Is NBA David Stern Heavy-Handed and Dictatorial?

Dwight Howard Magic Center Photo Source: OrlandoMagic.com

The First Amendment of the United States Constitution prohibits among other things, infringing on the freedom of speech of its citizens. It seems that the National Basketball Association (NBA) under the leadership of Mr. David Stern has a problem with free speech especially when a player or coach expresses his disapproval over the officiating by a referee.

What prompted this blog you might asked? I recently heard that Dwight Howard became the latest victim of the National Basketball Association's tough stance against criticizing game officials. The league's big boss-man handed the Orlando Magic center a $35,000 fine on last Wednesday because he typed the following statement on his own blog:

“Ya’ll know that that series against Charlotte drove me crazy. I mean it was almost comical at times how I was getting fouls called on me. There was nothing I could do our there and I felt like I couldn’t even move without getting that whistle blown on me.”

Howard's coach Van Gundy was also fined $35,000 for criticizing the referees about the number of fouls called on the Magic center. "I've been fined for saying how good they were this year, and I've been fined for criticizing them," Van Gundy said. "So nobody understands more that we're just not to talk about them at all."

Just last week, Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson said that he believes commissioner David Stern's threat of harsher punishments for comments critical of NBA referees was a "heavy-handed" way to deal with what he called "gamesmanship" by coaches in the playoffs. Obviously Jackson was fined for his comment.

I can almost imagine that when one looks at the NBA Chart of accounts (a list of the accounts used by an organization account department) you will see a numerical entry for “Fines”. The NBA might see this as an accomplishment for bringing in more money, but to whose expense? Others could perceive the fines collected from making a free speech as tantamount to holding a person at gun point and taking his wallet.

In all fairness to Stern, he has done some great things for the league. If I were to compiled a SWOT analysis (Stern's Strengths, Weaknesses; Opportunities, and Threats) his Strengths will look as follows: He leads a league that is a model for professional sports; he is a public service, good global marketing strategy; digital technology; added seven franchises; enjoyed a fifteen-fold increase in revenues to list a few of his innumerable accomplishments.

The reality is that an NBA referee was once prosecuted and jailed for mob point-shaving scandal. It is common knowledge among some fans and maybe players that whenever the NBA wants a home team to win the game, they invariably assign the worst referees possible to that game. The assume reasons are bad referees have a tendency to get swayed by the home crowd, and bad referees never have the balls to make a tough call on the road. Personally, I strongly believe that the NBA is too credible to engage in such foolishness.

The NBA should come-up with a better strategy to addressing the issue of complains about a ref officiating as oppose to using a third world approach by silencing the players and coaches with unnecessary fines.