Training camp doesn’t start for a few days, but after a long summer in meetings hammering out a new collective bargaining agreement, one can’t blame Derek Fisher for wanting to get back to work on the court.
After six months of labor negotiation, D-Fish was happy to get back to his day job.
Fish was so anxious to do so that he was one of the first Lakers players to visit the Lakers facility once the doors were unlocked to players and he was happy to get a workout in.
"I’m grateful for the experience," Derek said of his work on the new CBA, "but hopefully next week we’ll be back to basketball. It was an exhausting ordeal, but I’m still in a great space in terms of getting to know Coach Brown and to that point as a team where we want to be. Those are the things I’m really focused in on and that’s where the energy will come from."
Watch Fish at work on his first day back at the Lakers’ facility, courtesy of the LA Times, below:
For the time being, the Lakers return most of the same group from last year’s second round playoff exit, but with free agency not yet open, it remains uncertain who will be in camp when LA opens it next Friday. There is also the matter of getting the new collective bargaining agreement ratified, no small step according to No. 2.
"Until it’s done, it’s not done," he said. "I’m most thankful for the support of the people. That’s generally what made the difference and that’s how this thing came together. From the players’ standpoint, we continued to realize how difficult the process was for those not in the negotiations, so we got to a place where we believed it was best to close it out and get back to work."
The new season begins for LA with a pair of exhibition games on December 19th and 21st at Staples Center against the Clippers. The regular season opens on Christmas Day as the Lakers host the Bulls. Fish said it’s great to get back to focusing on the events on the court, but that they never really left his mind to begin with.
"As a basketball player, you’re always thinking about basketball," he said. "You’re thinking about the fans and the people that have helped grow this game to what it is. That was something that really weighed heavily on our hearts throughout the entire process."
It was a process that required Derek to fly often across the country on an almost weekly basis to meet with owners as the two sides worked for months to come to an agreement. For many, it could have derailed their workout regimen. But Fish takes such careful care of his body that he simply had to adjust.
"I’ve always worked hard at everything I’ve done and it’s no different this time," he said. "It was a little more challenging, a bit more of a bi-coastal approach to things, but I found a way to get it done."
But after spending nearly six months away from the Lakers’ practice facility in El Segundo because of the lockout, D-Fish made it clear that it was good to be home.
"It’s nice to get back into this particular gym and thinking about basketball again," he said. "It will obviously be a shortened season, but one we’ll look forward to as much as any other to try and win a championship."
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