Your Thoughts on David Stern

[EazyRoc]

I do not like David Stern as the NBA's commissioner after such an explosive scandal, and one that is just as bad as MLB's steroid scandal. The integrity of professional basketball has been tainted by the league officials, mafias, and referees. I've always questioned Stern's motivation on some of the decisions that he's made and not made. I don't like the new age limit and don't really think it helps players as much as it can hurt some. I think it benefits the NCAA much more than the players and the NBA. Anyways, How do yall feel about David Stern ?

[Swatguy]

He is, The Don.

[bronnt]

Well, I think he's been all right for the NBA. From a PR standpoint, he's way too snippy at times, and for the most part standoffish. This scandal of fixing games is mostly nonsense-bad officiating happens all the time, at all levels of basketball. I can believe that some officials, like Donaghy, are manipulating the point spread on an individual basis. It's much tougher for me to believe that there's a league-wide conspiracy to increase ratings. Namely, if there were, they could do a much better job of it.

As for the age rule on the draft, it's good and bad. There's some players-a very few-who are elite basketball players but do not have the grades to get into college. Colleges are so cooperative with athletes that your grades have to be REALLY bad, though. And most of these kids, despite intentions, don't really gain that much from going to college. I'd like to that they have the chance to gain a little maturity, making them less susceptible to agents kissing their butts, but everyone kisses their butts anyway, so it doesn't really help.

It DOES help NBA teams, though. Ask most GMs, and they hated having to evaluate high schoolers. The level of competition was much less, and you couldn't figure out how kids projected. They never had to play defense, for the most part. They get to see kids now play against a higher level of competition that works them out harder, and showcases some of their strengths and weaknesses better.

And it may help the league ratings, to some minor degree. Fans of the Memphis Tigers who didn't really care for the NBA might be watching a few Bulls games next year to see Derrick Rose. Likewise for KSU fans checking out Beasley. At worst, it's not hurting, even if it doesn't help that much. And I don't think the rule really hurts the kids that much-so they have to wait an additional year for their big pay day. They'll still get their money.

On other levels, I think Stern has been steady. He took some severe measures to prevent another melee like the one in Detroit (I do, as does everyone else, disagree about Amare and Diaw). He was extremely harsh on the players involved in that, and I actually like the dress code for players. Make them dress like professionals with jobs if they aren't in uniform.

So he's had a few blemishes. But I think it could be much worse. The league is actually in a good place right now with the CBA, guaranteed contracts, salary cap and the luxury tax, etc. It's better than the NFL, who don't have guaranteed contracts, are looking at a potential labor dispute in a couple of years, and pay some rookies more than the best players in the league. And in MLB, you've got small-market teams nearly eliminated from competing because bigger teams are spending out of control. The league itself isn't necessarily better than both of those, but I think they've struck a nice balance between players and owners.

[Diesel]

Here's the problem.

The NBA could be really clean. However, Stern is such the smuggest bastard that he makes things worse. When you take the I'm smarter than you and you all are just peons road, then you better not get caught in a scandal.. .Weather it be lottery fixing or game fixing because whenever there's a scandal, people want humility from leadership and Stern is not designed to do that.

[bronnt]

Quote:

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Here's the problem.

The NBA could be really clean. However, Stern is such the smuggest bastard that he makes things worse. When you take the I'm smarter than you and you all are just peons road, then you better not get caught in a scandal.. .Weather it be lottery fixing or game fixing because whenever there's a scandal, people want humility from leadership and Stern is not designed to do that.

I do wonder if that's just inherant to sports commissioners, though. Bud Selig is much the same way, and I think Gooddell does some of the same things. Basically, there's a lot going on in all the league offices that might just be better if it wasn't always secretive.

1) The NBA ran their own investigation into the officiating to determine if officials were racially biased a few years ago. They apparently collected a lot of data. The results were never published. I do believe that there was a big-scale investigation into the officials conducted, so it's a good sign that the NBA takes the integrity of the game seriously. If they'd ever decided to make that information public (I suspect that they didn't want to release anything which might cause speculation about certain officials) it would help fans understand the way the league is run.

2) The New England Patriots illegally used video tape to steal defensive signals (it's legal to steal signals, just not with video equipment). The NFL office investigates, hands down a penalty, and then DESTROYS the tape. Again, if you'd just held on to it or made public everything going on, you could have avoided a lot of awkward questions asked about the league. The video scandal drags on for another 6 months before finally some closure is brought.

3) Baseball ignores warning signs pointing to a large infusion of PEDs infecting the sport. Baseball goes so far as to market the 1998 home run chase in which both players were seemingly dirtier than dirt. Finally an ex-player blows the whistle (whether or not he was selling his book) and baseball still tries to turn a blind eye. Congress has to get involved and start holding hearings before MLB finally institutes a tough policy on steroids (players like Chipper Jones say it's still not harsh enough) and outlaws HGH.

4) Now, Stern either has the wool over his own eyes or is trying to pull it over ours when Donaghy alleges that other games have been fixed. I don't believe there is any conspiracy, but how does Stern KNOW that this is the only guy working a gambling outfit? He didn't think any officials were dirty before Donaghy was caught, and now he's saying that there's just one. To his credit, he's promised to enforce the rules about referees gambling which already existed, but were largely ignored. However, he needs to come out and call this what it is-a serious threat to the integrity of the game which needs to be investigated for the sake of the fans (we're what keep the league running, not the league office or the owners) and some closure brought to this issue. If he wants to turn this around, he NEEDS to examine that 2002 series. It doesn't matter if charges can't be brought (because it was more than 5 years ago), he could still penalize or fire officials if they weren't doing their job.

As I said, it's not perfect, and this scandal is more threatening to the league than ones that NFL and MLB are looking at, but I'm happy enough with where the league is right now, and he's doing an okay job.

[EazyRoc]

Quote:

---

Here's the problem.

The NBA could be really clean. However, Stern is such the smuggest bastard that he makes things worse.

When you take the I'm smarter than you and you all are just peons road, then you better not get caught in a scandal

.. .Weather it be lottery fixing or game fixing because whenever there's a scandal, people want humility from leadership and Stern is not designed to do that.

I agree.