Chris Paul’s latest technical foul

Now I’m hearing Houston Rockets Coach Mike D’Antoni rarely, if ever, plans to have James Harden and Chris Paul on the court at the same time. That one will be the substitute for the other.

When you step very far back and look at it, this strategy sort of makes sense, although it seems so completely wacky that if one team has a pair of superstars, they never share time on the court. But in this case, Harden and Paul are essentially the same player, just in different skins. Both are notorious ball hogs. Harden let the NBA in personal time of possession this past season and Paul was seventh on that list. That’s why D’Antoni’s strategy makes sense. Basketball is a game of keep-away from the other team, but not from teammates.

Which is why Paul’s insistence that the Los Angeles Clippers trade him to the Rockets baffles me. OK, I get it that Harden is Paul’s best buddy. I also get it that Paul, at 32, is slightly more than four years older than Harden and may be looking at ways to max out his playing career. But LeBron James is a year older than Paul and the last time I looked he was still the best player in the NBA.

Then there’s the fact that by abandoning the Los Angeles Clippers, Paul left $50 million on the table. 50 million freaking dollars. It must be nice to be in a position to be able to say "Hey, what’s 50 million dollars when I can hang out in Houston, which is actually the same city as Los Angeles except with all the fun removed, with my best buddy?"

Look, he didn’t do it to win a ring. Perhaps someone with the Rockets whispered into Paul’s ear that Houston will be able to rent Paul George for the upcoming season. But if Paul plays for anyone other than Indiana this season I think it’s more than likely that team will be the Celtics.

Besides, the hurdle to pass in the Western Conference of the NBA is the Golden State Warriors and Chris Paul subbing for James Harden doesn’t come close to matching the Warriors’ Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, Dramont Greene, Klay Thompson, et al. Not even close.

For the last couple of years, the Clippers offense was pretty simple to diagnose It was either Paul or J.J. Redick shooting threes or Paul heaving an Ally-oop to either Blake Griffin or DeAndre Jordan. And Paul was especially gifted at the latter. Who’s he going to heave to with the Rockets?

There was speculation around the league that the San Antonio Spurs were going to actively court Paul once he became a free agent. Agreed, it was smart for the Clippers to trade Paul before the free agency period started — at least they got something in return in a trade deal. But the word was Houston was where Paul wanted to go all along. I just don’t get it. San Antonio seems, to me, at least, to be a much better fit. Tony Parker’s best days are behind him — he’s 35 after all and lost a considerable amount of court time last season to injury. And, with the Spurs, Paul could find a lot more wide open shots, especially if he’s sharing the court with the likes of Kawhi Leonard, LaMarcus Aldridge, Pau Gasol, David Lee and Danny Green. And the mind boggles at all the Ally-oop possibilities Paul would have with the Spurs.

Would Paul going to the Spurs put San Antonio on the same plateau as Golden State? Personally, I don’t think so, but a lot of learned voices will argue quite convincingly that they were on the same level last year until Zaza Pachulia stepped on Leonard’s foot and knocked him out of the playoffs.

And, like it or not, whether it’s fair or not, the truth is the legacy of any NBA player or coach is measured strictly by the number of championship rings in his possession. Earlier in the day Phil Jackson was dismissed as president of the New York Knicks, ending a three-season tenure in which the Knicks compiled a wretched won-loss record of 80-166 and were a franchise worse 16-65 in 2014-15. That’s horrible, That’s worse than horrible. However, I guarantee you the first paragraph of Jackson’s obit will refer to him as "an NBA legend" who won 11 NBA championships, six with the Chicago Bulls than five more with the Los Angeles Lakers. I think it’s unfair, unwise and frankly impossible to compare basketball players of one era with players of another. However, Michael Jordan is considered the greatest professional basketball player ever. Why? Six championship rings.

And, like it or not, whether it's fair or not, Chris Paul’s basketball legacy is as a failure. Why? Because he could never take the Clippers beyond the second round of the conference playoffs. And I don’t see his prospects for success in attaining a championship getting any better with Houston.

But, then, maybe I’m just under-estimating the value of friendship.

NBA first round playoff picks

No explanation necessary

EASTERN CONFERENCE
Boston over Chicago in 5
Cleveland over Indiana in 5
Toronto over Milwaukee in 5
Washington over Atlanta in 7

WESTERN CONFERENCE
Golden State over Portland in 4
San Antonio over Memphis in 5
Houston over Oklahoma City in 5
Los Angeles over Utah in 7

The corrupt NBA

I never believed all those who tried to convince me the 1985 NBA draft was rigged. That is, until now. With the unjustified decision to suspend Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green from last night’s NBA Finals Game 5, the NBA has proved to me it is a corrupt organization interested not in fair competition but in making money.

The ratings for this year’s finals series between the Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers have been down over ratings from previous year’s finals. Ratings go down, revenues to the league decrease and the only way to increase those revenues is to televise more games. It was definitely not in the league’s best financial interest to have this series end in five games, so it took steps to see if the finals could possibly be stretched to the full seven games.

If this Green suspension had been an isolated incident in the NBA, it could be possible to ignore it. But it is anything but an isolated incident and all the other examples of corruption within the NBA also are attributed to the league’s desperate attempt to garner more income. Some say it started with that 1985 draft, the first time the lottery system was used, and lo and behold, the struggling New York Knicks, located in the league’s largest media market, wound up shocking the world by getting the first pick.

There are enough other examples of a rigged lottery, examples that I also originally dismissed, that are now coming back to haunt me:

• The 2003 Draft, where the Cavaliers got the No. 1 pick to select hometown hero and Akron native Lebron James
• The 2008 Draft, where the Chicago Bulls got the No. 1 pick to select its hometown hero, Chicago native Derrick Rose.
• The 2011 Draft, where the Cavaliers got the No. 1 pick one year after James left.
• The 2012 Draft, where the New Orleans Hornets got the No. 1 pick and Anthony Davis. Remember who owned the Hornets at this time? The NBA.

Then there’s the infamous Game 6 of the 2002 West Conference finals pitting the Los Angeles Lakers and the Sacramento Kings. The Kings were up 3-2 and playing on their home court, but the NBA’s coffers would be far richer with Los Angeles in the finals than Sacramento. In that game, the Lakers wound up shooting 40 free throws, including 27 in the fourth quarter. In 2008, a New York Times article called that quarter "a master class in bad calls, missed calls and miscalls."

