NBA Insider with Ken Berger

Thanks for checking in with your thoughts on Artest. I see y’all are blowing up Alan’s blog with a big discussion of Ron-Ron becoming a Knick in like 24 hours.

1) I love the fact that you guys are reading my blog and bouncing the Artest item around. That’s how it’s supposed to work. I talk to someone you care about, I tell you what they said. That’s how it works. I get information for you.

2) A line from my days covering the Jets, from a certain silver-haired football coach with the initials BP: “Is LSD back?

Relax, people. Nothing’s going down – yet.

Still, I believe there’s a 50-50 chance that Artest winds up getting traded to the Knicks – if not this summer, then at trade deadline. It just makes too much sense. He’d be the perfect offensive/defensive combination at the 3, would go through a wall for Isiah, and as he stated Tuesday, he’d take the privilege of playing in New York very, very seriously. I think after all he’s been through, he could handle it. Sounds crazy to say about a guy who’s found the trouble he’s found over the years, but I get the impression he wants this to happen in the worst way.

Not just for basketball reasons, but for personal reasons. If you haven't seen the column I wrote in today's paper on Artest, here is is.

And maybe this is me being overly cynical, but all these glowing statements about Artest coming from Kings G.M. Geoff Petrie strike me as a guy talking up a player so he can get more back in a trade. For all his good works lately, Artest has baggage and has been a huge headache at times for the Kings. Petrie knows that Artest will be gone after next season anyway, so why not talk his value up now and try to get something for your trouble?

By the way, I think the same thing is going on with the canonization of Nate Robinson this summer.

But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. The fact that the interview with Artest happened in New York is not an indication that a trade is imminent. In fact, when Artest and I spoke on the phone later in the day, he’d already flown back to Cali.

I also spoke with Artest’s agent, Mark Stevens, on Tuesday. This is what he said: “From what I know and understand, Ron is a King and he’s going to be a King. If anything different arrives, we’ll deal with it at that point.”

Here is what we know: Artest badly wants to play in New York, but has decided it’s not his place to request a trade. One thing he understands is loyalty, and he believes that Petrie and the Maloof brothers deserve his loyalty for sticking by him through some troubled times.

We know Isiah has two extra players on the roster and has accumulated some pieces that give him the flexibility to pull off several different types of trades. He has desirable young players to offer – Lee, Balkman, Crawford, Randolph Morris, even N8 – plus a variety of expiring contracts.

Now he waits for things to shake out – not only with Artest, but also with Kobe. Time is on his side.

Will Artest show up at training camp, look around at a collection of talent that won 32 games last season, and lose all his enthusiasm and loyalty for Sac-Town?

Will Kobe show up at training camp, period?

Either one or both could be available in the coming months. Say what you want about Isiah, but he has the right combination of talent and garbage to be at the front of the line in either scenario.

Now, back to vacation. Feel free to keep the discussion going over here and I’ll sift through your comments, answer your questions, and bring you the latest Kobe and Artest updates when I return.

I don't see anyone knocking the door down to carry the blog in my absence. But as promised, I'm back for a brief interruption in what is otherwise supposed to be a week off to bring some Ron Artest news to the table.

A couple other reporters joined me in a sit-down with Ron-Ron at The Palm on 50th between Broadway and 8th this afternoon for an appearance promoting the 17th annual Wheelchair Charities hoops game. This year's event will be Sunday, Sept. 9 at MSG, featuring Artest, Long Islander Mike James, Sam Cassell, Rutgers product Quincy Douby, among others. More players will be announced in the coming weeks.

Artest has been involved in the charity since his high school days at LaSalle, and he now has assumed Mark Jackson's prestigious position of coordinating the event and securing fellow NBA players to attend. The all-star classic has raised more than $1.6 million for patients of Goldwater Memorial Hospital on Roosevelt Island.

All the good stuff from Artest will be in tomorrow's paper, but here's a little preview for you loyal blog fans:

* Artest still hasn't asked the Kings to trade him, but he reiterated that he wouldn't be upset if he got traded to the Knicks. He did point out for the first time that he doesn't think a trade will happen this offseason because, "I don’t think anybody will give me up the way I’ve been working out this summer."

