Why not? The main point of not allowing participation in those activities is to avoid injury. Why is this so hard for everyone to understand? Why is everyone crying about Yao playing in the offseason all the time?
Cause no job in the world should ever stop you from ever playing for your country? Of course, I'm being ideal here. If Ilgauskas was stupid enough not to include that clause in his contract, that's his problem. I'm just disgusted people actually think it's a given that international players should prioritize NBA achievements over their own country. There's a fine line between honoring your contract and being used.
Well if something like this is in his contract that allows him to be denied from playing basketball of any sort due to injury, it's his own fault for signing it. If no such thing is in his contract I don't see how the Cavs can force him out of the Olympics.
If he wants, he could probably ignore the Cavs and play in the Olympics anyway. They'd have grounds to void his contract, but I don't think they'd want to (unless he got injured there).
as has been stated, this is unique case with an injury prone guy, well not unique compared to Houston's center.
You need to come back to reality. Money talks in the world. No one is forcing him to prioritize his NBA career over his national team. If he wants to play over there, go for it. If he gets hurt and the Cavs void his contract, don't come crying back for the millions of dollars he might lose. The NBA is a business. The Cavs are a franchise that is looking to make money. Ilgauskas being injured throughout his career makes him a bad investment for the Cavs. The Cavs are going to protect their investment if they can. An injured Ilgauskas is no good to them. They'd be paying him obscene amounts of money and not getting any production from him on the court. So pretty much, they'd be paying him for doing NOTHING. Why? All because Ilgauskas got hurt while performing his service for someone OTHER THAN HIS EMPLOYER. The Cavs could care less about his national team, and they have the right to look after their finances before his dream. His dream could cost them millions of dollars. They're not going to risk that. That's how jobs work. The company as a whole will come before it's employers. You want the money, you better learn to make sacrifices. Of course I don't see you mentioning even once that Ilgauskas should just screw the money from the Cavs and go play for his national team. If it's that important to him, then forget about the money. Money isn't what it's about right? It's about national pride right? Screw my employer that's giving me $10 million yearly, I'm going to play for my country! You can't have your cake and eat it too. Hell forget about Ilgauskas for a second here. Portland put their foot down and stopped Greg Oden from freakin playing a pickup game in 24 hr Fitness! Why? Because he's also injury prone! They're protecting their investment as well! I wish the Rockets grew some balls and prevented their superstar from playing on teams other than their own. God knows there was probably more competition at that 24 hr Fitness than there is in the Chinese National Team or Lithuanian National team to begin with. Unfortunately for us, the Rockets make loads of money even with Yao sitting his ass on the bench year in and year out, so we'll continue to give into his demands. It's all about the money at the end of the day.
The Cavs allowing Lebron to play while telling Big Z to stay home is the most hypocritical thing that they could do. I would laugh at the lawyer trying to defend the Cavs on this one.
Why do you need to hide behind things on the 10 o'clock news? Do you mean that you have to be more moronic and insensitive than the morons and the insensitive brats on the 10 o'clock news in order to qualify to be a moron and a insensitive brat? What an argument. LOL And I don't care how much money someone makes. From the way you talk about the issue, you see Z a slave, nothing more and nothing less. It's just as obvious as that. It has absolutely nothing to do with how much he makes. If you say a player cannot exercise his free will and does not even possess his freedom to realize a possibly once-in-a-lifetime dream, then you see him nothing more than a commodity and a slave to his master which is the Cav. You have no concept of basic human rights. Why does it seem to be that difficult for you to understand? Keep hiding behind the o'clock news while I won't stop to expose you here. Keep it coming.
All depends on Ilgauskas' contract. I know NBA players are prohibited from doing a lot of things. Now if some clause in his contract gives the Cavs the right to void his contract if he plays in basketball games against their wishes, it won't matter one bit if LeBron is allowed to play and Ilgauskas is not. The Cavs could decide independentaly of each player, whether they should get to play or not.
Ilgauskas has all the rights in this world to pursue his "once-in-a-lifetime dream." Just leave the money that the Cavs are giving you and go play wherever you want.
The thing is, if this goes to court over whether Big Z keeps his job or not if he plays in the Olympis, Big Z wins hands down. Unless of course the Cavs are evenhanded about it and keep Lebron at home. Even then, it's a weak case.
Are you dumb? First of all, there is no clause in the contract that he can't play in the Olympics in the off-season. Let me repeat. The Cav can't stop him doing that contractually. Secondly, do you even know what a contract is? I don't want to speculate whether Z is willing to giving up his contract or not because it is not the point here. Have you ever thought about what options he has here? Can he just go to knock at the owner's door and tell him that he wants to void his contract and then heads for Lithuania? Are you really that simple-minded that it is so easy? Wow, you really need to go take an IQ test to know more about yourself. Unbelievable.
You have determined that Z would win his case.............so you have access to his specific contract? Could you post it here or provide a link if it is available on the Internet?
What does my race has anything to do with it? Are you another dumb ass who can do no matter than to use other other's background/race to discredit what he says? Man up and go find a valid argument instead of playing the race card. I have explained my point in my posts and try to read them if you have the ability to do so.
Look who's stupid here. It's obviously radapharoah who can do nothing better than to play the race card.
Are you that dense that you can't think anything for yourself and must be spoon-fed everything? First of all, show me the contract and we'll see what is in it and what isn't. I said IF there is a clause where the Cavs can ultimately decide which professional basketball games Ilgauskas can take part in and can't take part in, then there really is no argument. Cleveland wins. If that doesn't exist then I'm sure the Cavs can only advise Ilgauskas not to play, and it would ultimately be his decision. "Zydrunas Ilgauskas will not be permitted to play for Lithuania in the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, the Cavaliers announced Thursday." From the way it looks like though, they ARE restricting him from playing which leads me to believe THERE IS something in his contract where the Cavs have the overall authority to decide which games he participates in. You can deny it all you want and say no that can't be in his contract, but from that article it seems pretty clear that the Cavs are in fact restricting him from playing. If they were just advising him not to play, it wouldn't say that Ilgauskas will not be perfmitted to play. It's pretty obvious. Also it's not about Ilgauskas voluntairly going to the Cavs' owner's house and asking to void his contract. Me saying he can kiss his contract goodbye is hypothetical for if he does play in Lithuania and the Cavs have authority over him, THEY COULD VOID HIS CONTRACT. Meaning, if Ilgauskas goes and plays against the Cavs' wishes, he'll be risking a lot of money for playing with his national team. No **** he can't just go and ask the owner to void his contract. As for his options; he really doesn't have any if the Cavs have authority over his basketball games. He has to listen to them if he wants to continue playing for them. Next time try to read something and think about what it means instead of just taking things as black or white. Perhaps you're in need of that IQ test because you clearly can't comprehend what anyone is talking about. All you think is "National pride! Screw the Cavs!" Like I said earlier, the NBA is a business and money comes over a player's dream. Welcome to reality.
