Microballing: Steve Ballmer's LA Clippers

[mauf]

If this is not fully resolved by the beginning of the season for reasons out of their control, and the players strike, that would be very foolish. If I were an owner in these circumstances, I would then consider terminating -- for cause -- every bad contract on my roster.

Good luck getting an arbitrator to uphold that action.

It won't come to that, of course. I'm firmly of the belief that the owners and players are working together, or at least in harmony. The threat of a player boycott allows the BOG to claim they used their power to force a sale of a club in its intended fashion -- as an emergency measure to avoid grave harm to the league, not as an effort to rewrite the league's morals clause to screw an owner they didn't like. This approach also assuages the concerns of owners who might be concerned about precedent -- they might worry about their private conduct being deemed unworthy by the Commissioner's office, but none of them are worried that their conduct would trigger a league-wide player boycott.

I hope those who were upset at Wyc and other owners for keeping quiet in the early days of the scandal and letting Silver's office take the lead now realize why their silence was necessary. Having owners making statements about their personal distaste for Donald Sterling, his comments, and his business practices would have hurt the league's chances of getting rid of him and his family for good.

 

[Average Reds]

 
I understand what you're saying about the build-up and the smoking gun.  
 
What strikes me as interesting is that apparently no one on the Clippers was agitating against Sterling before the tape came out - there were no lawsuits re: the working conditions for the players on the team, nor, from what I understand were there any pending allegations that Sterling was acting in an overtly racist way vis-à-vis the team or any of the team players.  Also interesting is that (again in terms of the team itself) since the recorded statements were made public, nothing else has come to light - meaning there was nothing burbling under the surface, just waiting for the right moment to become public.  I'd assume if there was no taped statement, things would have continued as normal for the Clippers, and the Clippers and the NBA would have been fine with the status quo.
 
With that in mind, I'm still thinking the whole situation is driven almost entirely by the outrageous things Sterling was recorded saying.  We're still pretty much in the dark as to whether Sterling was a "toxic racist" - he may have been, he may not have been, but I don't think there was any hue and cry to get rid of him as an owner before the taped statements came to light?  (If I'm wrong about that, please correct me.)
 
***
 
I'd also be surprised if there was an actual walkout, if, at the beginning of next season, one of the Sterlings was still nominally owner. 

 
There have been periodic efforts to either oust Sterling or to shame him into selling over the years, but they never amounted to much.  Most of the outrage I've seen directed his way over the years was because of his legendary cheapness.  (One example:  Sterling refused to extend health coverage to cover the cost of cancer surgery for Assistant Coach Kim Hughes in 2004 because the doctor Hughes chose was out of network.  As the owner of the team, Sterling had full discretion to extend the coverage and he refused.  The players paid for the surgery for their coach.)
 
As to why people accepted Sterling over the years, I think there are several reasons.  First, I think there is a bit more tolerance for mildly bigoted views for people of a certain generation.  And so long as those views are not pushed in the face of employees, they can overlook them.  But there is an expectation that those views will moderate over time.  Second, there is the idea that regardless of what people believe, they should be judged on how they treat others.  And in the past decade, Sterling had begun to change the way he ran the Clippers.  He began spending money.  He brought in coaches and gave then actual power.  He seemed to be stepping into the background.
 
Hearing Sterling's words destroyed any charitable perspectives that anyone could have had about Donald Sterling.  It also made players, coaches and NBA owners feel like chumps, in the sense that (and I'm reading between the lines) this guy had been a problem in the past and has obviously has been talked to, but he's so arrogant that he can ignore the feelings of his players, employees and partners - not to mention the way the world works - and act like he's a plantation owner dictating the lives of his property. 
 
I would add that the fact that he took unprovoked shots at Magic Johnson really did him no favors.  And his recent appearances where he doubled down on everything just confirmed what a cretin he is.

