You vote: Did Commissioner Stern’s press conference on the Tim Donaghy gambling allegations restore your confidence in the integrity of the NBA?July 24 07 Today, Commissioner Stern faced the music. At a press conference in New York, the commissioner discussed the gambling allegations surrounding Tim Donaghy and did everything possible to restore the public’s faith in the NBA.
He talked about the league’s policy regarding gambling. He talked about league security measures. And he talked about internal audits of referees. Did it work? One the one hand, Stern outlined the measures taken by the NBA to limit the risk that refs, players, or coaches will gamble on games. On the other hand, he admitted that the league can only do so much and will always be exposed to some risk. HoopsVibe The Blog wants you to read both sides of the issue, listen to your gut and answer the question: Did Commissioner Stern’s press conference restore your confidence in the integrity of the NBA?
Confidence restored:
- Commissioner Stern mentioned that the league uses law enforcement agents from the DEA and FBI to guard against gambling scandals.
- Commissioner Stern mentioned that the league audits referees.
- Commissioner Stern mentioned that the league hires gambling consultants to keep an eye on unusual situations and occurrences in Las Vegas.
Confidence not restored: - Commissioner Stern conceded that the league investigated allegations that Donaghy was gambling in January 2005, but somehow couldn’t find proof to substantiate the allegations.
- Commissioner Stern conceded that there is often little the NBA can do to guard against outside criminal elements.
- Commissioner Stern conceded that it would be impossible to prove a ref was on the take by looking at past calls.
Is your confidence restored? Get at us with your thoughts and opinions in the comment box below. Click here to read and subscribe to Oly Sandor’s NBA Blog.
Posted by
Y DON’T U TRY KNOCKIN ME DOWN MR WHORRY
on 08.3.2007 | YEA, 4 ONCE I’M WIT STUPID, U GUYS MUST B THE BIGGEST IDIOTS EVER, JUS LISTEN 2 UR HIPOKRIT a-------SELVES, U CLAIM SUNS FAN COMPLAIN TOO MUCH, BUT I GOT MY OWN BET(SORRY DONHAGY, U CAN’T B IN ON DIS BET) DAT IF IT WAS THE OTHA WAY AROUND THEN U GUYS WOULD DO THE SAME, MAY-B EVEN WORSE. ITS SO OBVIOUS DAT THE SUNS WOULD’VE WON THE SERIES, THEN EVENTUALLY THE NBA TITLE, STEVE NASH WAS HURT THE FIRST GAME WHERE I THINK A BOXIN CUT MAN WOULD’VE CLOSED DAT WOUND, THEN DEY TURN AROUND THE SECOND GAME AND WIN BY 20, THEN OF COURSE NO CALLS AND RIDICULOUS FREE THROW CALLS SUNK THE SUNS BY BEARLY 7 POINTS, THEN DEY WIN GAME FOUR BY COMING BACK WHERE DAT IDIOT ROB-ERT WHORRY GOT FRUSTRATED AND TOOK IT OUT ON THE SMALLEST GUY ON THE TEAM, WHICH BY THE WAY IS EQUIVALENT TO BERNARD HOPKINS FIGHTIN A 5 FOOT 3 FEATHERWEIGHT, THEN ON DAT GAME FIVE THE SUNS SPANKIN THE SPURS THE WHOLE GAME BUT B-CUZ 6 OF POSSIBLE 8 COULD PLAY, DEY WERE WINDED AND TIRED IN THE FINAL MINUTES, DEN FINALLY THE SUNS AWAY COULDN’T DO MUCH CUZ Y PLAY ANYMO WHEN U KNO THE LEAGUE WANTS U TO LOSE AND MAKE IT SO OBVIOUS, THIS IS HOW STUPID U GUYS R I HAD TO WRITE OUT THE SERIES 4 U, BUT THEN AGAIN TEACHIN U GUYS WATS RIGHT AND WRONG IS THE SAME AS A COLLEDGE PROFFESOR TEACHIN TIMMY HOW TO TALK AND NOT SAY HIS OWN NAME, IT NEVER HURTS TO TRY THOUGHT, BUT EVEN I CAN’T MAKE MIRACLES, UNTIL NEXT TIME DUMBASSES . | Posted by
HARDCORE SPECIALLY SPURS FAN OF THE UNIVERSE
on 08.3.2007 | Wahwahwah, I love the san antonio spurs, I think there the best team in the universe clearly they were the best team in the planet, but I hate the suns cuz its hot ova der I might catch myself on fire, every time we play phoenix I get scared dat I might lose, so I’ll send on of my dumba-------guys that looks like the guy in indipence day and make him knock done der smallest guy, y?, b-cuz he’s not a man dats y, and oh yea, while the nba is reviewin the tapes and about to hand out suspensions, hopefully the won’t see the one about tim duncun steppin further than the 3 point line, ima ask that he doesn’t see, anyways he loves my team anyway dats y it won’t happen, oh I didn’t even kno I had help from the referee’s either, wow its like the nba in on my team to, so the series was really suns vs. The nba and the spurs, y now ima go kick someone in the crotch, jus like my hero bruce bowen does, watch, I might kick u in the crotch, U IDIOTS . | Posted by
sunsfan
