| This Act Is Getting Old Authored by Matthew McQueeny - January 30, 2005 - 2:03 pm
The Nets have claimed Elden Campbell off waivers. This should be a move that solidifies a thin, depleted front line and gives the Nets a chance to make a push for another Atlantic Division title. However, in what has become the new NBA tactic, we will have to wait-and-see on Elden. Apparently, players under contract now have the same rights as free agents. Elden was "traded" by Detroit to Utah for Carlos Arroyo and then quickly put on waivers by the Jazz. The hope for Campbell was that he would clear waivers and then re-sign with Detroit. Well, the Nets snapped him up. If you are not a free agent, you do not have the right to determine your course.
There was a time when reporting to your new team was implicit in getting traded. However, when you look to Alonzo Mourning and Jimmy Jackson, you can apparently do as you please. Jimmy Jackson, traded from Houston to New Orleans, felt it was not not in his best interest to go into a rebuilding situation. So, he went back home to Miami and sat. He basically held the Hornets up, forcing them to make a move. And to make things tougher for Allan Bristow and New Orleans, he was only looking to be traded to a championship contender. The Nets were interested but Jackson said, after being traded to the Suns, that he probably would not have reported to New Jersey. Well, that is nice. And how about Alonzo Mourning? This guy, who the Nets quietly paid and supported while undergoing a Kidney transplant, came back and came out firing immediately. He lambasted ownership and demanded a trade. Not only did the guy have a non-insured contract, but he was now demanding a trade from a team that gave nothing but support. Luckily, the Nets somehow parlayed him into Vince Carter. He became the Raptor's headache. And, he is patiently hanging out in Miami getting paid from Canada, waiting to be bought out or traded somewhere he deems acceptable. Can players be anymore ungrateful?
So, there is precedent for Elden Campbell. He is probably weighing whether to do the right thing, honoring a waiver claim and making his way to New Jersey, or being an ingrate and sitting on his hands in Detroit. These players act like they are being sent to Siberia. I can assure Elden that New Jersey is not only Newark airport and the Swamp, the dirty Turnpike or the armpit of America. And it is not like he will not be getting paid 2.2 million dollars for a half-season of work. All he has to do is stand in the middle of the court with his hands up, grab a couple of rebounds, and set some picks for Vince's dunk show. His kids can continue going to school in Detroit, the world will not collapse. He can stay at the Renaissance Hotel for a couple of months and before he knows it, he will be back with his family in Detroit. That is if his family had not ditched living in Michigan at that point and moved back to their southern California home. It is not like Campbell is being unfairly treated. If Detroit were so worried about keeping him, they would not have made the conscious decision to trade him. It is a business and something tells me that his "advisors" will tell him not to leave 2.2 million dollars on the table for three or four months of work.
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