Around the NBA II

Ranma · Post #701 » by **Ranma** » Thu Aug 31, 2017 8:16 am

esqtvd · Post #702 » by **esqtvd** » Thu Aug 31, 2017 9:00 am

Now that the well is poisoned, Cavs can't get a better deal for Kyrie anywhere else and they know it. Ainge let the new GM save a little face by throwing him a worthless 2nd round bone. Koby Altman owes him one.

Better for the Cavs to have IT try to come back in time for the playoffs and show LBJ what he's worth. If LBJ leaves and I start a massive rebuild, I don't want to be stuck with a gimpy no-D IT, who's shorter than Iverson and will already be 29. I want his contract running out.

And if it somehow works out with LBJ and IT, that's a problem I'd really like to have.

Ranma · Post #703 » by **Ranma** » Tue Sep 5, 2017 4:02 pm

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Ranma · Post #704 » by **Ranma** » Thu Sep 7, 2017 8:01 pm

If the new measures to counter tanking pass, first-round picks in general would be more valuable given the increased odds of winning the lottery given that most teams can miss the playoffs in any given season with unexpected circumstances beyond their control.

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Ranma · Post #705 » by **Ranma** » Thu Sep 7, 2017 8:03 pm

I definitely prefer a more social-conscious approach than LaVar Ball's overhyped and superficial appeal to the lowest common denominator in order to sell shoes.

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esqtvd · Post #706 » by **esqtvd** » Thu Sep 7, 2017 9:46 pm

O'Sullivan's Law

Ranma · Post #707 » by **Ranma** » Tue Sep 12, 2017 6:53 pm

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Ranma · Post #708 » by **Ranma** » Fri Sep 15, 2017 6:25 pm

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nickhx2 · Post #709 » by **nickhx2** » Fri Sep 15, 2017 6:55 pm

meh having power to fine teams for resting players is so stupid. if you don't want it to happen at all then don't put the teams in situations where they have to do it. simple as that. i know they've smoothed out the schedule a lot more this year to me that's not enough.

Post #710 » by **thanumba2clippersfan** » Mon Sep 18, 2017 11:00 pm

Teams could still tank and just hope to have one of the 3 worst records in the league. I guess we'll see how it goes, the worst team usually never ends up with the first pick anyways.

Ranma · Post #711 » by **Ranma** » Mon Sep 18, 2017 11:30 pm

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Neddy · Post #712 » by **Neddy** » Tue Sep 19, 2017 12:57 am

esqtvd · Post #713 » by **esqtvd** » Tue Sep 19, 2017 9:16 pm

Most folks didn't blame KD for leaving. I'm fine with CP bailing on Clipperville for similar reasons, to BUILD something with Harden and take on the last two champs. We WEREN'T good enough and with BG and DJ hogging the rest of the sal cap, there was no light at the end of the tunnel. Had KD gone anywhere else--like CP did--I'd have been cool with it. KD's Warrior teammates LET him win Finals MVP.

LOL. KD should really stay off Twitter.

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Ranma · Post #714 » by **Ranma** » Sat Sep 23, 2017 5:15 pm

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Ranma · Post #715 » by **Ranma** » Sat Sep 23, 2017 6:16 pm

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esqtvd · Post #716 » by **esqtvd** » Sat Sep 23, 2017 7:15 pm

The fit hath officially hit the shan.

This all has been coming for awhile. Curry has been not coming to the White House since June.

http://deadspin.com/steve-kerr-warriors-to-discuss-attending-white-house-i-1796539998

Kerr has been an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, as have players Stephen Curry and David West, and unsubstantiated rumors spread shortly after their victory that the team would not attend the White House. (Curry later clarified his personal stance, saying he’d rather not visit, as did Andre Iguodala, who said, “Hell nah.”)

It's 1968 all over again.

Post #717 » by **og15** » Mon Sep 25, 2017 10:23 pm

Well, it's not surprising, Trump kind of brought this on himself with his behavior and him never making any clear stances on certain issues that no matter what side of the political spectrum you are on, almost all would make. It's obviously no coincidence that this never happened with any other President, no matter what side they were on. People disagree all the time, even in heated ways, but it takes a special President to have something like this happen to.

