Steve Nash still upset at David Stern

October 30, 2007 by Mike Olbinski

You hear athletes talk about how things don’t bother them, how they’ve moved on to face the task at hand, forgetting entirely things that happened in the past.

It’s nice to know that they still hold grudges, much like we the fans do.

Paul Coro’s blog yesterday had quotes from Steve Nash, which sort of eluded to some bitterness still left over from the Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw suspensions, and a few other things that happened during the Spurs series.
And why shouldn’t he be harboring ill-will? David Stern has done nothing but make himself look like the biggest wishy-washy commissioner in the history of the NBA.

To pull some quotes from Coro’s blog:

“I’m not into worrying about what Stern is doing,” said Nash. “I figure I’m not going to win that battle anyway. I’ve lost it in the past so why bother getting involved.”

“If I let it, it’ll distract me. I’ll be (ticked) off all the time. And that’s like every other week, a decision comes down that you don’t understand. So just stay out of it. Bowen stepped on Amaré’s ankle and kneed me in the balls. No suspension, whereas other guys (with) maybe less infractions get suspended on the first one. I’m not in the office. I don’t know why they decide what they decide. Therefore, I’m not going to even bother to start judging their decisions because I don’t get it.”

Ouch.

Nash sounds like I would have felt if asked. Still bitter and resentful, even if he had put it in the past and was moving on. It’s just like with any of us. If some injustice is done to you, no matter how much we try to move on, there is always a part of us that will remain a wee bit angry over what took place.

I’m sure none of Nash’s comments were fueled by the last Stern ruling. Instead of punishing half his referees for breaking their “set in stone” gambling rules, he called the rule “bad” and let them all off the hook.

Hmm…one of your refs gambles and ruins the sanctity of the NBA game, yet you feel it’s okay to let the others off the hook for lesser crimes? Do we know what led to Tom Donaghy’s fall? Maybe it was as simple as sitting down at a blackjack table one night in Las Vegas and it all steamrolled from there.

That’s not really the point anyways. The issue is that Stern chooses when and where he’ll enforce the rules and that makes him a flip-flopping, joke of a commissioner. He COULD have not suspended Diaw and Stoudemire, but he chose to follow the letter of the law insted of what was right.
It’s that kind of thing that makes the NBA look bad and always has the stigma of being “fixed.” Who knows what the league office will feel like doing today? Let it go or enforce it?

That’s probably what has Nash still bitter. And I kind of hope it’s not just him but the entire team is playing with a chip on their shoulders this season.

It might just be what the Suns need to get over the top.

Posted in boris diaw, san antonio spurs, david stern, amare stoudemire, steve nash, basketball, nba, phoenix suns