There’s also another theory, which you can read for yourself here, which states that most of educated America is now convinced the NBA is rigged and, as a result has quit watching it. Therefore, the NBA is trying to market its product to uneducated or undereducated black males and doing that by doing everything in its power to advance the notoriety of certain black players, chiefly Lebron James and Kobe Bryant. If you look at the replay of the incident for which Green was suspended, it was James who initiated the action by walking over a prone-trying-to-get-erect Green. Green has every right to try to get to his feet. It’s classless and disrespectful for James to try to walk over Green’s prone body. The above cited theory notes that during the 2006 FIBA World Championships, James averaged 2.2 free throws per game, while in the 2008 NBA finals he average six times that many.

So call me prejudiced if you will because I am a huge Dallas Mavericks fan, but the above reminded me of inconsistencies in the 2006 NBA finals, that are now coming bak to disturb me, and they all occurred after the Mavericks, whose star was a white German, Dirk Nowitzki, took a 2-0 lead against the Dwayne Wade/Shaquille O’Neal-led Miami Heat. To wit:

• Miami stages a miracle comeback to win Game 3, a game in which Wade went to the free throw line 18 times.
• The Mavericks’s Jerry Stackhouse is suspended for Game 5 during the fourth game, which the Heat also won, because of a  foul on O’Neal, who said, after the game, the Stackhouse hit was less vicious than a love tap from his daughters.
• The Heat won game five when Wade shot as many free throws as all the Mavericks combined. He set an NBA finals record with 21 made free throws and he hit the winning free throws with 1.9 seconds left in the game after not having been called for committing a back-court violation on that very same play.
• The Heat won Game 6 and the series when Wade went to the line 21 times and four different Mavericks were whistled for five fouls each.

Tim Donaghy, himself tossed out of the fraternity of NBA referees for gambling, also made some claims in his book as well as during a television show that, at the time, I did not put much stock into, considering the source, but I find myself giving more credence to after the league’s mishandling of the Green situation. Donaghy, talking about league refs, said:

"I mean, there are situations, and the referees are trained in the fact that, obviously, you don't want to be throwing the stars out of the game, or you don't want to be giving a star a foul that you can give to somebody else who's in that area. It's the way that you were trained. Obviously you don't want to give a Kobe Bryant or Shaquille O'Neal or LeBron James a foul that may be his second or third foul in the first quarter, to where he's going to have to go to the bench. I mean, it was openly discussed in meetings that, you know, people paid big dollars to see these stars on the floor. So if there's a situation where you can have two people to pick from, you're certainly not going to pick one of them, you're going to pick someone that's the sixth, seventh, or eighth man on that team."

But, you may say. Green is also a black player, so is it in the league’s best interest to target him? The answer is "yes," because Green has a history of baiting referees and that fact reminded me of something else Donaghy said:

"One player where referees targeted on a continuous basis was Rasheed Wallace. He was one of those guys that just constantly seemed to go out of his way to embarrass referees. And when you do that to the referee staff, you know, at times they would come together, and basically try to put him in his place, or try to get him in a position where, you know, he would stop doing what he was doing."

I find all this disturbing and now, with the Green fiasco added to it, I’m through with the NBA.

A couple of things I’d like to get off my chest

Listening and reading about their wailing and gnashing of teeth over the Supreme Court’s ruling on marriage equality, I’m wondering how Texas’ Republican leadership can, in good conscience, recite the Pledge of Allegiance, when they know they don’t believe in the pledge’s last lines. This is especially true of that real nut job, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who was quoted as saying "I would rather be on the wrong side of history than on the wrong side of my faith and my beliefs." That must mean his faith and his beliefs to do not include tolerance since so many other religious leaders supported the ruling. Just one example: "This is a day of celebration for my church community," said Kim Rogers, pastor at Central Presbyterian Church in Austin. "The God I hold dear to me doesn’t push people away." But I guess to Patrick the faith and beliefs of others are just not worthy of consideration. That, my friends, is a textbook example of bigotry.

Speaking of wailing and gnashing of teeth, I noticed none of those spewing invectives at the New York Knicks for chosing Kristaps Porzingis with the fourth pick in Thursday’s NBA draft suggested someone the Knicks should have selected instead. Hey, there were no turnaround players in this draft, no Anthony Davis, no LaBron James, no Kevin Durant, no Tim Duncan, no Shaquille O’Neal, no Hakeem Olajuwon, no Michael Jordan, no Larry Bird, no Magic Johnson, certainly no Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. This draft was comparatively deep in good players, but not really that many very good players. The first pick in the draft, Kari-Anthony Towns, had the lowest points-per-game average of any player ever picked No. 1 in the 68-year history of the draft. And if Porzingis can put some muscle on his skinny frame, he could turn out to be as good a pick as anyone else in this draft. Yes, he could also be a major bust, but so could Towns and Jahill Okafor, two players selected ahead of Porzingis. And there have only been a handful of players chosen at the four spot that have really turned out to be major stars in the league — Russell Westbrook in 2008, Chris Paul in 2005, Chris Bosh in 2003, Stephon Marbury in 1996, Dikembe Mutombo in 1991 — but plenty of good journeymen. If Porzingis turns out to be the latter, that wouldn’t be all that bad.

A radical idea for basketball

I've been hearing a lot of talk recently about ways to "speed up" the game of basketball, especially college basketball. Television viewership is one the decline and many attribute it to the slow pace of the game. Personally I think it's a bunch of hooey.

The real reason why viewership down is the so-called "one-and-done" rule in college basketball. The average viewer doesn't watch a basketball team to see a particular team, unless, of course, you're a diehard follower of that particular team. They tune in to see their favorite players in action. I think more people are going to watch an Oklahoma City Thunder game so see Russell Westbrook in action than they will because they are rooting for the Thunder. I watch a lot of Golden State games because I get a big kick out of watching Seth Curry and Klay Thompson effortlessly hit those three pointers from ridiculous distances and sometimes in seemingly impossible situations. When he was healthy, I watched the Laker games to see Kobe in action. He always amazed me at least once per game.

