Adam Silver’s worst nightmare for All-Star Weekend isn’t frigid
temperatures, traffic jams or injured superstars.
It’s Irving Bierman’s pen pal, James Dolan.
The absolute last thing Silver wants is for Dolan’s
insulting email to dominate the NBA’s showcase winter event,
especially with all the league’s top players, owners, executives and sponsors
arriving in town in a few days. The NBA commissioner wishes this story goes
away quicker than the Knicks season.
That Silver elected not to punish Dolan for calling Mr. Bierman a
“mess” and intimating that he is an alcoholic is not surprising. The comments
are outrageous, absolutely. But Silver is looking to put out a brushfire, not
throw gasoline on it.
The short-term solution would be for Silver to strongly suggest that
Dolan either maintain a low profile this weekend or better still take a little
vacation. Dolan can fly his private plane to the Bahamas and ride around on his
private yacht. You know, just like all consummate New Yorkers would.
A long-term solution would be for Dolan to take Bierman’s advice and
sell the team.
Don’t hold your breath.
Silver is a good man who was proactive last April when Donald
Sterling’s racially insensitive comments surfaced. In a matter of days, Silver
made it perfectly clear that the kooky old Clippers owner’s days were numbered.
That Silver elected not to punish Dolan for calling Mr. Bierman a
“mess” and intimating that he is an alcoholic is not surprising. The comments
are outrageous, absolutely. But Silver is looking to put out a brushfire, not
throw gasoline on it.
The short-term solution would be for Silver to strongly suggest that
Dolan either maintain a low profile this weekend or better still take a little
vacation. Dolan can fly his private plane to the Bahamas and ride around on his
private yacht. You know, just like all consummate New Yorkers would.
A long-term solution would be for Dolan to take Bierman’s advice and
sell the team.
Don’t hold your breath.
Silver is a good man who was proactive last April when Donald
Sterling’s racially insensitive comments surfaced. In a matter of days, Silver
made it perfectly clear that the kooky old Clippers owner’s days were numbered.
The only mystery, assuming there are no similar emails from Dolan
floating around, is why did he respond to this one? You’ve got to believe that
he receives more hate mail than a million jilted lovers, yet this one provoked
Dolan to respond.
Could it be that Dolan lashed out because the hiring of Phil Jackson
hasn’t exactly paid off? Even Jackson called his first 12 months a failed
experiment.
Dolan must be thinking, “‘What more can I do? I gave the guy you fans
wanted $60 million and I’m still catching grief. Blame Zen, not J.D.’ ”
And I’ll bet that all those college basketball games and concerts Dolan
has lost to Barclays Center has him feeling sour. And lest we forget that
Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist recently suffered a possible season-ending
injury and Carmelo Anthony has a bum knee.
Irving Bierman’s harsh tone clearly struck a nerve and Dolan suffered a
meltdown. So while that may be business as usual at MSG, Adam Silver wasn’t
about to pile on. Not this week.
All this proves is that Dolan hasn’t changed one bit. He’s still as
volatile and unpredictable as ever.
Just ask the Rockettes, the circus elephants and Irving Bierman.
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