NBA Commissioner David Stern had some pointed words for politicians in New Orleans — the site of next year’s All Star game — saying the NBA was committed to the Hornets, but disappointed in the city’s slow recovery from Hurricane Katrina. [ep

“Although politics and government are not our beat, it sure would be nice to see a plan, completely unrelated to basketball to deal with issues for the people of New Orleans that haven’t been dealt with. [ep

“We want to be good citizens, but we’d like to see just something that takes care of the displaced people. That place hasn’t really made a lot of progress, because it really is not going to be that much fun to be there if progress hasn’t been made. [ep

“I think we can probably make it work and we’re very optimistic about that. But it doesn’t make me feel so good when I go down there and see the inaction for the people in New Orleans. We’re not going to be part of the problem. We’re going to be part of the solution if there’s a will in Louisiana and New Orleans to solve the issues. [ep