I like NBA referees as much as the next basketball junkie -- who doesn't delight in watching Joey Crawford tee up Jerry Sloan? -- but as they sit at home these days watching Forget Paris on DVD, I have one bit of career advice for them:
NBA Commissioner David Stern ought to be tucking into a celebratory bowl of borscht right now at the Russian Tea Room, which is a few blocks from the NBA's offices in Manhattan's Olympic Tower.
Tracking changes in the NBA salary-cap and luxury-tax thresholds can start to feel as abstract as counting widgets for a Harvard business school case study, what with all those zeroes and commas and, where most folks would be thrilled to stick the dollar sign, a decimal point instead.
On the night of his league's draft lottery, NBA commissioner David Stern engaged in a little ping-pong of his own with reporters. During a lively Q&A session with the press, Stern was asked about the importance of LeBron James making the NBA Finals. "You mean as opposed to Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony or Kobe Bryant?" Stern said. "None. We have nothing but stars. We should be called NBS instead of NBA."
These are surely metaphysical times in the wonderful world of sports, and the chattering of many frightened teeth concerns whether Sidney Crosby has consigned the Pittsburgh Penguins to certain defeat in the Stanley Cup Final. Crosby, you see, was brassy -- or dumb -- enough to actually touch the Prince of Wales Trophy after the Pens won the Eastern Conference title on Tuesday night.
It was the closest thing to banter during NBA commissioner David Stern's preseason taping for The Charlie Rose Show, a momentary step back from the relaxed questions and answers of the Emmy Award-winning interviewer's signature conversations:
As is sometimes the case, what should've been the worst moment turned out to be one of the best. I had been flying most of the night, from Rome to Moscow, on a private plane with commissioner David Stern and a few other NBA types during the league's preseason Europe Live tour in October 2006. Fog intervened and we had to divert from Sheremetyevo Airport to Domodedovo, a more remote airport, far from suburban Moscow. Our stiffened bodies alighted just after dawn, and our Soviet-style reception was chillier than the freezing weather outside. There were red-tape issues, and we sat, shivering, in a small room in what could generously be called "the terminal." A small TV was on, and on it was Vice President Dick Cheney.
One hundred years on, when most of today's famous names are gone and forgotten, David Stern will be remembered. Never mind his role in instituting a salary cap or his rash insistence on marrying his league to hip-hop -- all of that will be forgotten too. Of lasting importance will be his vision for the NBA as a global entity, and in generations to come he will be remembered around the world for exploring international possibilities that no one else saw coming.
There actually is nothing in the NBA to look forward to in 2009. Everything and everyone is on ice until the summer of 2010, when the league undergoes, simultaneously, a seismic shift, a sea change and a perfect storm driven by the lusted-after free agency of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire, Dirk Nowitzki, Yao Ming and another half-dozen or so All-Stars or game-changers. Until then, we are all Cleveland, holding our collective breaths, fearing the worst, hoping for the best, marking time.
SI.com legal analyst Michael McCann answers the key questions from the recent report that disgraced former NBA referee Tim Donaghy called fellow official Scott Foster 134 times between October 2006 and April 2007, the same period Donaghy was providing information to gamblers.
I like NBA referees as much as the next basketball junkie -- who doesn't delight in watching Joey Crawford tee up Jerry Sloan? -- but as they sit at home these days watching Forget Paris on DVD, I have one bit of career advice for them:
NBA Commissioner David Stern ought to be tucking into a celebratory bowl of borscht right now at the Russian Tea Room, which is a few blocks from the NBA's offices in Manhattan's Olympic Tower.
Tracking changes in the NBA salary-cap and luxury-tax thresholds can start to feel as abstract as counting widgets for a Harvard business school case study, what with all those zeroes and commas and, where most folks would be thrilled to stick the dollar sign, a decimal point instead.
On the night of his league's draft lottery, NBA commissioner David Stern engaged in a little ping-pong of his own with reporters. During a lively Q&A session with the press, Stern was asked about the importance of LeBron James making the NBA Finals. "You mean as opposed to Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony or Kobe Bryant?" Stern said. "None. We have nothing but stars. We should be called NBS instead of NBA."