 

[JayMags71]

I have mixed feelings about things like this.  On the one hand, good for the NBPA for taking a stand.  On the other, striking over what an obviously crazy old man (who is already banned from interacting with the team) said. . .just because you also want his family members nixed as owners?   It seems like a tempest in a teacup, except that it involves race issues in America.  
 
Since the civil rights era, has there been such a high profiled threatened walkout/strike over someone's use of language - as opposed to, say, working or living conditions?  (Again, I'm not justifying Sterling - this whole situation just seems somewhat unique to me.)

Deadspin has a good answer to this question:

There's no particular reason to divide these actions from the now recorded and published thoughts that animated them. There's no particular reason for the public, or the NBA, to expect Sterling to quit acting on the thoughts that led him to systematically abuse his minority tenants for decades. Sterling did us all a favor on these tapes: He articulated with great precision the simple-minded philosophy that undergirded all those actions. He presented us with a worldview, round and whole, that connected all the dots between his racism and his way of doing business. You don't get this very often. The people who do the redlining in America rarely explain themselves.

 

[seageral]

http://nypost.com/2014/05/14/sterling-stiviano-was-an-animal-in-bed/
 
this guy is the best

 

[dcmissle]

Entirely unfiltered, he is fascinating. More so because Anderson Cooper is quite persuaded that, although maybe not at the top of his game, Sterling is far from senile. He is a period piece with plenty of company in his age group, exceptional only as a billionaire owner. Jason Whitlock has a stupendous article on ESPN on this, correctly noting that Sterling has done all of us a favor in a strange way.

 

[Brickowski]

http://nypost.com/2014/05/14/sterling-stiviano-was-an-animal-in-bed/
 
this guy is the best

And It keeps getting better and better.

 

[singaporesoxfan]

 
I have mixed feelings about things like this.  On the one hand, good for the NBPA for taking a stand.  On the other, striking over what an obviously crazy old man (who is already banned from interacting with the team) said. . .just because you also want his family members nixed as owners?   It seems like a tempest in a teacup, except that it involves race issues in America.  
 
Since the civil rights era, has there been such a high profiled threatened walkout/strike over someone's use of language - as opposed to, say, working or living conditions?  (Again, I'm not justifying Sterling - this whole situation just seems somewhat unique to me.)

 
Shelly Sterling posed as a health inspector to illegally check out the race of Sterling's tenants. I can see how the players wouldn't want her as an owner as well.
 
I think it's not really right to say that this is just a "use of language". It's language that gives an insight into a known pattern of racist actions.

 

[ALiveH]

Silver was very clear in his press conference that his decision & punishment was based entirely on the content of the audio recording and Sterling's past history did not factor into it at all.
 
From a legal perspective, I wonder if that was the best strategy.

 

[dcmissle]

Silver was very clear in his press conference that his decision & punishment was based entirely on the content of the audio recording and Sterling's past history did not factor into it at all.
 
From a legal perspective, I wonder if that was the best strategy.

A first amended complaint will follow on the heels of the Cooper interview.

As for prior misdeeds, though there is technically no statute of limitations, you can be damn sure the League knew of them long ago. Silver has no appetite to bury his predecessor, or his bosses, the current owners. Too bad in a way -- examining David Stern under oath would be great theatre.

 

[Average Reds]

http://nypost.com/2014/05/14/sterling-stiviano-was-an-animal-in-bed/
 
this guy is the best

 
We sure that Sterling and Toronto Mayor Rob Ford aren't related?

 

[mauf]

Silver was very clear in his press conference that his decision & punishment was based entirely on the content of the audio recording and Sterling's past history did not factor into it at all.
 
From a legal perspective, I wonder if that was the best strategy.

The grounds for forcing a sale of the team are different from the grounds for Sterling's personal ban (which, afaik, he isn't contesting). The audio tape was sufficient to justify the personal ban, and allowed Silver to act more swiftly than a more broad-based charge, which presumably would have necessitated an investigation. The forced sale, as I understand it, will be justified not by some sort of morals clause, but by the harm that Sterling's continued ownership is doing to everyone's business interests. If that's correct, Sterling's past is merely a footnote -- the threats of sponsor withdrawals and player boycotts will be the cornerstone of the league's case, and it shouldn't particularly matter whether those are driven by Sterling's recent remarks or past behavior (though continued press interest in that past may be a secondary factor fueling the threatened boycotts).

