Jason Collins, Openly Gay and Still Unsigned

[Namor40]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/11/sp...s.html?hp&_r=0

“That’s how I still consider myself,” he said Wednesday in his first interview since N.B.A. training camps opened last month without his participation. “Sure, I’ve picked up another title. But I feel that’s always who I’m going to be — that person who sets a good example, who represents the sport and is an asset to my team and a role model for other players.”

The question Collins has to ponder is why he has not been signed as a free agent. Is it because he is at best a marginal player with modest career statistics (3.6 points and 3.8 rebounds a game) nearing the end of his career, one who would cost more than a younger player based on the league’s collectively bargained pay scale? Or is there something more sinister at work related to the new role he would play?

Collins did not dismiss the latter notion or address it.

“You don’t want to speculate — I don’t go there,” he said while picking at a bowl of greens in a cafe in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles, near where he lives. But while conceding he would be at the lower end of a team’s depth chart at this stage of his career, he admitted being perplexed because, he said, “I feel there are players in the league right now that, quite frankly, I’m better than.”

As teams firmed up their rosters in late summer, Collins’s agent, Arn Tellem, received inquiries from at least three teams in the market for a reserve big man who understood positional defense. One of them, the Detroit Pistons, settled on Josh Harrellson, a third-year player who cost the Pistons more than $500,000 less than the nearly $1.4 million Collins would have earned — the minimum salary for a player with his experience.

Several league executives said the number of teams interested in Collins had shrunk because of new penalties for teams exceeding the luxury tax threshold.

Brooklyn was thought to be a potential landing site because Collins spent roughly half his career with the Nets when they played in New Jersey, where he was a trusted teammate of Jason Kidd, now the team’s coach. But with the Nets’ soaring payroll, Collins would have cost the team almost four times his salary in taxes.

Collins acknowledged that signing younger players would be more prudent financially, but he asked how experience could be discounted in such a competitive sport.

“In my mind it shouldn’t be about that,” he said, referring to minimizing costs. “The N.B.A. is for the best players, not for the most affordable players. There isn’t a professional athlete that doesn’t want to play 12, 13 years. What I did when I was younger was look up to the guys like Dikembe Mutombo and Alonzo Mourning who played over a decade. What did they do to last that long? A lot of it is keeping your body in shape, keeping your mind sharp, staying hungry. You should always want guys around like that to set that example, in my mind.”

......

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by patteeu

IMO, Kerry Rhodes says a lot about the NFL, but it doesn't tell us anything about the NBA or the Jason Collins situation.

I think it speaks to sports culture in general. It doesn't explain jason Collins, but it certainly adds bait to the discussion on whether Collins could easily be an end of the bench player for a bad team. Or if he isn't given that opportunity because of his orientation.

[Mr_Tomahawk]

He has great hands and knows how to get to the hole.

[ARROW2]

He is a scrub and has always been a scrub, both he and his brother are scrubs...




Jason Collins did does and will always suck......oh...wait....that didn't come out right, but you know what I mean......he is a scrub...

[dirk digler]

Meh. I think it has more to do with paying the guy $4 million dollars when you can get that same production for a 1/4 of the price.

[ARROW2]

He is an old scrub too.....He thinks he is better than a lot of players? Really? Dude, you had your 15 minutes of fame....now have a nice retirement...

[Rudy tossed tigger's salad]

I'll agree that Jason Collins sucks, but he's sucked for the last decade. The timing is interesting, if anything. Hard to say if it means anything because he really does suck. If he was a better role player or fringe starter, I still don't think he has a job. JMO.

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by rabblerouser

the indirect point being that two overpaid and over-the-hill athletes are unemployed?

Pretty much. The point being the same one you were making about Terrell Owens, i.e. that there are plenty of possible reasons why Jason Collins doesn't have an NBA job that have nothing to do with him being gay.

[Rudy tossed tigger's salad]

Originally Posted by rabblerouser

the indirect point being that two overpaid and over-the-hill athletes are unemployed?

Kerry Rhodes just turned 31, has started the majority of his career, and had a large role with the Cardinals last year. He was also considered a good player in 2012 by some (PFF).

[blaise]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

I think it speaks to sports culture in general. It doesn't explain jason Collins, but it certainly adds bait to the discussion on whether Collins could easily be an end of the bench player for a bad team. Or if he isn't given that opportunity because of his orientation.

It doesn't seem to me that the two have much to do with each other, really.

[blaise]

Originally Posted by rabblerouser

also like 43 years old and a team cancer.

what's the deal w/Kerry Rhodes?? He likes greasy man-meat??

The subject of the thread is Jason Collins. You could make a reasonable argument that T.O. could make a similar contribution to a team as Jason Collins would make to an NBA team.

[Rudy tossed tigger's salad]

Originally Posted by blaise

It doesn't seem to me that the two have much to do with each other, really.

lol. Just ignoring a discussion worth having. Does it really bother you that gays are considered a marginalized group in this country?

[9er guy]

Jason Collins is mediocre at best. Too old. Too slow.

[Rudy tossed tigger's salad]

Originally Posted by blaise

It doesn't seem to me that the two have much to do with each other, really.

Yes. They both aren't relatively young, black millionaire athletes who play an extremely popular and profitable sport where players are predominantly black. Neither were seeking employment in a professional league consisting of mostly white owners over the age of 50.

You definitely can't draw any comparisons.

The biggest difference is that Rhodes is just rumored to be gay... not the sport they play.

[blaise]

Originally Posted by Rudy Was Offsides

lol. Just ignoring a discussion worth having. Does it really bother you that gays are considered a marginalized group in this country?

What discussion? If you feel the comparisons between Collins and Rhodes are many go ahead and detail them. They're in different points of their career, they play different sports, they have different locker room dynamics. One wrote an article for a publication. I'm not stopping you from arguing anything. What the hell are you talking about.
The floor is yours - go ahead and explain how these two athletes are linked in the many ways you must know about.

Or you can just make vague comparisons.

[blaise]

Originally Posted by Rudy Was Offsides

Yes. They both aren't relatively young, black millionaire athletes who play an extremely popular and profitable sport where players are predominantly black. Neither were seeking employment in a professional league consisting of mostly white owners over the age of 50.

You definitely can't draw any comparisons.

The biggest difference is that Rhodes is just rumored to be gay... not the sport they play.

That's not much of a comparison.