And let's leave aside how dumb it is to assume that everyone in Utah, let alone everyone in the EnergySolutions Arena, is a member of the LDS Church.

But let's be honest. If Bucher had been talking about the Knicks and said, "They're Jews and they're in New York City"; if Bucher had said, "They're African-Americans and they're in Memphis," he would have been suspended if not fired by now.

Because some forms of bigotry are less acceptable than others.

Bucher has somewhat of a history of weird comments about members of the LDS Church. Years ago, he wrote of Shawn Bradley in ESPN: The Magazine, "I'm not advocating that a Shawn vs. Shaq showdown favors the spindly Mormon."

Why even use a religious reference at all? Does it have anything to do with basketball?

Would Bucher have written "spindly Jew"? "Spindly Catholic"?

Probably not.

This sort of thing puts Bucher on the same intellectual level as Dennis Rodman. The ex-Chicago Bull, of course, received what was the largest fine in NBA history at the time when he said, "It's difficult to get in sync because of all the (expletive deleted) Mormons out here."

If Bucher is comfortable being as smart as Rodman, well, who are we to argue?

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E-mail: pierce@desnews.com