Rochester Post-Bulletin, 4/20/2004
Commissioner needs to deal with real problems
by Neil Tardy
David Stern often is lauded for his work as NBA commissioner. And while it's worth noting that it's easy to look good when Bud Selig and Gary Bettman are among your peers, the credit largely is justified.
Still, Stern has his flaws. Why is the first round of the playoffs so long? Why does thea NBA-owned WNBA, a league in desperate need of some buzz, have Minnesota's Lindsey Whalen playing for Connecticut and Connecticut's Diana Taurasi playing for Phoenix?
Then there's Stern's current efforts to keep a few teenagers out of his game. Buoyed by the apparent success the NFL is having in the courts with the Maurice Clarett case, Stern continue to work with the NBA players to institute a league-wide age limit.
The NBA might well be able to find a legal way to keep legal adults, 18-and 19-years-olds, from entering the league. This, of course, is a transparent ploy to prop up college basketball, the NBA's free farm system. But put that aside for a moment. Forget too that the large majority of basketball players (like say, Kris Humphries) are best served by developing their games at the college level.
Never mind all that. Just get a whiff of the hypocrisy here.
You don't have to manage a Foot Locker to know the NBA is making more than a bit of coin selling LeBron James jerseys. You don't have to be an accountant to know that James and Denver's Carmelo Anthony, the league's other super-teen, have revitalized their previously dormant franchises.
James and Anthony are two of the best things to happen to the NBA since, I don't know, the arrival of that other kid, Kevin Garnett? But while the game benefits from their unique skills, and as the league profits from their accomplishments, Stern looks to appease his greedy team of NBA owners and NCAA institutions.
Sure, few players can do what Garnett, James and Anthony have done, and many will err badly even trying. But that's not the point. If a team wastes a draft choice on a high school kid, the team should have to live with that. If a high school kid enters the draft before he's ready, the family will have to live with that. If David Stern is worried about unseasoned youngsters flooding the NBA, he should explore launching an official basketball minor league here or in Europe.
Stern's problem is he doesn't seem to know what his problems are. Problems are high ticket prices, Kobe Bryant in court, and the first round of the playoffs lasting until Memorial Day weekend. But by hypocritically trying to legislate 18- and 19-year-olds out of the league, Stern effectively is saying that LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony are a problem. And they're no problem at all.