Stern denies funny business in Draft Lottery

Jerry Reinsdorf serves as the face of ownership for both the Bulls and White Sox franchises. In addition to the brownstone in Reinsdorf’s neighborhood and his two sets of season tickets, Stern reportedly now owns a piece of Comcast Sports Net Chicago, the local cable sports station owned in part by several of the city’s sports organizations.

“Yes, David and I know each other – we’ve run into one another at a number of social events, and at synagogue on a handful of occasions,” Reinsdorf told SSNN, when questioned about the relationship. “Believe it or not, there’s a relatively close-knit community of wealthy, older Jewish men from New York, and we both travel in it. That doesn’t mean either of us is doing inappropriate favors for the other.

“We just both happened to get very, very lucky – myself with the Bulls winning the lottery, and David with a property that I just have to say is absolutely beautiful. Oh, and also the season tickets to the Sox and Bulls, which are really fantastic seats. From what I’ve heard, I mean.”

Though there would seem to be a wealth of evidence available for someone attempting to prove misconduct on the part of Stern and Reinsdorf, in fact there is very little useful information linking the two directly. According to several officials from other lottery teams, it is quite likely that no formal investigation will be launched.

“There’s a review process, but it basically has to be started by Stern, and almost everything we have against him and Reinsdorf is circumstancial,” said one NBA GM who spoke on condition of anonymity. “At the same time, let’s be honest – we all know the lottery is fixed. It was fixed when Ewing went to the Knicks, fixed when Duncan went to San Antonio, and it’s damn sure fixed now that Derrick Rose is going to end up in Chicago.

“You’re not really buying the old ‘all Jews know each other’ excuse, are you? I mean, that’s the same argument he used after Lawrence Frank mysteriously scored the Nets coaching job and then got photographed babysitting Stern’s kids.”

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Labels: basketball, Chicago, Chicago Bulls, Chicago White Sox, Comcast Sports Net Chicago, David Stern, Derrick Rose, Jerry Reinsdorf, Judaism, Lawrence Frank, Michael Beasley, NBA, NBA Draft, NBA Draft Lottery, New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks, Patrick Ewing, San Antonio Spurs, Tim Duncan

Posted on May 21st, 2008

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• Bulls lobbying NBA for more time (June 18, 2008)
• NBA Draft Lottery cancelled (May 21, 2007)
• Reinsdorf on coach: “We’re still looking” (June 25, 2008)
• Concept of NBA Lottery patiently explained to Gilbert Arenas after attempted purchase of tickets (April 2, 2008)

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