Mark D. Smith-US PRESSWIRE

NBA Commissioner David Stern decided to fine the San Antonio Spurs $250,000 yesterday for the decision by Gregg Popovich to rest his players Thursday night vs. the Miami Heat on a nationally televised game.

Here is what Stern said in a statement:

“The result here is dictated by the totality of the facts in this case. The Spurs decided to make four of their top players unavailable for an early-season game that was the team’s only regular-season visit to Miami. The team also did this without informing the Heat, the media, or the league office in a timely way. Under these circumstances, I have concluded that the Spurs did a disservice to the league and our fans.”

The fine is a controversial one. Players are rested all the time in this league and singling out one occasion like this and laying down the hammer to the tune of $250,000 seems a little harsh.

The idea of resting players is somewhat of an issue in this league. It shouldn’t be the way or the best strategy and for a team like the Spurs and Popovich, in this case it was. Stern is looking at this from a business prospective and Popovich is just trying to do what is best for his team.

There’s one team that we never have to worry about this happening to and that’s the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Thunder proved last night just why they are the best team to watch in the NBA. On a night to night basis, they play with so much passion and energy that they can turn any ordinary regular season game into a playoff-type atmosphere.

Fans can say all they want how as long as their team is ready for the playoffs, that’s all that matter but the Thunder are more special than that. Being a fan of a team means watching your team every night. And there is no team that provides a better experience in that department than the Oklahoma City Thunder.

It’s the culture they have in OKC led by their two stars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. They work harder than anyone else, every single day.

Imagine head coach Scott Brooks trying to tell Westbrook, who hasn’t missed a game since middle school, that he will be resting him on a nationally televised game vs. the Heat. Not happening.

The same goes for Durant who would probably tell Brooks the same thing Michael Jordan used to say: there might be a kid out there coming to see me play for the only time in his life tonight, it’s my job to go out there and play as hard as I can every night.

It’s just one of those things that makes the Thunder extra special. Stern won’t be throwing any fines their way any time soon.

“It’s been a great run,” Stern said. “It’ll continue for another 15 months. The league is in terrific condition. One of the things I did best was provide a successor.”

Stern is regarded by many as one of the best commissioners in all of sports. He has helped turn the NBA into one of the best leagues in sports right now and into a multi-billion dollar industry.

Here are a few notes on Stern via USA Today:

• The league’s revenues are projected to be $5 billion this season with strong ticket sales, TV deals and global business initiatives using a variety of traditional and digital platforms.
• Stern oversaw expansion with teams going into Charlotte, Minnesota, Miami and Vancouver and relocation that put teams in Memphis, New Orleans, Brooklyn, Oklahoma City, Sacramento and Los Angeles.
• The rise in player salaries has been curbed because of the rookie salary scale and soft salary cap,
• Stern has raised the profile of the league’s charitable efforts, such as NBA Cares and Basketball Without Borders.
• The NBA has become a global game on and off the court, with foreign players rising to stardom in the NBA. NBA programming is available in more than 200 countries and in 47 languages.
• Stern has adapted to changes, and the NBA is a pro sports leader in social media with more than 270 million “likes” and “followers” on Facebook and Twitter.

The United States won gold for the second straight Olympics beating Spain 107-100 in the gold medal game and unsurprisingly remain atop the FIBA rankings.

The top five on the rankings are still the same, in order USA, Spain, Argentina, Greece and Lithuania.

Russia jumped five spots to the No. 6 spot replacing Turkey who slides back to No. 7. Russia had a very impressive Olympics finishing first in their group and beating Brazil and Spain in the process. They would go on to lose to Spain in the semifinal round however but did beat Argentina in the bronze medal game.

France and Brazil who each fared well in the Olympics as well moved up four spots each to No. 8 and 9, respectively. Australia will round out the top 10.

Great Britain made the greatest leap moving up 20 spots on the rankings to No. 23. Great Britain played in the Olympics only because they were the host country and were led by a very valiant performance by Luol Deng in the Games.

Tunisia also moved up quite a bit getting 10 spots higher to No. 22 after also participating in the Olympics.

The Republic of Congo, Liberia and Togo remain unchanged in the rankings, all tied for last in the world.

There is talk from NBA commissioner David Stern about putting together a Basketball World Cup that would resemble what soccer has and essentially be competition for Olympic basketball.

