DATE: Wednesday, November 5, 1997           TAG: 9711050556

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Column 

SOURCE: Bob Molinaro 

                                            LENGTH:   61 lines

SUSPENSIONS, FINES, SO WHAT? NBA IS THE TEFLON LEAGUE

The National Basketball Association is off to the kind of start that, if this were big-league baseball, would be taken as a sign that bad times and even worse vibes lie ahead.

Less than one week into the season, commissioner David Stern has felt it necessary to suspend four high-profile players.

Charles Barkley, Allen Iverson and Shaquille O'Neal have all been forced to sit out one game as punishment for inappropriate or illegal extracurricular activities. Another star, J.R. Rider was presented with a two-game suspension.

If it were not the late '90s, and the sport were not basketball, this sort of rap sheet would mortify a business that depends on image to sell its product.

But the NBA? It rolls merrily along.

And why shouldn't it? The charmed existence and continued prosperity of the NBA appears to be more shatter-proof than that plate glass window through which Barkley threw his latest victim.

Pro hoops can do no wrong with the public. As hard as it tries, the NBA cannot offend its fans. Or shake their faith in the sport.

When O'Neal knocks down Greg Ostertag in an off-court incident, thus giving new meaning to the term ``rap artist,'' he pays the fine, does the time, and the next day he's the same, old lovable Shaq that the Pepsi Generation finds so fascinating.

Baseball should be jealous. Every imperfection or screw-up in the major leagues is placed under a microscope and judged to be detrimental to the game.

The NBA, by contrast, is the Teflon league. It is a league where the slogan should be, ``There's no such thing as bad publicity or a poor role model.''

The NBA doesn't just survive a freak like Dennis Rodman. It prospers because of him. Rodman uses the league, the league uses Rodman. It's a win-win situation.

Everything the NBA touches turns to gold. The presence of Michael Jordan and the relentless, inspired marketing of the league has a lot to do with this.

But not even the great Jordan can completely offset one development: the dramatic drop in scoring.

Putting the basket back into basketball should be a goal of the NBA this season. So far, it's not to be.

Two seasons ago, the league scoring average dropped below 100 for the first time since the late '50s. Last season, it dropped again. Can we expect even less point production in 1997-98?

This comes to mind in the wake of the Chicago Bulls' victory Monday over the San Antonio Spurs. Behind Jordan's heroics, the Bulls won 87-83. In double overtime.

It wasn't that long ago that 87-83 was a third-quarter NBA score some nights. But in three games, the Bulls have yet to break 100. They've been stuck in the 80s twice. Sure, Scottie Pippen is missing for now. But does it actually require two future Hall of Famers in order to produce 100 points?

Clear away the hype and it's easy to envision an NBA season in which fast breaks are rarer than Shaq's made free throws, and the 77-point game becomes as common as another hole in Rodman's body.

In any case, the assessment process need not be hurried. It is very, very early.

How early? Well, New Jersey's in first place.

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