Bill Simmons is probably the most influential guy writing about the NBA. At least he's the only one who's scored a podcast with Stern, at least that I know of. He clearly admires Stern's intelligence and his strong grip on the league. But he hasn't been afraid to continue to hammer Stern about the Sonics situation. From part II of Simmons' extremely entertaining NBA MVP race countdown:
Note to David Stern: This was your Bay of Pigs. This was your Watergate. This seedy, incomprehensible saga stained your legacy -- it did -- and the sooner you publicly admit that you handled this situation appallingly from start to finish and do your best to make amends, the better off you will be. I'm speaking for all of us here: We don't want to follow a league in which anyone's franchise can be basically hijacked on a billionaire's whim. You need to fix this. You need to fix this right now.You know, one of the fears you have when an outsider columnist like Simmons gets closer to the halls of power, is that he'll be afraid to speak his mind. That hasn't happened to Bill Simmons, and it's awesome.
5 comments:
Seth -
I love Simmons' articles as much as anyone, and reading this can be a lot of fun, even encouraging for a Sonics fan. But if you take a close look at Simmons' comments, they are really nothing for us to get excited about.
First of all, he uses the past tense the whole way through. He implores Stern "to admit that [he] handled this situation appallingly from start to finish and [to] do [his] best to make amends." According to Simmons' language, the move is over and done. Stern has not handled this badly to the "finish", if only because it's not finished. Further, Simmons refers to 'amends,' but Stern is still in a position to set everything straight before the damage is done. So why would we settle for recompense when we can avoid the injury all together?
I know the idea that Stern would become a good guy seems like a long long long shot, but the the pieces are in place, Stern just has to be forced to make the moves.
If Stern were to support the lease agreement, that might buy time for Ballmer to make a comeback and for the State Leg., which has been a lot more sympathetic lately, to come up with 75mill. Then with Ballmer back, this time with all the money he was asking for and Stern's support, the Sonics could readily wind up back in local hands. I believe media pressure can compel Stern do exactly those things. If the point of the Sonics debate becomes a matter of the integrity of Stern's positions and statements, he might be forced to reverse them. As far as the truth goes, there is no reason why this wouldn't be the point of the debate. After all, the man charged with maintaining the integrity of the League is lying to our faces and doesn't think we're smart enough to notice. That's a big enough deal to put Stern on the hot seat, and to force him to act, against his nature as it may be, with the best interest of the fans in mind.
To conclude, this article looks good, but Simmons misses the real point, and ultimately sells out the fans. The truth, and what we need sportswriters to report, is that the Sonics can still be saved. Stern has given us enough ammunition to shoot the move down by shooting him down, what we need is for sportswriters to lock, load and fire, not so sympathize with our loss before it has even happened.
Just so I have this correct, Bennett is facing three lawsuits: one from the city, one from Schultz, and a class action suit from season ticket holders?
Bill Simmons has earned himself an eternal fan in me.
I get bored and annoyed with his Boston homerism, but the fact is that if I had his pulpit I'd likely do the same thing for Seattle.
And the fact remains that he knows and cares about the NBA like few others. I really appreciate the work he's doing to publicize the cause.
Yep--three lawsuits.
The city is suing him to keep the Sonics in Seattle through the end of their lease, which runs though the 2009-10 season.
Howard Schultz is suing him for breach of contract.
A fan group has filed a class-action suit, arguing that by moving the they'd bought tickets for, Bennett's committed consumer fraud.
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