I heard rumors about practice draws about 2-3 all Celtics wins then the real one the Spurs win, no way to prove it though. We got 3 and 6 that year if memory serves. San Antonio builds a new arena and they get number one, go figure.
I think Stern is equal to Selig. The steroid scandal is probably larger than the ref scandal but as far as work stopages I think Stern has more of them under his belt. As bad as Stern is I think Billy Hunter is just as bad if not worse.
Stern has no equal. Like him or not. What he's done in his tenure is pretty extraordinary.
I doubt Stern had any idea that the Donaghy thing was going on. But the reality is that with the birth of star calls...Starting with Jordan, Stern laid the groundwork for Donaghy. Donaghy fit right in with what they were doing. When basic calls become ambiguous based on personnel, it's not hard to be manipulative. Stern also handled the Donaghy situation brilliantly...But in reality the only way he could have. He changed nothing and pretty much didn't address it at all whenever possible.
Selig milked the obvious for years for all it was worth and got indignant when it became an issue. Put on a complete dog and pony show using a political hack with a complete conflict of interest. Put in "rules" that gave his stars plenty of time to get clean. Selig, in trying to make a meaningless pickup game meaningful, has screwed up the biggest event in his sport.
The only equal between the Donaghy scandal and the steroids scandal is that nothing relevent to the current product was "discovered" in either "investigation".
Billy Hunter is simply out of his league. When he opens his mouth his commentary sounds the same as some of the absolute dumbest player comments during this ordeal. As I've always believed, Fisher has no credibility whatsoever with the owners. So this thing is going as predicted. When you put a guy who has no credibility and a guy with limited intellect up against one of the most brilliant people in sports..The results are predictable.
