Does Jim Rome Beat His Wife? David Stern Wants To Know.

On Jim Rome’s show Wednesday afternoon, David Stern reacted to another question about whether he fixed the 2012 NBA Draft Lottery, but not with just any denial. He reacted to Rome’s red herring with one of his own:

"Rome: I know you think it’s ridiculous, but I don’t think the question’s ridiculous, because I know people who think that. I’m not saying that I do, but I think it’s my job to ask you that.Stern: “Have you stopped beating your wife yet?”"

Video: Stern On Jim Rome’s Show.

So maybe Stern wasn’t really wondering about Rome’s spousal abuse, but you get the point. Stern is obviously sick of talking about him fixing the lottery. On the other hand, it’s Rome’s job to ask that question and would be doing a disservice if he didn’t at least ask. You may be able to get away with tossing the Commissioner softball questions all the time, but as a national media personality Rome has an obligation to ask tough questions.

There are definitely two camps of people regarding Commissioner David Stern. One faction thinks that he has still got it and needs to stay in his current position until he wants to leave and the other believes that he’s stayed too long and should retire soon, despite everything that he’s done for the NBA.

Admittedly, I was probably in the first camp until the lockout that lost the league 16 games this past season and pretty much every decision that he’s made since then has made it difficult to defend him. The vetoed Chris Paul trade was obviously the biggest decision, and this fixed lottery talk is an extension of that.

When he vetoed the deal, people were outraged because Dell Demps, the Hornets GM, was supposed to have control to make any and all personnel decisions. When Stern stepped in, that flew directly in the face of that notion.

There have been rumors since then that in exchange for Tom Benson purchasing the Hornets, there may have been a secret handshake agreement that Stern would get the Hornets the first overall pick in the draft and the right to draft Kentucky freshman Anthony Davis.

Obviously, these are all fantastic rumors and make for a good conspiracy theory, but at the end of the day it seems unlikely that the NBA would ever actually fix their annual draft lottery… Except the one in 2008. That s*it was too rigged.