NBA fans on Twitter are not impressed with NBA Commissioner David Stern's decision to fine the San Antonio Spurs a quarter of a million dollars for benching their star players against the Heat this week.
The debate has raged on as to whether or not Stern--who will step down as commissioner in 2014--did the right thing after he fined the Spurs $250,000 on Friday.
The fine came on the heels of Spurs coach Gregg Popovich deciding to send Spurs stars Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, as well as key role player Danny Green, on a commercial flight home instead of onto the hardwood when San Antonio (13-4) faced LeBron James and the world champion Miami Heat (11-3) Wednesday night in a nationally televised game Wednesday night.
Stern issued a statement before the game, which read, "This was an unacceptable decision by the San Antonio Spurs and substantial sanctions will be forthcoming."
In another statement issued Friday that announced the fines, Stern said the decision to fine the Spurs was based on "the totality of the facts in this case."
"The Spurs decided to make four of their top players unavailable for an early-season game that was the team's only regular-season visit to Miami," Stern stated. "The team also did this without informing the Heat, the media, or the league office in a timely way. Under these circumstances, I have concluded that the Spurs did a disservice to the league and our fans."
Analysts have mixed views on Stern's fining
Some are arguing that Popovich was right in benching Duncan, Parker, Ginobili and Green.
The Spurs had just come off their fourth game in five nights, their sixth game of a road trip and their 11th road game in November, leading many to believe that Popovich was trying to rest his aging stars to keep them from being injured.
Stephen A. Smith on ESPN said he believed it was possible that Popovich may have even thought that the league had scheduled the game after such a rigorous schedule in order to set up San Antonio to be blown out on national television. As it was, the Heat only narrowly won that game, 105-100 on a three-pointer by Heat star Ray Allen with 22.3 seconds in the fourth quarter.
Outspoken ESPN analyst and former New York Knicks and Houston Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy lambasted Stern's decision this week.
"To me, fine yourself too, $250,000, because you're just as culpable for what happened in the league office as Gregg Popovich is," Van Gundy said as reported by Sports Illustrated.
Some analysts on NBA.com--owned and operated by the league--actually backed Stern's decision. Steve Aschburner called Popovich's move to send his stars home before a nationally televised game "wrong."
"Wrong in terms of the integrity of the game, which is the foundation of the Spurs' championship ambitions. Wrong for ticket buyers in Miami or any other city in which the stunt gets pulled," he said.
Yahoo Sports! writer Adrian Wojnarowski, however didn't see it that way, arguing that people were going to watch because it was still James and the very marketable Heat playing on TV. Wojnarowski further claimed that Stern had never favored the Spurs' playing style to begin with and that the outgoing commissioner found them to be unwatchable.
"There's a double-standard to how this league operates under Stern, and it won't change until Adam Silver takes over and makes it a priority to do so," Wojnarowski wrote.
Twitter world 'Not Impressed' with Stern
Stern's actions caused a widespread backlash both from sports analysts and NBA fans on Twitter.
"Greg Popovich may be the best coach in American sports. David Stern is not a coach. I know who I'd leave playing time up to," tweeted Dan Wetzel.
Jeff Passan wrote, "I'd be really disappointed if David Stern weren't sitting in an underground lair, stroking a cat, whispering, "I'll get you yet, Popovich."
User Joseph G. tweeted, "David Stern's credibility is out the window. Entire league is seemingly against him. That is all."
Comedian Josh Wolf also weighed in: "David Stern fining the Spurs goes to show that he thinks the names on the back of the jersey are more important than the ones on the front."
Stern's past unpopular decisions
NFL player Damien Woody tweeted, "Vetoing trades, fining teams for doing what they feel is best 4 their team.....David Stern is going out w/ a bang!"
Woody was referring to another unpopular decision Stern made last season, when he vetoed a trade that would have sent superstar point guard Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers--which would have paired up the elite point guard with Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol, creating another "super team." A league spokesman cited Stern's reasons for nixing the trade under the enigmatic comment of "basketball reasons."
Going back even further, in 1985, Stern attempted to ban then-rookie Michael Jordan's new Air Jordan sneakers from Nike, fining Jordan $5,000 for every game he wore the sneakers to, claiming that the red-and-black shoes did not adhere to a league rule that sneakers must be all white.
Not only did Jordan continue to wear them, but Nike actually made a larger profit, spinning Stern's ban into an ad campaign implying that Jordan's banned sneakers actually increased his vertical leap to the point of being unfair.
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