These are surely metaphysical times in the wonderful world of sports, and the chattering of many frightened teeth concerns whether Sidney Crosby has consigned the Pittsburgh Penguins to certain defeat in the Stanley Cup Final. Crosby, you see, was brassy -- or dumb -- enough to actually touch the Prince of Wales Trophy after the Pens won the Eastern Conference title on Tuesday night.
It was the closest thing to banter during NBA commissioner David Stern's preseason taping for The Charlie Rose Show, a momentary step back from the relaxed questions and answers of the Emmy Award-winning interviewer's signature conversations:
As is sometimes the case, what should've been the worst moment turned out to be one of the best. I had been flying most of the night, from Rome to Moscow, on a private plane with commissioner David Stern and a few other NBA types during the league's preseason Europe Live tour in October 2006. Fog intervened and we had to divert from Sheremetyevo Airport to Domodedovo, a more remote airport, far from suburban Moscow. Our stiffened bodies alighted just after dawn, and our Soviet-style reception was chillier than the freezing weather outside. There were red-tape issues, and we sat, shivering, in a small room in what could generously be called "the terminal." A small TV was on, and on it was Vice President Dick Cheney.
One hundred years on, when most of today's famous names are gone and forgotten, David Stern will be remembered. Never mind his role in instituting a salary cap or his rash insistence on marrying his league to hip-hop -- all of that will be forgotten too. Of lasting importance will be his vision for the NBA as a global entity, and in generations to come he will be remembered around the world for exploring international possibilities that no one else saw coming.
There actually is nothing in the NBA to look forward to in 2009. Everything and everyone is on ice until the summer of 2010, when the league undergoes, simultaneously, a seismic shift, a sea change and a perfect storm driven by the lusted-after free agency of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire, Dirk Nowitzki, Yao Ming and another half-dozen or so All-Stars or game-changers. Until then, we are all Cleveland, holding our collective breaths, fearing the worst, hoping for the best, marking time.
SI.com legal analyst Michael McCann answers the key questions from the recent report that disgraced former NBA referee Tim Donaghy called fellow official Scott Foster 134 times between October 2006 and April 2007, the same period Donaghy was providing information to gamblers.
Contrary to what NBA referee Scott Foster might feel right about now, there were several ways in which the news Monday about shamed ref Tim Donaghy's cell-phone records could have been worse for all involved.
An NBA city (Seattle) currently has no team and an NBA team (Oklahoma City) currently has no name. Restricted free agency still is a better oxymoron -- right up there with scheduled flights, Las Vegas traditions and affordable health care -- than it is a viable, desirable negotiating status. And next week, disgraced referee Tim Donaghy, the weasel in zebra's clothing who turned into a canary, is scheduled to appear for sentencing in a U.S. federal courtroom in Brooklyn, N.Y.
It's a lot harder to laugh at the NBA conspiracy theorists today, isn't it?
If you're from Seattle, you're not going to want to read this. You're not going to want to read that the city's oldest professional sports franchise is as good as gone. You're not going to want to read that your efforts to keep the team, while valiant, are a case of too little, too late. You're not going to want to read that the NBA considers the lawsuit you filed to try and force the Sonics to honor their lease at KeyArena (which runs through the 2009-10 season) little more than a nuisance. You're not going to want to read that you're not going to win, that hitching your wagon to a series of leaked e-mails that may or may not prove that Sonics owner (and Oklahoma City native) Clay Bennett intended to move the team from the start -- which would violate the sales agreement -- isn't much of a case. And even if you win, you're only prolonging the inevitable. You're not going to want to hear that you should just accept Bennett's $26.5 million settlement offer and move on.
Right now, in a darkened video room at NBA Entertainment in Secaucus, N.J., and at ABC's offices in midtown Manhattan, interns who weren't even born when Larry Bird and Magic Johnson first squared off in the NBA Finals are probably collecting clips for a trip down memory lane. Ah, there's the footage of Celtics forward Kevin McHale clotheslining the Lakers' Kurt Rambis on a fast break, both of them springing up to go at each other. That happened in 1984. There's a montage of the tight-lipped Lakers after they were beaten 148-114 in the famed Game 1 Memorial Day Massacre at Boston Garden, which motivated L.A. to come back to win the series in six. That was in '85. There's a sideline shot of Magic seesaw dribbling across the lane and launching what he later christened "the junior, junior, junior skyhook" to nip the Celtics in a dramatic, Finals-turning Game 4. That was in '87.