* He believes Zach Randolph and Eddy Curry will be able to co-exist in the paint the way he and Jermaine O'Neal did in Indiana. "If you double Zach, you’ve got Eddy down there and you can’t stop Eddy from dunking," Artest said. "Same thing with Zach."

* If the new-look Celtics play together, they're going to be "a monster," according to Artest. Agreed.

* Artest has spoken with Jamal Crawford, a former teammate of his with the Bulls, this summer, as well as Renaldo Balkman. "He's my boy," Artest said of Balkman. "I told him I wouldn’t trade myself for him."

* Like every other professional athlete whom reporters suspect might say something controversial, Artest had to weigh in on the Michael Vick situation. I thought he handled it well, but you can be the judge when you read what he had to say in tomorrow's paper and online edition. Curious to get your thoughts on how he dealt with the delicate issue if you want to post your comments here.

I'll be out on vacation for a few days, with the exception of one day this week when I plan to check in with some news. In the meantime, I nominate starburyfan to keep the blog going in my absence. Any and all of you are welcome to try to knock him off his pedestal, but as far as I'm concerned, the dude is carrying me. End of discussion ... for now.

If there's news while I'm gone, post your questions/opinions/gripes. If starburyfan posts something that doesn't make sense, call him on it. I'm told there could be a post on here from a surprise guest while I'm gone, but I can't promise anything. Just check back every now and then to see what's going on. Hopefully I'll have some answers when I get back.

If you're looking for something different to read, check out these NBA bloggers who do a great job, IMHO:

Brian Windhorst, Akron Beacon Journal
Michael Lee and Ivan Carter, Washington Post
Henry Abbott, True Hoop

Some quick hits for those of you with an appetite for NBA news during the supposedly quiet days of August (Updated as of 9:56 a.m. Friday):

· Kobe Bryant is putting on quite a show with Team USA in Las Vegas. He gave up junk food this summer, losing 19 pounds before Team USA training camp began last month, was the star of the intrasquad scrimmage, and had 14 points and five assists in 16 minutes in the Americans’ 112-69 victory over Venezuela on Wednesday in the opening game of the FIBA Americas qualifying tournament for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. But Kobe isn’t turning heads with his typical assortment of eye-popping one-on-one play, but has impressed by getting after it in practice and taking his overall game seriously. Before facing Venezuela, Kobe was seen toting around a custom-made DVD of the player he was assigned to defend, Greivis Vasquez, a 20-year-old sophomore at Maryland. My colleague, Mark Heisler, quoted an awe-struck Vasquez in today’s L.A. Times. My question: Is Kobe auditioning for the Lakers’ brass or for his new team?

UPDATE: Kobe got into early foul trouble Thursday night, but Michael Redd replaced him and hit a flurry of three-pointers as Team USA improved to 2-0 with a 123-59 rout of the U.S. Virgin Islands.

· David Stern has appointed Lawrence Pedowitz, a former federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan, to oversee the league’s review of its policies and procedures related to gambling and officiating. That’s good. I just hope this internal investigation – if I may call it that – will be transparent and open to public scrutiny. A behind-closed-doors review of policies and procedures would fall short of what the NBA really needs to restore confidence in the officiating in the wake of the Tim Donaghy scandal.

· Reggie Miller is still undecided on whether he will attempt a comeback with the Celtics at age 42. While Danny Ainge is at it, he could lace up a pair of shoes himself and see if Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish are available.

UPDATE: No mas, according to Reggie. Thankfully, Miller has decided not to attempt a comeback with the Celtics or anybody else. I prefer to remember Reggie as he was -- a pain in the __ to a Knick fan like me -- rather than see him come back as a mediocre sideshow.

· Las Vegas is on track to have not one, but two new arenas capable of hosting an NBA team. In addition to Mayor Oscar Goodman’s plan for a taxpayer-subsidized building, casino giant Harrah’s has a deal in place for a privately funded, $500 million arena to open in 2010. Ref scandal? What ref scandal?

· Latrell Sprewell’s yacht, “Milwaukee’s Best,” has been seized in Manitowoc, Wisc., by federal agents who allege that LSF Marine Holdings, a company run by the ex-Knick, has failed to make the $10,322 monthly payments and maintain insurance on it. The bank wants the yacht sold to pay off the $1.3 million remaining on the loan. I don’t really know what to say.

