Mad Dog on Stern and the MSG brawl
Mad Dog talks about the team being on a plane, "huddled around KG's plane seat trying to see a little bit of what happened" at Madison Square Garden last weekend. (Apparently there was no tv in the visitor's locker room at the Bucks' arena.)I think universally, all of us felt bad about the incident and the players, fans and coaches that were involved.
What happened out there was wrong and I think that every player involved would tell you that.
Madsen also answers a reader's question about whether he thought the players involved should be fined by their team in addition to the league's penalty.
As far as each team fining their own players, that could get awkward for a few reasons. First the player is already getting fined a huge sum because they go on "unpaid" leave from all games. Secondly, their punishment in the media is incalculable. It would be tough for a GM to come into the locker room and give the player a third tier of punishment. That's just my opinion though.
From the Star Tribune, more comments from Mad Dog on the brawl :
Forward Mark Madsen, who has given and taken hard fouls, talked about an unwritten rule that starters sit and reserves play as hard as they can late in lopsided games.
"I don't know why those [Denver] guys were on the court at the time," Madsen said. "But at the same time, it's not my place to try to get inside the defender's psyche to find out why that would happen."
Madsen said he could relate to Collins, a rookie trying to impress a coach who values toughness. He also said he could relate to Smith, who had a flashy dunk not long before his final breakaway.
"Guys are showmen," he said. "You might not like it. You might want to pay them back. But you pay them back [next time] with basketball, not fighting."
Mad Dog talks about switching back to the old ball and offers his thoughts on the league commissioner:
The one thing about David Stern is that he has always put player input at the highest priority. At the rookie transition camp, he came in and he said, "Here is my email address," only to players. He said, "Email me whenever you have a concern, whenever you have something that you think can make this league better." Over the course of my career, I've emailed him five or six times.
posted by Lil Dice @ 12/19/2006 01:13:00 AM
Comments: 0
