David Stern on Seattle: Sonics Reach To Pet The Dog And Lose Fingers

Michael BakerJun 6, 2009

Did you check out ESPN 710's Kevin Calabro's highly anticipated interview with NBA Commish David Stern?

Nothing new.

I have a few thoughts before listening to any interview with David Stern. I think he, first off, does not own an NBA team and therefore can not make promises involving something he does not own.

When talking to the press about a particular franchise he is paid to always take the position of ownership. That is why it looks like he is talking out of both sides of his mouth, they are not his words.

When talking about a particular owner, he is speaking on behalf of the other 29 other owners.

He has the right as the Commish to rule on arenas and revenue the league requires. So, he has said KeyArena needs a remodel paid for by mostly public money (Howard Schultz), then a new arena paid for by public money (Clayton Bennett), then a remodel of KeyArena would be fine and only half public money paid on the common public portions (Steve Ballmer).

A privately funded building would be fine if it were fine with some owner.
KeyArena would be fine as is if some owner were willing to pay the league the balance of the revenue they require (10s of millions of dollars every year).

When talking to anybody about Seattle, Stern has said the same thing for seven years. His personal opinion is that he would rather have a team here. I think when he does give his opinion that he really does want that. The problem is that he is rarely, ever giving his opinion.

His "power" comes from the owners supporting what he says and does, voting on what they want him to say and do, and hiring him to say and do it through 2010.

It reminds me of a joke:

David Stern is standing next to a dog.

Sonics fans walk up to Mr. Stern and say, "does your dog bite?".

Stern says, "No."

Sonics reach out to pet the dog, and the dog bits off 4.1 fingers.

Sonics fans yell at Stern, "WHAT the heck is wrong with you, you said your dog does not bite!!!!"

Stern replies, "That's not my dog."