But it took time for the reputations of Russell and Seth and Klay and Kobe to develop. I never went out of my way to watch them during their rookie seasons because I didn't have enough information on them yet to compel me to watch.

The college game, on the other hand, is composed entirely of "rookies" or upperclassman like Rick Kaminsky of Wisconsin no one outside the immediate Big 10 community knows anything about until tournament time.

The powers-that-be have come up with two solutions to speed make the college game more inviting to viewers. Shorten the 35-second shot clock down to, if not at the NBA level of 24 seconds, at least to 30 seconds. If the college game wants to do that, it's fine with me although I don't think it will have a significant impact. I watched a whole lot of college basketball during the NCAA tournament and I would be willing to bet that in at least 90 percent of the total possessions, the team with the ball took a shot before 30 seconds expired on the 35-second shot clock. Another solution is to move what I call the charge arc -- that semi-circle painted just outside the basket that determines whether a charging foul should be called -- a foot further out in the court. I can't see how that would have any impact whatsoever on the pace of the game, but if someone out there would like to try to convince me, go for it.

Now, if these guys were really serious about not only quickening the pace of the game but in making the overall product better they could take the simple step of eliminating the single most boring play in all of basketball -- namely, the free throw.

Nothing, not a single thing other than a time-out or the end of a period brings the pace of a basketball game to a grinding halt faster than having everyone stop playing in order to form two lines while one player stands 15 feet from the basket and takes one or two shots at the dang thing. End the practice right now. Get rid of it.

Instead, if a team is fouled, that team is awarded a single point as well as the ball out of bounds at the closest point to where the foul occurred. If a team is fouled in the last two minutes of a period, they are awarded two points and the ball out of bounds. A flagrant foul results in two points; a flagrant foul in the last two minutes is three.

Think of all the other positive ways this would impact the game. It would practically eliminate the "Hack-a-Shaq" philosophy of some coaches who will purposely foul poor free-throw shooters on the opposing team. Instead, these coaches are going to have to teach their players how to defend properly, and I see nothing wrong with that. It would also mean that the last two minutes of each game don't last a seeming eternity where all we see is a constant parade of players to the free  throw line.

Now I know this idea won't get any traction because it is radical even though it makes perfect sense and has no downsides except to those who "respect the purity of the original game." But basketball came up with the radical idea of the 3-point play. Remember, the NBA only adopted the 3-point play at the beginning of the 1979 basketball season and college basketball only set a standard 3-point arc of 20 feet, 9 inches for all NCAA teams in time for the 2008-09 season.

So change can come and now is the time to change the rules on personal fouls.

Dump the most boring play in basketball

During last night’s telecast of the NBA game between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Golden State Warriors, TNT analyst and former coach Jeff Van Gundy suggested eliminating the most boring play in basketball: the free throw.

The more I think about his idea the better I like it, although I’m not in favor of what he would replace the free throw with. His suggestion would be that after the first foul is called on each team, the opposing team would get one free throw. If the player converts, his team gets three points. If not, then, of course, nothing. After that, no more free throws after fouls.

I favor his idea of eliminating the free throw because, yes, it is basketball’s least exciting play and eliminating it would speed up the game. However, what I would recommend is that after every foul. the team that is fouled is awarded one point and the ball out of bounds. That would also quickly eliminate the hack-a-player tactics we see at the end of many NBA games that make the final few minutes seem like an eternity.

Waddya think?

Brooklyn improves its Nets' worth

Gotta hand it to the NBA's Brooklyn Nets. First they banish coach Jason Kidd to the boonies and get a pair of second-round draft choices in the process. Then they hire Lionel Hollins to replace him. Hollins took the Memphis Grizzlies to the Western Conference playoffs in his last three seasons with the team. In his last year, they made it all the way to the Western Conference finals.

The Case Against the Heat

Could Carmelo Anthony and LaBron James wind up playing together in The Big Apple?

I noticed it for the first time at the beginning of the 2011 NBA finals. ESPN.com asked its visitors to pick which team it wanted to win the finals and it displayed a U.S. map showing which state was rooting for which team. I was interested in 2011 because my beloved Mavericks were playing the Heat that season. It was the first season the Heat were playing with "the Big 3" — LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. What made the results interesting to me was that 49 of the 50 U.S. states were hoping the Mavs would win. The 50^th state, of course, was Florida, but even there support for the Heat was not overwhelming. ESPN ran the same survey in 2012, when the Heat played the Oklahoma City Thunder and in 2013 when the Heat played the San Antonio Spurs. In both of those instances the results were the same – 49 states wanted the Western Conference team to win, Florida barely voted for the Heat. The all-sports network probably conducted the same survey again this year, but I didn’t notice.

This morning on Mike & Mike, a sports talk show that runs on the ESPN radio, the two were showcasing run of their regular features called "Love It or Shove It" in which an idea is placed on the floor and the two say whether they "love" the idea or hate ("shove") it. One of tje topics featured this morning was the idea of James, Wade and Bosh opting out of their current contracts, then re-signing for a reduced salary so the Heat can add the scoring machine, Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks, to their roster. Mike Greenberg, the reporter of Mike & Mike, hated the idea; Mike Golic, the former pro athlete, loved it. Golic said the league has always had dominant teams, so what’s wrong with this being the era of Heat dominance. Greenberg really couldn’t put his finger on why he hated the idea, but it smelled to him for some reason.

Perhaps I can help Greenberg out. As ESPN’s pre-NBA finals maps indicate, the overwhelming majority of the NBA world hates the Miami Heat and they hate it for one reason — the manner in which the team came together. With most of the other NBA dynasties — the Celtics, the Pistons, the Bulls, even the Lakers, for the most part — they seemed to come together organically. The superstars on those teams were associated with those particular teams — they did not make their reputations with other teams before joining the dynasty teams. The two exceptions that I can think of happened with the Lakers – when Kareem Abdul Jabbar joined after becoming a superstar with the Milwaukee Bucks, and when Shaquille O’Neal left Orlando to move west.

