Sarver's league wide reputation--hang head low

[JCSunsfan]

Stern dominated the meeting, with most owners reduced to bystanders. As one player said, “They’re always scared to talk when we’re in the room, especially when our stars come.” Still, several players could see the grimace on Stern’s face when notorious windbag Robert Sarver, the Phoenix Suns owner, started to speak.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-wojnarowski_billy_hunter_nba_union_062911

 

[Covert Rain]

Stern dominated the meeting, with most owners reduced to bystanders. As one player said, “They’re always scared to talk when we’re in the room, especially when our stars come.” Still, several players could see the grimace on Stern’s face when notorious windbag Robert Sarver, the Phoenix Suns owner, started to speak.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-wojnarowski_billy_hunter_nba_union_062911

If this doesn't sum it up I don't know what will. People don't respect this guy. I mean we already sort of knew it didn't we? Teams try and screw the Suns in every single transaction. Golden State literally pulled out of a done deal and had so little respect for the Suns...they didn't even bat an eye about it.

Having said all that....anything that causes Stern to Grimace I am all for. For that reason alone...I hope Sarver doesn't shut up.

 

[AsUdUdE]

The thing about it is Sarver tries tp run the team as basically his sole income...

He you gave him a choice to make a buck or win a championship I guarentee if he was giving an honest answer he wouldn't think twice..

The NBA and players have seen this.. it is not good for the NBA, he has taken a very popular franchise and completely run it into the ground..

I knew the suns were in serious trouble when we sold Rondo, and Sarver tried to spin it by bringing up STAT and saying "heres MY 1st round pick"

He is the worst thing that has happend to the sports scene on Arizona, period..

he is a D-bag, Windbag, and has almost single handedly destroyed a once proud franchise...

I think Stern sees this, and that is why we ALL cringe..

 

[Cheesebeef]

Stern dominated the meeting, with most owners reduced to bystanders. As one player said, “They’re always scared to talk when we’re in the room, especially when our stars come.” Still, several players could see the grimace on Stern’s face when notorious windbag Robert Sarver, the Phoenix Suns owner, started to speak.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-wojnarowski_billy_hunter_nba_union_062911

awesome.

still... sooooooo mad i didn't "accidentally" spill my coffee on him at Hava Java back in the day when i was infirm and he couldn't do anything about it.

i don't hate many people in this world... but him... him I hate.

 

[SweetD]

Not sure what you guys are reading but Stern was the one grimacing because he is the only owner willing to speak up against him? If you run a business you look to make money not loose money.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Not sure what you guys are reading but Stern was the one grimacing because he is the only owner willing to speak up against him? If you run a business you look to make money not loose money.

you're reading wayyyyyyy too much into this.

the writer called him a "notorious windbag"... that in no way is a good thing and the players noticing that stern doesn't like him probably doesn't make us any more attractive of a franchise.

 

[devilalum]

you're reading wayyyyyyy too much into this.

the writer called him a "notorious windbag"... that in no way is a good thing and the players noticing that stern doesn't like him probably doesn't make us any more attractive of a franchise.

Well we've all seen what being the good boy owner that never breaks rank can do for a franchise.

Bidwil...

 

[Superbone]

...the writer called him a "notorious windbag"... that in no way is a good thing.

It is if you are a low brass player.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Two things about this.

Stern grimacing at Sarver speaking.
The players noticing and understanding that Sarver is a windbag.

Not a good picture for free agency. I think the Suns should forget about 2012 free agency and focus on getting a good core of young players now.

 

[elindholm]

I don't like Sarver, but the fact that Stern doesn't like him isn't exactly a point against him. Stern is a bully and a tyrant, and if he doesn't like Sarver, that probably means that Sarver is doing something right, as much as we'd rather not admit it. Now that Cuban has won a title, Stern needs a new whipping boy, so I guess Sarver is it.

 

[ASUCHRIS]

I don't like Sarver, but the fact that Stern doesn't like him isn't exactly a point against him. Stern is a bully and a tyrant, and if he doesn't like Sarver, that probably means that Sarver is doing something right, as much as we'd rather not admit it. Now that Cuban has won a title, Stern needs a new whipping boy, so I guess Sarver is it.

Or the one thing both player and owners can agree on, is that Sarver is a giant douche.

 

[CardsFan88]

The sad thing, is the Suns are the only legitimate product he's ever put forward into this world.

So yeah, of course that means he had enough money to buy and ruin the Suns.

Always funny hearing how much contempt people have for him. Although I know it backfires onto my beloved Suns and the potential for their success.

You also have to take into account his reaction to him versus other owners, and throughout history. Sure there have been spats, and sometimes people would call the other a butthole or whatever. But this is different, as it doesn't come really from a hate position...based on a historical precedent or lawsuit against the league or whatnot. It comes from something else, and the cues are different.

This isn't the first time, there was a thread on here a while back that mentioned Stern blew him apart for one stupid reason or another.

Stern never did this to Cuban, even though they had their spats. Plus that other time, was obviously BEFORE Cuban won the title, and thus somehow supposedly gained immunity.

Besides, $arver through his actions, didn't save money. He only momentarily saved money, then proceeded to take on other contracts...ruining what he gained.....only to dump....only to pick up....and destroy what we had....which all together, lost him more money than he would have by going about things another way. JC may have lost money, but I wouldn't be surprised that with $arver doing all these things for 'money', he ended up losing a like amount, and destroyed the quality of the product, and his fanbase's goodwill.

