<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">SAN ANTONIO - The Kings' complaints regarding the suspension of Ron Artest continued to stay in-house Tuesday. And in-phone, too. Kings co-owner Gavin Maloof said his cell phone voice mail was full of grievances aimed at the NBA, which issued the one-game ruling for Artest's elbow to the head of Spurs guard Manu Ginobili in Game 1 Saturday. "I don't necessarily agree with it, but we'll abide by it," Maloof said. "I didn't think it was right, but there's no appeals process. There's no dialogue. This is a monologue. "There's no sense calling the league and trying to talk to anyone about it, because it's not going to change anything. We're just going to put it behind us and move on." More money - If the Kings ever move to Las Vegas, Artest would fit right into the city so many playfully call "Lost Wages." The one-game suspension is costing Artest $68,421 (1 percent of his salary), this after he lost approximately $5 million for his 73-game suspension while with Indiana last season. Pacers coach Rick Carlisle wasn't quite as upset as Artest over the NBA's decision, but he did tell his local media he was "disappointed" to hear the news about his former player. "I want him to do well, even if we don't have him anymore," Carlisle said. "I pull for guys who have helped us win games in the past." Piling on - Add TNT analyst and former Artest teammate Reggie Miller to the list of those who believe Artest's suspension was excessive. Miller, who worked Game 2 at the AT&T Center, was particularly critical of the fact that Artest's past factored into the decision. "That's not fair to his Sacramento Kings teammates," Miller said, "and it's not fair to the Sacramento fans. And I also want to know this: If they had to go back and look at the tapes before deciding whether to assess a flagrant foul or give him (Artest) a suspension, does that mean they're going to fine the officials for missing the call?"</div> Source I think it would be one way to clean up the lousy officiating.
cant say that I blame them. Jackson did say that it was his previous actions that led to the suspension more than anything else. Everyone thats been around here for a while knows that I will always go off on a rant about the refs at least once a year... I was pretty quiet about them this year untill this popped up. From Stu Jackson all the way down to the greenest ref, the NBA has the worst officiating in any professional sport. Combined with the fact that the only way to appeal is directly to Stern its a complete travesty and in many cases (specificly in my mind right now is the Artest suspension) a total sham. At least other sports will openly review problems in the area of officiating and make known their findings. Not the NBA however. Untill the officiating is cleaned up and the favoritisim is a thing of the past, the NBA will continue to have a black eye and be suspected of fixing games behind the scenes due to their officiating. (yes, they have been accused of that by more than just the 'jilted fan") Leave it to the NBA, they are the only league in the US to have a complaint filed against them by a consumer advocates group in regards to their officiating. (Not that it changed anything)
