Wow, I hadn't seen that. Silver should have called him out immediately, and then made a public statement. Instead he doesn't want to "cut off people who have a point of view". , people who tamper have a point of view. Tim Donaghy had a point of view. Part of his job is to shut that down. The appearance of wrongdoing is just as damaging.
And the part you quoted wasn't the end. He went on to say:
"I know Jeanie knows how to manage a team," Silver said. "Sure, when things start to go wrong, a lot of fingers get pointed. But they'll figure it out."
He just said that they don't know what they're doing, and they've been ing things up. (That's why the fingers get pointed.) "But they'll figure it out." That's not a compliment, and it's not a sincere vote of confidence. It's him weakening Jeanie Buss' position.
I've always hated that bald-headed albino pillow-biter. But I'm way past sick of him over the last couple of seasons.