· Lastly, I want to give all of you a chance to keep the chatter going here next week when I will be on vacation. I’ll put up a post tomorrow inviting all of you to keep the discussion going in my absence. Nothing is off-limits, as long as it’s tasteful. I’ll answer all of your comments when I return and also want to offer a little pub to the reader with the most frequent posts and also something for the reader with the most insightful post of the week. Any ideas on what would be a just reward for such accomplishments?

This is the kind of news that hits you and knocks the wind out of you and makes you say, “Damn.”

Eddie Griffin, dead in a car accident.

Eddie Griffin, 25.

Eddie Griffin, the seventh overall pick in the 2001 draft by the Nets, gone.

He was driving a Nissan SUV that plowed through a railroad barrier and warning lights and collided with a freight train in Houston last week. The fiery blaze burned the driver’s body beyond recognition, which is why it took three days and dental records to identify the dead as Griffin.

How sad.

Griffin seemed destined for NBA stardom when he came out of Roman Catholic High School in Philadelphia seven years ago, when I was working there as a sports writer for The Associated Press. I remember an enormously hyped game between Griffin’s team and Dajuan Wagner’s Camden High. That was about as far as the basketball highlights went for both of them.

Griffin had just turned 19 when the Rockets traded three first-round picks to the Nets for his rights on draft night, 2001. After two nondescript seasons in Houston during which Griffin struggled on the court and with alcohol, he was released in 2003 training camp. He left with drinking demons, depression, and a conviction on charges of deadly conduct for punching a woman and firing a gun at her.

He was signed by the Nets, but never played a game for them before he was released. He sat out the entire 2003-04 season before winding up in Minnesota, where Kevin Garnett tried to take him under his wing. Griffin played well enough to earn a three-year, $8.1 million contract, but was released in the second year of the deal. Garnett once said, “Eddie was the only person that ever stopped Eddie.”

That appeared to have been the case right to the tragic end.

“Eddie was a wonderful, gentle soul, but he was an alcoholic,” Griffin’s attorney, Rusty Hardin, told the Houston Chronicle. “Alcohol always got in the way.”

Griffin’s attempts at recovery included treatment for clinical depression and a stint at the Betty Ford Center for alcohol abuse.

John Lucas, the former Rockets guard and a former addict himself, tried to help Griffin in his unofficial basketball and rehab center in Houston. Upon hearing the news, upon hearing that Eddie Griffin, 25, had ignored all the warning signs and plowed his SUV into a speeding freight train at 1:30 a.m. last Friday, Lucas couldn’t have said it any better.

“Eddie is free now,” Lucas said.

Rest in peace, Eddie Griffin.

When the question is asked by a different reporter each day, the NBA gives a slightly different answer. But the crux of it is no different: With some sort of qualifier, such as “it is our current understanding,” or “it remains our understanding,” the league keeps saying that Tim Donaghy was the only referee betting on NBA games.

When ESPN Radio reported last Friday that Donaghy was set to name about 20 additional referees with gambling habits, the league said it had “no additional information” and declined to comment. It offered the same response to me when I pressed for a better answer on Saturday.

Then on Monday night, after other reporters around the country followed up again, NBA spokesman Tim Frank gave the following statement:

“There have been allegations that other referees violated NBA rules prohibiting casino gaming and the like, but it remains our understanding that Tim Donaghy is the only referee who bet on NBA games.”

This statement provided tacit acknowledgement of Donaghy’s allegations that some other refs may have gambled in casinos, which is against NBA rules. In the interest of full disclosure, I wrote in Sunday’s paper that casino gambling is prohibited for all NBA employees. That’s not true; the rule applies only to refs.

In any event, the basic facts as we know them haven’t changed. I am going to sound like an NBA spokesman, but as far as we know at this moment, Donaghy acted alone in this betting scandal and there were no other refs involved in anything similar. As Donaghy spills the beans over the next 2 1-2 months before his Nov. 9 sentencing, looking to buy himself less time in the hoosegow, time will tell if Commissioner David Stern was right about Donaghy being a “rogue, isolated criminal.”