 

[Rovin Romine]

 
We sure that Sterling and Toronto Mayor Rob Ford aren't related?

 
I wonder if there's some heavy drug use.  Sterling seems like a man who is out to defy death - the sexual obsession at age 80, plus his desperate attempts to look younger than he his.  I wouldn't be surprised if he's not taking a cornucopia of various drugs.  
 
Basically unlimited wealth mixed with a refusal to age gracefully can produce some pretty odd results.  

 

[Brickowski]

The league's "case" for forcing a sale will be heard by an "arbitrator" (the Board of Governors), not by a court.  At this point Sterling's best chance to keep his franchise is to convince the owners not to vote him out.  I doubt if his comments about Magic Johnson or Ms. Stiviano's sexual prowess will be very helpful in that regard.

 

[wade boggs chicken dinner]

http://nypost.com/2014/05/14/sterling-stiviano-was-an-animal-in-bed/
 
this guy is the best

 
Apparently if you are worth a billion dollars, you can get the best of the best:  http://larrybrownsports.com/basketball/donald-sterling-deposition-sex-alexandra-castro/227574

 

[dcmissle]

 
Apparently if you are worth a billion dollars, you can get the best of the best:  http://larrybrownsports.com/basketball/donald-sterling-deposition-sex-alexandra-castro/227574

Fittingly, he met her at a birthday party for Al Davis. Sterling and Al seem to have shared a few similarities, though obviously there were important differences too.

If RR is right, one of those is the death aversion. I was struck by an article about Al in which he admitted to being inconsolable about the inevitability of it, and seared by the passing of lots of old buddies, especially in football.

 

[coremiller]

Fittingly, he met her at a birthday party for Al Davis. Sterling and Al seem to have shared a few similarities, though obviously there were important differences too.

If RR is right, one of those is the death aversion. I was struck by an article about Al in which he admitted to being inconsolable about the inevitability of it, and seared by the passing of lots of old buddies, especially in football.

 
To be fair to Davis, he may have gotten pretty crazy at the end but he was never a bigot.*  Rather the reverse, Davis was actually something of a pioneer with regard to civil rights and African-Americans in sports.
 
*Not that you were saying he was, just thought it was worth pointing out in this context

 

[dcmissle]

 
To be fair to Davis, he may have gotten pretty crazy at the end but he was never a bigot.*  Rather the reverse, Davis was actually something of a pioneer with regard to civil rights and African-Americans in sports.
 
*Not that you were saying he was, just thought it was worth pointing out in this context

To be sure, they are polar opposites in that way and in their knowledge of their respective sports. Al was a football lifer.

But their temperaments seem similar: they are and were fighters. And although this could well be drawing the wrong lesson from these events, don't think it is lost on Sterling that Davis was often at war with the NFL and, in at least one very big stakes battle, kicked its ass.

 

[Tony C]

Fittingly, he met her at a birthday party for Al Davis. Sterling and Al seem to have shared a few similarities, though obviously there were important differences too.

If RR is right, one of those is the death aversion. I was struck by an article about Al in which he admitted to being inconsolable about the inevitability of it, and seared by the passing of lots of old buddies, especially in football.

 
Is "death aversion" really all that rare or odd? If so, I certainly plead guilty to this affliction -- I look at guys their ages and wonder how the hell they survive the deaths of so much family/loved ones etc without being permanently depressed. I'm betting I will be....
 
More power to the Buddhists who are more accepting.

