May 16, 2007 

NBA REALLY SCREWED THE POOCH WITH SUNS SUSPENSIONS

       NBA league policeman Stu Jackson called the one-game suspensions of Phoenix’ Amare Stoudamire and Boris Diaw as a “no-brainer”.  This is not a surprising comment coming from a man who has proven over time that he has, in fact, no brains.   This is the same man whose incompetence drove the Vancouver Grizzlies right out of town and now, simply because nobody else wanted the job, he has been the league enforcer doling out suspensions and fines for all minor incidents for a number of years.  This particular incident has proven, once and for all, that any job in the league is beyond Jackson’s abilities.  Perhaps Wal-Mart greeter is where Jackson should be next.

       Here is where the suspensions are wrong.  Jackson said that he was simply “following the letter of the law”.  The rule states that any player leaving the vicinity of their bench is subject to a one game suspension.  The problem lies in the fact that the rule was created to prevent players from leaving their bench to enter an on-court altercation.  In this particular incident neither Stoudamire nor Diaw were anywhere near the altercation so it would have been easy for the league to justify their ruling if they decided not to hand out any suspensions.  Also, the Suns are complaining that earlier in the game San Antonio’s Tim Duncan and Bruce Bowen left their bench when an incident arose between the Spurs Francisco Elson and the Suns James Jones.   The league ruled that that the suspension rule should not take effect because the incident did not escalate into an altercation.  So, in essence the league was making an “interpretation” of the rule and not following the letter of the law.   

      So, why then is the Stoudamire-Diaw incident worthy of following the letter of the law, but not the Duncan-Bowen incident?  Or, why was Bowen not suspended for kicking at Stoudamire in game 2 or for kneeing Nash in game 3?  Obviously, such violent incidents go against the letter of the law for the NBA—there is no kicking or kneeing allowed within the context of the rules—and yet neither incident provoked a suspension.  Obviously, once again, the league ruled by interpretation.  Stu Jackson obviously has no idea when to apply the letter of the law and when to use interpretation.

       The Suns are obviously accusing the league of favouritism, and they are not far wrong.  It’s not that the league is cheering for the Spurs or, in any way shape or form is encouraging the Spurs—the reason is simple, they don’t want to look like they are showing prejudice against the Spurs after the Joey Crawford incident.  For those with short memories, long-time NBA official created a confrontation with the Spurs, and more particularly Duncan, during the final games of the season and was suspended for his actions.  The Spurs then came out and publicly stated that they hoped that, because of the incident, the officials would not slight them during the playoffs.  The league, to prove that they do not hold grudges, could not avoid the suspensions of the Suns players because that would provoke the Spurs into complaints that the league was showing prejudice by not following the letter of the law.   So, inversely, the league has shown prejudice against the Suns by trying not to show prejudice against the Spurs.

       The league could have made this a whole lot easier on itself.  They have absolutely affected the outcome of what is likely the series that will decide the NBA champion, and it will be open to attack for some time because of its decision.  They could have simply followed the letter of the law and suspended not only Stoudamire and Diaw for leaving the bench but Duncan and Bowen as well.  Both incidents saw players leave the vicinity of their bench—if one incident deserves suspensions then the other did as well.  By separating the end of game incident from all others the NBA has blatantly showed favouritism for the Spurs.

       Suns owner Robert Sarver has accused the league of favouritism and said that “the team that plays dirty should not be rewarded and the team that plays fair should not be penalized.”  And this, in effect, is what has taken place.  Robert Horry simply continued the Spurs brand of aggressive basketball—the Spurs are a team that continually pushes the edge of the in-game rules—and is now being congratulated for his forearm shiver to the head of Steve Nash.  Jackson said that the rule is in place to “protect the health and safety of our players”.  It is obvious, however, that the protection and safety of the players does not include kicking and kneeing. 

      The league really screwed up here.  Jackson insists that he was following the letter of the law and it was a “matter of correctness.”  But the league was not following the letter of the law, they were following their interpretation of the letter of the law—and this is a huge mistake.  It has effectively determined the outcome of the series—without Stoudamire it is incredibly difficult to believe that the Suns can win such a crucial game—and it has gone away from the league’s original belief of creating an even playing field.   Commissioner David Stern cancelled his appearance for game five in Phoenix out of fear, or is it realization—that angry Suns fans would accost him.  The league doesn’t want a Rocket Richard riot on its hands.

       It’s too bad that such a competitive series has degenerated into a political quagmire—but the league has nobody to blame but itself.  And chances are that if any of the remaining games become a blowout that there will be more frustrations shown which will escalate into possibly serious altercations--the Suns believe that they have been screwed--and the league will have nobody to blame but itself if an player gets hurt.

      Quick note—How bad do the NBA voters look now that they showed obvious prejudice against Steve Nash and voted Dirk Nowitzki for MVP.  By trying not to include Nash in elite company—only Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell were voted MVP three years in a row—the voters looked for the best candidate other than Nash.  Nowitzki was the best player on the best team and so was an easy choice.  Nash had a better year than in his two previous MVP seasons and Nowitzki, while having a good season, did not have an outstanding season.  Nash was once again the easy choice for MVP.  He is the one player that affected games and outcomes more than any other player, and all of his teammates were better when he was on the court.  By voting for ABN (anybody but Nash) the voters proved just how moronic and adile-minded they could be.  I wonder if Stu Jackson was the leader of this coalition?

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