Schulz suing for Sonics ownership

I hope this works...

But I'd say a case that hinges on a completely undefined definition of "good faith" probably doesn't have much of a chance of passing muster.  I'm glad he's trying though.  Even a long injunction to postpone the move until things are settled (drag...it...out) would be welcome.  And if, by chance, the Bennett ownership group was hoisted on the pitard of its own cockiness and e-mails I would be more than delighted.  I don't think there have been more ready villains in the league in years.

--Dave

It's pretty clear now that Bennett is a sycophantic liar.  The only difficulty is proving it.

and his slimeball friends disgust me. I used to really admire David Stern. I thought that the changes he made to streamline the game after the ugly grab-and-shove Rileyball starting predominating in the late 90's and early 00's were visionary; I thought that pushing the age limit restriction was ballsy and a good thing for the league, if not for the players talented enough to make the jump; he's made post-Katrina New Orleans a big part of the NBA's outreach, which is a cause particularly dear to my heart.

But now Stern is day-by-day converting himself into one of the benevolent-turned-despotic monarchs of yore. The Donaghy situation rocked the integrity of the NBA and Stern, after promising a full investigation with public transparency, has swept it under the rug.

Shady refereeing has played a direct role in deciding numerous playoff games and series: Game 6 of the 2002 WCF, all of the 2006 Finals, and Game 5 of last year's Suns-Spurs matchup. Yet despite the pivotal and controversial factor of playoff officiating, individual referee evaluations are denied to the public and media members are barred from approaching officials after games -- by fiat of King David.

Introducing the synthetic basketball last year, an inferior product mind you, without consulting the players and summarily dismissing their concerns was a ham-handed move by the commissioner's office that ended disastrously and negatively affected the quality of play on the court.

And now, beyond all rhyme or reason, Stern is in bed with an Oklahoma City-based ownership group that has stated on multiple occasions, in writing, that they bought the Sonics to move them to Oklahoma and never intended to stay in Seattle. He has thrown his weight behind the effort to uproot a team from the community that has offered forty-two years of loyal support to the Sonics and to the league. He is supporting a move inimical to the business interests of the NBA. A sneer, a shrug, and a promise that if the people of Seattle "let" the Sonics walk -- in other words, refuse to be blackmailed by King David and the Oklahoma City court jesters into building an unnecessary half-billion dollar arena -- they will never again have an NBA team. That's what Stern has offered the city.

Some guy. Some leader. Here's hoping against hope that the courts strike a blow against the cronyism of Stern and his band of merry little men.

The funny thing is, Tony Kornheiser on PTI said yesterday that the owner of Starbucks should do something like this.

not only his reputation, but avoid possible blowback against Starbucks.  Starbucks is already facing some stiff competition in the marketplace, with it's share price taking a significant hit as a result.  Add to that the fact more people are now saying that Schultz is the real villian in this story and he has to be worried that folks in this part of the country might start boycotting his brand.

This whole thing keeps getting sadder and sadder.

I hope Schultz is able to win any sort of legal proceeding against Bennett; I'm not optimistic, though.

some of the bad things in the NBA, that have been glossed over by the best regular season in recent memory.

First the Sonics, and then the atrocious reffing in the 76er's-Lebrons game. I'm hoping my adoptive hometown Wizards beat the Cavs, the only thing that can stop them is more terrible superstar favoritism. Go Gilbert!

I really rdon't have anything against Lebron, he seems like a decent guy (barring his jump from the Cavaliers to the Brooklyn Nets). I do however. have a problem with the ridiculous bias in calls he receives.