But the Heat situation was unprecedented. Never had three players negotiated among themselves to form a union. Not only did James abandon Cleveland to "take his talents to South Beach," but Chris Bosh announced Wade had persuaded him to come to Miami just a few days earlier. Not only that, this was one of the worst cases of "Reverse Robin Hood" — robbing the poor to give to the rich — in sports history. Remember, James and Bosh simultaneously joined a team that had won an NBA title the year before. The sports world would have loved James and Bosh if they had decided "to take their talents" to Sacramento or Washington, D.C., two teams that have never tasted an NBA finals, let alone a title. But when they opted for Miami, the Heat became the most hated NBA franchise and joined the New York Yankees as the two most hated sports franchises for exactly the same reason — they weren’t interested in "winning" championships, they only wanted to "buy" them.

Now, if Anthony comes to Miami, the Heat will accomplish what I thought would be impossible — they will surpass the Yankees on the hate meter.

But I really don’t think Anthony-to-Miami is a realistic scenario. For one thing, Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra is already having trouble coming up with enough offensive sets that involve Bosh. And if he adds another ball hog to the roster, there’s going to be some bitterness in some quarters on that roster. Besides, who will Anthony replace in the starting five? The only logical candidate is Rashard Lewis, who is a far better teammate than Anthony. I think Lewis leaves the Heat if Miami seriously considers signing Anthony and Lewis will be a devastating loss to Miami. If Melo moves, I think it’s more likely he joins James Harden and Dwight Howard in Houston or Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah in Chicago. But I think the most likely scenario is this: Knicks top dog and basketball guru Phil Jackson will find a way to convince (1) Anthony to remain in New York, the city he loves and (2) James to repair his tarnished image by joining Anthony in the media capital of the world.

NBA Finals Game 2

The mirror image of Game 1. While the Spurs won that first game by playing flawlessly in the final half of the fourth quarter, they completely fell apart during that same time frame in Game 2 — missing crucial free throws, poor shot selection, lack of ball movement. Am I detecting a pattern here? I guess the Spurs can take some solace in the fact that they played that badly and still only lost by two points. But the Heat can also claim it doesn’t matter whether it’s two points or 20 — a win is still a win. So now it’s a best three-out-of-five series with Miami having the home court advantage.

Game 1 NBA Finals

LaBron James leaving Game 1
with cramps

If I heard it asked once today among sports enthusiasts and NBA fans, I heard it a couple of dozen times: Did the absence of air conditioning affect the outcome of Game 1 of the NBA Finals? What these people really are asking is this: Did the San Antonio Spurs defeat the Miami Heat in Game 1 because Heat superstar LaBron James had to leave the game with cramps midway through the fourth quarter at a time when the Heat was leading the Spurs by two points?

The answer is absolutely not. The Heat were ahead for one simple reason: through the first, say, three and a half quarters of last night’s game, the Spurs committed 23 turnovers. Midway through the final 12 minutes, the Spurs suddenly decided to turn off the turnover machine and they didn’t commit another one the entire rest of the game. Suddenly they decided to play Spurs basketball and when they play Spurs basketball there isn’t a team in the league that can compete with them. That’s particularly true of the Heat, a team that, if they had played in the league’s Western Conference, would have finished no higher than fifth.

I will admit this, however: If LaBron could have finished the game, the Spurs would not have won 110-95. The margin would have probably been only 10 points.

Thunder Struck

For the past two NBA seasons, the Oklahoma City Thunder has been the best team in the league — at least, until the playoffs came around. The season before this one, the Thunder lost Russell Westbrook, their dynamic point guard, to a leg injury. As a result, they lost in the first round to the
Memphis Grizzlies. This season, the Thunder maintained a healthy status until they won the right to play in the Western Conference finals against the San Antonio Spurs, a team the Thunder beat all four times they played during the regular season, But, on the eve of that series, the Thunder learned they would be without their solid power forward Serge Ibaka, a loss tantamount to the Spurs playing without Tim Duncan. I was really hoping to see an NBA finals series between the Thunder and the Indiana Pacers. It would be tantamount to witnessing a new generation coming to the fore in the NBA. But I guess that’s not going to happen. The snakebit Thunder can make the series competitive, but can’t win it without Ibaka plugging the middle, and the Pacers losing the coveted home court advantage a couple of hours ago to the Miami Heat seems to make another Heat appearance in the finals a boring inevitability. Oh, well. I think I’ll take a nap.

The Evil that is Donald Sterling

 

Donald Sterling is a bad man — a very, very bad man.

The fact that the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers pro basketball team is an out and out racist is undeniable. His taped conversation with his girlfriend was only the latest example. Back in the early 1990s, Sterling’s insurance company shelled out $2.75 million to settle a racial discrimination suit filed against him by the Justice Department involving some of the apartment properties Sterling owns in Los Angeles.

Former Clippers employee and Los Angeles Lakers legend Elgin Baylor filed a racial and age discrimination suit against Sterling claiming the owner had "a plantation mentality" and thought of the Clippers players as "poor black boys from the South playing for a white coach." The suit further claimed that after home games Sterling would take guests into the Clippers’ locker room so the guests could check out his players’ "beautiful black bodies."

But Sterling’s "badness" goes deeper than his racism. Who are the most despicable people on earth? That’s right — divorce lawyers. OK, perhaps the attorney who represented you in when you split with the spouse might have been an alright person during daylight hours but you also know that shark that represented your spouse was — on the evolutionary scale — one step below pond scum.

So now I’m talking about a guy who was born Donny Tokowitz in the Boyle Heights section of Los Angeles who made his bones as a — you guessed it — not only a divorce lawyer, but a personal injury shyster as well.

He used the sums he amassed in these nefarious pursuits to purchase real estate all over Los Angeles. And he never sold any of it. In 1981, he shelled out $12.5 million to purchase the San Diego Clippers, which had moved to the Southern California city from Buffalo three years earlier. During his time in San Diego, his players claimed they would receive their paychecks after the banks closed on Fridays, presumably to keep them from bouncing.

In 1984, he abruptly moved the team to Los Angeles without the NBA’s permission and got slapped with a $25 million fine from the league for doing it. And not only did he decide not to share the Forum, the then home court of the Lakers, with the older LA NBA franchise, he forced the Clippers to play in the decrepit Los Angeles Sports Arena and made a nice profit from a lousy team because of his sweetheart lease deal.

Like I said at the beginning: Donald Sterling is a bad man.

