David Stern's Biggest Fails of 2011

David Stern has not had a good track record recently and had a rough year as NBA Commissioner in 2011.

From the lockout to the shortened season the league is in the middle of, he has had some very difficult choices to make. 

David Stern became the commissioner of the NBA in 1984 when he succeeded Larry O'Brien and has led the NBA to very high levels of popularity and success. 

He was in charge during much of the Magic vs. Bird era, the days of Michael Jordan and the Bulls and recently led the league out of a crippling lockout. 

Overall, Stern has done a good job to expand the league during his tenure, but he's made a few tough mistakes over the last year. 

The following will outline the biggest ones of 2011.

Allowing the Carmelo Anthony Trade

At the time of the trade in February, this did not seem upsetting to anyone except for maybe fans of the Denver Nuggets and New Jersey Nets. 

Knowing that one of the bargaining points of the impending lockout would be the raise in luxury tax amounts, David Stern allowed the large-market New York Knicks to add a superstar to play alongside Amare Stoudemire, instantly making the Knicks a league contender prior to the lockout. 

This was not that big of a deal until he stepped in and rerouted another superstar, Chris Paul, away from the Los Angeles Lakers to the other team in that city in an effort to create more parity in the league.

Apparently, what was good for his hometown Knicks before the lockout was not good for the Lakers afterwards. 

Talking About the Impact of the Collective Bargaining Agreement

David Stern is in the middle of a mistake by trying to explain how the new collective bargaining agreement is going to impact individual teams. 

Stern is optimistic that his luxury tax plan will work, but all it will do is upset fanbases as they see their teams not be able to retain players in the coming years.

Stern has already mentioned the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Miami Heat specifically as teams who will have tough choices to make in a couple of seasons due to increased luxury tax penalties.

Stern would be better served to not discuss the specifics of each team as he will run the risk of alienating fans who are already cautious about coming back to the league following the lockout. 

Rushing the Season

Even though the end of the lockout sparked great excitement among teams, players and fans, the decision to start on Christmas Day left little time for teams to prepare. 

Starting the season in late December and playing an accelerated 66-game schedule seemed like a great idea, but it will prove to be harder on players than it appears. 

NBA superstar Kevin Garnett was not a fan of the rapid pace of training camp and playing only two preseason games. 

The rushed season this year has already resulted in teams not being ready to play and could be related to the injury problems that have already been seen. 

The league would have been better off taking things slowly, starting later and playing a bit shorter schedule at a slower pace. 

Chris Paul to the Clippers

Just before the 2011-2012 NBA season began, David Stern approved a trade that would send All-Star point guard Chris Paul from the Charlotte Hornets to the Los Angeles Clippers. 

Normally this would not be a big deal as the trade did meet NBA guidelines, but it made big news as the trade involved the league-owned Hornets and came on the heels of a trade that would have sent Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers. 

That potential trade was overruled by Stern several days earlier. 

Stern stated that his only focus in this was to get the best possible deal for the league-owned Hornets.

The Lockout

David Stern was not completely to blame for the lockout, but he is the commissioner of a league that allowed it to happen in the first place. 

Now that it is over, it is less important to place blame and rehash who did what right, but some of the decisions mad by Stern were not his finest. 

From giving players ultimatums to upsetting groups of owners over the revenue split, Stern did not make it through the process without a blemish or two. 

Stern should be given credit for his role in ending the lockout and getting games on the schedule this season, but the whole process put a black eye on the NBA and led to several other bad decisions by Stern.

Vetoing Chris Paul to the Lakers

By far the biggest mistake that David Stern made last year was when he disallowed a legitimate trade that would have sent Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers. 

In this trade, the New Orleans Hornets would have sent Paul to the Lakers for Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom. The Houston Rockets would have ended up with Gasol and would have sent Kevin Martin, Luis Scola, Goran Dragic and a first-round draft pick to the Hornets. 

This trade was shot down by Stern just as quickly as it was put together, as the NBA cited basketball reasons for cancelling the deal instead of the influence of owners of other teams who did not agree with the Lakers getting stronger. 

The announcement of this trade, and the actual trade of Paul to the Los Angeles Clippers several days later, sparked criticism and distrust of the league, something Stern and the NBA did not need as they tried to dig out of the whole created by the lockout.