Hamilton: Melo’s Only Mistake Was Taking It Off The Court

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NEW YORK — On February 6, 1995, Vernon Maxwell, then a member of the defending NBA champion Houston Rockets, pulled a Ron Artest while Ron Artest was still just a 15-year-old, acne-faced sophomore at New York City’s La Salle Academy.

During the third quarter, with the Rockets trailing, 79-52, Maxwell did the unthinkable – he charged into the stands and punched Steve George, a 35-year-old fan, right in the kisser.

Commissioner David Stern’s hand wasn’t as heavy back then. Maxwell got a 10-game suspension and a $20,000 fine.

Maxwell was in the final year of his deal with the Rockets, and most around the NBA were sure he’d never play in the league again.

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Hubbard: More on Popovich v. Stern

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Imagine David Stern as Gregg Popovich’s high school teacher many years ago. Many, many, many years ago.

Popovich undoubtedly would have been the class jester, playing all sorts of pranks on the unsuspecting ruler. He’s the guy who would have glued Stern’s coffee cup to the desk. He’s the guy who would have arrived to class early and set the clock 10 minutes forward.

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SH Blog: Nash was promised Gasol before signing with Lakers, Stern defends fining Spurs

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Was the chance to play with Pau Gasol one of the primary reasons for Nash’s decision to become a Laker in the offseason?

According to Ric Bucher’s source (more on that below), that appears to be the case and if so, the rumors of the Lakers having a desire to acquire Ryan Anderson becomes a moot point.

The question is, does Nash still feel the same way after seeing how much Gasol has struggled up to this point of the season? Before sitting out the previous contest due to knee tendinitis against the New Orleans Pelicans Hornets – where Anderson did his best to show what the Lakers are missing by dropping 31 points on them – Gasol had averaged 12.6 points on a career-low 42 percent shooting from the field. That is probably not the version of Gasol that Nash had in mind before signing with the team.

More importantly, the point guard’s desire to play alongside Gasol was before the team managed to acquire Dwight Howard, who is by far the best center in the league – even if he isn’t playing like one at the moment. With such a dominant pick-and-roll partner at his disposal, is it really necessary to have a struggling 32-year-old Gasol by his side as well? No one knows what is going through Nash’s mind, but it wouldn’t be all that surprising if he changed his tune on the situation, especially if there is a good trade on the table and it helps the Lakers become a better team in the long run. 

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Geltzeiler: The Vetoed Trade, One Year Later

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It was the one-year anniversary of the eruption of Mount Stern, a moment when he made an unprecedented decision in the immediate aftermath of the settlement that ended the 2011 NBA lockout.

Commissioner David Stern squashed a trade that would have sent Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers in a three-team deal with the New Orleans Hornets and the Houston Rockets.

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Bernucca: Influenced by national TV money, Stern shows he is just a casual fan

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commissionerDavid Stern is disingenuous.

How’s that for one of those million-dollar words that the NBA commissioner loves to use when talking to the hoi polloi about basketball?

In slapping the San Antonio Spurs with a $250,000 fine for resting their trio of stars in a nationally televised game, Stern said in his customary, quite lawyerly fashion, “The result here is dictated by the totality of the facts in this case.”

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