 

[wade boggs chicken dinner]

A couple of sports lawyers (including McCann) think NBA case is extremely strong:  http://sports.yahoo.com/news/experts-nba-likely-win-sterling-182805089--nba.html

 

[dcmissle]

Per ESPN crawl, Sterling fixing to sue the League. We'll have anew thread soon.

 

[soxfan121]

Yep. Not paying the fine, retaining 80-year old litigators who won anti-trust lawsuits against the NFL, suing the NBA. 
 

 

[soxhop411]

Yep. Not paying the fine, retaining 80-year old litigators who won anti-trust lawsuits against the NFL, suing the NBA. 
 

Not paying the fine is grounds for having your team pulled from you no? I thought I read that when they first announced the punishment?

 

[ElUno20]

I never thought id be in a position in my life of rooting for cancer

 

[HomeRunBaker]

 
Is "death aversion" really all that rare or odd? If so, I certainly plead guilty to this affliction -- I look at guys their ages and wonder how the hell they survive the deaths of so much family/loved ones etc without being permanently depressed. I'm betting I will be....
 
More power to the Buddhists who are more accepting.

You got this right. My dad is 89 and always heavily involved in the community and his church. I'm not even kidding.....a couple months ago he went to someones wake every night of the week.

 

[wutang112878]

Sterling will drag this out as long as possible. His primary goal is to win but I'm sure he wants to just make life difficult fir the NBA

 

[Reverend]

Is anyone going to talk about his views of women, or is that all cool?

Or rather, is it just a given?

 

[wutang112878]

The guy is just insane, and lets be honest how many rich, eccentric men actually have views pretty similar to his, probably more than we think.  Sterling just happens to be one of the few people in the world who is willing to discuss all of that in depositions for some unknown reason.
 
 
I had an idea last night, Silver should hire Stern back in a consulting role with his sole objective to be to facilitate and expedite the removal of Sterling as an owner.  Its a perfect fit.  Stern is a complete a-hole, has a law degree, loves to push people around and he is a cranky old SOB just like Sterling.  I cant think of a guy more qualified to do this.  I cant believe I am actually saying this, but in this role Stern would actually be doing a huge service for the NBA.

 

[67YAZ]

I had an idea last night, Silver should hire Stern back in a consulting role with his sole objective to be to facilitate and expedite the removal of Sterling as an owner.  Its a perfect fit.  Stern is a complete a-hole, has a law degree, loves to push people around and he is a cranky old SOB just like Sterling.  I cant think of a guy more qualified to do this.  I cant believe I am actually saying this, but in this role Stern would actually be doing a huge service for the NBA.

Unfortunately, Stern is deeply compromised when it comes to Sterling. He tolerated Sterling as an owner during the federal law suits and public reports of Sterling bringing guests into the locker room to gaze at players bodies. The play is to hire Skadden Arps or similar and bury Sterling in the legal fight he's itching for.

 

[Rovin Romine]

Unfortunately, Stern is deeply compromised when it comes to Sterling. He tolerated Sterling as an owner during the federal law suits and public reports of Sterling bringing guests into the locker room to gaze at players bodies. The play is to hire Skadden Arps or similar and bury Sterling in the legal fight he's itching for.

 
Looking at this from 10,000 feet up, Sterling's not really itching to litigate.  He's itching for this thing to go away.  
 
However, he's been fined and banned, and therefore has got little or nothing to lose, but much to gain by litigating.  if Sterling does nothing he's likely to have the sale of his team forced - he'll lose some very significant money.  If Sterling fights, he may get concessions from the NBA, to the extent of whatever it's worth for the NBA to avoid a drawn out fight over the issue.  A legal tussle over this, no matter who the NBA hires isn't going to break Sterling.  
 
A lot depends on what skeletons are in the closets of NBA owners.  The theory that the NBA is going after Sterling with is essentially, "We're sorry X came to light through the actions of another party, but what happened could negatively affect the league.") So, I think Sterling, in going after Magic, is essentially trying to argue that everyone has skeletons in their closets; "Magic exposed women to HIV and is selfish with his money. I was trying to get laid and said something incredibly stupid, but donate money to minorities and have a good track record."  Granted it's a stupid example for him to use (if it's a strategy at all) but all he really needs to do is to find a couple of outrageous incidents (preferably racist ones) amongst his co-owners.  
 
