Larry Brown Sports

The San Antonio Spurs caused a s— storm on Thursday when it was revealed coach Gregg Popovich would be resting his top players for Thursday’s nationally-televised game against the Miami Heat on TNT.

Commissioner David Stern threw a fit about the decision and is dropping the hammer.

“I apologize to all NBA fans,” he said in a statement issued before the game. “This was an unacceptable decision by the San Antonio Spurs and substantial sanctions will be forthcoming.”

Popovich emphasized that the Spurs were not simply mailing it in because Miami is a tough opponent, but because of scheduling and old age. Thursday’s game was the fourth in five nights for the Spurs, and it marks the end of a six-game road trip. They have another big game at home against the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday.

“We didn’t do it because it’s the Miami Heat,” Popovich told the media before the game. “It has nothing to do with the Miami Heat or TV or anybody. You deal with the schedule the best you can and do the wisest thing for your particular team.

“If our best players were 23 years old or 25 years old, we might have done something different.”

Popovich is resting Tim Duncan, who is 36 years old; Tony Parker, who is 30; Manu Ginobili, who is 35; and Danny Green, who is 25. All have played at least 20 minutes per game during San Antonio’s five-game winning streak.

Resting his older players is something Pop has been doing for a few years. It’s not like this is a new strategy for him.

TNT commentators Charles Barkley and Reggie Miller defended Pop’s decision, and so do I.

I think it’s completely out of line for Stern to try to tell Popovich how to manage his players. NFL teams frequently rest star players towards the end of the season after clinching playoff spots regardless of whether they’re on national TV in primetime games. Whether the strategy works is debatable, but what is not debatable is whether a coach has a right to determine his players’ minutes.

If Stern is worried about fans not getting their money’s worth, he shouldn’t be; anyone watching still gets to see LeBron James and the Heat, which makes most tickets worth buying. And if he wants November regular-season games matter this much, then maybe he should limit the number of teams that make the playoffs. Also, why isn’t Stern looking at his scheduling people? Why did his office give the Spurs four games in five nights and put them on national TV against the Heat in November if he wanted the teams to be at their peaks? He should be reprimanding his schedulers instead of San Antonio.

Lastly, how can Stern release the statement before the game is played? For one day, who’s to say San Antonio’s secondary players can’t beat the Heat? The commissioner is clearly saying that the entertainment factor is much more important than anything else in the NBA, which is why they’ve been upset about the success of the “boring” Spurs all these years.

Photo credit: Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

David Stern may have had a senior moment on Tuesday night. Speaking before the Heat and Celtics tipped off in their first game of the new NBA season, the commissioner offered his thoughts to those affected by Hurricane Sandy. The only problem? He mistakenly called it “Hurricane Katrina.”

“Before we begin, I know that everyone here and everyone watching has in their thoughts those who are affected by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath …”

The fans immediately began making noise, likely because they noticed his slip-up. We have no doubt that Stern knew the difference between the hurricanes, but sometimes people make mistakes while speaking live. This also might be the sort of reason the 70-year-old recently announced his retirement plans.

For a while it appeared as though Stan Van Gundy was going to join ESPN this upcoming season and help an NBA Countdown crew that was the target of a ton of criticism last year. According to The Big Lead, that is no longer the plan as David Stern has allegedly stepped in and blocked Van Gundy from joining the World Wide Leader.

On Wednesday, TBL called ESPN and a spokesman told the website that the network is going in a different direction after not being able to agree on what Van Gundy’s role would be. In an interview with Dan LeBatard on The Ticket in Miami Wednesday afternoon, Van Gundy said that is a total lie.

“No one at ESPN will tell us what happened,” Van Gundy explained. “Certainly the NBA office isn’t going to tell us what happened. One of the quotes from ESPN in there – we had discussions, but couldn’t agree on a role … as usual, that’s a bunch of BS from ESPN. We actually did agree on a role, but then they came back and pulled that. That’s when we knew something was up.

“What I find fascinating … you have to give David Stern and the NBA a lot of credit … ESPN pays the league, and then the league tells them what to do. It’s more ESPN’s problem. You gotta have no balls whatsoever to pay someone hundreds of millions of dollars and let them run your business.”

Van Gundy said ESPN claiming they disagreed on his role is a “flat out lie” and that it was simply a case of them making an offer and then pulling it back. As we have seen when he goes on rants like this one and this one, Stan is one of the most outspoken figures in basketball. Stern has ESPN in his back pocket, and it’s probably that outspokenness that he is afraid of.

David Stern was booed like usual when he stepped to the podium at the NBA Draft on Thursday. The commissioner was obviously prepared for the negative attention, and he even seemed to enjoy it. At one point he put his hand to his ear to indicate that he enjoyed the boos from the crowd, like he was encouraging them to bring it on (seen above).

