Re: Garnett?

[Douglas342@aol.com]

In a message dated 10/26/2000 8:01:31 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
OzerskyJA@cmog.org writes:

>  You
>  want to be Stern, so to speak, but it's another thing entirely to cripple
>  or even scuttle one of your franchises.  You can't take away first round
>  picks for five years!  That's an organization's life blood.

I was at first shocked by this penalty, but less so after some thought.  The 
league lost a season (well, pretty much) as it struggled to come up with a 
bargaining agreement involving a cap.  Now a team gets caught making side 
deals outside the contract.  This goes directly against everything that they 
just bargained and is deserving of very harsh punishment, lest others think 
they can do it with impunity.  Now, I might go with three years of first 
round picks, but not much less than that.  And you say other teams do it?  
Then work on policing them.  If they don't whack the TPups for this, Paul 
Allen will haul out his checkbook and set up a shadow payroll that will 
retire the trophy to Portland for 100 years.
   I was in Minnesota last month and people there say that this was a deal 
between the owner and Smith, that scuttlebutt had McHale in the dark.  Hope 
so, although it is hard to believe.  Everything I read about McHale is that 
he is pissed at this NBA and its players anyway.  Too bad he and Bird aren't 
good buddies - bring back two of the Big Three!