Adonal Foyle has not played a single minute of NBA action all season, but he may very well be one of the most important players in the league. Not only is Foyle something of a Renaissance man, but he’s also the first vice president of the NBA Players’ Association (NBAPA). On a day-to-day, game-to-game basis, that may not mean all that much. But considering the collision course between the league and the NBAPA that is likely to delay the 2011 season with a lockout, Foyle is in a peculiarly powerful position.
In general, when Adonal Foyle speaks, you should listen. He’s as intriguing as NBA personalities get, and a generally enlightened human being. And when Adonal Foyle speaks on the negotiations over the collective bargaining agreement, you should listen, take notes, analyze, dissect, and digest every syllable. From Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel, here’s Foyle’s response to the league’s latest posturing:
“I think doing that is probably the fatal flaw, because if there is one way to unite the entire NBA against a single thing it would be to go after everybody,” Foyle told the Orlando Sentinel before the Magic tipped-off against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden. “I think what this proposal has done has done us a favor. It has basically mobilized all our players.
“Guys are calling. Guys what to know what’s happening and they want to get involved. So, I am in a way happy that they [the owners] did what they did, because I think now they have awakened not only the players who have been constantly involved in these kinds of negotiations, but they’ve awakened the guys that would have been on the outside looking in.”
Every movement needs a rallying cry, and if Foyle is correct, the NBAPA may have just gotten theirs. “No taxation without representation!” “Equal treatment, equal pay!” And now, “No retroactively applying aspects of the new collective bargaining agreement to established player contracts!”
...not as catchy, I know. They’re working on it.