DALLAS -- The NBA fined Houston Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy $100,000 -- the largest amount ever for a coach -- on Monday, a day after he accused officials of targeting center Yao Ming this postseason and said Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was to blame.
The fine was probably that big because the NBA knows he's right. Cuban complains and Yao starts getting called for fouls at a much higher clip. If it looks like a duck.....
Originally posted by piemanThe fine was probably that big because the NBA knows he's right. Cuban complains and Yao starts getting called for fouls at a much higher clip. If it looks like a duck.....
Nah, the fine was for accusing the officials of cheating and for being stupid. If you look at the numbers, Yao's counterparts have been in as much or more foul trouble than him, especially Dampier. Van Gundy was trying to play his usual games, went way over the line, and got called out for it.
Tim
Vocatus atque non vocatus, Deus aderit. -- Erasmus
And, more importantly (especially because $100,000 is only 2% of Van Gundy's reported annual salary of $5 million), David Stern implied that pending an investigation, Van Gundy could face a lifetime ban from the NBA.
From CNNSI.com:
"If he's going to say things like that, he's not going to continue in this league," Stern said. "If the attitude reflected in those comments continues to be public, he's going to have a big problem with me as long as I'm commissioner."
I, for one, think a lifetime ban would be a staggering overreaction from Stern, but then this seems to be the year for staggering overreactions from Stern.
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Originally posted by ekedolphinI, for one, think a lifetime ban would be a staggering overreaction from Stern, but then this seems to be the year for staggering overreactions from Stern.
Yeah, but as a Pacers fan, I'd say you're terribly biased.
RELATED: It was pointed out to me that ESPN Page2's Bill Simmons, normally a manic weekday update, hasn't been seen since his Friday column. Part of the lead reads:
I don't think the NBA fixes games, but they have one trick that they use -- they assign the worst referees possible to that game.
I suspect Stern's boyz gunned him down, and are now really angry with Taglibue for not bringing an NFL team back to LA yet, so they'd have a suitable parking lot to bury him.
edit: oh crap, I should've put this post in hide tags. Nice to know you. THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE
Originally posted by piemanThe fine was probably that big because the NBA knows he's right. Cuban complains and Yao starts getting called for fouls at a much higher clip. If it looks like a duck.....
Nah, the fine was for accusing the officials of cheating and for being stupid. If you look at the numbers, Yao's counterparts have been in as much or more foul trouble than him, especially Dampier. Van Gundy was trying to play his usual games, went way over the line, and got called out for it.
Tim
I'm with pieman here. If it were so outlandish and implausible, Stern just pooh-poohs it and it goes away. I think Van Guncy hit too close to the mark, thus the HUGE reaction.
Originally posted by thecubsfanRELATED: It was pointed out to me that ESPN Page2's Bill Simmons, normally a manic weekday update, hasn't been seen since his Friday column.
I'm thinking the Sports Gal might have given birth. Wasn't she due any minute? I'm anxiously awaiting some of him columns about the girl, what with being able to relate and all.
Mike & mike were all up in arms about this today, saying surely SOMEONE would've written a book by now if that were true.
Originally posted by Sec19Row53I'm with pieman here.
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Coaches have been crying "The refs are too harsh on my guy!" for years though. I think this fine is so high because Van Gundy refuses to reveal his source. Remember, Van Gundy said that a current active official (who is not working the playoffs) told him that the league is looking at Yao Ming more closely than everyone else in response to Mark Cuban's complaints about what he thinks Yao is getting away with. That's pretty big. David Stern asked Van Gundy to reveal his "inside" source, and he refused.
If I was David Stern I sure wouldnt want my officials spreading things like that (true or not) to team personnel, and I certainly wouldnt want a coach running around telling the public anything that leads them to believe that the league is condoning/encouraging intentional partial calls towards or against any one player or team.
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The funny thing about that column is that Simmons talks about how bad refs get swayed by the crowd and are reluctant to make calls against the home team, making particular mention of much Bennett Salvatore sucks. Then in the DAL/HOU game, which was officiated by BS, pretty much every call went to the Mavs, especially a play in the 4th when Nowitzki hacked Yao and should have gotten his sixth, but it was charged to Howard instead.
It is amusing to see Mark Cuban calling the whole thing 'an insult to officials' when he's been fined more than $1000000 for complaining about officiating in the past, though. Hopefully the Rockets come back and win the series, then Cubes can go out and retool half his roster again. His big free-agent acquisition this year had 1 point, 1 rebound, and 5 fouls in 16 minutes. Good job by him, giving the cap space to Damp instead of Nash this last offseason.
Also I was going to post something smarmy like "Even Mark Blount is playing better than he is in the playoffs" then I looked at the box scores for the BOS/IND games and Blount is averaging two points, one and a half rebounds for the series, so I guess not. Hee.
The interesting thing to me at least is this, instead of David Stern sitting and looking at the game tape and seeing if there is any real, REAL favoritism amongs refs (and we all know there is) he just fines VG and threatens him with a ban. Fix the league there commish, dont punish those smart/dumb enough to complain about it.
You are right, he may have looked at it the same way he would look at all those tapes of Jordon getting "fouled" when it was the fourth quarter and anybody was within 18 inches of him. THe past fifteen to twenty years, this league has been trying to do nothing but market stars. Anybody who can shut a "star" down is obviously fouling them. Call all the fouls, and people get wary of getting close enough to play defense. No D, and the "star" player scores at will.
This is something Stern didn't need hanging over his head. What - with the CBA about to expire and the very real threat of a lockout happening and all.
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