Carmelo suspended 15 games!!!!!!!

[dreamcastrocks]

I would have gone into the stands in his situation, too. The heckler was talking trash about his recently stillborn baby. Maxwell should have been left off the hook, IMO. Some things are just plain over the line. If anyone got the boot, it should have been the heckler, who should have been banned from all NBA stadiums for life....

Yep. Some things are worth more than being suspended, money, your team, etc. Defending your life and your family/family's honor is one of them.

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

Mardy Collins was put on his hiney from Carmelo's sucker punch.

I didn't see him get knocked over, didn't watch it that closely. Even he was knocked over it was out of surprise -- that punch didn't leave more than a pink spot for a mark

 

[myrondizzo]

I didn't see him get knocked over, didn't watch it that closely. Even he was knocked over it was out of surprise -- that punch didn't leave more than a pink spot for a mark

jefferies actually knocked him over when he went after melo. collins did go down but got right back up.

 

[SO91]

Collins was a bit stunned perhaps, but he didn't go down because of that weak punch. There was a lot of pushing and shoving around him.

 

[phillycard]

No you wouldn't. No one is thinking at the time of a fight, it just emotions taking over.

I love it when people claim that athletes should have a cooler head than a normal man because they have so much more to lose. When you get slammed to the floor, or see one of your friends get slammed you are not going to be thinking about how much money you make...


And making the big suspensions is ridiculous for the league too. It cripples entire franchises to lose players for a year - meaning less money and less fan interaction. Even if you do get the players to stop fighting all together, it takes all the passion away from the game. People will be scared to do anything at all..

I am not condoning fighting, but it isn't something that is a horrible black eye for the league. A brawl like this is, but it doesn't drive a ton of fans away. Let the punishment fit the crime. 3 years ago Carmelo would have gotten 5 games, 15 is more than enough of an escalation in the post Detroit era...

You can't be serious grahamcracker. Half these dudes aren't even boys off the floor. It's a manhood thing. DEI is right. Lighten that wallet by a couple of mil and all that will cool out. There are Bentley, Hummer, house, jewelry payments to be made dude.

 

[Divide Et Impera]

Don't back down, Stern!!!!

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2702210

Tuesday, December 19, 2006
NBA union chief: Melo being made an example

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ESPN.com news services

The day after the NBA lowered the boom for Saturday Fight Night at Madison Square Garden, Carmelo Anthony was considering whether to take his 15-game, $641,000 punishment on the chin or seek an appeal.
On Monday night, NBA Players Association President Billy Hunter said there was "no justification' for suspending the Denver Nuggets forward for 15 games, other than making an example out of him.

Hunter and Anthony's agent, Calvin Andrews, said they would huddle on Tuesday to decide whether to seek arbitration of the suspension. "The message could have gotten through with lesser games," Hunter told Newsday on Monday night before the Knicks played the Jazz in New York. "There's no justification for the 15 games other than the fact that the commissioner clearly wants to send a message."

Andrews told news media in Denver there was "no precedent" for the length of Anthony's suspension. "[Anthony] obviously was not very happy. He wasn't expecting this many games," he said.

Under the NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement, Anthony can attempt to get his suspension lessened through arbitration because it is longer than 12 games. But his suspension began immediately, starting with Monday night's home victory over the Wizards.

There is precedent for reducing suspensions. After the Pacers-Pistons brawl, an arbitrator lessened Jermaine O'Neal's suspension from 25 to 15 games.

Anthony decked the Knicks' Mardy Collins during the fracas at the end of the Nuggets' 123-100 win on Saturday night. Collins had hauled down Anthony's teammate J.R. Smith by the neck on a breakaway, setting off the free-for-all.

Smith got up and immediately started jawing with Collins, and the Knicks' Nate Robinson jumped in to pull Smith away. Anthony shoved Robinson, and Robinson and Smith then tumbled into the front row while fighting.

Just as things appeared to be calming down, Anthony threw a hard punch that floored Collins. The Knicks' Jared Jeffries sprinted from the baseline toward halfcourt in an effort to get at Anthony, but was tackled by a Denver player.
In all, seven players were suspended for a fight that spilled into the stands at Madison Square Garden with just over a minute left in Saturday night's game.

It was the NBA's scariest scene since the brawl between Indiana Pacers players and Detroit Pistons fans two years ago. The league is still recovering from that episode, and Commissioner David Stern made it clear the players needed to control themselves -- or else.

"I was very disappointed," he said. "Clearly, we're not getting through or players in certain circumstances just don't want to be restrained. I would suggest that those players will not have long careers in the NBA."