By now, anyone who’s over the age of 7 and breathing the air of this country knows that this week that taped conversation I referred to earlier — in which he implored his girlfriend to quit posting pictures on public forums of herself with black athletes and, while he was on the subject, to quit bringing blacks to see Clippers’ games — has resulted in Sterling being banned from the Clippers and the NBA for life. Not only that, the league’s other 29 owners seemed determined to make sure Sterling doesn’t own the Clippers for too much longer.

Most everyone I’ve talked to or have heard talking about this seems to believe it’d karma — Donald Sterling is finally getting just what he deserved.

However, my very intelligent South Florida correspondent smells a rat in all this. He presents an extremely well reasoned argument that Sterling has been wanting to sell the team for a while and what he’s doing now is driving up the price of the team by producing all this publicity surrounding it. Why else, Mr. Howard Schulman claims, would he freely admit that "Yes, that is my voice on that tape and those are my views"? Why else, he argues, would Sterling not dispute the fact that private conversations should remain private and not cause punitive judgments if and when they become public. And, it appears, his tactic is working. The proof of that, according to Mr. Schulman, is the fact that mega-buck folks such as Oprah Winfrey and David Geffen, both of whom could probably pay for the team by collecting the cash they could find by removing the cushions of their respective living room couches, are among those interested in shelling out the $1 billion or more I’ve heard it will take to puchase the Clippers. But I don’t want to put words into the great Mr. Schulman’s mouth. You can read it all for yourself here.

Now, as reasoned and as well articulated as Mr. Schulman’s arguments are, I am going to take exactly the opposite point of view. Why? Because, as I’ve said twice now: Donald Sterling is a bad man — a very, very bad man. I also said that Sterling made his bones as a divorce lawyer.

Unlike most in the legal profession who seem to want to achieve justice, divorce lawyers want nothing of the kind, Divorce lawyers want revenge — regardless of the monetary or emotional cost. And when someone lashes out at Donald Sterling, he lashes right back with double or triple the intensity.

Remember, he didn’t lose that racial discrimination suit against the Justice Department. He also emerged victorious in the Baylor affair. When the NBA slapped that $25 million fine on him for moving the Clippers without permission, he simply countersued. The case dragged on for three years and in 1987 Sterling wound up paying a fine $6 million, less than a fourth of the original judgment.

Right now Donald Sterling is a bitter old man plotting ways to get even with an NBA and fellow team owners he is convinced have done him wrong. And here’s how he’s going to do it: He’s going to file for divorce from his long-suffering wife Rochelle. And when that happens, everything else grinds to a halt.

The team, you see, is not owned by Sterling per se, but a Sterling family trust that includes Rochelle. Such a divorce filing would put the jurisdiction of the team into the multi-layered California’s family court, while both sides decide how to divide the community property, Agreement on those decisions could take years, perhaps not even in Donald Sterling’s lifetime.

According to Sharon Kalemkiarian, a California family law specialist: "If somebody is looking for a litigation strategy, and they want to slow down a forced sale by the league, you file for divorce so you get more people involved arguing over it. Everybody's got to spend more money trying to figure out what happens to it. Getting the family court involved in it would create another layer of complexity to the sale and another set of lawyers who would be trying stop it from getting sold."

So what happens to the Clippers in the process? Coach Doc Rivers will absolutely refuse to participate in any actions that would put more money in Sterling’s pockets and, as a result, will resign before the start of the 2014-15 season. Premier players such as Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan and Matt Barnes will feel the same way and demand the league declare them to be free agents, a demand to which the NBA will undoubtedly honor. And quickly the value of the team plummets, down to the point where, when and if the dust settles, the only person who will want to purchase it is another divorce lawyer. Still, the selling price will be more than the $12.5 million Sterling paid for it, so he still makes a profit.

And when that happens, if he does happen to be among those still living on this planet, Donald Sterling — that very, very bad man — will prominently display his middle finger to NBA Commisioner Adam Silver, the NBA, and the other league owners, and walk off into the sunset with a huge smile on that very, very bad face.

My Top Basketball Teams

This will be my last ratings for the season. Let's hear it for March Madness. Last week's rank in  parenthesis.
COLLEGE MEN
1.  Gonzaga 30-2 (2)
2.  Indiana 26-5 (1)
3.  Duke 27-4 (3)
4.  Louisville 26-5 (4)
5.  Kansas 26-5 (5)
6.  Florida 24-6 (6)
7.  Michigan 25-6 (7)
8.  Michigan State 24-7 (10)
9.  Ohio State 23-7 (12)
10. Georgetown 24-5 (9)
11. Miami, Fla. 24-6 (8)
12. New Mexico 26-5 (13)
13. Pittsburgh 24-7 (14)
14. Syracuse 23-8 (11)
15. Marquette 23-7 (17)
16. Oklahoma State 23-7 (16)
17. Arizona 24-6 (18)
18. Kansas State 25-6 (19)
19. St. Louis 24-6 (20)
20. Virginia Commonwealth 24-7 (21)
21. Wisconsin 21-10 (15)
22. Creighton 27-7 (25)
23. Memphis 27-4 (23)
24. St. Mary's, Calif. 27-5 (24)
25. Colorado State 24-7 (NR)
Dropped out: Minnesota (22)
COLLEGE WOMEN
1.  Baylor 31-1 (1)
2.  Notre Dame 29-1 (3)
3.  Connecticut 28-3 (2)
4.  Stanford 31-2 (4)
5.  Duke 30-2 (5)
6.  California 28-3 (6)
7.  Kentucky 27-5 (7)
8.  Penn State 25-5 (8)
9.  North Carolina 28-6 (11)
10. Tennessee 24-7 (10)
11. Maryland 24-7 (9)
12. Texas A&M 24-9 (13)
13. UCLA 25-7 (14)
14. Louisville 24-7 (12)
15. Iowa State 23-7 (20)
16. Delaware 27-3 (15)
17. Colorado 25-6 (16)
18. Nebraska 23-8 (18)
19. Wisconsin-Green Bay 26-2 (21)
20. Syracuse 24-6 (25)
21. Purdue 24-8 (NR)
22. South Carolina 24-7 (19)
23. Michigan State 24-8 (24)
24. Dayton 27-2 (17)
25. Georgia 25-6 (22)
Dropped out: Texas Tech (23)
NBA
1.  Miami 47-14 (1)
2.  San Antonio 48-15 (2)
3.  Oklahoma City 47-16 (3)
4.  Los Angeles Clippers 45-20 (4)
5.  Memphis 42-19 (5)
6.  Denver 42-22 (6)
7.  Indiana 39-24 (7)
8.  New York 38-22 (8)
9.  Brooklyn 37-26 (10)
10. Chicago 35-28 (9)