As you might imagine, there is other NBA news besides Donaghy. Chris Sheridan of ESPN.com has been following Kobe Bryant around Las Vegas for a week or so, and he got some alone time with the disgruntled Lakes star on Monday as he walked toward the team bus after a Team USA practice. Sheridan is the master of asking the blunt, to-the-point question, a knack guys like Kobe appreciate.

Sheridan’s question: “Do you still want the Lakers to trade you?”

Kobe’s answer: “I’m not going to answer that question. The Lakers know exactly where I stand, and they’ve known exactly where I stand since the beginning of the summer.”

My interpretation: Kobe still wants to be traded, and he will play the ultimate trump card when he fails to show up at training camp in the first week of October.

Reading Kobe throughout this process has been harder than reading Tolstoy. He has dropped hints, reversed field, reversed back, leaving everyone guessing about his intentions and how this situation will play out.

A previous interview with ESPN’s Rachel Nichols was a perfect illustration, as outlined in Sheridan’s Kobe story.

Nichols: “You said one day you wanted to be traded, you said you wanted to be a ‘Laker for life.’ There were different phone calls back and forth.”

Bryant: “I think a lot of people misinterpreted it. But that’s water under the bridge to me, because going forward, we’re handling our situation between ourselves, meaning the Lakers organization and myself. If things, if things were to be different, we both would have handled the situation a little differently.”

What did Kobe mean by “water under the bridge?” I think he was referring to his emotional reaction, meaning that he regrets making his beef so public and nasty but doesn’t regret asking to be traded in the first place. Again, as far as we know, the official trade request given to Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak by agent Rob Pelinka back in May has yet to be retracted.

So there you have it: Something other than Tim Donaghy news will play out in a significant way between now and the start of the 2007-08 season. Which story is more interesting to you?

One last nod to starburyfan, who writes that I deserve credit if the Knicks trade for Ron Artest because I was pushing that story first this summer. ‘Preciate ya for noticing, starburyfan. I’ll give you a line that Herman Edwards used all the time when I covered the Jets: “If you want credit, go to the bank.” But I’ll take credit any way I can get it. Keep the comments coming.

I told you a few days ago that Tim Donaghy’s guilty plea would not be the end, but rather the beginning of David Stern’s trouble.

Score one for 1050 ESPN Radio’s Mike Missanelli, who has reported that Donaghy plans to squeal to federal prosecutors about the alleged gambling activities of about 20 other NBA refs.

The league and Donaghy’s attorney, John Lauro, wouldn’t comment on the report to me today. The type of gambling Donaghy supposedly is going to detail reportedly includes wagering in casinos. While such activity isn’t illegal, it is against NBA rules and could potentially result in expulsion from the league.

I used to play hoops with Missanelli in media pickup games at the Palestra when we both worked in Philadelphia a few years ago. I’m sure he would not deny that he was known as a shoot-first, ask-questions-later kind of player. The standard for unselfishness in those games, run by longtime Philly hoops expert Jack Scheuer, was quite high, as are the standards for reporting facts about one of the biggest scandals in NBA history.

I have no idea who Missanelli’s sources are, nor do I have any reason whatsoever to doubt his reporting. (He’s a former newspaper guy, and I always give the former newspaper reporters who are now doing radio or TV the benefit of the doubt. Sal Paolantonio, another unashamed perimeter launcher from my Palestra days, and Rachel Nichols come to mind.)

But I do know that a development like this was entirely predictable, given the fact that Donaghy’s fate before a federal judge when he is sentenced on Nov. 9 depends to a large degree on the level of cooperation he provides to prosecutors and the NBA between now and then.

I was far from blown away by the charges Donaghy pleaded guilty to. In addition, I tend to believe that his activities were isolated, given that the oversight of bookmakers in the illegal sports betting world is far more sophisticated than that of the sports leagues they monitor. They would’ve caught anything widespread long before the feds or the NBA did.

But given the climate, and Donaghy’s predictable attempts to spread the blame, this won’t be the last story like this we see between now and Nov. 9.

Which brings us to several points about Stern. First, the harsh manner in which he treated Donaghy in his July 24 news conference addressing the scandal may be coming back to haunt him. Stern called Donaghy a “rogue, isolated criminal” that day, and the rogue, isolated criminal now has the better part of three months to do everything in his power to prove Stern wrong. Donaghy may have been forced to hang up his whistle, but that doesn’t mean his whistle-blowing days are over.

