Stern Says NBA Is In Good Shape Despite Critics Upset About Quality Of Play

NBA Commissioner David Stern last night issued a "bill of health" concerning the state of play in the NBA amid more critics debating the "fragile state of on-court affairs in the NBA," according to Sekou Smith of NBA.com. Stern said television ratings "are at record highs over last year and they were at records last year, our attendance is the same as last year, which was a great year, and our consumer products and sales are up." Smith noted with a "rash of injuries to players around the league," suggestions are that the "overall play in the league has been sloppy, at best, with the abbreviated training camp and compressed season being pointed to as a significant part of the problem." However, Stern "offered another perspective on those theories that lockout has had a detrimental effect on the game action this season." He said, “We’re putting 80 percent of the games into 75 percent of the season ... I saw someplace today that said we made a mistake rushing in to play at Christmas and the only thing I’ll say about that is that we sat down with the players and together we said, ‘if we make a deal tonight we can play by Christmas and get 80 percent of the season and not to mention 80 percent of the gates and 80 percent of the salaries, and things like that.’ And I dare say that that was a good carrot for us, indeed a magnet, to stay there until 3 or 4 in the morning and say, ‘okay, if we get a deal done tonight we can get off to a good start,’ which we did. Christmas Day was great and we are having a good season” (NBA.com, 2/8).

NOT A FAN OF THIS YEAR'S GAME: CBSSPORTS.com's Ken Berger wrote, "Welcome to Lockout Ball. ... The NBA and its players' association chose to compromise just in time to have a season but too late to have a good one. Sometimes, it's so bad you just have to laugh to keep from expiring from a new threat to national security and public health known as Bad Ball." The NBA has "breathed life into false stereotypes about its product and given credence to the notion that college basketball is so much better than NBA basketball even though it is obviously so much worse." Berger: "The NBA has done itself a disservice with this quasi-season, a detour in the league's rise in popularity that was completely preventable" (CBSSPORTS.com, 2/8).