So that may be on the horizon as well as the discussed 23-and-under age-limit that may be put on American players but that is not expected to come in to effect until 2020 at the earliest.

Jerry Lai-US PRESSWIRE

The NBA Board of Governors had their annual summer meeting yesterday and approved some changes to the use of instant replay and also into advertising on jerseys.

NBA commissioner David Stern talked with the media following the meeting and said the league would be looking o add possibly $100 million in revenue by adding small advertising patches to uniforms beginning in the 2013-14 season.

The NBA would model itself after European soccer teams by doing this. This is something that was probably inevitable with the NBA especially because they can earn so much money implementing it.

The NBA has also altered some of its rules regarding the use of instant replay. Officials can now at any point in the game go to replay to review every flagrant foul to determine if it was a Flagrant 1 or 2.

This is a good move because every potential flagrant deserves to immediately be reviewed by video. Many times hard fouls will look worse in real time than on video and vice versa.

Officials can also now use replay in the final two minutes of regulation or in overtime to review if a player was in the restricted area when attempting to take a charge. Officials can now also review goaltending calls at this time.

Charging calls in general are some of the most frustrating calls made in the NBA. Any attempt to improve the accuracy of these calls has to be a good thing for the league though.

The competition committee is set to meet in September to look at flopping and dealing with fouls away from the ball.

Addressing flopping is a very good idea for the league. It will be interesting to see how they come up with a way to reduce it though.

Geoff Burke-US PRESSWIRE

David Stern and the NBA are interested in setting an age limit on who is allowed to represent Team USA Basketball in the Olympics. The proposed age limit would be 23 years old.

“I think we got a lot out of the Olympics,” Stern told the LA Times shortly after the NBA Finals. “We helped grow the game. The result has been extraordinary. But I think it’s appropriate to step back and take stock of where we’re going.”

The NBA and its teams don’t make a lot of money sending their veteran players to international competitions and it definitely doesn’t make up for the potential risk involved.

Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul, veterans now themselves, do not want to see an age limit restricting participants in Team USA Basketball.

“It’s a stupid idea, stupid,” Kobe told the New York Times. “It should be a (player’s) choice. The Olympics is really about putting the best athletes out there to compete against the best. That’s what it’s about, put the best out there. From a basketball standpoint, (an age limit) would lessen the Olympics, absolutely.”

Paul noted that he had one of his best seasons ever following the 2008 Olympics that he won Gold in.

“You see guys, when they come back from playing on a team like this, they go into the new (NBA) season with the ultimate confidence,” Paul said. “It’s better than being at home just working out and playing ball. You get to play against the best players in the world.”

We have seen the rest of the international field continually catch up to the United States in basketball. Despite the U.S. sending some of its best talent in recent years, they aren’t dominating quite like they used to anymore.

An age limit of 23 would make it just that much harder for the U.S. to continue winning Gold. They could maybe get away with it this year with Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love on the roster but neither of those players are even starting on this team.

Then you have Derrick Rose and Blake Griffin, who are two of the best players in the NBA under 23, missing these Olympics due to injury.

An age limit seems logical in some ways but at 23 years old would be a little too strict. Setting one at 25 might work a little better and then the older veterans wouldn’t have to worry about playing, although Kobe and Paul are indicating they want to choose themselves.

USA Basketball is 2-0 in exhibition games so far leading up to the London Olympics. They will play their third exhibition Thursday night against Great Britain. The Olympics begin July 27.

Flopping has been a big talking point this year in the NBA and particularly in the playoffs.

Serge Ibaka was asked about flopping and who the biggest floppers were in the NBA Finals. He initially mentioned Mario Chalmers and Derek Fisher casually. Then when Shane Battier’s name was brought up he called him the biggest flopper of them all.

With players like Battier and Fisher, flopping could play a big role in the NBA Finals. Even LeBron, Wade, Durant and Harden do their fair share of flopping trying to get calls.

It is becoming a big deal though even for NBA commissioner David Stern.

“Flopping almost doesn’t do it justice,” Stern said Tuesday. “Trickery. Deceit designed to cause the game to be decided other than on its merits. We’ll be looking at that.

“We’ll be looking at a number of things that make it easier for us to say to our fans what we all know to be true: Our referees want to get everything right.”

The goal with flopping and tweaking officiating in anyway should be to get the referees out of the spotlight in as much as possible. The worst thing about watching a game is feeling that the referees affected the outcome afterwards.

