In today’s column, David Aldridge of NBA.com recaps the history of commissioner David Stern‘s tenure in office. “The Life and Times of Stern” was culled by talking with people that worked with him, for him, and played in or were a part, directly or indirectly, of his league. As you might expect, not everyone who dealt with Stern was happy with him at the time, but there’s a tremendous amount of respect for what he did from all corners of the game. Here’s more from around the Association..
- The Pistons have lots of questions to address between now and the trade deadline as Vince Ellis of USA Today Sports explains.
- Bulls guard D.J. Augustin has a certain comfort level with his club after joining them about a month ago, writes Adam Fluck of Bulls.com. Since joining the Bulls, Augustin has averaged 30.4 minutes per game. The only time in his professional career he’s seen more playing time was in 2010/11 with the Bobcats , when he turned in his best statistical season, averaging 14.4 points and 6.1 points over 82 games, all starts.
- In a recent radio interview, former Mavericks guard Jimmy Jackson claimed that the club and Stern were guilty of collusion when negotiating his rookie contract, writes Tom Ziller of SBNation.com. Those accusations were never proven in a court of law, but Ziller writes that it wouldn’t be surprising in the least if they were true.
- Stern has been calling NBA owners to let them know he will be out of sight for a while and Adam Silver is the guy to call/email for all issues, tweets Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today. Stern hasn’t officially handed off the torch to Silver yet, but it sounds like the transition has effectively taken place.
- There are tons of recognizable names still looking for NBA jobs and Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders runs them all down by position. Those looking for work include Richard Hamilton, Lamar Odom, Andrew Bynum, Chris Duhon, Seth Curry, Josh Howard, Mickael Pietrus, Corey Maggette, Stephen Jackson, Marcus Camby, and more.