Smith and Robinson were both suspended 10 games each while Collins and Jeffries both got four games. The Knicks' Jerome James and the Nuggets' Nene each were penalized one game for leaving the bench area during the chaos.
Both teams were also fined $500,000.

Also awaiting potential discipline on Tuesday was Denver coach George Karl, who upbraided Knicks coach Isiah Thomas in a profane tirade on Monday and denied accusations that he was running up the score by leaving his starters on the floor late in the game despite a commanding lead.

Though there was no separate penalty for Thomas, who warned Anthony not to go into the lane before the mayhem started, Karl singled him out for the sharpest criticism, calling his actions "despicable."

"There's no question in my mind it was premeditated," Karl said. "He made a bad situation worse. He's a jerk for what he's trying to do."
There was speculation Thomas would be penalized for his comments to Anthony. Stern acknowledged hearing about it, but said he relied only on "definitive information" when handing out punishments.

But Stern was clearly annoyed by remarks from Thomas and the Knicks that the Nuggets were somehow responsible because they kept four starters on the floor late in the blowout.

As a matter of fact, double his suspension because he's thinking about appealing!

 

[boisesuns]

yep. You are hurting the Image of the NBA by backing down to these Overpaid Punks.

 

[Skkorpion]

Short memories. The worst ever was the Portland power forward (Washignton?) ending Rudi Tomjanovich's career by sucker punching him in the face and shattering multiple bones. Neither player ever played again.

 

[Southpaw]

Short memories. The worst ever was the Portland power forward (Washignton?) ending Rudi Tomjanovich's career by sucker punching him in the face and shattering multiple bones. Neither player ever played again.

Kermit Washington was the player who threw the punch. What most people fail to recollect or just pass along is that Rudy Tomjanovich ran the length of the court to join the melee or break up the fight. It was not a sucker punch. The fight had allready started and Kermit reacted with a blind punch to Rudy who had grabbed him from behind. Rudy and kermit have discussed the fight and Rudy holds no ill will as he understands what happened.

I saw it when it happened. Kermit did not sucker punch Rudy.

No surprise there. Feinstein: "After Kermit and Rudy, Stern told me the league knew it could not allow men this big and strong to square off. It could be fatal. Then last year, (deputy commissioner) Russ Granik said, `What if Shaquille O'Neal, as strong as he is, ever landed a punch like that?' Shortly after, of course, Shaq took a swing and, luckily, just grazed Brad Miller."

After missing the rest of the 1977-78 season, Tomjanovich came back to play three more years, though never again the shooter he had been. He stayed in the league as a scout and assistant coach. He's now in his 12th season as the Rockets' coach, winner of the 1994 and '95 NBA championships.

After the punch, bitterness lived in Tomjanovich, who forgave Washington only after entering an Alcoholics Anonymous program. "Someone once told me that hating Kermit would be like taking poison and hoping someone else died, Tomjanovich told Feinstein. "I've always tried to remember that."

Washington, after serving a 60-day suspension (with Stern then serving as NBA counsel), would play three more full seasons, the best of his career. He then drifted in retirement, working briefly as a college assistant coach, failing as a restaurateur, always seeking a return to the NBA.

"I've told Rudy I'm sorry, and Rudy has forgiven me, which is all that really matters" Washington said to me. "But I've sent 300 job applications to NBA teams and received eight replies. It's still the punch. It's what people think I am."

Some people know better. Pete Newell, whose famous Big Man Camp profited from Washington's presence for 15 years, believes Washington "is a very bright man who can teach, who with his soft-spoken personality and experience as a player can reach today's young players. The NBA absolutely needs more Kermit Washingtons."

Perhaps more telling, this fall Tomjanovich invited Washington to bring to the Rockets' training camp a player Washington had worked with during a 2001 sojourn in China.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

No surprise there. Feinstein: "After Kermit and Rudy, Stern told me the league knew it could not allow men this big and strong to square off. It could be fatal. Then last year, (deputy commissioner) Russ Granik said, `What if Shaquille O'Neal, as strong as he is, ever landed a punch like that?' Shortly after, of course, Shaq took a swing and, luckily, just grazed Brad Miller."

He would be in jail for an assault with a deadly weapon, or worse.

 

[elindholm]

Tomjanovich is a class act. I still remember my outrage a couple of years ago when Stephen A. Smith declared on the air, with no evidence, that alcohol was behind Tomjanovich's resignation from the Rockets. It was a cheap and utterly gratuitious attack on the character of one of the league's most decent figures. Smith should have been fired instantly, but of course he remains on the air, because he has "urban cred" and to fire him would invite charges of racism.