"When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going"

Deron Wiiliams
Source: www.mindlessdribble.net

According to Yahoo Sports, some NBA superstars like Deron Williams, Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade are all considering playing in Europe if the lockout continues. If so, is this an indication of how desperate these players are becoming?

Based on what was mentioned in Yahoo, these stars are not going to be paid big if we are to compare it to their NBA salaries. $200,000 a month is not in any way high for a quality player like Deron Williams, but he is still very much willing to play in Turkey. So, I don’t think that these guys plan to play in Europe just because they want to earn some money. In fact, they have been prepared for the lockout for two years, so I don’t see them having financial problems as of the moment. The question is, why then do they want to play in Europe?

We have to remember that these guys are professional basketball players. They play basketball for a living. For some players like Steve Nash, basketball is his sanctuary. It gives him purpose in life because BASKETBALL is HIS LIFE. And so without it, life becomes purposeless for most of them. Or at least, there is always that feeling that something really important is missing.

What makes it even tougher for these players is that they don’t really know when this lockout will end. They are stuck in this waiting game which is really killing them as it becomes longer and longer. This is why I cannot blame them for willingly accepting token salaries just to have a shot at playing basketball again.

These are probably the most competitive people around, and they are now deprived of their only outlet to bring out their competitive juices. And I am sure that this whole lockout thing is starting to really get to them.

I pity these players because I know that they just want to play basketball. And all of us want to see them ball. Yet, I really just hope that if ever they go on to play in Europe, and earn token salaries, that it will make them realize how truly lucky they have been for the past how many years. Not everyone gets to earn $10 million to $20 million a year. In reality, to even earn a million bucks is a dream that most people have but will never get. So, these players are truly FORTUNATE that they get to earn even more than that.

I am a big fan of the NBA and I am not at all pleased with the lockout situation. Still, I very much believe that we can all learn a lot from it. And one of these lessons is to know how to count our blessings. We always fall into the trap of whining about all the negative stuff we see in our lives, that we forget about all the positives. Just like these players, we all have been very fortunate. The mere fact that we are alive today is already a major blessing. It is just that we always look at the negative side of things and we end up feeling bad about everything.

If we can just learn how to count our blessings day in and day out, then, I am pretty sure that even when the going gets tough, we will always have a sincere smile that we can willingly share to the world.:)