The five players mentioned most frequently as the NBA's Most Valuable performers this season spent a total of two years playing NCAA men's basketball. Chris Paul stuck around through his sophomore year at Wake Forest, while Kevin Garnett, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard went to work straight out of high school.
For 24 years, the NBA commissioner has helped globalize pro basketball. And this year's compelling season could lift the league out of a ratings funk. David Stern will now take your questions
Also in this column: • Main obstacles to European expansion • Small trades that could pay off big
Also in this column: • How big trades changed landscape • Upside for Celtics to KG's absence • Different way of viewing standings
The NBA's on-and-off approach to expansion into Europe is back on again. Commissioner David Stern is considering new plans to create five full-fledged NBA franchises in Europe over the next decade, a league source told SI.com.
NEW ORLEANS -- When David Stern announced, in the wake of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, that All-Star weekend would remain in New Orleans, I thought it was the wrong decision. And I have no doubt that, after this year's bacchanalia (Feb. 15-17) has concluded, there will be myriad complaints about cabs (not nearly enough), drunks in the street (far too many), indifferent retail service, long hotel check-in lines, confounding one-way streets in the French Quarter, traffic jams on the interstates, and, for all I know, the chicken and andouille gumbo at Emeril's, which is, incidentally, quite beyond reproach.
Described as "trembling with anger'' over the news that one of his players had been snubbed from an NBA All-Star team, the general manager no longer could contain himself.
In the Big Lebowski, John Goodman's character, Walter Sobchak, says: "You want a toe? I can get you a toe, believe me." I recalled the genius of Goodman when my editor here at SI.com asked me for what he called my "sporting New Year's resolutions."
All this striped-shirt news is rather confusing, isn't it?
Though it doesn't come out in his somber pronouncements about fines and suspensions, the free-market imperative to grow the sport, and, of course, the hellfire reserved for officials who conspire with gamblers, David Stern does possess an excellent feel for the rhythm and tempo of his game. When he watches the NBA at home or in hotel rooms, Stern confessed in a recent interview, he sometimes finds himself leaping from his seat and hollering at the TV. "How can you make that call! Are you blind?" And as a fan, not to mention a commissioner, he's well aware of the unpleasantness in the NBA ether this season. Forget the lowest TV ratings ever for the Finals last spring and the embarrassing dirty laundry aired by the Knicks in federal court before training camps opened; one calamity trumps them all. On Jan. 28, Tim Donaghy is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to transmit gambling information across state lines. The sentencing
LONDON -- The NBA Europe Live 2007 tour is all about diplomacy and marketing, far less about real news or bothersome offseason headlines (in this case, quite literally).
So the New York Knicks lose again, this time in court instead of on it, which shouldn't be surprising because when is the last time Isiah Thomas' Knicks won anything important? The smart money knew all along to take Anucha Browne Sanders and lay the points. Basic incompetence coming from Knicks executives is business as usual; the utter, bumbling mismanagement of what was once one of the NBA's proudest franchises over the past several years has been nothing if not low comedy.
1) Does the jury's verdict that Isiah Thomas and Madison Square Garden committed harassment against former Knicks exectuive Anucha Browne Sanders ends the case?
Some key questions in Isiah Thomas' sexual harassment trial:
Six weeks have passed since NBA commissioner David Stern let us all know that he was shocked -- shocked! -- to find that gambling was going on in his league, in his initial public comments about rogue referee Tim Donaghy's criminal activity.
The news that former NBA referee Tim Donaghy will provide federal prosecutors with names of other NBA officials involved with gambling is not entirely surprising. What would be surprising is if any of the allegations raise further questions about the way certain games were officiated.
It could have been worse. For David Stern, that has to be the prevailing sentiment after disgraced former referee Tim Donaghy's guilty plea Wednesday to two felony counts related to betting on NBA games.
Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy surrendered Wednesday for his anticipated plea to gambling-related offenses, a person familiar with the probe told The Associated Press
The NBA has steered clear of major scandal for the better part of David Stern's 23-year tenure as commissioner. On a warm summer morning here Tuesday, however, Stern faced the cold reality that his league is in crisis.