Presidents generally don't and shouldn't behave in the childish and petty manner that Trump does. No other president in the history of the US would have taken to responding and having any sort of public debate about this or rescinding an offer and making themselves look childish. Trump acts more like the totalitarian leaders than the types of leaders free societies look for. He takes everything as personal affronts on his honor and always feels the need to respond, therefore making it about him personally. It's just quite crazy that a country felt they had such poor alternative options / was in such an interesting place that a guy like him becomes the President. It hasn't even been a year and it's just been a circus.

esqtvd · Post #718 » by **esqtvd** » Tue Sep 26, 2017 8:50 am

FTR, I'm certainly not interested in debating Trump on that level. It was to everyone's credit we avoided it this long. :nod:

As for the merits or propriety of the protests, the same.

Discussing it at arm's length, upon further review, I think Commissioner Silver was actually trying to head off this anthem war with his joint announcement with the Players Association several weeks back that the NBA was looking for avenues for "social awareness." They smelled this coming.

The only questions now are whether the players are going to take up this war, and if so, how the fans will react. Unlike the NFL, the NBA had over a dozen franchises lose money last year [at least technically], and the weaker franchises still have plenty of empty seats, and that could easily worsen if there's a fan backlash. The NBA's ratings were also off significantly last year.

http://awfulannouncing.com/nba/local-nba-ratings-drop-substantially-2016-17-season.html

The SBJ analysis, which looked at local ratings for 27 of the 30 NBA teams, found a 14 percent drop from the previous year. Twenty regional sports networks reportedly saw their ratings decline, including 15 that experienced double-digit decreases.

National television ratings were also down in 2016-17, suggesting a broader trend in NBA viewership.

Another irony of course is that President Trump's position is exactly the same as the official NBA policy in 1996, which I believe is still on the books, although it will clearly never be enforced again. The balance of power has shifted: On every level--professionally, economically and politically--the NBA is a players' league.

http://articles.latimes.com/1996-03-13/sports/sp-46409_1_mahmoud-abdul-rauf

NBA Sits Abdul-Rauf for Stance on Anthem
Pro basketball: Nugget guard, a Muslim, is suspended and will be fined $31,707 a game.
March 13, 1996|JIM HODGES | TIMES STAFF WRITER

The NBA and Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf have fixed the price of his stance on--or refusing to stand for--the national anthem. It's $31,707 every time it's played before a Denver Nugget game.

That's the per-game portion of Abdul-Rauf's $2.6-million annual salary. The NBA suspended him Tuesday and said he will have to forfeit it as long as he refuses to obey a league rule that states "players, coaches and trainers are to stand and line up in a dignified posture . . . during the playing of the American and/or Canadian national anthems."

No exceptions.

"The NBA's rule on this point is very clear and all our rules apply to all players," said Russ Granik, the league's deputy commissioner.

It could be a long siege.

Abdul-Rauf, who leads the Nuggets in scoring with a 19.6-point average, was not at McNichols Arena on Tuesday night for a game in which Denver defeated the Orlando Magic, 110-93.

"My beliefs are more important than anything," he said earlier in the day after a shoot-around. "If I have to give up basketball, I will."

The flag is "a symbol of oppression, of tyranny," he said. "This country has a long history of that. I don't think you can argue the facts. You can't be for God and for oppression. It's clear in the Koran, Islam is the only way. I don't criticize those who stand, so don't criticize me for sitting. I won't waver from my decision."

He did, however, soften his rhetoric later, in a television interview.

"I'm able to make a lot of money in the United States," he said. "I'm from here and I'm not saying, again, that it represents everything bad. I never said that. I'm just saying that it also represents the bad.

"And . . . I just don't look at the United States, I just don't look at the Muslim issue. I look at the Caucasian American and I look at the African American being oppressed in this country and I don't stand for that."

Ed Wearing, Colorado commander of the American Legion, said Abdul-Rauf should renounce his citizenship.

"Refusing to stand up and recognize the unity of this nation as embodied under the flag to me is tantamount to treason," Wearing said.

Ranma · Post #719 » by **Ranma** » Thu Sep 28, 2017 8:11 pm

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Ranma · Post #720 » by **Ranma** » Fri Sep 29, 2017 12:09 am

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