In Pittsburgh, Joe Starkey writes under the header, "The Steelers Are The NFL's Laughingstock At The Moment." Drama has surrounded Steelers WR Antonio Brown in recent days, but he "isn’t the disease; he’s a symptom." The "disease is the permissive culture" President Art Rooney II, VP & GM Kevin Colbert and coach Mike Tomlin "have cultivated." Starkey: "Imagine being Brown and actually believing you could go AWOL, not return calls from your bosses, blow off the MRI you agreed to take, gutlessly have your agent call Tomlin on Sunday morning to inform him you want to play and be convinced you’ll still be allowed to" (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 1/3).
UNIQUE DEAL: In DC, Ava Wallace noted WNBA Mystics G Kristi Toliver is serving as an assistant coach for the Wizards this season, making her the "first active WNBA player to serve as an NBA assistant." However, she is "making just $10,000 for a season of work with the Wizards -- well below what NBA assistants normally make." Toliver’s low pay is the "result of the Wizards and Mystics’ ownership structure." Since Ted Leonsis owns both teams, the WNBA "determined that Toliver’s pay as an NBA assistant had to come out of the $50,000 total each WNBA team allocates to pay their players for offseason work." The Mystics are one of five teams in the WNBA that "share an owner with an NBA team in the same market" (WASHINGTON POST, 1/2).
CONSISTENT APPROACH: Thunder F Paul George last night made his first trip to L.A. to play the Lakers since spurning the team in free agency, and in L.A., Dan Woike writes there is a "reputation that Oklahoma City is a place where people can do their jobs, where coaches can coach, where salespeople can sell, where players can play." Staffers "swear that comes from a tone set by" Chair Clay Bennett. George: "I just felt comfortable, felt at home." Woike notes there is "stability" within the Thunder organization, starting with Bennett, Exec VP & GM Sam Presti and G Russell Westbrook (L.A. TIMES, 1/3).