My Top Basketball Teams

Last week's rank in parenthesis
COLLEGE MEN
1.  Indiana 25-4 (1)
2.  Gonzaga 29-2 (4)
3.  Duke 25-4 (2)
4.  Louisville 24-5 (7)
5.  Kansas 25-4 (6)
6.  Florida 23-5 (3)
7.  Michigan 24-5 (5)
8.  Miami, Fla. 23-5 (8)
9.  Georgetown 23-4 (11)
10. Michigan State 22-7 (9)
11. Syracuse 22-7 (10)
12. Ohio State 21-7 (13)
13. New Mexico 25-4 (14)
14. Pittsburgh 23-7 (16)
15. Wisconsin 20-9 (15)
16. Oklahoma State 22-6 (17)
17. Marquette 21-7 (19)
18. Arizona 23-6 (12)
19. Kansas State 24-5 (18)
20. St. Louis 23-5 (22)
21. Virginia Commonwealth 23-6 (24)
22. Minnesota 20-9 (23)
23. Memphis 25-4 (20)
24. St Mary's, Calif. 26-5 (NR)
25. Creighton 24-7 (NR)
Dropped out: Colorado State (21), UNLV (25)
COLLEGE WOMEN
1.  Baylor 28-1 (1)
2.  Connecticut 27-2 (2)
3.  Notre Dame 27-1 (4)
4.  Stanford 28-2 (5)
5.  Duke 27-2 (3)
6.  California 27-2 (6)
7.  Kentucky 25-4 (9)
8.  Penn State 24-4 (8)
9.  Maryland 23-6 (7)
10. Tennessee 23-6 (10)
11. North Carolina 26-5 (12)
12. Louisville 23-6 (13)
13. Texas A&M 21-9 (11)
14. UCLA 23-6 (19)
15. Deleware 26-3 (18)
16. Colorado 24-5 (17)
17. Dayton 26-1 (21)
18. Nebraska 22-7 (20)
19. South Carolina 23-6 (14)
20. Iowa State 20-7 (15)
21. Wisconsin Green Bay 24-2 (24)
22. Georgia 24-5 (16)
23. Texas Tech 21-8 (23)
24. Michigan State 22-7 (25)
25. Syracuse 22-6 (22)
NBA
1.  Miami 43-14 (2)
2.  San Antonio 47-14 (1)
3.  Oklahoma City 43-16 (3)
4.  Los Angeles Clippers 43-19 (4)
5.  Memphis 39-19 (5)
6.  Denver 38-22 (6)
7.  Indiana 38-22 (7)
8.  New York 25-21 (NR)
9.  Chicago 34-26 (9)
10. Brooklyn 34-26 (10)
Dropped out: Golden State (8)

My Top Basketball Teams

Last week's rank in parenthesis
COLLEGE MEN
1.  Indiana 24-3 (1)
2.  Duke 24-3 (3)
3.  Florida 22-4 (2)
4.  Gonzaga 27-2 (5)
5.  Michigan 23-4 (6)
6.  Kansas 23-4 (9)
7.  Louisville 22-5 (7)
8.  Miami, Fla, 22-4 (4)
9.  Michigan State 22-6 (8)
10. Syracuse 22-5 (10)
11. Georgetown 21-4 (12)
12. Arizona 23-4 (11)
13. Ohio State 20-7 (18)
14. New Mexico 23-4 (16)
15. Wisconsin 19-8 (14)
16. Pittsburgh 21-7 (13)
17. Oklahoma State 20-6 (15)
18. Kansas State 22-5 (22)
19. Marquette 19-7 (19)
20. Memphis 24-3 (21)
21. Colorado State 21-6 (17)
22. St. Louis 21-5 (NR)
23. Minnesota 18-9 (20)
24. Virginia Commonwealth 22-6 (23)
25. UNLV 21-7 (NR)
Dropped out: Butler, (25), Cincinnati (24).
COLLEGE WOMEN
1.  Baylor 26-1 (1)
2.  Connecticut 25-2 (2)
3.  Duke 26-1 (3)
4.  Notre Dame 25-1 (4)
5.  Stanford 26-2 (5)
6.  California 25-2 (6)
7.  Maryland 22-5 (7)
8.  Penn State 23-3 (10)
9.  Kentucky 23-4 (9)
10. Tennessee 22-5 (12)
11. Texas A&M 21-7 (8)
12. North Carolina 25-4 (13)
13.  Louisville 22-6 (11)
14. South Carolina 22-5 (14)
15. Iowa State 19-6 (17)
16. Georgia 23-4 (18)
17. Colorado 22-5 (16)
18. Delaware 24-3 (15)
19. UCLA 21-6 (20)
20. Nebraska 21-6 (24)
21. Dayton 24-1 (21)
22. Syracuse 22-4 (19)
23. Texas Tech 20-7 (25)
24. Wisconsin-Green Bay 22-2 (NR)
25. Michigan State 20-6 (NR)
Dropped out: Florida State (22), Oklahoma State (23).
NBA
1.  San Antonio 45-13 (1)
2.  Miami 40-14 (3)
3.  Oklahoma City 41-15 (2)
4.  Los Angeles Clippers 40-18 (4)
5.  Memphis 37-18 (5)
6.  Denver 35-22 (6)
7. Indiana 35-21 (NR)
8.  Golden State 33-23 (8)
9.  Chicago 32-24 (10)
10. Brooklyn 33-24 (9)
Dropped out: New York (7)

