Or he's not doing a disservice to fans by making it nearly impossible for a normal middle class family to attend an NBA game with the expense of tickets, 50 bucks to park, 10 dollars a beer. If Stern was concerned about a disservice to the fans the NBA should refund everybody who was in attendance last night.... oh wait What pisses me off was Adam Silver's recation to this last year. In case you missed it this was his quote.. “The strategic resting of particular players on particular nights is within the discretion of the teams,” Silver told reporters at the time Why were there not sanctions levied against New Orleans last year when they pulled starters out at halftime late season as they were vying to get the most ping pong balls. Why didn't he flip out after that awful Heat/Celtics game last year in which the ball boys dressed for both teams? Stern is a dick and I'd love to see somebody in the FO of the Spurs call him out on it. Call him out on the hypocrisy of fining the Spurs yet allowing teams to tank to better their odds at the #1 pick.
he had two lockout shortened seasons, and nobody has ever said boo about it. the NBA draft has always been a joke. and the Chris Paul trade is only still talked about by Lakers fans. but this is such an insult to reason that it sums up who he is as a person and the commissioner. I don't understand how the Spurs could just accept the penalty.
The NBA is just being hypocritical here. Personally, I wish Popovich would rest guys one at a time and not "tank" a game by sitting everyone at once, but there's an established precedent here. Stern never once complained in the past. Here's a game from four seasons ago, for example. Nothing from the league office. As you can see from the records, that was a premier matchup. The teams were on top of the Western Conference. As it turned out, both teams finished 54-28. Denver got the 2 seed and SA the 3 because of this game.
Pretty sure TNT pushed on this. They only get a few games and one of them SA rests all their stars. The fine is fine, not a big deal. They aren't forcing teams to play players, they are just forcing them to lie about it. Stern is pissed Pop gave him and TNT the finger on TNT. Stern was fine with Pop giving him the finger in private
Stern loves the finger...tight ass. I can't wait till he goes away from the league. The Chris Paul trade still has me like wtf just happened?
Well they did play 4 games in 5 nights or something close to it. Can you really blame them? I guess next time they'll just call them injured. It's not like they tanked the game, they rested banged up players. I really hope this fine gets rescinded.
Looks like Gasol's days in LA could be numbered. He was benched last night with 6 minutes to go and then Kobe called him out today. I still think they'll wait and see what he can do with Nash running the point but if he struggles I think he will be traded.
So Stern came out and admitted that TV ratings are more important than a coach making judgment calls with his players. With that huge fine against Popovich & Spurs he effectively disclosed that it's acceptable to mess with the basketball product in order to "entertain" the fans. IMO this should have some very serious implications for NBA fans. If he's willing to force coaches to manage in a way to improve ratings, it's only logical to assume that he'd have the same attitude towards referees in the league. People keep wondering about the impartiality of NBA refs and if they fix games. But what you can't dispute is how stars like Carmelo Anthony routinely get no calls on the same type of plays that a Lebron or a Kobe would get. I have to think that Stern is pushing the refs to make improper calls with rough guidelines on how to maximize fan interest / ratings. He totally showed his cards with this
The NBA has been like that for years, I don't know about "fixing" games but the refs have always called the game loosely for superstars. Look at all the no calls against Jordan or even his signature shot to beat the Jazz didn't come without him pushing off. When i was a kid the Pistons were known as "The Bad Boys" because teams knew if you drove at them somebody like Lambier or Vinny Edwards or Rodman were going to make you think twice about it. That style was not good for the NBA because it worked but it didn't allow the league to showcase their superstars. Those Pistons teams owned Jordon and Magic but Stern wanted the Showtime Lakers or Jordan to win titles because the NBA under Stern has always been about ratings and superstars. All you need to know about Stern is his quote from a few years when he said something to the effect that his dream finals would be the Lakers vs the Lakers.
Phoenix almost won in Memphis too. They led for almost all of regulation, but Memphis forced OT and won it.
we may have the first team management in modern sports history that has absolutely no interest in selling merchandise to anyone other than their most hardcore fans. well done, New Orleans. The Pelicans. 14 year old boys will be rushing to buy that hat and jersey.
