How Dana White saved the NBA

Why is Donald Sterling banned for life from the NBA?

Dana White, that's why.

Yes, that Dana White.

Yes, the Dana White that runs the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Through all of the news and the hoopla and the opinions and the comments yesterday, one thing stood out to me most. Adam Silver was there to make a point. No apologies, no care in the world, it was Adam Silver's moment. He has only been the commissioner of the NBA for two months, but the entire future of his reign as Commissioner hinged on what happened yesterday.

There are very few poignant moments in someone's career. Adam Silver had to make the best of his yesterday and he did.

David Stern would have never done what Silver did.

And for all the good that David Stern was for the NBA, we all know he would not have acted strongly.

While he was the NBA commissioner, David Stern was the best commissioner and all sports. But he was too laid-back, not assertive enough to make a decision like Adam Silver made.

Not only did Adam Silver make one of the most poignant and harsh statements in the history of professional sports, he did so with a face of disgust and a personal belief that Donald Sterling was so wrong that that was the only choice of recourse.

Cue Dana White.

Through David Stern, Gary Bettman, Roger Goodell and the swarm of others, we have gotten to see so many faces and so many ideals and so many ways how to go about running a professional sports league.

And then Dana White came around and changed the game.

Like Silver on Tuesday, White had his poignant early moment.

"Do you want to be a fucking fighter?," was all Dana White had to say. The Ultimate Fighter television show, the UFC a d the sport of MMA all went through the roof the second he uttered those words. Does every commissioner or person in authority in sports need to be as brash as Dana White? Of course not. But he set the tone that some of his lead needs to be followed.

Why? Because except for a handful of instances, Dana White commands respect. And he gets that respect. He gets respect from fighters, from media, from advertisers and other personalities from other sports.

From the moment he was able to open his mouth on national television, Dana White told the world here I am, this is what's happening and you better get in line do it. And of story. Not demanding, but very commanding.

Adam Silver, whether he knows it or not, followed that lead on Tuesday. His eyes were sharp, his words were hard and he delivered the same message Dana White delivers every time he talks.

The world has changed, respect is very rarely earned the way that it should be. But when you're in a position like Adam Silver or Dana White or any other major sports commissioner is in, you have to take that respect, command it.

Professional sports, whether we look at it or not, changed yesterday because the decision Adam Silver made. It was a huge moment in the history of the sporting industry, and kudos to Adam Silver for having the intestinal fortitude to make the decision and be strong with it.

But let us not forget the kudos to Dana White for stepping up and taking a commanding role first, so people like Adam Silver can do it after him.

Because of that command can fix so many of the wrongs that we see in professional sports today.

6 months away is never too early to think about all of the great basketball still in Fort Wayne

A tremendous year has come to a close in Fort Wayne for boys high school basketball, specifically in the Summit Athletic Conference.

While North Side flexed its muscles on the way to a second straight league title AND a Holiday Tournament crown, Snider and Bishop Dwenger played inspired basketball often and every other school showed signs of power while individual players flourished (Concordia’s DJ McCall is an Indiana All-Star and Wayne’s Justin Mitchell broke the school’s all-time scoring mark).

But the chance to see so many of the stars of the SAC’s recent years comes to an end officially Sunday (at least at a high school level anyway) with the Nancy Rehm Indiana/Ohio game, highlighted by a trio of those North Side stars (Tre Crews, Oosha Mitchell and Mike Davis), along with McCall, Mitchell (and his brother Levi), as well as South Side’s Nate Thomas, among others.

It leaves hardcore area prep fans wondering how we fill the gap next year. With so many power players graduating from every school, what will the SAC be like in 2014-2015 during its final year as an 8-team league (Carroll and Homestead join the following year)? But this has happened before and it will happen again. While it will be hard to reload at the same level of the SAC, with so much parity, of this past season, there is a lot of interest to peak the city when basketball rolls around again in about 6 months (I, for one, think it is too far away).