on 07.25.2007 | If Spurs style basketball is what all you guys want to watch, then fine get rid of the Suns. You make a great point, I’m sure all teams got screwed by poor efficiating. To supply this board with more fire this is what I think could have happened. I think the feds, Donaghy, and Stern were in on this for some time. I think the feds let Stern know what they knew about Donaghy and also let Donaghy know he was found out. But in an effort to catch more fish the Feds had Donaghy and Stern continue to cooperate with the mob to try and bust more refs, athletes and mobsters. They had to throw more games and cooperate with the mob so the mob wouldn’t suspect something was up. Have fun thinking about that one and how I need therapy. As a Suns fan I don’t really care what happens to them anymore they have cap issues because because they have overspend on two guys Diaw and Banks. If they were to win a title next year it wouldn’t mean much, because people would be saying the Suns were given a championship to make up for last year. I’ve got to go change my diaper now and suck on some breast milk. Bye . | Posted by
Random Thinker
on 07.25.2007 | For the 1st time ever, David Stern looked clueless. He has been the dicator of the NBA for over 20 years, and now he ran into something that is bigger than him that he can’t control, it’s a shocker for sure . | Posted by
Jazzy
on 07.25.2007 | Sunsfan says the playing field hasn’t been level for all teams. Yeah, I guess the Suns are the only team in the league to get nailed with bad calls huh? All the refs in the league have said to conspire against the poor Suns? Try this...every team in the league has had bad calls!! Every team in the league has had to put up with these arrogant refs. Every team has been on the same level playing field because they have all dealt with refs who want more TV time. If you think the Suns are the only team getting bad calls on them, you are certainly not looking at things objectively. If you are trying to use Donaghy as an excuse for your Suns losing in the second round, you need serious therapy friend because that series is long over and the Spurs pounded every team, not just your poor Suns. They went 16-4 in the post season and not one team pushed them hard or gave them any serious competition. The Spurs didn’t even look like they broke a sweat the whole playoffs! Lets face it, no team out there was going to stop the Spurs this year. Maybe next year will be different since they will be another year older . | Posted by
Set the Suns!
on 07.25.2007 | That’s hilarious!! A Suns’ fan is telling people they need to man up!! LOL When was the last time the Suns or their fans manned up and accepted fault for their own shortcomings. The Suns are always blaming someone besides themselves for their own failures. Who is to blame for their absurd salary cap problems that has cost them numerous draft picks and Kurt Thomas. Will you Suns fans tell us it is Bruce Bowens fault this time? Robert Horry’s fault? David Stern’s fault? Oh yeah, it’s now the fault of a referee cuz he had a mobster put a gun to your GM’s head and said run your organization like the New York Knicks and then blame everyone but yoursleves when you can’t win. I agree, wipe the slate clean by dumping the Suns and their whiny fans , then fire all the refs and start over. . | Posted by
on 07.24.2007 | Ladies Big Dog is burning! . | Posted by
on 07.24.2007 | Corruption cannot be fully monitoredbut the fact that the NBA now has the resolve to counter it; the FIRM resolve...Restores my confidence in it... . | Posted by
sunsfan
on 07.24.2007 | Sure lets hate on the Suns. You are idoits. Sure I don’t like excuses much more than the next guy, but see how much "crying" you do when your team gets screwed. By the way Spurs fans how does it feel to have two titles with asteriks next to them. Before Tim Duncan came to your team you guys were the biggest crybaby team, and still are, winning a championship doesn’t disguise all the whinning your team does during the game. I wish all teams would just man up and play ball. This will be much more difficult to do now that we know for sure that the "playing field" hasn’t been even for all teams in the league. . | Posted by
Bruce
on 07.24.2007 | That made me think about what happen in the play off games between Huston and Dallas ! Poor Yao and poor Mc! . | Posted by
The Count
on 07.24.2007 | getting rid of the suns is the stupidest answer ever to this question!! i guess you must be a kobe fan to be writing stuff like that!!! how about getting rid of David Stern as a starter, then kobe, then the rest of NBA mafia. . | Posted by
Heez
