The Verdict Is In... ...and the punishments are appropriately severe for the players involved in the Pacers-Pistons debacle this weekend. Fortunately, David Stern did not give out slap on the wrists, as I had feared, but suspended 9 players for 140+ games. The harshest penalty was assessed against Ron Artest, who was suspended for the remainder of the season (72 games). Teammates Stephen Jackson, who ran into the stands and punched several fans, and Jermaine O'Neal, who clocked another fan that had come down onto the court, were suspended for 30 and 25 games, respectively. Ben Wallace drew 6 games, Pacer Anthony Johnson got 5 and four players got one for leaving the bench during the initial players fight.



The harshest part of the suspensions, though, is that they must be served concurrently. In my mind, this may end the Pacers' season. They will be without their 3 best players for 25 games and will be short-handed the entire season. The league will allow them to sign other players to take their place during the suspensions, but this no doubt will have a highly detrimental impact on the team's record and play-off chances.



Of course, the players' union will appeal the suspensions. Will they be reduced? I don't know, but a part of me thinks that Stern and the league believed that they will. The suspensions are harsher than many thought they would be, and I wonder if Stern did this so that when they were reduced on appeal, the final punishment would be what the league deemed appropriate. If so, this introduces a new ploy on the part of the league to impose its will, no matter the desire of the union.



Though I believe they will be, I hope that the suspensions are not reduced. As I wrote yesterday, the only way the league can prevent future instances with perhaps even more dire consequences is to crack down now, and crack down hard. The league has acted appropriately to make its message clear: if you want to play in the NBA, you don't go into the stands.



Update: In the comments, someone has posted a link to an online petition to reduce the suspensions. I hope this is a joke, because the statement given in support is ridiculous and is exactly the reason such drastic punishments were needed.



The quotation is from the Pacers David Harrison: "If someone is throwing something at you with intent to harm you, you're going to defend yourself," he said. "It doesn't matter if the person is a fan or whatever. I just wonder what would happen if we went to where they work and harassed them for 48 minutes to an hour and then threw a beer at them when they were trying to leave. We'd go to jail."



First, defending yourself does not include vaulting four rows into the stands and pummeling any fan in sight, as Artest and Jackson did. It also does not include running up and punching a fan on the court, as O'Neal did. In fact, someone would have a hard time justifying punching someone, even if they had thrown a beer in your face from five feet, but this was a far-different situation.



Second, what this quote is really saying is that players have to defend their honor and act tough. Artest could have moved to the center of the court, relying on the stadium security to get rid of the thug that threw the beer. But instead, he stooped to the fan's level and acted like an even bigger thug. You start a brawl like that in a bar and chances are good that you will get arrested.



Third, the analogy to going to the fan's workplace is absurd. If you get paid $6 million a year (Artest's salary) to play basketball in hostile arenas, you come to expect a little verbal abuse. It is not all pretty language and there are times that you may want to jump into the stands, but you resist the urge and cash your paychecks. Yes, you cannot berate someone making $30K a year in their cubicle, but no NBA player would even think about changing places with them. The throwing of the beer was of course inexcusable, but someone making $6 million cannot react like Artest did.

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