The Thunder declared from Day One that character would count. That it would bring in ballplayers who not only could produce hoops but be solid citizens. And the Thunder has lived up to that creed. The police blotter has been virtually clear of Thunder players; Kendrick Perkins was charged with disorderly conduct and public intoxication last summer, but Beaumont, Texas, officials dropped the charges.
If there’s been another incident, I don’t recall it.
Then came Thursday, when Thunder public-address announcer Jim Miller was arrested on complaints of lewd or indecent acts with a child under 16. You can read the story here.
Miller is described as the Thunder’s PA announcer, which he is. Which means the Thunder takes a PR hit. But Miller by day is a teacher and tennis coach at Harrah High School. That’s the bigger scandal. An NBA in-house announcer does not interact with children; a teacher and coach does.
So Harrah schools, not the Thunder, has the pressing questions today. I trust Harrah to vet as well as possible its employees. Sometimes, you can’t know what lies in the hearts of men. That goes for a school district and for an NBA franchise.
I don’t know to what extent Sam Presti investigates every employee, be it through background checks or psychological testing. Naturally, you don’t spend as much time on a PA announcer as you do a first-round draft pick. But I do believe the Thunder spends some time on every employee hire, or at least an employee who would be in the public eye.
Jim Miller was not well-known. Not his face. Not his name. His voice, yes, for anyone who frequents Chesapeake Energy Arena. So this isn’t like in Denver, where the Birdman, Chris Andersen, is being investigated by a Colorado sheriff’s office Internet Crimes Against Children unit. The Nuggets have little excuse; the Birdman has had a variety of character issues for years. But no one could see Jim Miller coming.
And of course, we’re just talking public perception problems here. The tragedy in any of these cases is the victims. The harm to a school district or a basketball franchise is minimal compared to the harm of a victim of sexual abuse.
-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
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