NBA players are finding different ways to occupy their time off. Some have decided to play overseas in anticipation of a lengthy lockout, but Oklahoma City’s Nate Robinson has a plan of his own. Earlier in the week, SLAMonline reported that Nate would consider playing in the NFL during a lengthy lockout. Nate told SLAM,
“I might go play football. Do something that nobody’s tried to do. If I can, I would love to play football a little bit. I’ve been doing a little bit of training. Why wouldn’t you want to have an NBA player that can play football try out? That’s a lot of publicity for your organization.”
We all know that Nate played defensive back in college at Washington on a scholarship, but here are four reasons it won’t happen for him:
He hasn’t played organized football since college
Nate just wrapped up his sixth year in the Association so it’s been that long since he has played football. While I’m sure he hasn’t lost his natural football instincts, it’s no secret that the NFL is much faster than college football. Sprinkle in the fact that college was so long ago for him, it would take forever for him to adjust to the speed.
Overlap between the NFL and NBA season
Deron Williams will play in Turkey if the NBA season doesn’t begin on time. However, he has an NBA-out clause in his contract which means that whenever the season starts, he gets out of that overseas contract and returns to the League. What are the chances of Nate being afforded that sort of language in an NFL contract?
He wouldn’t make a team due to timing caused by the NFL lockout
In case you guys haven’t heard, the NFL is also mired in a lockout of their own. Although it’s beginning to sound a bit more optimistic for our pigskin brethren, when would Nate be brought in for a workout? If the NFL lockout is lifted in the next few weeks, like it sounds, that puts us right at the preseason schedule. There will barely be anytime for teams to make trades let alone workout a rusty rookie.
No NFL team will think he’s worth the risk
Nate is an extremely emotional player. I love that aspect of his game. But that can rub some executives the wrong way and may make him appear as if he’s a malcontent. Nate told SLAM that signing an NBA player would bring alot of publicity to an NFL team. Unfortunately for Nate, NFL teams aren’t public relations firms. They’re in it to win it and will bring in the players that put them in the best position to win. They’re not interested in appeasing the masses. Just ask the Eagles.
If you’re looking for your everyday, predictable basketball talk, then you’ve come to the wrong place, because Kevin Burke of The Kevin Burke Project brings provocative, thought provoking content about basketball as only he can. Kevin also hosts The Hoop Doctors weekly podcast show, which you can subscribe to for free on iTunes. Follow Kevin on Twitter and Facebook
