Colangelo, NBA to Meet About Flagrant Fouls

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http://www.nba.com/suns/news/tribune_031208.html

Colangelo, NBA to Meet About Flagrant Fouls

By Mike Tulumello, Tribune
East Valley Tribune
Dec. 8, 2003

He’s not hinting at a lawsuit any more, but Jerry Colangelo still wants justice. The Suns chairman plans to be in New York this week to lobby NBA officials in person about putting more teeth in rules penalizing players for flagrant fouls that result in injuries to players.

Colangelo was about as angry as he’s ever been — as longtime Suns watchers can recall — when Danny Fortson deliberately shoved an off-balance Zarko Cabarkapa, the Suns’ prized rookie, on Nov. 26.

Cabarkapa fractured his right wrist while trying to break his fall.

Suns officials fear the injury conceivably could cost the Suns a playoff spot. If that happens, the Suns could be out millions of dollars.

And so, in addition to considering harsher penalties for such incidents — Colangelo thinks players who injure others in flagrantfoul situations should be held out for as long the injured player is out — Colangelo thinks teams in the Suns’ situation should be compensated for their loss.


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(In Fortson’s case, the NBA suspended him for three games, a penalty that cost him nearly $200,000, saying such a penalty was consistent with past flagrant-foul cases.)

"When there are inequities in the game, they should be addressed," Colangelo said.

Colangelo said he realizes the Suns won’t get any money out of this, but that a different policy could discourage similar incidents.

"It wouldn’t be retroactive," he said. "This would be a change for the future."

A couple of members of the NBA board of governors, a panel which Colangelo serves as chairman, sound like they might be receptive to change.

"I’m sympathetic," said Howard Schultz, the influential owner of the Seattle SuperSonics. "This is a case in point where the suspension probably is not suitable" for the seriousness of the incident.

Schultz, the head of the Starbucks coffee empire, said he wonders whether the league should take a second look at the whole process of penalizing players in these cases.

"Many of these rules and regulations . . . were put in place when we were a different league," he said.

Not only is there much more money at stake nowadays, "The players are bigger and stronger," he said. "These kinds of things could cause career-ending injuries.

"It’s time to revisit certain aspects about how the league deals with things of this nature."

Schultz points out the Suns were near the end of a blowout win over the Mavericks at the time of the injury.

"When you’re up by 30, the player shouldn’t be fouled in the first place."

"I understand Jerry’s reaction," said Donnie Walsh, the president of the Indiana Pacers.

"That was a deliberate act," he said of Fortson’s foul. "It’s easy to make an argument in a case like that."

But, he cautions, "There are a lot of flagrant fouls that are just basketball plays."

For example, a player goes up for a shot around the basket and the defensive player jumps up to try to block it. But the defensive player doesn’t jump as high as the player with the ball and hits him hard on the arm, with the offensive player crashing hard to the floor and getting hurt.

"You don’t have to do it intentionally to get a flagrant foul," Walsh said. "I wouldn’t want a player (in this situation) put to that sort of punishment."

Colangelo replies that, "Officials make calls like that all the time," in judging whether an act is malicious or not. The inference is that he wants a hammer to use in the worst-case scenarios.

Colangelo said he’s already talked to commissioner David Stern and other influential officials on the phone on the issue but wants to make his case in person this week.

Rules changes can work, Schultz points out. Ever since the NBA started suspending players for leaving the bench during a scuffle a few years ago, there are no more benchclearing brawls.