Re: NBA Investigating Gambling Irregularities Involving Jontay Porter

[puja21]

Wanted to address your previous post, but then saw this one and I say this is why it does matter. Almost everything you said in this post is why it matters. It's not a good look for starters. Even if it's just being quiet until they can comment more after research that silence will damage the image enough for a group already suspicious and needing anything to latch on to... well this that thing to latch onto for them. Beyond the image, I think it at least raises questions like the ones you brought up. A reasonable person might wait for the answers, but fans is short for fanatics, so many won't and will take the presence of questions as something that pushes them into the group I mentioned a few sentences ago and this becomes something for even the previously indifferent person to now latch onto.

I agree mostly.

Other than --the League already has ref and draft lottery conspiracy theorists.

So Idk if this really changes the league's overall image significantly in that regard.

Of course I'd prefer fewer of those people and more transparency from the league, but i'm not sure if one begets the other. (flat earthers exist now matter what for instance).

Idk if any amount of transparency could eliminate that faction of fans.

[shackles10]

Wanted to address your previous post, but then saw this one and I say this is why it does matter. Almost everything you said in this post is why it matters. It's not a good look for starters. Even if it's just being quiet until they can comment more after research that silence will damage the image enough for a group already suspicious and needing anything to latch on to... well this that thing to latch onto for them. Beyond the image, I think it at least raises questions like the ones you brought up. A reasonable person might wait for the answers, but fans is short for fanatics, so many won't and will take the presence of questions as something that pushes them into the group I mentioned a few sentences ago and this becomes something for even the previously indifferent person to now latch onto.

I agree mostly.

Other than --the League already has ref and draft lottery conspiracy theorists.

So Idk if this really changes the league's overall image significantly in that regard.

Of course I'd prefer fewer of those people and more transparency from the league, but i'm not sure if one begets the other. (flat earthers exist now matter what for instance).

Idk if any amount of transparency could eliminate that faction of fans.

Agreed. No reason to add to the list of conspiracy theorists if you can help it. Maybe the inclusion of gambling having such a heavy presence in league advertising means you can't help it even without this kind of story surfacing though. Either way, it's not a good look as you previously mentioned.

[dougthonus]

Counterpoint to the counterpoint:

How clear is it really that they do have controls? The article states the next day DraftKings released it was the number 1 prop bet the night before. Did the NBA and its controls know that on their own due diligence and what they track or was it talked about on some podcast/morning sports radio show the next day, someone hears it and tells someone else who tells someone else and eventually (whether through 1 step of communications or 5 doesn't really matter) someone tells a person within the league what they heard and the league might want to look into it? Did they suspect something after the first time, second time, or third time? Or did they never suspect anything until someone said you better look into this before it makes the league look bad? We don't really know, but one is proactive and the other is reactive with obvious motives to seem proactive.

Good point.

Then I guess we can say the betting houses have good controls, and the NBA will benefit. Seems like something they will need to get a handle on or partner with those places to control. The gambling companies have a huge benefit in keeping everything above board, so still may work out.

[shackles10]

Counterpoint to the counterpoint:

How clear is it really that they do have controls? The article states the next day DraftKings released it was the number 1 prop bet the night before. Did the NBA and its controls know that on their own due diligence and what they track or was it talked about on some podcast/morning sports radio show the next day, someone hears it and tells someone else who tells someone else and eventually (whether through 1 step of communications or 5 doesn't really matter) someone tells a person within the league what they heard and the league might want to look into it? Did they suspect something after the first time, second time, or third time? Or did they never suspect anything until someone said you better look into this before it makes the league look bad? We don't really know, but one is proactive and the other is reactive with obvious motives to seem proactive.

Good point.

Then I guess we can say the betting houses have good controls, and the NBA will benefit. Seems like something they will need to get a handle on or partner with those places to control. The gambling companies have a huge benefit in keeping everything above board, so still may work out.

Unrelated, and maybe I'm an idiot for not considering it, but if anything shady were to go on it's much more likely to be a guy like Jontay Porter than a known name/superstar and, at least until this story came out, more likely to be a low-profile regular season game than a big time playoff game like the previous Sac/LAL accusations of the past. I'm not saying he's guilty by any means, but I can see why they're looking into it.

[dougthonus]

Unrelated, and maybe I'm an idiot for not considering it, but if anything shady were to go on it's much more likely to be a guy like Jontay Porter than a known name/superstar and, at least until this story came out, more likely to be a low-profile regular season game than a big time playoff game like the previous Sac/LAL accusations of the past. I'm not saying he's guilty by any means, but I can see why they're looking into it.

The risk / reward on it for a big name player is really stupid.

That said, the Shohei Ohtani story would show you that people who are fabulously wealthy don't often consider risk / reward well (at least, if like me, you believe his story about blaming the interpreter is complete BS and that the interpreter is the fall guy).