Stern's discipline will put Carmelo, others on notice

	Carmelo Anthony will have plenty of time to think about his actions over the next month. AP
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During the next few days (or perhaps weeks), the debate will rage as to whether NBA commissioner David Stern handed down the appropriate punishment with regard to the melee at Madison Square Garden. The outcry will come from both sides.

Fifteen games for 'Melo? The guy was defending a teammate!

Only 15 games for 'Melo? The guy threw a sucker punch -- that should cost him half the season!

My opinion? Stern got it right.

I'm an extremist. Brawls like this put a pox on a league desperate to prove it deserves to be as highly regarded as the NFL or Major League Baseball. Athletes who put fans at risk -- and make no mistake, that is exactly what several players did Saturday night -- deserve to be struck down with an iron fist, their punishment so severe that the mere thought of doing something like that again makes them cringe.

You think Carmelo Anthony will raise his fists again if he knows doing so will cost him half a season -- and in turn, half of the $12.34 million salary he will earn next year? You think J.R. Smith will turn Greco-Roman wrestler if he knows his rising career would be stalled for 30 games? You think Nate Robinson -- well, maybe not Robinson, who in less than two years already has established himself as a buffoon (or have you already forgotten the failed off-the-backboard attempt a few weeks ago?).

The punishment should not only fit the crime, but it also should far exceed it. You shouldn't come back with a proportional response. You should come back with total disaster.

But Stern is a man who serves more than one master and as much as he despises the events of Saturday night, he knows he can't effectively end the seasons of two teams (one, if you consider the Knicks were circling the drain anyway). So he did what he thought was right.

Anthony gets the harshest punishment for throwing a premeditated (which is what it was) punch. Robinson and Smith get double-digit games for exacerbating an already volatile situation. Mardy Collins gets six for starting the incident and Jared Jeffries gets four for chasing Anthony halfway to the Stage Deli. Jerome James and Nene get one for leaving the court, though Nene should get an exemption for providing the comic relief: You see how a "charging" Collins and Robinson stopped on a dime the second they saw the Brazilian step forward? I guess protecting a teammate only goes so far.

What about Isiah Thomas? In my opinion, Thomas deserved the same punishment as Collins, considering he effectively ordered the assault. But don't disregard the $500,000 fine Stern levied on both teams.

Sure, given the Knicks' payroll, we believe they are playing with monopoly money. But as one Eastern Conference executive says, "Wow. I don't care who you are, no owner likes giving away that much money."

So don't think Thomas is off the hook. He won't pay the fine, but Knicks owner James Dolan most assuredly holds him accountable for it. At the end of the day, Stern did his best to clean up the mess. Only time will scrub it from our minds completely.