David Stern Needs To Take a Page Out of the NFL's Playbook
Back in 1997, Eddie DeBartolo, owner of the San Francisco 49ers, was indicted on charges of fraud, racketeering, and possible bribery charges, due to supposed gambling in Louisiana. This meant that DeBartolo signed over the 49ers to his sister Denise. He was also fined $1 million byCcommissioner Paul Tagliabue and was suspended for one year in 1999. Lastly, he was put on lifetime probation for conduct detrimental to the NFL's image.
Now, there's a situation in Golden State, but it doesn't center on gambling, like DeBartolo's. It centers on the fact that Golden State Warriors' owner, Chris Cohan, is being investigated for tax evasion.
As with DeBartolo, David Stern needs to step in and do the same thing as Paul Tagliabue and force him out of the league. Will it happen? No, but at least it would make Warriors fans feel better.
Just consider that Cohan has ruined the Warriors with his decisions. Just look at the list of draft picks, GMs, coaches, and players since he became full owner of the team in 1995.
The coaches: Bob Lanier, Rick Adelman, P.J. Carleismo, Gary St. Jean, Dave Cowens, and Brian Winters.
The only coaches that did a relatively decent job with the Warriors were Eric Musselman and Mike Montgomery.
The coach who has done the most for the team Don Nelson, the last coach that lead the Warriors to the playoffs.
Since Cohan has become president, they've had Dave Twardzick and Gary St. Jean as a General Manager.
Twardzik drafted Joe Smith in 1995 as the No. 1 pick, then, in the second round, he took Andrew Declercq, Dwyane Whitfield, Martin Lewis, and Michael McDonald.
1996: Todd Fuller and Marcus Mann.
1997: Adonal Foyle and Marc Jackson. In his final year in 1998, it was the draft day trade of Vince Carter to the Toronto Raptors for Antawn Jamison.
Gary St. Jean did draft better than Twardzik but, his problem was Chris Cohan let him sign players that didn't deserve the money that was given out. Here's a list of St Jean's draft picks.
In 1999, he drafted Jeff Foster and Tim Young.
2000: Chris Porter
2001: Jason Richardson, Troy Murphy, and Gilbert Arenas.
2002: Mike Dunleavy and Steve Logan
2003: Mickael Pietrus and Derrick Zimmerman
St. Jean's biggest problem was throwing way too much money at Adonal Foyle, Erick Dampier, and Kevin Outlaw, leaving the Warriors no room to sign players such as Gilbert Arenas and Antawn Jamison.
Twardzik and St. Jean were also responsible for bringing in players well past their prime or who just didn't want to be in Golden State. The list includes: Rony Seikaly, Jim Jackson, Larry Hughes, John Starks, B.J. Armstrong, Terry Cummings, Erick Dampier, Nick Van Exel, Calbert Cheaney, Chris Mills, Mookie Blaylock, Bob Sura, Jason Caffey, Dickie Simpkins, Felton Spencer, Bimbo Coles, Mark Price, Donald Royal, and Kevin Willis.
The only time in Cohan's tenure as owner the Warriors have ever done anything and had a talented team is once Chris Mullin came to the Warriors. What is Cohan and his team president doing now? They are trying to make Mullin look bad by firing his assistant, who was his right-hand man.
David Stern should be just like Paul Tagliabue and force Cohan out. The Warriors deserve an owner who's actually going to do the job as owner of the team. They don't need a tax cheat, and they don't need an owner who is willing to make his team look bad to prove a point about the GM of the team. It's time for Cohan to go, and that power rests in David Stern's hand.