Flopping puts referees in the limelight. There won’t be a perfect fix to immediately get rid of flopping but the fact that Stern is talking about it is a good sign for the NBA.

Jim Rome interviewed NBA commissioner David Stern on his radio show today and began the interview by asking Stern if the NBA Draft Lottery was fixed.

Stern answered by saying “No” and then asked Rome “Do you still beat your wife?” Stern didn’t ask this based on any history of Rome beating his wife but to suggest that it is just as ridiculous a question as the one Rome asked.

The question by Rome can be rationalized as fair but you know that Stern isn’t going to say anything other than “No” and he did that and then became aggravated that it was even being asked. The question worked to get a reaction from Stern.

I get what Rome was doing and I understand talking about the New Orleans Hornets winning the NBA Draft Lottery with Stern because that is interesting to hear what he would have to say.

I guess the question accomplished something because now everyone is talking about it.

They went back and forth a little bit after that question but it was awkward the entire time. Stern even took a dig at Rome at the end saying he now had to go because he had someone important to call and that was Stephen A. Smith.

Let the conspiracy theories begin.

As everyone knows, the Hornets have been owned by the NBA the past few seasons. The NBA is about to sell them to Saints owner Tom Benson but it is ironic that the one team owned by the NBA is the only team in this year’s lottery to move up.

Currently in a USA Today poll, 55 percent of people believe that the lottery was fixed last night.

Fixings and riggings have been surrounding the NBA for a long time with the notion usually being that certain things are better for the league like Patrick Ewing being drafted by the New York Knicks instead of the Indiana Pacers.

The entire lottery went chalk until New Orleans, who had the fourth highest chances to land the number one pick, jumped the three teams in front of them to snag it.

It wasn’t long ago that the NBA vetoed a trade sending New Orleans’ best player Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers stirring up more controversy with the league’s conflict of interest.

The team with the best chance to win the lottery, the Charlotte Bobcats, will now end up picking second in a draft where the difference between first and second may be greater than any other spot.

Michael Jordan of course owns the Bobcats and has been someone who has been centered around some conspiracy theories before in the league like when he retired in his prime to go play professional baseball.

If the league truly is fixed then we will see Miami in the NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder: LeBron vs. Durant.

The Heat are already well on their way while the Thunder may need some Donaghy-esque help. Everyone get ready for Durant shooting 20 free throws per game the rest of the Western Conference Finals.

Richard Rowe-US PRESSWIRE

Oklahoma City Thunder (1-game winning streak)
107.1 Offensive Efficiency (2nd)
99.8 Defensive Efficiency (9th)
95.7 Pace (6th)
56.7 True Shooting % (1st)
51.5 Rebound Rate (4th)

Denver Nuggets (2-game winning streak)
106.1 Offensive Efficiency (3rd)
103.4 Defensive Efficiency (20th)
96.6 Pace (2nd)
55.5 True Shooting % (3rd)
51.5 Rebound Rate (4th)

The Thunder will close out the regular season tonight hosting the Nuggets. The Thunder are already locked into the second seed in the West so the result of the game really doesn’t matter.

Kevin Durant is currently 0.11 points ahead of Kobe Bryant in the scoring title race. Bryant will play tomorrow night in his final game of the season and will likely have to outscore Durant by around 6-7 points to catch him.

Denver is currently a half game ahead of Dallas for the six-seed in the West and has two games left including tonight. Dallas also has two games left. Getting the sixth seed instead of the seventh would mean playing the Lakers in the first round instead of the Thunder.

The Thunder have beaten the Nuggets both times that the teams have played this season. The first was the more memorable one with the Thunder winning 124-118 in overtime and Durant scoring a career-high 51 points.

The fact of the matter tonight is that the Nuggets have much more to play for than the Thunder and if last night is any indicator, the Thunder won’t be going all out to win this game.

Oklahoma City beat Sacramento last night but the starters did not play the fourth quarter despite trailing heading into the final period. Daequan Cook scored a season-high 19 points to lead the Thunder to the victory.

The Nuggets are not the Kings though and if the Thunder come out like they did last night, they will likely lose their final regular season home game tonight.

James Harden will not play tonight but David Stern did say in a press conference today, “We have reason to believe that James [Harden] will be available for the playoffs.”

That is most certainly good news for the Thunder who would be lost without Harden in the playoffs.