Suspensions Set

[slapshot]

Wallace's suspension should be more than the 6 games. He instigated the entire incident with his reaction to Artest's foul. Plus, when all seemed to be calming down, he throws his towel towards the Pacers bench.

The whole thing seems like a witch hunt against Artest. How Hackson got 30 is beyond me. He was being mauled by Ruben Studdard in the stands when O'Neal and Artest went after the other fans.

[NJTank]

Without O'Neill for 25 Games and Artest for 73 the Pacers will be lucky to see the playoffs.

[See Red]

You're forgetting, the Pacers are in the East.

If the Pacers go out and sign Rodman (by the way, did anybody see his Beyond the Glory?) and a few other free agents they won't be in such bad state.

I think Freddy Jones and David Harrison will step it up big time (like in the Pacers 3 point loss to Orlando in which they had 6 players suited) and next season, this team will be more united than other. If I was in the NBA, I'd love nothing more than to play with Stephen Jackson as my teammate.

I think the NBA is wrong on this one. You can't take future actions of a different nature into these suspensions. And if they didn't, and felt this incident was so bad, let's say it was Shaq in Artests shoes, as he said he would do exactly what Ron Artest did according to Stephen A. Smith, don't you think the NBA would atleast have Shaq by his X-Mas day matchup with Kobe?

[The_Admiral]

Replacing Artest with Rodman? How appropriate.

[See Red]

Replacing Artest with Rodman? How appropriate.

Actually, Dennis Rodman has really cleaned up his act. He has been sober for a number of years, now, and took a mentor role when he led his ABA team to the Championship not long ago.

He's not the same Rodman who, during the NBA Finals games in Utah, got drunk and partied in Las Vegas all night, and flew to Salt Lake City for the NBA Finals the next day.

[DarthMan]

sorry about my jumping to conclusions...

[random]

Is he the same rodman who kicked the camerman in the nuts???

or the same rodman who is really old and would contribute nothing but a circus-like sideshow?

[See Red]

Is he the same rodman who kicked the camerman in the nuts???

or the same rodman who is really old and would contribute nothing but a circus-like sideshow?

True, true -- I would MUCH rather play with 6 players

[Mac the Knife]

The suspensions are too long, across the baord. I think they should all be reduced by 5 times. Divide them all by 5, and you have a realistic representation of what they did.

If i was sitting at my desk at work, and a guy came in and threw a beer on my chest, i'd chace him down and punch him. If someone threw a bottle fo water across my cubical wall, Id get up out of my chair and pummel that fool. If someone stepped into my cubical and spit at me and called me names, i'd be sure to inflict some fist-induced damage to his visage.

And afterward, you'd be (1) unemployed, but leaving with the parting gift of (2) a nice ride to the local jail, where you'd be mugged, fingerprinted, and placed in a lovely holding cell.

Unfortunately, that's more than what these clowns got. Artest and Jackson should've been banned for life, and O'Neal for the year.

[Mac the Knife]

BTW BTW: Artest's season suspension includes postseason.

Yeah, but does anyone think that's going to be an issue for them now?

[See Red]

The suspensions are too long, across the baord. I think they should all be reduced by 5 times. Divide them all by 5, and you have a realistic representation of what they did.

If i was sitting at my desk at work, and a guy came in and threw a beer on my chest, i'd chace him down and punch him. If someone threw a bottle fo water across my cubical wall, Id get up out of my chair and pummel that fool. If someone stepped into my cubical and spit at me and called me names, i'd be sure to inflict some fist-induced damage to his visage.

And afterward, you'd be (1) unemployed, but leaving with the parting gift of (2) a nice ride to the local jail, where you'd be mugged, fingerprinted, and placed in a lovely holding cell.

Unfortunately, that's more than what these clowns got. Artest and Jackson should've been banned for life, and O'Neal for the year.

Yes, but you're relating sports to real life in a way that they can't possibly be compared.

As I said in a different thread -- you'd be fired if you missed a mandatory meeting, no? You'd also be fired if you took the place of Ben Wallace and pushed (as hard as you can to the throat) just because you don't like what somebody did.

And in my opinion, and according to my interpretation to the law, you're incorrect in that if somebody threw a beer at JR's chest while he was at work, that he would be arrested for pummeling him because it would be in self defense. For the reason that the only logical reason that would occur is in the attempt to induce physical harm on JR. In the latter situation of the spitting and name-calling, you'd be correct -- but more than spitting and namecalling occured to start this incident.

Second, Jermaine O'Neal never left the court. In the case of O'Neal and thhe second guy that Artest really went after, explain to me one good reason somebody would be on the court, walking towards a player, that doesn't involve the intent to at least attempt to physically harm a player.

Third, Jackson never went after anybody innocent, he went after somebody who had piled on top of Ron Artest. Was he supposed to stand there while his teammate, and quite possibly, friend, got pummeled? No. The players that tried to break it up, Austin Croshere, Freddy Jones (Who got pummeled in the back of the head) etc, all ended up being physically assaulted while trying to break that up.

You go onto the court, you deserve anything that could possibly happen to you. Anything that was done was done with the intent to protect themselves, and you'd be hardpressed to find atleast 1 or 2 players that wouldn't act similarly to how O'Neal, Artest, and Stephen Jackson did on Friday Night.

Artest's ?history of offenses? are totally irrelevant to the situation as he had originally set out to avoid the conflict, which is completely unlike what his older patterns of behavior would lead one to think he would do. If they intend to take into account what he has done over the course of his career, take into consideration the fact that his involvement in acts of an offensive or uncalled for nature has decreased of late, showing that he has made a legitimate attempt to clean up his behavior and his reputation. As I said in a different thread, I'm sickened by the NBA's attempt to protect there reputation, and not their players.

[sj32]

BTW BTW:  Artest's season suspension includes postseason.

Yeah, but does anyone think that's going to be an issue for them now?

As somebody above duly noted: "They are in the East".

[Babydoll]

Some members have posted that the punishment is nothing compared to what people would get if they were normal people, i.e. not stars in a professional league.

I think the law should be brought in. It shouldn't be just a suspension from their jobs.

[sj32]

Some members have posted that the punishment is nothing compared to what people would get if they were normal people, i.e. not stars in a professional league.

I think the law should be brought in. It shouldn't be just a suspension from their jobs.

Patience. The investigation is ongoing with the Auburn Hills P.D. Early word is that if charges are filed, they will probably be misdemeanor battery for everybody except for the idiot who threw the chair, who would probably be charged with felony assault.

[JamesCraven]

I have an update for 12/22-23/04, bringing the thread back from limbo.

An arbitrator has reduced the suspension for Jermaine O'Neal from 25 games to fifteen games, and there is no word if the NBA will accept the reduction, saying the hearings were a "traveshamockery" to use the hot button wording of 2004. The other suspensions were upheld.

On Thursday (12/23), a Federal judge ruled that Jermaine O'Neal will be eligible to play starting Christmas Day against Detroit and issued a temporary restraining order for such.