NBA Insider with Ken Berger

I love Micheal Ray Richardson’s quote this week to Harvey Araton of the Times, when asked how he’s doing.

“I’ll tell you what,” Micheal Ray said, “I’m not sinkin’.”

Araton embraced some of the points I made in my Micheal Ray column last week, and furthered the analysis in a thoughtful column in which he compared Richardson’s comments to those that resulted in Don Imus’ firing. (If you don't have TimesSelect, you can read the key points on Henry Abbott's TrueHoop blog.)

Araton wrote of Richardson:

He wasn't trying to be funny, wasn't prostituting his values for the sake of ratings and profit, when he cursed out a courtside fan during the first game of the series in Albany. But he embellished the attack with an anti-gay slur, and this after giving a pregame discourse to two reporters from The Albany Times-Union that was interpreted by some, not all, probably not even most, to be anti-Semitic.
Even if it was, in the case of the fan, an angry slip of the tongue, and even if it was just awkward phrasing in the discussion with reporters that ensued after his quip about being represented by ''big-time Jew lawyers,'' Richardson is out of work now, begging not to be written off and remembered as a bigot.
''I'm 52 years old and all I want is some peace,'' he said. ''I never judge anyone, not after all the things that have happened to me.''

Here’s what I hope: That the fallout from Richardson’s comments doesn’t get completely forgotten now that the media machine is chomping away at the Imus story, which shows no sign of losing its ability to satisfy the appetites of anyone and everyone who wants to weigh in.

The debate over whether Imus deserved what he got isn’t going to get Richardson another chance to coach or otherwise find employment in basketball. It would appear that Richardson couldn’t have picked a worse time to say something stupid and lose his job.

Whereas Imus’ friends and corporate supporters abandoned him, I hope Richardson’s supporters – starting with NBA commissioner David Stern – don’t forget about him.

And another thing …

On a completely unrelated topic, how Gilbert Arenas is handling his season-ending knee injury is drawing some criticism in the blogosphere. As usual, TrueHoop’s Henry Abbott is all over it at ESPN.com.

Henry links to Gilbert’s blog in which Agent Zero admits that he can barely bring himself to watch the Wizards play on TV. He also points out that Dan Steinberg of D.C. Sports Bog, an ardent Arenas supporter, thinks Arenas’ take smacks of selfishness.

This is just me, but I think the least Arenas could do is cheer on his teammates from the bench, as fellow injured All-Star Caron Butler is doing.

And lastly …

I’ll be filling out my ballots next week for MVP, rookie of the year, All-NBA team, coach of the year, most improved, defensive player of the year, and sixth man of the year. As always, your suggestions are welcome. Anyone who can match my five-man, all-NBA team identically gets a free Big Mac.