Then again, Sterling's nuts.  There's very little he might do, or not do, that would surprise me at this point. 

 

[Rovin Romine]

Is anyone going to talk about his views of women, or is that all cool?

Or rather, is it just a given?

 
I think it's a given.  This is a guy who was born in 1934.   That means his coming of consciousness years were during WWII and his teens were doubtless impacted by the Holocaust.  It also puts him in his 30s during the late 60s, by which he was already a litigating attorney in So.Cal and owned a couple of apartment towers.  
 
While I hesitate to paint with just dates and ages, it's not inconceivable that Sterling didn't take a lot of time off for women-lib issues.  
 
Also per wikipedia:

 
In February 2003, the Housing Rights Center of Los Angeles filed a housing discrimination case against Sterling on behalf of 18 tenants. The lawsuit featured several racist statements allegedly made by Sterling to employees, such as that "black people smell and attract vermin" and "hispanics just smoke and hang around the building" as well as Sterling's alleged intent to rent only to Korean tenants because "they will pay the rent and live in whatever conditions I give them." Part of the HRC case's resolution included U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer awarding the plaintiffs' attorney $4.9 million in attorneys fees. While the final terms for the plaintiffs were confidential, the judge said the fees were justified as the settlement obtained by the plaintiffs against Sterling was one of the largest of its kind and the public benefit terms were significant and wide-ranging.
In 2006, the U.S. Department of Justice then sued Sterling for housing discrimination for using race as a factor in filling some of his apartment buildings. The suit charged that Sterling refused to rent to non-Koreans in the Koreatown neighborhood and to African Americans in Beverly Hills.[69] In November 2009, ESPN reported that Sterling agreed to pay a fine of $2.7 million to settle claims brought by the Justice Department and Davin Day of Newport Beach[citation needed] that Sterling engaged in discriminatory rental practices against Hispanics, blacks, and families with children.[70]
In February 2009, Sterling was sued by former longtime Clippers executive Elgin Baylor for employment discrimination on the basis of age and race.[71] The lawsuit alleged that Sterling told Baylor that he wanted to fill his team with "poor black boys from the South and a white head coach".[69] The plaintiffs alleged that during negotiations for Danny Manning, Sterling said "I'm offering a lot of money for a poor black kid."[69][72] The suit also alleged that "the Caucasian head coach was given a four-year, $22-million contract" while Baylor's salary had "been frozen at a comparatively paltry $350,000 since 2003".[71]

 

[Marciano490]

An interesting look at Kevin Johnson's behind the scenes work to get Sterling removed and underage girls in bed.  Obviously doesn't do anything to exculpate Sterling, but I had no idea Johnson was such a prick himself:
 
http://deadspin.com/the-man-who-helped-bring-down-donald-sterling-is-an-ass-1576960521

 

[wutang112878]

 
A lot depends on what skeletons are in the closets of NBA owners.  The theory that the NBA is going after Sterling with is essentially, "We're sorry X came to light through the actions of another party, but what happened could negatively affect the league.") So, I think Sterling, in going after Magic, is essentially trying to argue that everyone has skeletons in their closets; "Magic exposed women to HIV and is selfish with his money. I was trying to get laid and said something incredibly stupid, but donate money to minorities and have a good track record."  Granted it's a stupid example for him to use (if it's a strategy at all) but all he really needs to do is to find a couple of outrageous incidents (preferably racist ones) amongst his co-owners.  
 

 
Can you expand on how Magic is really relevant?  Wouldnt it be much more relevant to bring up the skeltons that current owners have in their closet?  And I am pretty sure Sterling has some dirt on those guys or he could dig it up if he wanted to.