Second, Stern was more careful than most people are giving him credit for in the way he couched his accusation that Donaghy acted alone. He repeatedly used the phrase “that is my current understanding” when making the case that this was an isolated incident.

Presumably, Stern has commissioned an internal investigation of gambling in his league, including not only Donaghy’s activities but also whether other referees or anyone else affiliated with the NBA might have been involved in this or other gambling activities. As in other cases when corporations face whistle-blowing former employees trying to cut themselves a better sentencing deal by pointing the finger at anyone else with a pulse, such an investigation most likely would be conducted by a legal team hired by the corporation.

To date, we have not heard a peep about the outcome of such an investigation, despite Stern’s promise to be “completely transparent” in his top-down review of the scandal. If and when one is completed, Stern owes it to his own credibility and that of his sport to make the results public in a way that can be independently scrutinized. If his “rogue” comment about Donaghy is validated, the public would be able to inspect the evidence and move on.

If not, this could get a whole lot uglier.

One more observation: What will Stern do if more referees are found to have violated their NBA contracts by engaging in gambling? Even if none of Donaghy’s colleagues are found to have bet on NBA games, Stern will be under tremendous pressure to deal harshly with anyone who is found to have gambled on other sporting events or wagered in a casino, for example.

If he has to fire a significant number of the league’s 60 or so refs, he would face a mountain of lawsuits and further strain his relationship with the majority of refs who do their jobs well and conduct themselves honorably. Not only that, but if more refs go down, the quality of officiating in the league will be compromised. As any NBA fan will attest (and feel free to let me know if I'm right), that is something the league can ill afford.

You want information? You got it. There’s an AP story out today that says the Maricopa County prosecutor wants to know if Tim Donaghy was betting on two Phoenix Suns playoff games he officiated this past season. If he was, Donaghy could be brought up on state charges.

It’s an interesting twist in the case, and has the potential to open quite a can of worms. Local prosecutors all over the country could delve into games Donaghy officiated in their jurisdictions in an attempt to find out if he violated any local statutes.

From the AP story:

Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas has sent letters to NBA Commissioner David Stern and the head of the FBI in Washington, saying he wants to know whether Donaghy gambled on the two Suns road playoff games, provided inside information to gamblers or helped determine the outcome by making bad officiating calls.

So you try to interact with your readers, you try to invite them to join you in the blogosphere and comment on everything from Tim Donaghy to Kobe Bryant, and what do you get? Haters. Now I know how Alan Hahn feels sometimes.

Thanks for checking in, Leonard, but you sort of missed the point of my blog entry from earlier today. I was merely trying to thank a few of you who offered your opinions on the Donaghy developments and invite you to keep checking back for news, updates, opinion, etc. I hope we can win Leonard over and show him that there is the potential for good discussion and the exchange of information here. Not every blog entry is going to be packed with breaking news. This one was sort of a personal note from me to you about how I think the Donaghy case and the futures of Kobe, Ron Artest, and Jermaine O'Neal are going to get very interesting over the next few weeks.

Unlike Leonard stated, Alan is not my nemesis, unless he owes me a pregame Chipotle meal or is trying to stop me from knocking down a three over his lumbering, 6-6 frame. He's my colleague. We work together, pretty well I might add. Dude's blog is blowing up, and I was merely expressing my thanks to some of his readers for stopping by here for some NBA chatter.

Keep the good and bad comments coming, folks. I've yet to see what everyone thinks of the hilarious Donaghy video I linked to in my previous post.

If you are hungry for news, Leonard, there will be some in tomorrow's paper. I can't tell you what it is, though, except to say that it is Knick-related. If I told you what it was, I would be handing a scoop to my true nemeses -- the writers at the competing papers. So check Newsday.com later tonight or pick up the paper in the morning. Then come back here and tell me what you think.

Some dude just sent me the following link to a pretty funny vid lampooning the Donaghy situation. I know another man's hardship shouldn't become joke fodder, but I had to share this. It is well done and entertaining, with a surprise ending. As Alan Hahn would say, check it:

Glad to see some of Alan Hahn’s loyal fans have come over to the dark side. Alan isn’t the only one with a basketball blog around here.