The biggest question will be with the back-to-back champs, who graduate 6 that include four starters and another all-area performer off the bench. But it also returns a strong core of JV post players to get tested and more importantly, a senior trio back court of Sean McGee, Terrell Crews and Marco Lee.

The game plan changes immediately with these three versus, say, Tre’Vion Crews as North now has three score-first guards. McGee is a solid shooter and a gritty kid who will fight for every inch. But, he will also have to shoulder a heavy scoring load and will probably need to average 20 points per game, especially early on as North feels out its new legs. Will the younger Crews develop into a significant scorer? There is no doubt that Terrell can play defense and was a nice energy guy off the bench but he will go from being “the little Crews” to “the Crews,” and I think he will fill those shoes adequately. Lee is the intangible with this group because of where he may or may not fit. In my opinion, he would be the first look to take over the point guard role, but does his game fit that? He is an explosive finisher when on his game, can he also slow the pace and run the team every possession like the elder Crews has done and coach Shabaz Khaliq has become accustom to?

Snider also looses a lot, but still has strong experience returning, especially with All-Area talent Devlyn Williams. His size and diversity in his game make him a tough match-up and added maturity will help him. Devlyn’s pull up game and athleticism will push him and the Panthers. His taller (little) brother Malik will also take more pressure off what Devlyn will be expected to do in the post. Good varsity experience as a freshman and hopefully a summer in the weight room will make Malik a tough draw for area posts. This is a kid I watched, before he ever played a high school game; embarrassingly dunk on Homestead’s Caleb Swanigan in an Always 100 league game. That speaks volumes about his ability that can be developed. As long as the guard play is decent at Snider, the Williams brothers will propel them far.

Bishop Dwenger, the other SAC power of this season, will be the same story: lose a lot, return a lot of intrigue. Kyle Hartman is back and he led the Saints well as a junior a lot of times. He got better getting to the basket throughout the year and his willingness to scrap will only be beneficial. He, and fellow Class of 2015 returner Ryan Christman are also prolific spot up shooters who you don’t want to get too hot. If brought along early, sophomore-to-be Campbell Donovan also has a soft touch and his corner threes could help free up Hartman for some added looks.

Their rival, Bishop Luers, will only get stronger as they get older. JJ Foster had a strong freshman campaign and will only get better as each year passes. This year, once again, he won’t have to shoulder the load because of the development and break out of Tyrell Johnson, who was the key guy for a lot of Luers’ push back this season against teams who were expected to beat the massively rebuilding Knights.

Youth also is the key at Concordia and Northrop. With a new coach on the horizon, things could change dramatically at Concordia. After all, the philosophy there hasn’t changed in a long time. Will it with a new head man? Either way, there are a pair of juniors in Reggie Tharp and Paxton Bergdoll that will be a great tandem. Tharp, on his game, is as dangerous as anyone in the conference this year. He is a shoot first, ask questions later talent, whose talent is catching up to his superior mentality. I expect him to put a great summer in on the AAU circuit and be ready to lead Concordia back into SAC contention next season. And with a healthy Bergdoll to mirror Tharp’s outside game down in the post, it could be tough for defenses to solve the Cadets’ puzzle.

At Northrop, there is some upper-class talent and the Bruins know it is still rebuilding time from the exit of the Scott twins in 2013, but there is a lot of younger talent I am excited about. Junior-to-be Jagger Surface is smooth when let loose. Like with Concordia, a good perimeter game between Surface and senior-to-be Aaron Thomas can only help their chances at Northrop. Anton Berry was super raw inside as a freshman, but there is no doubt coach Barak Coolman will get that polished a lot this summer. Add in hidden gem in sophomore-to-be Richard Robertson and the Bruins could be a team you never want to look past.

Wayne and South Side will need some break outs to be competitive, but with talent like Kye Black (Wayne) and Nick Thomas (South Side, younger brother of Nate), this is always a possibility. For South Side, can Nick lose his laid back style and become more aggressive? Mike Novell sure hopes so.

And let us not forget some names not mentioned. Fort Wayne Community Schools plus parochials always equal random transfers, so you never know where some people may end up. Some of those moves are already being gossiped about.

