So, I'm pretty much on record during the lockout that I do not like Stern, but my take on this lottery conspiracy stuff is independent of that. As I predicted in the Rome interview...Stern was going to be asked by another interviewer to answer the question. Many of you thought he embarrassed the league, like he lost his one and only opportunity to speak to the people. Of course he was going to be asked again. So he got asked again at halftime of a Finals game. This has much more viewership than a Rome radio show. Can we say he was professional like a commissioner should be in this interview?
more professional? not really. He acted more like the commissar that he is. "You are not the king of me, I am the king of you" is basically what he said about the fans in regards to his tenure. all the power to him, all we can do is kneel before him.
hopefully someone can post the youtube of this interview if it comes out...and if it never comes out, then we should all agree that people don't really care about this conspiracy issue.
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PARAPHRASED: Wilbon: "What about the conspiracies about rigging the lottery?" EXACT WORDS: Stern: "It happens, it happens..." 'Nuff said, nuff heard. I'm rolling with it.
"makes for good copy" that's exactly what he said to Rome. "makes for good questions" not quite what he said to Rome "Bring It On" I wonder why he didn't ask wilbon the loaded question response.
He mentions Ernst and Young like their name validates the situation. There used to be a "Big 5," instead of today's "Big 4," that included Arthur Anderson before they were found guilty of shredding Enron's auditing documents.
I guarantee this was rehearsed ad nauseum prior to being on the air, the questions were written by the NBA and given to Wilbbon and the answers carefully crafted, this was an on air press release set up to be made to look like an interview.
FYI: They give Stern the questions beforehand, and I'm sure he wanted to be asked that question again after what happened on Rome. He acted really shady because he was caught off guard with something to hide. Ernst and Young is an Accounting firm who's main purpose is to bring external users (investors, stockholders, etc.) confidence that the companies financial statements they're auditing are accurate. All they did was verify that the lottery system was legit and cannot be rigged. The process was rigged because Stern can easily switch the balls. The 29 NBA (team) owners want a sale to go through, and they don't care if the pick was included in the deal.
I don't think the criticism was that he "lost a chance" to clear the rumor. It was his unprofessional reaction to the question. And because of how he reacted, we could bet that he would be asked again.
I don't remember exactly how he said it, but he said something like, "a rep from each team is present". Was he saying that each teams rep was in the room for the actual drawing? Or just that they're there for the results? Doesn't seem to help his argument much if it's the second.
I think he meant they are present during the process. If a rep smelled something was up he'd have to report it to his boss, an NBA (team) owner. Why would an owner in this league not want his cut on the sale? If it were me, I'd tell the rep to forget about it. It's up to the rep to either blow the whistle and lose his job, or keep quite and continue on with life.