My Top Basketball Teams

Last week's rank in parenthesis.
COLLEGE MEN
1.  Indiana 23-3 (1)
2.  Florida 21-3 (3)
3.  Duke 22-3 (2)
4.  Miami, Fla. 21-3 (5)
5.  Gonzaga 25-2 (6)
6.  Michigan 22-4 (4)
7.  Louisville 21-5 (8)
8.  Michigan State 22-4 (11)
9.  Kansas 21-4 (10)
10. Syracuse 21-4 (7)
11. Arizona 21-4 (9)
12. Georgetown 19-4 (17)
13. Pittsburgh 20-6 (12)
14. Wisconsin 18-8 (20)
15. Oklahoma State 19-5 (19)
16. New Mexico 22-4 (15)
17. Colorado State 21-4 (18)
18. Ohio State 18-7 (13)
19. Marquette 18-6 (23)
20. Minnesota 18-8 (14)
21. Memphis 22-3 (NR)
22. Kansas State 20-5 (16)
23. Virginia Commonwealth 21-5 (NR)
24. Cincinnati 19-7 (21)
25. Butler 21-5 (24)
Dropped out: Creighton (22), San Diego State (25).
COLLEGE WOMEN
1.  Baylor 24-1 (1)
2.  Connecticut 24-1 (2)
3.  Notre Dame 24-1 (3)
4.  Duke 24-1 (4)
5.  Stanford 24-2 (5)
6.  California 23-2 (6)
7.  Maryland 21-4 (7)
8.  Texas A&M 20-5 (8)
9.  Kentucky 22-3 (9)
10. Penn State 21-3 (10)
11. Louisville 21-5 (12)
12. Tennessee 20-5 (13)
13. North Carolina 23-4 (11)
14. South Carolina 21-5 (14)
15. Delaware 22-3 (17)
16. Colorado 20-5 (19)
17. Iowa State 18-6 (16)
18. Georgia 21-4 (21)
19. Syracuse 21-3 (22)
20. UCLA 19-6 (15)
21. Dayton 21-1 (20)
22. Florida State 20-5 (18)
23. Oklahoma State 18-6 (NR)
24. Nebraska 19-6 (NR)
25. Texas Tech 19-7 (NR)
Dropped out: Michigan State (25), Oklahoma (24), Purdue (23).
NBA
1.  San Antonio 42-12 (1)
2.  Oklahoma City 39-15 (2)
3.  Miami 36-14 (3)
4.  Los Angeles Clippers 39-17 (4)
5.  Memphis 33-18 (7)
6.  Denver 33-21 (5)
7.  New York 32-18 (8)
8.  Golden State 30-22 (6)
9.  Brooklyn 31-22 (NR)
10. Chicago 30-22 (10)
Dropped out: Indiana (9)

My Top Basketball Teams

Last week's rank in parenthesis
COLLEGE MEN
1. Indiana 21-3 (4)
2.  Duke 21-2 (2)
3.  Florida 19-3 (1)
4.  Michigan 21-3 (3)
5.  Miami, Fla. 19-3 (8)
6.  Gonzaga 23-2 (6)
7.  Syracuse 20-3 (10)
8.  Louisville 19-5 (9)
9.  Arizona 20-3 (7)
10. Kansas 19-4 (5)
11. Michigan State 20-4 (14)
12. Pittsburgh 20-5 (15)
13. Ohio State 17-6 (11)
14. Minnesota 17-7 (12)
15. New Mexico 20-4 (18)
16. Kansas State 19-4 (19)
17. Georgetown 17-4 (20)
18. Colorado State 19-4 (17)
19. Oklahoma State 17-5 (23)
20. Wisconsin 17-7 (25)
21. Cincinnati 18-6 (16)
22. Creighton 20-5 (13)
23. Marquette17-5 (NR)
24. Butler 20-4 (22)
25. San Diego State 18-5 (NR)
Dropped out: North Carolina State (21), UNLV (24).
COLLEGE WOMEN
1.  Baylor 22-1 (1)
2.  Connecticut 22-1 (2)
3.  Notre Dame 22-1 (3)
4.  Duke 21-1 (4)
5.  Stanford 22-2 (5)
6.  California 21-2 (6)
7.  Maryland 19-3 (7)
8.  Texas A&M 19-5 (8)
9.  Kentucky 21-3 (9)
10. Penn State 20-3 (10)
11. North Carolina 22-3 (13)
12. Louisville 20-4 (12)
13. Tennessee 19-5 (11)
14. South Carolina 20-4 (14)
15. UCLA 19-4 (17)
16. Iowa State 17-5 (18)
17. Delaware 20-3 (19)
18. Florida State 19-4 (24)
19. Colorado 18-5 (20)
20. Dayton 21-1 (21)
21. Georgia 20-4 (16)
22. Syracuse 19-3 (22)
23. Purdue 18-5 (15)
24. Oklahoma 18-5 (NR)
25. Michigan State 18-5 (NR)
Dropped out: Oklahoma State (25), Wisconsin Green Bay (23)
NBA
1.  San Antonio 40-12 (1)
2.  Oklahoma City 39-12 (2)
3.  Miami 34-14 (3)
4.  Los Angeles Clippers 36-17 (4)
5.  Denver 33-19 (6)
6.  Memphis 32-18 (5)
7.  New York 32-17 (8)
8.  Chicago 30-20 (9)
9.  Golden State 30-21 (7)
10. Indiana 31-20 (NR)
Dropped out: Brooklyn (10)

My Top Basketball Teams

Last week's rank in parenthesis

COLLEGE MEN
1.  Florida 18-2 (3)
2.  Duke 19-2 (4)
3.  Michigan 20-2 (1)
4.  Indiana 20-2 (5)
5.  Kansas 19-2 (2)
6.  Gonzaga 21-2 (8)
7.  Arizona 19-2 (6)
8.  Miami, Fla. 17-3 (9)
9.  Louisville 18-4 (10)
10. Syracuse 18-3 (7)
11, Ohio State 17-4 (11)
12. Minnesota 17-5 (12)
13. Creighton 20-3 (13)
14. Michigan State 18-4 (14)
15. Pittsburgh 18-5 (20)
16. Cincinnati 18-4 (17)
17. Colorado State 18-4 (NR)
18. New Mexico 19-3 (22)
19. Kansas State 17-4 (NR)
20. Georgetown 16-4 (NR)
21. North Carolina State 16-6 (21)
22. Butler 18-4 (18)
23. Oklahoma State 15-5 (NR)
24. UNLV 17-5 (23)
25. Wisconsin 15-7 (NR)
Dropped out: Marquette (25), Mississippi (19), Oregon (15), San Diego State (24), Wichita State (16).

