DETROIT -- Detroit Pistons' forward Bob McAdoo, who has played in only six of 70 NBA games this season, has filed a grievance charging the club will not let him return to the lineup even though he is healthy.
McAdoo, who is paid an estimated $525,000 a year and has been laid up all season with stomach and foot injuries, filed the grievance with the NBA Players Association.
He claims hehas been able to play since Feb. 14 but the Pistons will not allow him to return to the court.
'He (Piston General Manager Jack McCloskey) told me point blank, 'We don't want you to play the rest of the year because we want to see the younger players play,'' McAdoo said Tuesday.
'I said to myself they've been seeing the young players all year,' he added. 'Me and (Greg) Kelser have been hurt most of the time.'
McAdoo said the rules of the Players Association agreement with the NBA owners stipulate that the team must 'either put me on waivers or let me play. Don't send me home, because I don't want people to think I was injured all year.'
'I just had an unfortunate injury,' he said. 'My stomach-groin muscle pull could take up to a year or a year and a half to get rid of. I was fortunate enough to get rid of it in nine months and then I hurt my foot. They rushed me back each time and I re-injured it.'
McCloskey said the Pistons are not guilty of any wrongdoing in McAdoo's case.
'He's not capable of playing,' he said. 'He hasn't been working out. He hasn't worked out one day since Jan. 21. You just don't come in all of a sudden and say, 'I'm ready to play,' after the trading deadline.'
'I told him he would not play the rest of the year, just as I told Kelser he would not play the rest of the year. We have a rule, if a player is injured, he is to be with the team at home games and sit on the bench.
'McAdoo said he didn't want to be in that position in street clothes or in uniform,' McCloskey said. 'I said 'in that case it was not necessary for you to be there. You have my permission to go home.'
'Bob McAdoo playing the last 15 games would do nothing for the Pistons,' McCloskey said of the former Boston Celtics scoring star. 'The only thing it would do would be to show what bad condition he is in. He wouldn't play his best, so in essence we've done him a favor.'