on 07.24.2007 | i WILL NEVER STOP BEING A FAN OF THE GAME. but i will say this-It is a lot deeper the one bad apple-have you watched some of those games? and Im not talking about the ones you favorite team is playing in! I have said this for a long time, And I dont think stern would be envolved-but I wouldnt be surprised. . | Posted by
wal
on 07.24.2007 | my confidence is strong at least 75% because all this couldve been avoided stern knew the guy in particular had a gamblinging problem and gambled himself with his nba organization itself but for the ref to interfre and make calls to detemine the outcome im absolutely shocked 07-08 gonna be a start from scratch season . | Posted by
Itchin’ for more
on 07.24.2007 | My confidence is still strong because the NBA will clear it up. There’s too much money involved for them not to . | Posted by
Markit
on 07.24.2007 | My confidence was never shaken. This kind of stuff happens sometimes because people do bad things. But I’m not gonna blame the league for this guys foolish choices. The league has done a great job. They do need to fix the playoff seeding though. Althought the Spurs were no doubt the best team in the NBA this year and fully earned their title (regardless of what Donaghy did or didn’t do), the Spurs vs. Suns series should have been the finals. It shouldn’t be east vs west, it should be the two best teams. It could be argued that the Suns weren’t one of the two best teams in the league, but the Cavs weren’t in the top five even . | Posted by
on 07.24.2007 | People who stop watching the NBA because of one bad ref are looking for excuses not to watch. I don’t watch the NBA to see the refs, I watch to see the extreme talent. This ref does not change anything about the talent level that will still exist. If the Bobcats had won this past title, I’d have a real problem, but the Spurs have bneen dominant for several years and were clearly the best team in the playoffs this year. Besides that, the majority of GM’s had said the Spurs would win the title this year so it wasn’t a surprise at all. The Sun’s have no real argument about the playoffs because they really didn’t look very good against the Spurs and had no bench which wore out their best players. The Spurs pretty much manhandled them when it mattered most.I am confident the league will be even better when this is over. . | Posted by
Don’t let the door hit you!
on 07.24.2007 | I agree with getting rid of the Suns. Atleast that would be a good start for the league because they instigate every problem in the league with blaming everyone but themselves for their failures. Then fire all the current refs and hire new ones to start from scratch. And who cares if cry-babies trust in the league or not? Real NBA fans will fill the seats next year. Every league has had its scandals and each one continues on. Even the NCAA has had bad scandal issues and people still go watch and pay money for that. If the WNBA can go on with no talent, the NBA will survive this issue. Everybody used to say that every change of mind that a player has will be called a Boozer because of what he did to the Cavs. I haven’t heard it even once since that happened. The media loves to sensationalize things and this is just one of them. If cry-babies don’t want to trust the NBA any more because of Donaghy then they don’t have to go to the games. But there will be no shortage of people who will go in their place. . | Posted by
Get rid of the Suns Please!
on 07.24.2007 | Fire Donaghy and some of the other refs who have control issues and then wipe the Phoenix Suns out of the NBA. Their team and fans are a whiny disgrace to the league. Their complaining and blaming have surpassed all realms of reality. Let them join the WNBA where they can cry like the women they act like. . | Posted by
WTF is going on
on 07.24.2007 | The trust that was there is now gone and to make matters worse Donaghy is alleging that other refs and players were invovled !!! I think that for all the seris he messed up should be done over because even one game he refed over a whole seris could mess up the out come . | Posted by
lil D
on 07.24.2007 | Get real nothing is restored because from this point on whenever a foul or tech is called every one is gonna question it this will hurt the nbas repo and its a damn shame TIm Donaghy has everyone wonderin what would have happened if he did not ref the games he did ? . |
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Oly Sandor | Daily take on NBA Oly Sandor is an NBA analyst and sports journalist based out of Vancouver, Canada.After years of the free-lance game, Oly Sandor is bringing his unique brand of NBA analysis exclusively to (...) More |
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