Welcome aboard, starburyfan, and anyone else who wants to join me for what is going to be a wild couple of months before training camps open. I will know I have arrived as a Newsday blogger when Ali G starts posting here.

It is cool that Alan’s blog has grown to the point where it is spawning a whole subculture from which I can now benefit. Well, benefit in the sense that it must be very satisfying to interact with those readers who care about basketball and the NBA. Ol’ Hahnsey (I still can’t separate Alan from hockey, and in hockey, they give everybody cutesy nicknames like that) works really hard at his blog. He’s got some deep stuff going on there, with lyrics and things that are way over my head. But he does know his basketball. If you ever saw us stand side-by-side, you’d know instantly that he could dunk on me. I doubt he could get out to stop me from three, though.

Anyway, in addition to getting your fix for the Knicks and dark lyrics on Alan’s blog, stop by here to tell me what you think about one of the most eventful NBA summers in memory. And it’s only going to get more interesting.

As Tim Donaghy continues cooperating with federal authorities, we will get closer and closer to finding out exactly what he did and how long he was doing it. As another informative NBA blogger wrote Wednesday, Donaghy will get a huge break on his sentence if he cooperates not only with the feds, but with the NBA. It is in his best interests to tell them everything. And all of it will come out at his sentencing hearing, scheduled for Nov. 9.

Then we have the basketball news: Team USA getting ready for the Olympic qualifying tournament in Vegas, Kobe contemplating a training-camp holdout, Jermaine O’Neal still a Pacer (but for how long), and the Knicks possessing the inside track in a Ron Artest deal.

Interesting times. Glad to have you aboard.

Now that the first shoe has dropped with Tim Donaghy’s guilty plea today, I’ve started taking in all the reaction. David Stern said nothing of substance in a previously scheduled interview with Dan Patrick on ESPN Radio about 45 minutes ago, except to say, “It’s a sad day for the NBA and for [Donaghy] and his family.”

Michael Lee and Ivan Carter have a pretty good Wizards blog at WashingtonPost.com, and they asked their readers if anyone cares about this Donaghy mess. A few said they did, but the prevailing opinion was that D.C. hoops fans are much more interested in the Wizards’ offseason moves and preseason schedule.

One dude began his comment by saying, “Ivan, it is August, you should be drinking lemonade and otherwise recreating.”

What about you? Are you wringing your hands about this scandal, fearing that all NBA games are fixed? Or are you more interested in how Zach Randolph and Eddy Curry will work together and whether Isiah has a shot at getting Ron Artest or Kobe?

An eight-page federal criminal complaint detailing the two felonies to which Tim Donaghy has pleaded guilty is available for your review on Newsday.com.

A couple of very interesting details jumped out at me when I just read it: Federal prosecutors wrote in the complaint that Donaghy had to repay all money he made in this scam. The restitution amount ordered was $30,000.

Evidently it was revealed in court that Donaghy was paid $5,000 for each correct pick he gave to his alleged co-conspirators. So that means Donaghy was correct six times, giving us the first direct evidence of how many games might have been compromised.

The only specific games mentioned in the complaint were on or about Dec. 13, 2006 and Dec. 26, 2006. Donaghy was on the officiating crew for Boston’s 101-81 victory at Philadelphia on the 13th and the Wizards’ 116-101 home victory over Memphis on the 26th.

The complaint also states that Donaghy met with a co-conspirator in Toronto on March 11, 2007 and received a payment. Donaghy reffed the Raptors’ 120-119 home victory over Seattle that night.

This will take some time to sort out, including some rugged work by Newsday’s Tony DeStefano and Bob Kessler at the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn.

As I am writing, NBA Commissioner David Stern just released the following statement:

“As expected, former NBA referee Tim Donaghy pleaded guilty today to betting on NBA games, including games in which he officiated, and providing confidential information to others who bet on NBA games. We will continue with our ongoing and thorough review of the league’s officiating program to ensure that the best possible policies and procedures are in place to protect the integrity of our game.”

After a month of soul-searching and fear throughout the NBA that the Tim Donaghy betting scandal could bring the sport to its knees, the league appears to have gotten the best possible news this morning.