 

[luckiestman]

An interesting look at Kevin Johnson's behind the scenes work to get Sterling removed and underage girls in bed.  Obviously doesn't do anything to exculpate Sterling, but I had no idea Johnson was such a prick himself:
 
http://deadspin.com/the-man-who-helped-bring-down-donald-sterling-is-an-ass-1576960521

 
 
My favorite line has to be be:
 
 Johnson's attorney, Fred Hiestand, told New Times that the girl's story was false: "I can say that [Johnson is] a healthy, red-blooded, American male, and he hopes to find the right wife and settle down," Hiestand told the paper. "There are lots of women who are [adults] who are sending him their photos, tape recordings and letters. ... If he was interested in any kind of sexual action, he had a lot more attractive offers than [the accuser]."
 
 
I hope Sterling in some [SIZE=15.199999809265137px]desperate[/SIZE] attempt to save himself exposes everyone. 

 

[Rovin Romine]

 
Can you expand on how Magic is really relevant?  Wouldnt it be much more relevant to bring up the skeltons that current owners have in their closet?  And I am pretty sure Sterling has some dirt on those guys or he could dig it up if he wanted to.

 
I don't think going after Magic is really relevant, as a legal argument.  It just occurred to me that Sterling was trying a compare/contrast, so I was speculating as to why he'd be doing so.   (MJ was tied up in the whole "black people coming to games"/photograph debacle, which may be why he's on Sterling's mind.)  
 
Don't underestimate the "Sterling is nuts" factor.  

 

[wutang112878]

I was attributing it to Sterling is nuts, sort of like his depositions where he goes on about his exploits, I thought he was just randomly offering up his opinion for no good reason.  I wish we had video of his legal team while that interview was going on.

 

[Tony C]

An interesting look at Kevin Johnson's behind the scenes work to get Sterling removed and underage girls in bed.  Obviously doesn't do anything to exculpate Sterling, but I had no idea Johnson was such a prick himself:
 
http://deadspin.com/the-man-who-helped-bring-down-donald-sterling-is-an-ass-1576960521

 
yeah, the idea in this thread that Sterling's sexual desires are generational is absurd -- I'm fairly certain the market for men of all ages to exploit youth is booming in all segments.

 

[ifmanis5]

NBA officially files charges today. Form of, disparaging minorities. Sterling has until May 27 to answer.
 
 
LINK: http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Clippers-Owner-Donald-Sterling-NBA-Charge-259834291.html

 

[riboflav]

 

EDIT: Forget it.

 

[soxhop411]

"Innocent" HA….

 

[mauf]

It sounds like the league's strategy rests on the BoG's decision being treated as a final, unappealable determination by an arbitral panel. I'm sure the league's lawyers are familiar with the relevant precedents and are confident that an arbitration agreement that's structured this way can be upheld.

What they probably didn't foresee, however, was a situation coming before the BoG that was so high-profile and incendiary that nearly every club would feel the need to issue some kind of statement. Evident partiality on an arbitrator's part is one of the few grounds on which an arbitral award may be vacated, and while courts are generally loathe to second-guess an arbitrator's impartiality, it's unusual (to say the least) to have an arbitration where nearly every member of the panel has made a public statement about the facts at issue in the proceeding (or owns a controlling stake in a company that has made such a statement).

 

[soxhop411]

darren rovell ‏@darrenrovell  now
Source confirms that Donald Sterling's lawyer has asked for a three-month delay.
 
like the NBA will say yes.....

 

[Brickowski]

darren rovell ‏@darrenrovell  now
Source confirms that Donald Sterling's lawyer has asked for a three-month delay.
 
like the NBA will say yes.....

Smart move by Sterling's counsel. If the NBA refuses the request, they will argue that Sterling is being railroaded. If the NBA grants the request, it gives Sterling time to lobby owners who may be sympathetic.

 

[DJnVa]

Smart move by Sterling's counsel. If the NBA refuses the request, they will argue that Sterling is being railroaded. If the NBA grants the request, it gives Sterling time to lobby owners who may be sympathetic.

