Some advice for NBA players

To all NBA players who stand unified against the godless owners, read these words of warning from a former NHL player about the reality of losing an entire season:

"It's not worth it. Get a deal done," former Dallas Stars forward Bill Guerin said during a phone call last week.

There was not a single NHL player during the Great Lockout of 2004-05 who was a bigger proponent of the union's fight than this man. No one believed in the cause more than Guerin, and to hear him admit this is a bit stunning.

"I learned a big lesson: It's not a partnership. It's their league, and you are going to play when they want," he said.

Today, Guerin has hindsight and his experience serves as a giant caution to any player who thinks losing a game, much less an entire season, to this lockout is a good idea. His message is simple: Get what you can; start playing; you are not going to win what you think.

"It is not worth it to any of them to burn games or to burn an entire year. Burning a year was ridiculous," Guerin said. "It wasn't worth me giving up $9 million a year, or 82 games plus the playoffs, then having a crappy year and being bought out..... Guys in the NBA making $15 million or however much better think long and hard about this."

The NBA is stuck in a nasty labor fight with the players' union, and the league already canceled the first couple of weeks of the regular season.

NBA Commissioner David Stern has cautioned that if a deal isn't done soon there will be no games through Christmas, at least.

— Marc Engel, McClatchy Newspapers