Empty the Bench

With the 2007 NBA All-Star Game in Las Vegas coming up this weekend, NBA Dictator Commissioner David Stern clearly doesn’t want the focus of this weekend’s festivities to be on the players who won’t be there (Carlos Boozer, Allen Iverson, Steve Nash, Yao Ming have all pulled out due to injury). So yesterday the commish addressed a number of things on his mind, including the potential for an NBA franchise to relocate to Sin City. Note that I use “relocate” because the last thing the league needs is to stretch its talent base any further by adding a completely new team (NHL, I’m looking in your direction).

We have a sneaking suspicion that Stern will do more than just start negotiations with the mayor about moving an NBA team to his fair city. Whatever happens, he still cites gambling as his main concern:

“I think that there’s a negotiation to be had with the city. My recommendation to the owners would be, there’s only one subject that separates us from considering it—and that’s sports betting.”

Very noble, Dave, but perhaps not quite as noble as your personal concern for Charles Barkley’s gambling problem:

“Touching on other issues, Stern said he is concerned that Charles Barkley, a Hall of Famer and TV analyst for league broadcast partner TNT, is a high roller and recently won $700,000 wagering in Las Vegas. “I think it’s fair to say that it’s a subject worthy of some quiet discussion, and I’m apt to do that behind closed doors,” Stern said. “And it wouldn’t be with him, it would be with TNT.”

Honestly, we’re not sure why he cares that one of the league’s now-overweight former stars scored some pocket change by participating in a fully legal activity. What about the potential health hazards of staging a foot race between said fat man and a 67-year-old veteran referee? I’m not as interested in who will win, but whether Chuck’s pores sweat Haagen-Daz or Ben & Jerry’s when he runs.

Mr. Stern also felt left out of the daily Homosexuality in the NBA soap opera:

“Stern also said he will push for homosexuality to be addressed in next summer’s rookie orientation in the wake of some unenlightened reaction from around the league to former player John Amaechi’s announcement that he is gay.”

There are all kinds of issues that are enormously heated on the subject of homosexuality,” Stern said. “And it’s sort of not fair to stick a microphone in front of a 20-something-year-old and say, ‘OK, now you give the definitive reaction on this subject.’ I think on balance, our players will be fine.”

Now who wouldn’t love to be a fly on the wall during THAT seminar?

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