David Stern’s literal cartoonish turn as commissioner
Courtesy of artist Larry Johnson, Jonathan Feigen and Adrian Wojnarowski, we shall continue to document the decline of NBA commissioner David Stern.
Told of Stern's description of the negotiations and communication prior to his decision to not allow the deal, the person with knowledge of the talks that day said: "That's an outright lie. Dell said the deal was done.
"The way David was acting, you can tell he didn't want to talk to anybody," one of the individuals with direct knowledge of the process said. "He was playing general manager."
-- Jonathan Feigen, Houston Chronicle.
"That's our problem as a league now," one NBA general manager told Yahoo! Sports. "Everything they do gets thrown into question now, because they have conflicts everywhere. It all got exposed in this one — all came out in the public."
The NBA pushed aside a standing general manager, Demps, and the league office led by Stern (the commissioner), Litvin (an attorney) and Jackson (the failed GM of all GMs) ran the trade talks for the Hornets. They were no longer spectators to the machinations of the 30 teams' movements, but active participants, controlling the destiny of one of the NBA's major talents.
-- Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports.
You can view more of Larry Johnson's artwork at his website, or follow him on Twitter.
