Jazz F Karl Malone discussed the state of the NBA with
Mike Wise of the N.Y. TIMES, and said, "I don't know if the
'I Love This Game' slogan works anymore. I don't know if
people really do like they used to." Malone, on the Nuggets
considering boycotting a game in protest of coach Dan Issel:
"Talking about boycotting a game. What am I missing? How
many more fans did they lose in Denver over this? ... As
players, we think, 'We build it and they will come.' Not
anymore. We're making these arenas bigger. We should be
making them smaller. Say Denver loses three or four season-
ticket holders because of that. We don't think about that.
The players think, 'I'm still getting my money.' What about
the good of the game? ... Commissioner [David] Stern? It
has to be a nightmare for him" (N.Y. TIMES, 12/16). ESPN's
Mike Lupica: "Even overpaid, overweight frauds like [Sonics
F] Vin Baker can get coaches fired now. ... Hotheads like
[Sonics G Gary] Payton and chronic malingerers like [Baker]
rule now. And guys like [Nuggets G James] Posey think
they're the basketball version of Gandhi when they blow off
practice. David Stern must be so proud every morning when
he goes through his newspaper clips" (ESPN, 12/17). In
Detroit, Chris McCosky wrote that "fans are staying away in
droves" from the NBA because of various incidents, including
the threat of a boycott in Denver and Sonics coach Paul
Westphal "getting fired because it became clear he lost the
respect of his players" (DETROIT NEWS, 12/17).
AT THE GATE: BLOOMBERG NEWS' Scott Soshnick reported
that through last Thursday's NBA games, teams were averaging
16,002 fans per game, the fewest since the '91-92 season,
and down from last season's average of 16,870. Soshnick:
"NBA teams use tickets sold as their attendance tracker, not
how many people actually go to games, so the arenas look
even more empty. The problem of no-shows is one Stern is
working to eliminate" (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 12/15).
