The NBA Is a Business That Needs Change

The NBA is a big business, teams make plenty of money. Yet, it's selfish owners that are constantly destroying teams of course there are some owners who don't even care about their team. 

For example Donald Sterling hasn't really done anything to make the Clippers competitive, but he gets to make his millions of dollars and keep it. If this were any other company, Sterling would have been forced out a long time ago. 

Yet, Stern doesn't have the balls to penalize owners who refuse to make their teams competitive. There are plenty of examples of solid teams had to make changes to the roster and had some down years, but it only took those teams with solid owners to get back or near where the team they had before. 

A perfect example of this would be the Portland Trail Blazers. The Blazers had issues with certain players like Zach Randolph, Rasheed Wallace, and Isaiah Rider. So, what happened to those players? Well, Rider was traded for Steve Smith of the Atlanta Hawks. 

Wallace was traded to the Atlanta Hawks along with Wesley Person for Shareef Abdur-Rahim, and Dan Dickau. Randolph was traded for Steve Francis (later bought out by the Blazers) and Channing Frye. 

During the time the Blazers were trying to change their image. They did fall on bad times with Maurice Cheeks who was fired and in came Nate McMillan as coach for the Blazers. I considered this ironic because McMillan played his whole career as a Seattle Supersonic. 

The Blazers didn't get off to a very strong start under McMillan going 21-61 in his first year, but the Blazers drafted well the next year bringing in rookie Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge and the team improved to a 32-50 record. Last season the Blazers with their young players and team and even without their number one pick Greg Oden went 41-41. 

Along with the players the Blazers have drafted recently, they've also made some solid trades specifically to get players like Sergio Rodriguez and Rudy Ferndanez. Also, the resigning of Steve Blake was also a great move by the Blazers because he's one of the most underrated point guards in the game. 

Blake might now get the press that he deserves he is just as steady as they come. He rarely loses control of his emotions and he takes care of the ball and that's something important for a young team like the Blazers. 

The Blazers are now 20-14 and are going to be in a dogfight throughout the season for the eighth and final playoff spot. 

If we are looking at teams that rebounded quickly from poor seasons there are two other teams that can be put on the list as well.

Last year's Boston Celtics who were greatly improved with acquiring Ray Allen from the Seattle Supersonics and Kevin Garnett from the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Celtics were only 24-58 two years ago and after the trades the Celtics went 66-16. 

The San Antonio Spurs had one major injury and that was of David Robinson. The Spurs eventually got the No. 1 pick of the draft and were able to draft Tim Duncan who's quite possibly considered the best power forward of all time.

Onto the polar opposites of owners who could care less about their team. The first man that comes to my mind is Donald Sterling. Over the past 15-plus years the Clippers have been to the playoffs just twice. 

The most recent playoff team for the Clippers was their 2005-2006 team, which was lead by Sam Cassel, Elton Brand, Corey Maggette, Cutino Mobley, and Chris Kaman. That team went 47-35 that year and lost in the semifinals.

Now did Sterling do anything to help the Clippers become even more competitive? The answer is no. The only major signing for the team was of Doug Christie and he only played in seven games. The Clippers only went 40-42 in 2006-2007. 

In 2007-2008 the Clippers were a miserable 23-59. Part of the reason was due to the injury to Elton Brand where he only played in a handful of games, Chris Kaman missed plenty of games due to injury, Maggette missed 17 games, etc...

Onto this season the Clippers actually made a splash in the free agent market by signing Baron Davis to a five-year, $65-million contract. The Clippers also brought in Marcus Camby by trade, but the two biggest names on the roster Maggette and Brand signed elsewhere. 

So, again the Clippers are struggling partly due to Mike Dunleavy's system in which Baron Davis is really not suited to play a slowed down game. Davis is most effective when the game moves at a up and down pace. 

The next owner who happens to be the owner of my favorite team would be Golden State. His name Chris Cohan. Quite possibly the worst thing that has happened to the Warriors franchise. 