It’s surreal that a person in Stern’s position would exhibit such unprofessional behavior. His arrogance and “bring it on” attitude reeks of a lack of respect for the fans. This seems to me like his way of saying “Yeah, we may have crooked refs, lottery-fixing accusations, and the villainous Heat winning titles, but you love it and can’t do anything about it.”

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David Stern is in all likelihood going to think a lot more carefully before he speaks the next time an interviewer’s question annoys him. When Jim Rome asked Stern about the NBA draft lottery being rigged a couple of weeks ago, Stern responded by asking Rome if he has stopped beating his wife yet. Stern didn’t actually mean Rome beats his wife, he was simply trying to make a point that the question was loaded and unfair. The way he went about it was extremely insensitive, and the commissioner expressed regret over it during a recent appearance on 106.7 The Fan with Mike Wise.

“I understand what’s happening,” Stern said according to D.C. Sports Bog. “My only objection at the time was, your question phrases it in a certain way. But if you said to me directly, ‘Is the lottery fixed?’, you would be implying that you believed it was fixed. Because you don’t need to make it part of the question. And so I sort of reacted, maybe overreacted. So I understand that. But a guy’s allowed to have some fun.

“You know, I would do it again differently if I were asked the question. What can I tell you? I’m like LeBron. You get a day older, and you hope you get wiser rather than just older.”

Stern has since loosened up about questions regarding the draft lottery, but it’s not his defensiveness that sent so many people into a frenzy. The fact that he attempted to prove a point by using an example about a man beating his wife is the part people take issue with. There are much better ways to show that you are sick of answering a question you feel is unfair.

Photo credit: Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

NBA commissioner David Stern has a message for conspiracy theorists who believe the draft lottery is fixed: bring it on. The commish did an interview with ESPN’s Michael Wilbon during halftime of Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the Heat and Thunder on Sunday, and one of the first topics was about the lottery being fixed.

Questions about the legitimacy of the lottery have persisted since the league-owned Hornets won the top pick despite having the fourth-best odds.

“It makes for good copy, it makes for good questions, so … bring it on,” he said in response to the fixing questions. “I’ve been at this for a while. It happens, but I think the people that know the NBA and that know me know that we don’t take our responsibilities lightly. We do everything to make sure that not only we do it with integrity, but that we do it with transparency.”

Stern recognizes how much the lottery system is questioned, but he says the system won’t be changed.

“We look at it every year. It’s too delicious. If you want to go on YouTube, you can see the 1984 lottery where I supposedly had the frozen card. And it’s all too delightful, really.”

It’s pretty clear that Stern’s interview was done in response to his meltdown on The Jim Rome Show. Stern lost his cool after Rome questioned him about the lottery being fixed. This was a second chance for Stern to convey his message, and do it in a calm and controlled setting where he could come off looking much better.

For the record, as juicy as lottery fixing theories are (and I love a good conspiracy theory), I believe it’s all legitimate. My questions were put aside when Portland and Seattle won the top two spots in the 2007 draft despite having the 7th and 5th best odds respectably. If the league were trying to fix things, they would have given the Celtics the top pick. Boston is one of the NBA’s most valuable franchises, and the team was going through rough times. If the league wanted to help them out, they would have given them Greg Oden, who was expected to be a franchise center.

Like all of the other years before it, the 2011-2012 NBA season was loaded with Academy Award-winning flopping. The art of the flop has been perfected by a number of players throughout the league, and it has often affected the outcome of games. Fans are calling for a rule that would discourage players from flopping, and David Stern insists the NBA is planning to look into it during the offseason.

“‘Flopping’ almost doesn’t do it justice,” Stern said Tuesday according to Pro Basketball Talk. “Trickery. Deceit. Designed to cause the game to be decided other than on its merits. We’ll be looking at that.”

Hahahahahahah. Did he just say, “designed to cause the game to be decided other than on its merits?” I won’t get into how incredibly hypocritical that particular statement is because I could ramble all day, but I’m sure you get the point. Anyway, onto the rest of Stern’s rant.

“Instant replay and elimination of tricks that are designed either to fool the ref or, if you don’t fool the ref, to make the fans think that the refs made a bad call by not calling it,” he said. “That shouldn’t have a place in our game….

“We don’t like to get into a situation where we tell the officials, ‘This is the rule but don’t call so many.’ If there’s a rule to be changed, then we’ll look at it, and I think there will be a robust discussion about an interpretation or an emphasis about how that should or shouldn’t be called.”

This isn’t the first time Stern has insisted the NBA will look into flopping, and with plays like these ones the league almost has no choice. The real debate is what the punishment should be, whether it be a technical foul, personal foul or fine. The problem with a fine is players like LeBron James who make $40 million a year (including endorsements) would gladly flop and pay the fine if they thought it would help their team. Some sort of foul has to be the way to go.