[alexamenos]

Admittedly a minority opinion here, but I think the league did the right thing on the Stoudemire and Diaw suspensions.

The "don't leave the bench" rule is in place to prevent small altercations from turning into major melees.

Small altercations can turn into major melees when a few players from the bench wonder into the midst of the altercation. Their intent may not be to fight, but instead to back their guy or even to try to calm things down. But things don't necessarily work out this way. A player may not go onto the court with the intent of fighting, but if nothing else he provides one more opportunity for the opposing team to start a fight as well as a practical motivation for the other team's bench to clear. Hence, it's not a player's intent to fight, but his presence on the court that can start a greater escalation of what might otherwise be a relatively small fracas.

Players know the consequences of the rule. Assistant coaches know the consequences of the rule. Nobody is unaware of the ramifications of transgressing the rule. Consequently teams (vis a vis coaches and cooler-headed teammates) provide their on enforcement of the rule--witness the Suns assistants desparate attempts to contain Stoudemire the other night -- you can bet next time they'll be even better prepared to prevent anyone from entering the court.

Thus the rule means small altercations don't become big melees, provided of course that the league is consistent in doling out the stipulated punishment.

--the rule is effective;
--the rule is well known;
--players and teams are reasonably responsible for their on actions;
--the league should put upholding the rules above entertainment value....