And if the SAC really isn’t your bag, you don’t have to look too far for some amazing basketball next year. Blackhawk Christian returns loads in Wes Davidson, Joey Morlan and Riley Reimschisel; Carroll is plugged in returns from Chandler White, Jeffrey and Jeremy Kalonji and Kyle Mallers and Garrett will be run well by Justin McCoy. And oh yeah, Homestead has this Division 1 prospect named Caleb Swanigan, and they don’t call him “biggie” for nothing.

Why Wojo? Why now?

Let me start this by saying that it is my opinion that Duke Head coach Mike Krzyzewski is the best coach in basketball today. He is one of the best ever. Best in college, best in basketball, best in sports. If you make a top 10 list of the greatest coaches ever, and he isn’t there, then you are lost.

And call me a homer for that if you want. It is the not the opinion as a Duke fan. It is the opinion as a coach and a student of the beautiful game of basketball.

But for a long time now, I have expected and hoped that Steve Wojciechowski would be the heir to Coach K’s glorious throne. And that, I have expected as a Duke fan.

Everything that I love about Duke basketball is rooted in who Wojo is and how Wojo does things. He is hard nosed, true grit, slapping the floor on defense and all out. I guess so you could say that everything Wojo is also is what makes some people hate Duke. After all, it was Wojo who made the floor slap a Blue Devil signature and that is what those less educated use as a basis for hate so many times.

But this isn’t about Duke love or Duke hate. This is about Wojo, the last remaining remnant of modern day Duke assistant coaches who have made history in the program both with titles and with recruiting. Now long gone is Johnny Dawkins (Stanford) and gone is Chris Collins (Northwestern), all riding that Duke pedigree to Division 1 major conference jobs. Wojo follows, now the head coach at Marquette, a program who has been essentially obscure since Tom Crean’s exit and nowhere near a legit title threat since the Dwayne Wade days.

But what Marquette gets is a man on a mission.

See, as much as I have been part of ‘Team Wojo,’ I have almost known better since the day Jeff Capel landed in town. VCU, Oklahoma….Jeff Capel has the head coaching experience that common theory suggests Duke will want in Coach K’s eventual replacement. Capel joined a long line of Coach K players turned Coach K assistants. Bilas, Amaker, Dawkins, Collins, Wojo. They’ve all done it. The latter four of those guys are all thriving or going to thrive. Amaker and Dawkins not only danced this March, but contributed to the Madness with “upset” wins.

But none of them had major experience before joining the Duke staff. Jeff Capel, as it sits today, is the man who is going to replace Coach K. Five years, ten years – it doesn’t matter. Today, he is the guy.

Tomorrow, if Wojo has his way, he won’t be.

Because what Marquette gets is a man on a mission. When he played, Wojo was the hardest working player on the court every second of every game. He was hardly the best. Seeing #12 in the NBA wasn’t a pipedream, it was a laughable side joke. He didn’t get where he did in college basketball on talent or size. He did it the hard way, the dirty way, the on the floor after a loose ball way.

And he will do the same thing as the head coach at Marquette. Because, he won’t be the best coach. He wasn’t the best coach on Duke’s sideline; he wasn’t even the best assistant in some ways. But he will outwork, and therefore out coach, a lot of guys in the coming years on behalf of the Golden Eagles. Because, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. And that light says that Coach K isn’t retiring tomorrow. So Capel having that job in hand today doesn’t mean much if someone can snatch it away. And if Wojo wants to do that, now is the exact right time to move on, even if it is just for a little while.

So Wojo will work. It will benefit him and it will benefit Marquette. It is a golden opportunity for everyone.

But the most important part to me is that he will work for those kids, that school and that community – but, it will be with a different end goal in mind: to lead those crazies in Cameron. And when the day comes that Coach K walks away, while Amaker and Dawkins and Collins and Capel and maybe even Jon Scheyer reach for that golden rung, they shouldn’t get there in time.

Because with his new gig in front of him, Wojo is going to work harder than them all.