NBA Now Seeking Almost $1.4M In Restitution From Donaghy
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NBA Seeking $1.4M In
Restitution From Donaghy |
The NBA, after initially seeking $1M in restitution from former referee Tim Donaghy, has increased the amount to $1,395,104.89, according to court records cited by Mike Fish of ESPN.com. The revised filing "came in response to a request from Donaghy's attorney, John Lauro, for a detailed breakdown of how the league arrived at the $1[M] figure." NBA Outside Counsel Paul Schectman said of the new amount, "We sort of estimated the $1[M]. ... But once he (Lauro) wanted the math done, we sat down and tried to be pretty precise about it." The court filing includes a sum of $516,971.25, billed by the league's outside counsel Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to interview 57 NBA referees as part of the league's internal investigation into Donaghy's gambling scandal. The NBA also is seeking $284,070.75 from Donaghy to pay two outside firms that the league retained to "assist the government's investigation." Court filings show that NBA Dir of Officials Ronnie Nunn and Senior Manager/Game Administration Christopher Boghosian, at the government's request, "spent 125 hours reviewing videotapes of games in which Donaghy was the referee." As part of the restitution, the league claims that Nunn spend 25 hours going over tapes at a rate of $270, while Boghosian spent 100 hours at a rate of $100 per hour. The NBA also is seeking total restitution of $577,312.89 for salary Donaghy earned from games in which he "officiated and also bet on or provided betting picks." The league, citing the "government's claim that Donaghy bet on 30 to 40 games a season" between the '03-04 and '05-06 seasons, is asking Donaghy to return 47% of his salary from those years, as well as for the 16 games the government alleged he provided betting picks for during the '06-07 season. Donaghy during the '05-06 season, his last full season as a referee, earned $202,947.39 in base salary (ESPN.com, 6/20).
STATE OF THE LEAGUE: In L.A., Mark Heisler wrote under the header, "NBA Is Finding A New Way." The Celtics-Lakers NBA Finals "offered a dramatic comparison between its Golden Age of the '80s and today. No one will ever call this a golden age; the game isn't as entertaining, and none of today's stars has the mythic status accorded" Basketball HOFers Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. But "despite allegations of fixes and conspiracy theories that threatened to eclipse the championship series as none had ever been, this Finals made a statement about the NBA's place in professional sports. Wherever the NBA used to be, it's still there" (L.A. TIMES, 6/22). In Dallas, David Moore wrote, "If games are fixed and everyone knows it, ask yourself these questions: Why haven't NBA owners who have seen their teams lose when the fix is in sued the league office? Why haven't they attempted to remove commissioner David Stern? If there was even a hint of truth to Donaghy's allegations, do you really believe Stern would have been able to hold onto his job for this long?" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 6/21).
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Jennings May Skip College For
Chance To Play In Europe |
SKIPPING CLASS? In N.Y., William Rhoden writes high school basketball player Brandon Jennings' indication that he may elect to play professional basketball in Europe rather than play in college is the "latest -- and most brilliant -- plan yet to combat the three-tiered maneuver by the NCAA, the NBA and the [NBPA] to prevent talented high school players from going directly into" the NBA. Jennings, who signed a letter of intent to play at the Univ. of Arizona, was "pushed into action by the NCAA." After "doing poorly on his first standardized test," Jennings "did well on the second, but because of the difference in the scores, the testing service asked him to take the test a third time," and Jennings relented. Jennings said that he "got the idea to go overseas when he heard" former Reebok, adidas and Nike exec Sonny Vaccaro discuss it on a radio show. Jennings: "I told my mom that that was something we should look into, going overseas, it seems like a good idea." Jennings added, "For a person that plays ball, our dream is to get to the NBA. College is like, OK, we'll do this one year, but our real mind-set is that we're trying to get to the league, take care of our families. They're making us do college so we feel like, Let's do one year, go to class half the time" (N.Y. TIMES, 6/23).
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