The Book The NBA Doesn't Want You To See

[Dave James]

If you're reading this, I'm sure you know who Tim Donaghy is. As I understand it, the NBA has sued to keep his book, Blowing The Whistle, The Culture Of Fraud In The NBA, from being published and, as a result, his deal has been scrubbed. Here are some excerpts from that book, the one the NBA does not want you to see.

http://deadspin.com/5392067/excerpts-from-...ant-you-to-read

Take it for what its worth, but I would think David Stern must be apoplectic over this.

Up over and out.

Edited October 29, 2009 by Dave James

[kenny weir]

Nope, didn't know who he was. Do now!

Man, that's some hot stuff.

True or no?

[Dave James]

Nope, didn't know who he was. Do now!

Man, that's some hot stuff.

True or no?

Kenny,

Wish I knew. You can look at this a couple of ways. Either Donaghy has nothing to lose, i.e. his pension is gone, his job is gone, so why not tell everything you know about officiating in the NBA, or he's just bitter for the aforementioned reasons, so he's gone on a witch hunt. I have to think if the NBA is really flexing their considerable muscle to make sure the lid is kept on, then there's something to all this. Where there's smoke, there's usually fire. I'm not an advocate of Congress getting involved in professional sports, but it would be interesting to ask some of the current referees to swear under oath that the kind of things Donaghy asserts are happening really aren't. Then you might get a little closer to the truth.

Up over and out.

[Jim Alfredson]

Anybody with eyes can see that some games are rigged. It would not surprise me if 100% of what they quoted in the link above is true.

[kenny weir]

Interesting ...

I would guess, too, that basketball lends itself to this sort of manipulation.

Really high number of fouls, which are much open to ref innterpretation than those in, say, MLB or NFL, and end-to-end scoring.

[vajerzy]

I don't watch NBA anymore- I cannot identify with most anything affiliated with it.

But I do watch and follow college basketball.

[vajerzy]

Another thing I believe is that Michael Jordan's "retirement" was the result of gambling and Jordan went away for a year and played baseball to keep busy- then he "unretired"- back into the NBA.

[papsrus]

Another thing I believe is that Michael Jordan's "retirement" was the result of gambling and Jordan went away for a year and played baseball to keep busy- then he "unretired"- back into the NBA.

Interesting.

I'm with you on the NBA. To me it's like watching paint dry. College ball is much more entertaining, IMO.

As for the book ... eh. Wouldn't be surprised either way, but that Donaghy cat has exactly zero credibility.

[Noj]

I wouldn't be surprised if every bit of it is accurate. No wonder Stern doesn't want this published. Even though Donaghy has an axe to grind, I think he's grinding it with legitimate, believable dirt.

Of course, with my Rambis goggles on I would have a hard time saying I didn't think the Kings got a whole lot of calls before the officiating swung the Lakers' way. I've been a fan of the Lakers my whole life, so I have a difficult time not seeing it that way. I recall there being a discrepancy between the way illegal defense was being called all year and how it was called early in that series, with guards sagging down on Shaq so there wasn't time to set up the inside/outside game. Then again, I've always been dubious about the existence of such a thing as "illegal defense," so I digress...

Oh, and I love the NBA game. Most of the best basketball talent in the world is on the court. The level of the game isn't higher anywhere else, not to say I don't love the college game too.