http://www.cbssports.com/nba/blog/eye-on-basketball/19346143/david-stern-lashes-out-in-regards-to-lottery-questions-from-jim-rome
From the interview:
Rome: "...was the fix in for the lottery?"
Stern: "No, and a statement: shame on you for asking."
Rome: "I understand why you would say that to me. I think it's my job to ask because I think people wonder."
Stern: "No, it's ridiculous. But that's OK."
Rome: "I know you think it's ridiculous, but I don't think the question's ridiculous, because I know people who think that. I'm not saying that I do, but I think it's my job to ask you that."
Stern: "Have you stopped beating your wife yet?"
Rome: "I don't know if that's fair.
Stern: "Why is that?"
Rome: "Because I know you read your emails and you probably follow on Twitter, and people really do think it, whether it's fair or not. You don't think it's fair to ask if your fans think it?"
The Commissioner then answered with a hypothetical question about it from media and how the NBA has representatives from every team involved in attendance to assure that no funny business goes on.
Rome: "I don't think [it's rigged], but the one thing I would say is that the league does own the team. Does that not make the question fair?"
Stern: "I don't think so, we've sold it. We're going to close the deal this week. We set our price. I think if it had gone to Michael Jordan people would say 'Oh, David's taking care of his friend Michael,' and if it had gone to Brooklyn which is going into Barclay Center, it would be fair to speculate that we want to take Brooklyn off of the mat, so there was no winning. And people write about it, and it's OK to write about it, and we sort of expect it. But that's not a question that I've been asked before by a respectable journalist. "
Funny story, CBS Sports' Ian Eage asked Stern about the lottery being rigged just this week. But Stern continued assaulting the question, then bringing up Rome's motives for the question.
Stern: "It's good copy and sometimes you do things for cheap thrills."
Rome: "No, not at all. That's my point, that's our point of disconnect. That was not for a cheap thrill and I wasn't throwing anything against the wall, and I was trying to be as respectful as possible. I'm just saying that people wonder about that. I don't want to say "Hey, Commissioner, people would say.." because I'm going to ask a direct question, but people wonder. But that was not a cheap thrill."
Stern: "It was a cheap trick."
Rome: "Flopping is a cheap trick."
The interview kind of broke down from there with Rome running out of time.
This is not going away. At some point the PR hit the league takes for the lottery may outweigh its value in maintaining competitive balance. One thing is certain, if Stern wanted the issue to go away, he's done the exact opposite with his responses to it.