 
If any owner votes to keep Sterling, they will be dealing with player issues as well. He's not going to get a single vote.

 

[Dan to Theo to Ben]

 
If any owner votes to keep Sterling, they will be dealing with player issues as well. He's not going to get a single vote.

They will, but I'm certain some others have skeletons too, although of course probably more minor.
 
Sterling could very well use a "if they came for me, they'll come for you" sales pitch.

 

[Swedgin]

They will, but I'm certain some others have skeletons too, although of course probably more minor.
 
Sterling could very well use a "if they came for me, they'll come for you" sales pitch.

He may try, but he will fail.  No owner is going to bat for Donald Sterling.   If there was a way to legally bet on this I would bet the house.

 

[mauf]

Smart move by Sterling's counsel. If the NBA refuses the request, they will argue that Sterling is being railroaded. If the NBA grants the request, it gives Sterling time to lobby owners who may be sympathetic.

Lack of due process is also grounds for vacating an arbitral decision, though it's an exceptionally tough one to establish -- the courts will generally decline to disturb an arbitral award on due process grounds unless a party didn't receive notice and an opportunity to be heard. Sterling's request for a stay (which will certainly be denied) lays the groundwork for his lawyers to argue in court that the BoG process failed to meet even this minimal standard.

The strategy here seems to be to paint the process as fundamentally unfair, then give the courts a menu of grounds on which to vacate the arbitral decision if they agree. I generally think that's a good strategy in litigation, but the "litigation as morality play" approach is less than optimal when your client is a pariah like Donald Sterling. If I'm right that this is his strategy, that suggests that the NBA has the technicalities buttoned up exceptionally well.

 

[Brickowski]

Well, the question always is, how much process is due? It seems to me that the "railroading" argument is really a due process argument. Sterling's counsel will argue that the rush to judgment made it impossible for Sterling and his counsel properly to respond to the charges against him and make his case to the NBA's Board of Governors.

 

[Swedgin]

Well, the question always is, how much process is due? It seems to me that the "railroading" argument is really a due process argument. Sterling's counsel will argue that the rush to judgment made it impossible for Sterling and his counsel properly to respond to the charges against him and make his case to the NBA's Board of Governors.

 
That does seem like the tact they are taking.  But even in litigation a lower court's denial of a request for a continuance or a stay is typically subject to review under an abuse of discretion standard (i.e. virtually impossible to overturn).  Here, they NBA gets the added deference applicable to a review of an arbitral award on top.   Moreover, given that his own statements provided the basis of the charges against him, he cannot credibly maintain that he needs additional time to conduct discovery etc. in advance of the hearing.   I guess he could challenge the veracity of the NBA's claims regarding the impact of those statements on the league, but even then much of that (sponsors leaving/threatened boycott) is already part of the public record.

 

[Brickowski]

That does seem like the tact they are taking.  But even in litigation a lower court's denial of a request for a continuance or a stay is typically subject to review under an abuse of discretion standard (i.e. virtually impossible to overturn).  Here, they NBA gets the added deference applicable to a review of an arbitral award on top.   Moreover, given that his own statements provided the basis of the charges against him, he cannot credibly maintain that he needs additional time to conduct discovery etc. in advance of the hearing.   I guess he could challenge the veracity of the NBA's claims regarding the impact of those statements on the league, but even then much of that (sponsors leaving/threatened boycott) is already part of the public record.

Oh, I don't expect Sterling to win, for the reasons you have stated (and a few others). But as the adage goes, when the law is against you, argue injustice.

 

[soxhop411]

Two  LA times stories on DTS…Ranging from how the Ex GM of the LAC was told to destroy the tapes by DTS, and how his wife is not "innocent"
 
http://www.latimes.com/sports/clippers/la-me-nba-sterling-charges-20140521-story.html#page=1
http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-nba-charges-donald-sterling-stiviano-20140520-story.html