Sudden death: David Stern

So, the NBA has officially tipped off, and there has already been controversy. I cannot say that I am surprised, considering the NBA is full of more drama than a high school sleepover. The man in the middle of most of this drama, David Stern, announced that he will retire in 2014.

Stern is known famously for being booed by New York City every year during the NBA Draft. Nobody really knows why he gets booed by the NYC crowd; maybe it’s just because of his brash, cocky attitude. Stern is actually a current New York resident and is from New York, which actually makes it that much funnier. Stern upset many NBA fans recently by his rejection of a trade that would have sent Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers. Paul’s previous team, the New Orleans Hornets was, at the time, ownerless, and the NBA was running the team. Well, Chris Paul wanted out because they were doing terribly, and he did not want to be on a sinking ship anymore.

Stern then decided where he wanted to trade Paul in order to make it even for everyone else in the league; obviously, the trade to the Lakers would have made the team even more stacked then they are right now. Could you imagine, Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard and Metta World Peace all in the same team?

Anyway, Stern has done some good for the NBA and has a major hand in how the NBA is so prominent and successful today. Stern is responsible for the addition of seven NBA teams: the New Orleans Hornets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, Memphis Grizzlies, Toronto Raptors and the Charlotte Bobcats. Stern was also responsible for the new NBA dress code that would require players to refrain from wearing chains, sleeveless shirts, indoor sunglasses, T-shirts, jerseys, shorts, headphones and headgear during press conferences and NBA-related public appearances. The specifics of this rule are new to me because of the trending frameless glasses that were so frequent last year.

In other news, reigning Six Man of the Year James Harden has been traded to the Houston Rockets from the Oklahoma City Thunder. Harden and his beard averaged 16.8 points per game of the bench last year for the Thunder; however, he was a ghost in the finals, which I believe was the reason that they lost to the Heat. Harden served as the third scoring threat on a Thunder team that only relied on three players to score, but I believe that this trade will not hurt the Thunder. This trade helps them save money in the future while being able to become a better scoring team with good rotation then an isolation team that relies on Durant, Westbrook and Harden to put the ball in the bucket.

Here is the interesting point, however. Look for Harden to now become a serious MVP and scoring champion threat now that he is not coming off the bench and not in Durant and Westbrook’s shadow, and, oh yeah, Harden just received a fiveyear, $80 million contract with the Rockets.