The Warriors have made the playoffs just once in the past 14-plus years. The Warriors finally got talent on the team with great moves made by general manager Chris Mullin. He got rid of huge contracts of such players like Troy Murphy, Mike Dunleavy Jr., and Derek Fisher.

Mullin was able to trade for Baron Davis the best point guard the Warriors have had since Tim Hardaway. With getting rid of Dunleavy Jr. and Murphy, Mullin was able to bring in Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington. 

With those moves the Warriors actually made the playoffs with just a 42-40 record. The Warriors also became the first No. 8 seeded team in the history of the NBA to knock of a number one seed in a seven-game series. 

Last year the Warriors played even better. They won the most games since 1993-1994 with a 48-win season. In that 1993-1994 season the Warriors went 50-32 and would have had a great young team as well, but Don Nelson had a falling out with Chris Webber. 

Instead of backing up Webber, the Warriors went along with Nelson and Nelson destroyed the team. Before Nelson came back for his second stint with the Warriors not a sing one of the coaches were able to bring the Warriors back to respectability. The closest one was Eric Musselman. 

I don't know what happened but it seems like team president Robert Rowell and Cohan got jealous of Mullin's success with the draft and trades that brought the Warriors back to respecability. 

So, what did Cohan do to get back at Mullin? He refused to accept the contract proposal that Mullin had Davis agreeing to stay for three years and $39-million contract. Cohan refused to accept the contract and it allowed Davis to sign with the Clippers. 

Rowell fired Chris Mullin's assistant and put in Larry Riley who was pretty much Don Nelson's right hand man to be the assistant to Mullin. Now, Mullin is just a figurehead for the Warriors a dead man walking right now because it's obvious he's not going to return as the general manager for the Warriors. 

Lastly, Rowell was responsible for the trade of Al Harrington for Jamal Crawford. The only reason for the trade that I can think as a positive is that Crawford can opt out and become a free agent. Otherwise the trade made absolutely no sense from the Warriors standpoint.

The Warriors needed a point guard and instead they brought in another shooting guard. The Warriors needed a power forward who is solid underneath that can get the tough rebounds that didn't happen with the trade for Crawford. 

The Warriors are back to the drawing board and the playoffs don't even seem to be a reality anytime soon. I will give the Warriors credit for being able to resign Monta Ellis and Andris Biedrins for long-term deals.

What I will never get is why Cohan and Rowell thought that it would be a great idea after finding out about Ellis's accident that they should void the contract. That is the stupidest thing I've ever read. 

Sure, has not played a single game this year. He made a mistake and he has to live it. Suspend him, fine him, and move on, don't put a clause in the suspensions saying if he's not back to where he was before the injury he will be fined even more money.

For one, that's double punishment and it's not going to stand. Two, it's a way to make your young player regret resigning with the club and he's the best player the Warriors have right now.

The funny thing is I don't know why anyone would want to defend Cohan and Sterling. For the Warriors they have the record for most people to watch an NBA game in the state of California and yet Cohan could care less about any of that, he would rather just watch his wallet get fat. 

It's time for a change and Stern needs to put his foot down and say no more. If Stern can't do it then he should find someone who will because let's be honest here Cohan and Sterling have no business running professional teams. 

As I stated before the NBA is a business and I don't understand how they can let one of the best fans in the league suffer year after year with Cohan. Heck, I don't even know how Stern sleeps at night with the state of affairs of the Clippers. 

It's time for a change in business plan. The first two things that need to happen the NBA forces Sterling and Cohan out as owners. I can't imagine any other business that would allow for the way these two teams are fun. 

The Timberwolves are another team that were starting on the same path as the Warriors and Clippers, but they've got only one missing piece to the puzzle before they become relevant again and that is they need a point guard. If the T-Wolves are unable to get a steady point guard they could end up just like the Warriors and Clippers.