COLLEGE WOMEN
1.  Baylor 20-1 (2)
2.  Connecticut 20-1 (1)
3.  Notre Dame 20-1 (3)
4.  Duke 20-1 (5)
5.  Stanford 20-2 (4)
6.  California 19-2 (6)
7.  Maryland 18-3 (7)
8.  Texas A&M 17-5 (11)
9.  Kentucky 19-3 (10)
10. Penn State 17-3 (8)
11. Tennessee 17-5 (9)
12. Louisville 19-4 (15)
13. North Carolina 20-3 (12)
14. South Carolina 19-3 (13)
15. Purdue 18-3 (14)
16. Georgia 19-3 (21)
17. UCLA 17-4 (24)
18. Iowa State 15-5 (16)
19. Delaware 18-3 (22)
20. Colorado 16-5 (17)
21. Dayton 19-1 (19)
22. Syracuse 18-3 (25)
23. Wisconsin Green Bay 17-2 (23)
24. Florida State 18-4 (20)
25. Oklahoma State 25-5 (18)

NBA
1.  San Antonion 38-11 (1)
2.  Oklahoma City 35-12 (2)
3.  Miamia 30-14 (4)
4.  Los Angeles Clippers 24-15 (3)
5.  Memphis 30-16 (5)
6.  Denver 30-18 (6)
7.  Golden State 30-17 (7)
8.  New York 30-15 (8)
9.  Chicago 29-18 (10)
10. Brooklyn 28-19 (9)

My Top Basketball Teams

Last week's rank in parenthesis

COLLEGE MEN
1.  Michigan 19-1 (2)
2.  Kansas 18-1 (4)
3.  Florida 16-2 (3)
4.  Duke 17-2 (1)
5.  Indiana 18-2 (8)
6.  Arizona 17-2 (7)
7.  Syracuse 18-2 (6)
8.  Gonzaga 19-2 (10)
9.  Miami, Fla. 15-3 (14)
10. Louisville 16-4 (5)
11. Ohio State 15-4 (13)
12. Minnesota 15-5 (9)
13. Creighton 18-3 (11)
14. Michigan State 17-4 (17)
15. Oregon 18-2 (18)
16. Wichita State 19-2 (19)
17. Cincinnati 16-4 (15)
18. Butler 17-3 (20)
19. Mississippi 17-2 (22)
20. Pittsburgh 17-4 (23)
21. North Carolina State 16-4 (16)
22. New Mexico 17-3 (21)
23. UNLV 16-4 (NR)
24. San Diego State 16-4 (NR)
25. Marquette 14-4 (NR)
Dropped out: Colorado State (24), Missouri (25), Virginia Commonwealth (12)

COLLEGE WOMEN
1.  Connecticut 18-1 (1)
2.  Baylor 18-1 (2)
3.  Notre Dame 18-1 (3)
4.  Stanford 18-2 (5)
5.  Duke 18-1 (4)
6.  California 17-2 (7)
7.  Maryland 17-3 (8)
8.  Penn State 17-2 (10)
9.  Tennessee 16-3 (9)
10. Kentucky 19-2 (6)
11. Texas A&M 16-5 (11)
12. North Carolina 19-2 (13)
13. South Carolina 18-3 (18)
14. Purdue 17-3 (19)
15. Louisville 17-4 (14)
16. Iowa State 14-4 (17)
17. Colorado 15-4 (15)
18. Oklahoma State 15-3 (12)
19. Dayton 17-1 (20)
20. Florida State 17-3 (21)
21. Georgia 17-3 (23)
22. Delaware 15-3 (NR)
23. Wisconsin-Green Bay 15-2 (25)
24. UCLA 15-4 (24)
25. Syracuse 16-3 (22)
Dropped out: Michigan State (16)

NBA
1.  San Antonio 36-11 (3)
2.  Oklahoma City 34-11 (2)
3.  Los  Angeles Clippers 33-13 (1)
4.  Miami 28-13 (5)
5.  Memphis 28-15 (4)
6.  Denver 27-18 (8)
7.  Golden State 26-17 (6)
8.  New York 27-15 (7)
9.  Brooklyn 26-18 (9)
10. Chicago 26-17 (NR)
Dropped out: Indiana (10)

Random thoughts on the NBA, DPD, DMN. DART and other acronyms

I really don’t like the Miami Heat. I don’t like the way the team collected it’s Big Three, and don’t try to tell me the Boston Celtics did the same thing, because they didn’t. They acquired Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen through some shrewd trades. And don’t get me started on that whole LeBron James "decision" thing. On the other hand, I really do like the Oklahoma Thunder, partly because its No. 1 star played his college ball at my alma mater, but mainly because I admire the team’s approach to the game. Guess who I’m going to be rooting for in the NBA finals that begin tonight.

I admire Dallas Police Chief David Brown. I have worked with him in the past and always found himself to be a professional, a standup guy. (I wanted to call him a "straight-shooter," but realized that didn’t fit in this context.) Still, this idea of shooting a man in the back in self defense smells, no matter how much Chief Brown tries to spin it.

I rarely find myself in agreement with Dallas Morning News editorials, but I must admit I find the paper’s suggestion for an open primary in Texas to something worth pursuing. California has adopted this system in attempt to reduce partisanship and free the primaries from being captured by extremists, as they have been in Texas. The way an open primary works is this: All candidates would keep their party affiliations but there would no longer be separate primaries for each political party. Instead, all the candidates for each office would appear one ballot and everyone — Republicans, Democrats and, most importantly, independents — would have the opportunity to vote for the candidate of their choice. Then two candidates who received the most votes for each office would face off in the November general election, even if it meant two Republicans running against each other or Veasey vs. Garcia. The theory is that candidates — in order to appeal to the widest number of voters — would gravitate toward the center of the political ideological spectrum. For those who say such a system couldn’t work, that’s exactly the way Dallas elects its mayor.

DART is looking for a way to get more riders. To achieve this goal it must overcome a tremendous obstacle and convince potential customers it’s absolutely safe the use the transit system. I know of one woman who’s son refuses to let her ride DART rail because he fears it’s too dangerous for a woman traveling alone. Until such fears are eradicated, DART will never achieve the ridership levels it should.

This headline in today’s Dallas Morning News caught my attention: "Drownings concern safety experts". Ya think?