Commissioner? most likely No. Anyone who works for him (i.e., ref)? Don't know, but judging from their action, most likely YES. Again, Commissioner, most likely NO. Anyone who works for him (i.e., ref)? Don't know, but judging from their action, most likely YES. Commissioner, most likely NO. Anyone who works for him (i.e., ref)? Don't know, but judging from their action, most likely YES.
This author has some very ridiculous assumptions before he proceeds to make any argument. Let's see his logic 1. If Van Gundy speaks out who the ref is, the ref is fired. 2. If Van Gundy admits he is lying, he doesn't have any integrity. 3. If Van Gundy keeps silence, he is in big trouble. So basically what he is saying is either Van Gundy lied or the ref lied. There is no way respected Mr. commissioner lied or refs do something inappropriately. If you want to lick some ass, do it but not do it in public, Mr. stein. It makes me sick.
This article fails to point out one thing. The league needs to start letting us see what the criticisms they are making of the officials. Why is the focus of the games website so private? I'm not impressed with Stern so far he has not provided any evidence that Yao hasn't been watched? Moreover look at the officiating as a whole!!!!!!! I swear the refs are coking anyone noticed that at the end of games the refs are making calls that swing the game? bad calls. Boston tonight houston a few games ago Duncan? Stern wants to make a statement--- when is a ref going to be replaced or suspended.
do what i did and email the guy and tell him how much of a choad he is. Stein is just another buttsniffer. I mean...who can blame him? Without Stern and the NBA, Stein and Ford and SAS would be painting numbers on houses.
Marc Stein is a fool about one thing: JVG won't disclose regardless of whether he has a source or not. Just like a journalist never discloses a source, even under contempt of court, neither could a coach in this case. It'd lead to ramifications far worse than a 10 game suspension, or whatever.
Let me ask question: Has Stern denied any of Van Gundy's specific allegations? NO. He wants him to give up the source. He has danced around every direction question about the veracity of the allegations, and his stance is basically, turn over the informer and don't ever, ever think about making these types of allegations in public again, and that goes for the rest of the coaches and players in the league - which is why he went so over the top with the $100k fine to Van Gundy. Follow in his footsteps at serious risk to your personal balance sheet, NBA (dysfunctional) family. Selena Roberts of all people in the NYT nailed this analysis today.
That is because Stern doesn't want the truth to be told. I don't buy this "we have the hardest sport to officiate and thus we look like beginners" excuse. It's bogus. I know it's a different sport, but I suggest people go watch some footage of NFL referees on NFL films and how the refs talk about how they can just slow everything down visually. You can't tell me the same can't be said to some extent(I will admit the game moves faster) for longtime NBA referees. But let's look at the factual evidence shall we, I mean obviously it's perfectly fathomable that the Lakers(defending champs) get 26 or 27(and we aren't talking the pile on at the end kind) free throws in the 4th quarter of an elimination game vs the Kings a couple years ago. Or let us not forget how suddenly any Minnesota player who breathed on a Laker two years ago in the 4th quarter got a foul and somehow a)KG fouled out b) Kobe got a bogus 4 point play c)Minnesota still won. And Stern still expects people to chalk it up to "idiotic refs." Give me a break. And now we have Dirk freaking Nowitzki leading all playoff participants this year in foul shots. A jumpshooter is leading the league in playoff free throws(what the heck is going on) while Yao Ming gets shoved in back by smaller post players practically every possession and yet he is the one constantly in foul trouble. It's one thing if Yao was getting in foul trouble for low post defense or being ultra aggressive trying to shut off the paint, but too many of his fouls are moving screens(what star gets called for this regularly), situations where guys drive right into him and fall down(with Yao standing still I might add) or offensive fouls after all the hands in the back/wrestling that opponents employ to deny him position goes unnoticed. If you took away those fouls Yao would cut down on his foul trouble issue significantly. The bottom line is Stern is hiding the truth and that is why he has reacted this way. Part of it is the refs miss calls but to be honest I find it hard to believe that all these different refs could be as incompetent as we've seen demonstrated in recent playoff games without some "nudging from the brass upstairs."
The NBA puts clips of plays on the ref website, and points out missed calls. If their were clips of Yao on there, and the refs were supposed to watch him more closely becuase they missed calls, then what JVG said was correct. In reality, if the refs had missed calls on Yao, and the league asked the officials to watch Yao more closely, in order to make the correct call, then I really don't have a problem with it. I don't want a lot of BS calls on Yao, but a foul is a foul. Everyone just wants a fair game called. Obviously, that hasn't happened very often in this series.
Exactly. If what Van Gundy said was true, he should be applauded for bringing the corruption to light. A whistleblower isn't a traitor like Stern is trying to convince us. A whistleblower is a hero who cares about the integrity of the organization he's reporting on. A whistleblower knows that any organization, whether it's the police force, the FBI, Phillip Morris, Enron or the NBA, won't fix itself without outside pressure and scrutiny. Stern has lost all my respect. He doesn't care about the genuine integrity of the game. He just cares about maintaining the appearance of intergrity. He's basically saying that he will ruin anyone that dares to air the NBA's dirty laundry. He should be fired immediately. I hate him. He's a power mad dictator that needs to be overthrown.
what's uncharacteristic of you, that you would email marc, or that such an email might be, uhmmm, snide, which would seem entirely in character!
If JVG doesn't have a source, then his statements were completely uncalled for, and Stern is right to come down hard on him. I'm all for the JVG cause *if* he's actually protecting that source. Otherwise, JVG's tactics were underhanded.
Agreed. The *if* is the thing that we will probably never know, which is why Stern's untenable position (in the event JVG's assertions are true) will probably never be exposed, and he knows it.
