Empty the Bench

So, let’s get this straight: Detroit Pistons backup point guard Lindsey Hunter is suspended 10 games after testing positive for phentermine, which worked its way into his bloodstream via one of his wife’s diet pills. NBA players have to test positive for marijuana—which unlike diet pills are illegal whether you play basketball or not—five times before they are suspended. Five. But when you’re arrested on suspicion of beating up a woman, repeatedly, David Stern has no problem with you returning to the court as soon as your team allows it. Huh?

Sactown Royalty points to a report in The Bee that Ron Artest was seen at the Kings’ practice facility early Friday morning, and a little later AP confirmed the Tru Warrior is indeed back with the team.

The Sacramento Kings said Saturday they will allow Ron Artest to return to the team, five days after his arrest on suspicion of domestic violence. Artest was excused from all team activities Tuesday, one day after being arrested at his home in a Sacramento suburb. A woman called 911 and said she had been assaulted, and a police report said Artest had slapped the woman’s face and grabbed her repeatedly, causing visible injuries on her hand and leg.

I just don’t get it. Stern plays the stern taskmaster role better than most league commissioners, enforcing nitpicky details on things like the player dress code, but has no problem with letting this loose cannon return to the Association as if nothing happened. Talk about inconsistency.

A final note about one of the five 911 calls police have responded to at Artest’s house since last August: apparently during the call the woman made where she said her “hand was bleeding and [her] leg was scratched” and that her husband was “upset”, their 3-year-old daughter was there to witness the whole thing.

Authorities said a 3-year-old girl was inside the house at the time of the argument. She can be heard in the background of the 911 tape, talking to “daddy” and “mommy.”