Post#4 » by mkwest » Thu Mar 17, 2011 2:03 am
Bravo to Chris Kaman, Corey Maggette, Marko Jaric and Elton Brand for their kind and charitable support of Kim. You love to see that type of thing. It kind of explains the relationship that Kim and Chris have had over the years. Chris' development was primarily due to Kim, who even spent a large portion of one summer with Chris sailing around Mexico on Chris' boat. Kim said that he'd give a kidney to any of those guys who helped him in his time of need.
As far as the organization's involvement, I do understand the position of if you bend the rules (paying for a surgeon that's outside of the insurance network) for one then you have to do the same for everyone else. It really does suck given the circumstances, but I do understand it. Overall, I think that too much time is spent blasting the organization and even Sterling for this matter, rather than giving the players their props for doing an admirable thing. Would it have been great to see Sterling step up to the plate and help out for an employee? Totally. Kim stayed with the organization for 6 or so years after this incident, and didn't seem to let it hold him down.
This is a business and most businesses would do the same given the circumstances. Other organizations/companies may have handled the situation differently, but that is an exception not the standard. As it is, the owner of this franchise and the franchise itself are easy targets for bad publicity, so many people are willing to believe the headlines and forming an opinion rather than reading the entire article and putting some thought into it. I'm not a Sterling fan by any means at all, but I want to be fair.
Any of us would love to become owner one day, so that the organization could be run with total dignity and legitimacy. If that doesn't happen, another owner that would do the same and keep the franchise in the Los Angeles area would be greatly appreciated.