Donaghy pleaded guilty to two felonies in Brooklyn federal court, copping to charges that he provided inside information to gamblers to help them profit from bets on NBA games he was officiating.

The court documents detailing Donaghy’s guilty plea aren’t available yet, but it appears that once they are, the only smoking gun will be in Donaghy’s hand. If that’s the case, it means there was no vast referee conspiracy – only one corrupt ref.

And if that is still the case once all the legal dust settles today, then everyone from Commissioner David Stern on down at the NBA headquarters in Olympic Tower should be doing two things: breathing an enormous sigh of relief and immediately outlining the steps the NBA is taking and will continue to take to guard against such a potentially catastrophic embarrassment ever happening again.

Not knowing what details are contained in the criminal information yet to be made public, here are the questions we still need answered:

How many games did Donaghy corrupt, and which ones? Were any playoff games compromised?

Did he affect the outcome, or merely the margin of victory?

How did he avoid detection by NBA security?

Who else is he bringing down with him?

How much did gamblers pay him for his services, which according to prosecutors included providing information on officiating crews and the condition of players?

Now that the federal probe of Donaghy’s activities essentially is over, the NBA can move full-speed with its own internal probe, which should include video scrutiny of every call he made in every game he officiated during the past two seasons. But the most important questions facing the league today involve how it is going to move forward to ensure better oversight of its officials.

This will be no easy task. NBA refs already have a strained relationship at best with the league office. Even before the Donaghy scandal broke on July 20, many refs were disgruntled with the secretive nature of their performance reviews. Some had become utterly frustrated with mixed signals from the league regarding their on-court conduct – for example, being asked to suddenly enforce the so-called zero tolerance policy with regard to player conduct toward them after having been forced to take most everything the players dished out for years.

The worst-case scenario for the NBA would’ve been other referees getting caught in the feds’ net. But the worst-case scenario for the clean referees – presumably all the rest of them – is going to happen regardless. They are going to be under more scrutiny and suspicion than ever before. Every bad call is going to be scrutinized as a possibly crooked call.

I’m told Stern is likely to provide only a prepared, written statement to the vast majority of media outlets in the country today, which is disappointing. He will, however, appear on at least one national radio outlet this afternoon. Here’s hoping he is ready to come forth with his plan for making sure this never happens again.

After two days off to take care of summer camp transportation and home improvement projects, it’s a good time to get caught up on a big week in the NBA.

* The Celtics can put their Big Three up against anyone else’s, but David Thorpe of Scouts Inc. is concerned that Danny Ainge hasn’t assembled enough complementary pieces to make a real championship push. The Celts have since added former Nets reserve Eddie House and guard Jackie Manuel from the D-League, but Thorpe says on this podcast that he’d be “scared” if he were in Ainge’s shoes.

* While everyone remains focused on the Tim Donaghy investigation, Joe Crawford quietly met with commissioner David Stern, president of basketball operations Joel Litvin, executive VP of basketball operations Stu Jackson, and director of officiating Ronnie Nunn on Tuesday in Manhattan. No word yet on Crawford’s future after he was suspended indefinitely April 17, two days after a heated confrontation with the Spurs’ Tim Duncan. Phil Jasner of the Philadelphia Daily News sums up the whole Crawford affair here.

* Henry Abbott of TrueHoop addresses the question of which teams have improved the most in the East – from Boston with Garnett, to the Knicks with Zach Randolph, to the Magic with Rashard Lewis. Henry posed the question to a bevy of basketball bloggers and gives their responses.

* Authorities are investigating whether the armed robberies at the Chicago homes of Eddy Curry and Antoine Walker are linked. Scary stuff. In the information overload age, anyone can find out where millionaires live and target them.

* The EEOC has sided with former Dallas Mavericks forward Roy Tarpley, paving the way for him to sue the NBA for reinstatement. At 42, Tarpley can’t hope to play any more, but he can hope to win the lawsuit in which he is seeking $6.5 million. Tarpley, banned in 1995 for repeated violations of the NBA’s substance abuse policy, has passed all drug tests he’s taken in the past four years. The EEOC ruled that the NBA’s failure to reinstate Tarpley was a violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act.

If Michael Vick wants to make the case that engaging in dog fighting is a disability, I’m sure the activist lawyers will be lining up to help him sue the NFL.