a participant in a leadership training conference organized by the National Basketball Players Association, Gordon is getting a taste of what it would be like to have an NBA front-office job. Its much longer hours for far less pay, and from where Gordon sits, the job became infinitely more difficult this summer with the formation of the Miami Superteam.
“I think its going to change the landscape of the game,” Gordon said. “I think youre going to see more guys trying to team up, trying to do what those guys did. I think its going to ultimately be good for the game. Its going to put a lot of pressure on teams to get better, and on a lot of players to step their games up. I think in the long run, itll have a positive impact.”
Ben Gordon says the Heat Big 3 could be just the start of a trend in the NBA. (AP) Gordons Pistons are just another team that will be hopelessly chasing the superpowers in the East next season. Yet he isnt as down on LeBron James and Chris Bosh teaming up with Dwyane Wade in Miami as I am. As far as Im concerned, James and Wade whiffed on a rare opportunity to solidify their intense personal rivalry by pairing up with other free agents in different cities. But Gordon sees it differently. With insight gained from front-office executives teaching the basics of building a roster and managing the salary cap during the NBPAs 2 1/2 day course this week, Gordon sees more alliances being formed to combat what Miami has done.
“I dont see how it cant work,” Gordon said. “All those guys are good enough and smart enough players to make it work. I think as far as the league, its going to change the game as we know it. I think the move Bron made, hes getting a lot of slack for it now from some people, but I thought it was pretty impressive for him to be able to kind of put his ego aside and realize, OK, I cant do this by myself. Let me team up and try and win. Let me take a pay cut. These are things that nobody probably thought he wouldve done. But it really shows where his priorities are at as far as trying to win.”
The sacrifice James made, if you want to look at it that way, was never more evident than in the photo on the cover of this weeks Just for fun, I asked Gordon if hed seen the photo. He hadnt. So I asked him which of Miamis Big Three he thought would be positioned in the middle.
“Bron?” he guessed.
Nope. D-Wade. The Heat, and Miami-Wade County, still belongs to him.
“D-Wade has a championship,” Gordon said. “As great as the other two guys are, they dont have rings. Amongst themselves, they probably feel like theyre all equals. But D-Wade didnt leave. He stayed there and took less money to have those guys come and join him. Ive got to give those guys credit, because when it comes to their contracts theres not much negotiation: Im a max player, so give me the max, you know? For them to take less and join up, Im sure a lot of people dont like it and they can call it whatever they want to call it. But from a pure basketball standpoint, you cant argue with it.”
Still, Gordon said hes only “50-50″ in his approval of the Wade-LeBron-Bosh alliance. Whats the downside? Its the same for Gordon and the Pistons as it is for the other 28 teams in the league.
“Part of it is, theyre in my conference,” Gordon said.”So I hate to see all three of them on one team. But at the end of the day, youve got to love it because it shows what these guys are really abo I think thats all that counts with them.”
But the NBA arms race has been ratcheted up a few notches, no doubt. Gordon thinks thats good, and Im willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. It started with the Celtics forming their Big Three in 2008, escalated with the Lakers getting Pau Gasol and then Ron Artest, and now has gone off the deep end in Miami.
Seeing the landscape changing before his eyes, Dwight Howard gave Magic GM Otis Smith a list of players he wanted him to acquire this summer; the first two names were Chris Paul and Carlos Boozer. While Boozer signed with the Bulls, Paul reportedly made a toast at Carmelo Anthonys wedding last weekend about forming “our own Big Three” in New York with Amare Stoudemire. Anthony has yet to sign a three-year, $65 million extension with the Nuggets while he contemplates how to best position himself to deal with Miamis All-Star alliance. We havent heard the last from Melo on this topic, Im sure.
“Theres no in between now,” Gordon said. “Its either youre trying to compete or youre not. Thats been made very clear now. Its almost like guys are forming these superpowers with the talent they have on their team. Well see what happens.”
And well see whether ultimately its good or bad for the game.
