Not to ignore what the old bald guy in D.C. is doing, but for true invincibility nobody beats ol' Silver Top, NBA commissioner David Stern. Talk about staying on top of your game forever. The man started this gig in 1984 and never has been better.

The competition committee opposes his desire to abolish illegal defense? Stern authorizes Suns owner Jerry Colangelo to form a new committee to present alternative rules for the owners to approve. Illegal defense, see ya.

The owners need a firm hand to stop from over-spending, only the players union won't accept a hard cap? Stern devises what looks like a soft cap to the players, only it deprives an owner of a multi-million-dollar kickback if violated. Yeah, it's not a hard cap, it's freakin' razor wire.

Just so everybody is straight, the luxury tax costs an owner a lot more than the dollar-for-dollar penalty incurred for being over the limit. That's all it is in Year One, but for the two years after that any egregiously-spending owner loses out on the 10 percent of player contracts that roll back if salaries are eating too deeply into total revenues. Said owner also doesn't get a cut of whatever luxury tax the Mark Cubans and Paul Allens are paying.

Math is not my strength, but 10 percent of $42.5 million is, uh, $4.25 million. Add a mill or so from the Allen-Cuban contributions and that's a lot of scratch to forfeit to add a Gat or even a Mase. It's money back for earlier mistakes. It's almost like being able to drop a few guaranteed contracts, which I've heard Stern will shoot for in the next collective bargaining agreement.

The latest, greatest example of why he'll get it is Warriors forward Marc Jackson, who anticipated a big payday for last season's impressive showing and went on a spending spree. Dropped six figures in jewelry. Bought a Bentley and a million-dollar house. No wonder he was buggin' that the Warriors weren't going to pay him enough to cover all that before the Rockets' six-year, $24 million offer sheet came through. Jackson lucked out that Houston got an injury exception for Mo Taylor or the Warriors' low-ball plans might've worked.

This, essentially, is why it's awfully hard for the owners not to get what they want. Stern has to keep a group of 29 businessmen fiscally together while union president Billy Hunter has to convince 350-some players, many flush for the first time in their lives, to live frugally enough to be self-sufficient for at least a year.

On top of all that, Floor Jordan -- to borrow John Thompson's tag -- should be back on the owners' side by the time a new agreement is needed. As he should be painfully aware of by then, it's all about having the right teammates.

AND ONES: Maybe I hold Jordan in too high regard, but it seemed strange to see him whooping it up about scoring 41 points in an exhibition game. Versus the Nets. Against one-on-one coverage. In a loss ... Word is Phil Jackson put a call in to Ron Harper about rejoining the Lakers. Wily vet that he is, Harp will wait until the end of training camp to take him up on it ... Wonder why the Mavs dropped such big coin on Evan Eschmeyer? One source says the Mavs thought they had LaPhonso Ellis for the veteran's minimum. When Fonz went to Miami, Dallas panicked ... How much do the Clippers like Keyon Dooling? They could've dealt him with the No. 2 pick to the Nets for Stephon Marbury (pre-Suns trade) and passed.

Ric Bucher covers the NBA for ESPN The Magazine. His column appears each Tuesday. E-mail ric.bucher@espnmag.com.