On Tuesday, commissioner David Stern laid out the extensive efforts he has made to supervise his game officials. He made it sound as if there was nothing more he could have done to prevent the alleged betting scandal involving referee Tim Donaghy.
The league's commissioner is mighty sorrowful as he tries to overwhelm a betting scandal with contrition
Smug. Imperious. Self-satisfied. Prideful.
Sports Illustrated senior writer Jack McCallum attended commissioner David Stern's news conference in New York on Tuesday. SI.com caught up with McCallum afterward to discuss Stern's first public comments about the betting allegations involving former referee Tim Donaghy.
Sports fans have considerable forbearance. Year after year they endure escalating ticket prices, the abomination known as seat licensing and the implied mandate that taxpayers should foot the bill for the new stadium or arena that will absolutely revive downtown. They watch their favorite players come and go through free agency and trades, and see their managers and coaches get shuffled like playing cards. They cringe as the news crawl on their screen reports a heinous transgression committed by their son's hero, whose replica jersey just lightened their wallet considerably. But they come back, because the games matter to them, and because sports fosters a sense of hope.
In his 23 years as NBA commissioner, David Stern has navigated the league through many perilous events: Drug scandals. Labor unrest. Brawls. Now, Stern is facing another crisis of possibly epic proportions.
The Walt Disney Co.'s ABC and ESPN networks and Time Warner Inc.'s TNT have renewed their contracts with the National Basketball Association in deals extending their TV rights to league games through 2016, the NBA said Wednesday.
CLEVELAND -- Commissioner David Stern responded to the record-low TV ratings for the NBA Finals by saying that they were a sign of the changing media times.
Also in this column: • Lottery a hot topic at league meeting • Kerr will be tested as Phoenix GM
1. Is Kobe Bryant a good teammate?
For the millions of Americans who gamble on sports, predominantly with illegal bookmakers or nefarious Web sites, the arrival of NBA All-Star Weekend to Las Vegas is equivalent to the Berlin Wall coming down.
LAS VEGAS -- NBA commissioner David Stern has asked Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman to come up with a compromise on sports betting -- the strongest signal yet of the NBA's intention to place a team in Las Vegas.
In the wake of Darrent Williams' murder -- only the latest and most tragic instance of late-night violence and gunplay involving a well-known athlete -- I was struck by something NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said: "We've really got to get a handle on why there's such a proliferation of gun violence around our players.''
The commissioners of the NBA, NHL and MLB told Congress they want to toughen their doping policies, going some way to pacify lawmakers who are intent on standardizing drug-testing across U.S. pro sports.
Compared to Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, NBA bad boy Ron Artest might be Commissioner David Stern's best friend.
National Basketball Association Commissioner David Stern said Wednesday it would be good for the league if Michael Jordan were to become a franchise owner, and he believes it will happen sooner rather than later.
"We're still negotiating that" --Recently divorced Jack Welch, on how he and fiancée Suzy Wetlaufer will split a reported $4 million advance for a management book
Shelly Lazarus, chairman and CEO, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide: "When I was 22, I was an intern at General Foods. It was during the Vietnam war, and the assistant and the associate product managers we...
David Stern, his tie loosened and askew over a crisp white shirt, is sitting by a picture window in a conference room at the National Basketball Association's Fifth Avenue headquarters. Outside, sn...
The nice-nice, hug-hug made by NBA Commissioner David Stern and union leader Billy Hunter last week was understandable. The two men staved off humiliation with an all-night negotiating session and ...
Forget about going to Disneyland. Now that the NBA season is over, basketball's big stars are headed for more exotic locales: Shaquille O'Neal to South Korea, Karl Malone to Hong Kong, Allen Iverso...
He has just passed perhaps the most crucial test of his career, so you expect to find David Stern, the amiable, 53-year-old commissioner of the National Basketball Association, bouncing off walls--...
SIXTY FEET, six inches is the distance from a baseball pitching rubber to home plate, a span that Roger Clemens of the Boston Red Sox, applying formal physics, reduces to 0.44 second per pitch. The...
At 5 feet 9 inches, he's the biggest man in a land of giants. David Stern, commissioner of the National Basketball Association, is hitting nothing but three-pointers. Since Stern, 46, took the job ...
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