Besides, as a person with another main business, this should be the thing you extend some flexibility $$ wise. You don't have to have the same standard across all ones businesses. One can be a favorite, the one you flaunt a foam finger towards, would be a good guess. But alas, he didn't save money, and he basically destroyed the franchise, turned a real shot at dynasty and turned it into an african food pantry. He did this, and didn't make money? Sounds like a bankster all right. Sold off good assets for dirt cheap, and took on pure crap for too much.

I wonder if he thinks at some point Stern will bail him out....ha ha ha.

 

[JCSunsfan]

I don't like Sarver, but the fact that Stern doesn't like him isn't exactly a point against him. Stern is a bully and a tyrant, and if he doesn't like Sarver, that probably means that Sarver is doing something right, as much as we'd rather not admit it. Now that Cuban has won a title, Stern needs a new whipping boy, so I guess Sarver is it.

Leave it to E to find a bright side? I am shocked.

 

[Mainstreet]

I dislike Sarver but I would hardly use Stern as a barometer to judge him. I'll give Sarver the benefit of the doubt on this one.

 

[mojorizen7]

Or maybe Stern and Sarver are two of a kind...and they don't like looking at themselves.

 

[elindholm]

Leave it to E to find a bright side? I am shocked.

If the Suns had won two more games against the Lakers last June, everyone would love Sarver. (You'll notice that the Cuban haters have disappeared.) I think he's in over his head and has some deep personality flaws, but I don't regard him as the personification of evil.

 

[Griffin]

If the Suns had won two more games against the Lakers last June, everyone would love Sarver.

I don't know about that. Had they won that series and a title, I would argue that they did it despite of Sarver's mishandling of the team. After all, it was essentially the same team that stumbled into the lottery the year before, minus Shaq who was given away to cut costs.

It's a different situation with Cuban who got a title with a $90M+ roster.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I don't know about that. Had they won that series and a title, I would argue that they did it despite of Sarver's mishandling of the team. After all, it was essentially the same team that stumbled into the lottery the year before, minus Shaq who was given away to cut costs.

It's a different situation with Cuban who got a title with a $90M+ roster.

It really wasn't the same team that stumbled into the lottery. Amare, despite his defensive deficiencies, is a difference maker and he was unavailable for much of that season (unless my memory is freaking out on me again).

If we had won that series and gone on to win a championship, would you still argue they did it "despite" Sarver if our team payroll had been $90M+. My guess is yes. I think Sarver is despised for a few things that he's probably responsible for and for a lot of things that he may or may not be responsible for. I suspect it would take more than one championship to soften the feelings about the guy. Let's face it, it wasn't that long ago that our team salary was near the top (close to 80M four or 5 years ago) and he wasn't very popular then either.

Steve

 

[ASUCHRIS]

I suspect it would take more than one championship to soften the feelings about the guy.

Absurd. If he led the Suns to a championship, he would be more than accepted locally. Problem is, it ain't gonna happen.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Absurd. If he led the Suns to a championship, he would be more than accepted locally. Problem is, it ain't gonna happen.

Are we just talking locally? If so, then yeah, a championship would win him considerable favor in Arizona. However, I doubt it would do much to change the perception on this forum.

Steve

 

[JCSunsfan]

If the Suns had won two more games against the Lakers last June, everyone would love Sarver. (You'll notice that the Cuban haters have disappeared.) I think he's in over his head and has some deep personality flaws, but I don't regard him as the personification of evil.

Yes. He could still be owner and solve all his problems. Hire a good team president and gm and get the %&^ out of the way.

 

[Griffin]

It really wasn't the same team that stumbled into the lottery. Amare, despite his defensive deficiencies, is a difference maker and he was unavailable for much of that season (unless my memory is freaking out on me again).

I meant the same team in terms of roster moves that can be directly attributed to ownership/management. Obviously it helped a lot to have a healthy Amare, but Sarver didn't have anything to do with that.

If we had won that series and gone on to win a championship, would you still argue they did it "despite" Sarver if our team payroll had been $90M+. My guess is yes.

Well, if our payroll was that high, that means we probably kept a lot of the draft picks that we sold and we didn't trade players away just to cut payroll. Perhaps we acquired a bad contract or two, but that would have been in an attempt to make the team better. So no, that argument would not hold then.

It doesn't mean that you have to have a payroll that high, it just means you have to be willing to spend money on the team and to take risks, even if some of those risks don't pay off (like Caron Butler in Dallas who takes up a big chunk of their payroll but didn't play at all in their title run). That's the nature of this business.

 

[Gaddabout]

Adrian's been covering the NBA for longer than I've been out of college. He was at the Sporting News when I was at MCC in the 90s. I can't think of a more connected NBA reporter. I'm certain he's echoing the feelings of many people when he refers to Sarver as "notorious windbag." This isn't something Adrian's just observed. Many people must have made the same observation -- probably other owners and agents -- and not just recently. Adrian doesn't throw out terms like that unless there's some real toothy credibility to it.

 

[carey]

Adrian's been covering the NBA for longer than I've been out of college. He was at the Sporting News when I was at MCC in the 90s. I can't think of a more connected NBA reporter. I'm certain he's echoing the feelings of many people when he refers to Sarver as "notorious windbag." This isn't something Adrian's just observed. Many people must have made the same observation -- probably other owners and agents -- and not just recently. Adrian doesn't throw out terms like that unless there's some real toothy credibility to it.

What are the real implications of something like this appearing in an article on-line?

 

[Mainstreet]

Yes. He could still be owner and solve all his problems. Hire a good team president and gm and get the %&^ out of the way.

However, this is not Sarver's mode of operation or we would not be discussing it. He wants to control the purse strings in every facet of running the franchise.