NEW YORK — I just finished attending the most boring David Stern news conference in the history of David Stern news conferences.
And in this case, the word “news” would be a misnomer.
Jalen Rose wins David Stern award for Most Outlandish Draft Suit Ever
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All-Star Game to New York in 2015
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HOUSTON — Adam Silver stole the spotlight from David Stern at the commissioner’s final All-Star press conference … simply by directly answering a question.
After Stern revealed that both the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets had applied to host the league’s signature event two years from now, a reporter asked a follow-up question that Stern would never in a million years have answered.
“Will New York get the game?”
Tweet of the Day: Festus Ezeli
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A few short days away from the NBA All-Star Weekend, yet that doesn’t stop teams from changing their look.
The Golden State Warriors made headlines Monday when they unveiled their new alternate uniforms.
Center Festus Ezeli tweeted a picture of rookie Harrison Barnes sporting the new jersey.
Brooklyn Nets’ home opener vs. Knicks postponed
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The devastation of Hurricane Sandy on the New York City metropolitan area has forced the postponement of the 
Brooklyn Nets’ home opener Thursday vs. the New York Knicks.
The league made the announcement Wednesday afternoon. There were reports Tuesday that the game at the new Barclays Center in downtown Brooklyn might still be played, but that is no longer the case.
“Mayor (Michael) Bloomberg informed us this afternoon that after further analysis of the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy that he felt it was in the best interests of the city of New York, the teams and our fans that we postpone the Knicks-Nets game scheduled for Thursday night,” NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver said. “Our thoughts are with all those affected by this devastating storm.”
If you are from somewhere other than the East Coast and don’t have a feel for the impact of this storm, take a look at Knicks forward Amar’e Stoudemire’s car, which now almost qualifies as a boat.
Although one of the ideal elements of the Barclays Center is that it was built on top of a huge subway station where a half-dozen trains and the Long Island Railroad make stops, However, New York’s mass transit system has dozens of stations flooded and is shut down until at least Sunday.
No makeup date has been announced. Both teams and the NBA are hopeful that their second games will be played. The Knicks are scheduled to host Miami on Friday and the Nets are scheduled to host Toronto on Saturday.
The NBA has said Friday’s Heat-Knicks game is still on. Nets CEO Brett Yormark said in a statement that for Saturday’s game, the Nets “will have a transportation plan in place, including additional bus options.”
As of Wednesday, nearly 750,000 New York area residents were still without power.
Bernucca: Forget the championship, Thunder want a “sustainable team”
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When the Oklahoma City Thunder traded James Harden on Saturday night, they revealed to everyone 
that they are a team far more concerned with the bottom line than the top of the heap.
Probably a bit ahead of schedule, the Thunder reached the NBA Finals last season. As we have said before, they were a questionable foul call away from opening a 2-0 lead on the mighty Miami Heat that would have cultivated the doubt and derision that has swirled around LeBron James for the last five years.
And even as the Heat were wiping the AmericanAirlines Arena floor with the Thunder in the clinching Game 5, the conventional wisdom was that Oklahoma City would be back very soon. Its window of championship opportunity was still wide open and would remain that way for several years.
Why wouldn’t it?
The Thunder had a true superstar in three-time scoring champion Kevin Durant. They had another All-Star in Russell Westbrook, whose ceiling still seems limitless. They had the hypotenuse of the “Big Three” triangle – a mandatory component to compete for championships in today’s NBA – in Harden, who won the Sixth Man Award only because he was used as a reserve.
Assembling a three-headed monster to compete for a championship is not just a theory. It’s an axiom. Ask the Heat, who did it so ostentatiously they obscured the fact that other teams have been doing it for years.
Ask the Spurs, who have contended and won for a decade with Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. Ask the Celtics, who have done the same with Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen (and now Rajon Rondo). Or ask the Lakers, who have upped the ante to an “Fearsome Foursome” of Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Steve Nash and Dwight Howard.
All of them looked with some level of envy at the Thunder, whose “Big Three” were all under 25 years old entering this season. Oklahoma City didn’t have a championship window; it had a double patio door.
And owner Clay Bennett, GM Sam Presti and the rest of the braintrust decided to shutter it over a lousy $6 million over the next four years. What a bunch of cheapskates.
In their news release, Presti said the trade “will be important to our organizational goal of a sustainable team.” Huh? Our “organizational goal”? Does that mean the vision is to settle for good because the chance to be great is a little pricey?
And what the hell is a “sustainable team”? Were the Thunder on the verge of Chapter 11 bankruptcy? Do Bennett and his ownership partners have to eat pasta and tunafish if the team doesn’t turn a profit?
