Thoughts in General, Rumors, etc... 7.0

[Fo-Real]

Does it? Do you think there are other fans of the Browns who just wanted a good quarterback? Don't we all do this from time to time? Do we vet every moral choice of every musician we listen to? Or of every action taken by every player on every team we root for?

As I said to start, we all have inconsistencies. We are humans. None of us are perfect. Which includes Lebron, but not especially Lebron either.

No, I don't think I've ever knowingly cheered for a sexual predator because they're good at sports and on my team. When I find out that sort of thing (happens far too often unfortunately) I tend to stop cheering for that player and possibly organization depending on how they handle it.

Do I vet everything I consume, obviously not, it's impossible, simply not enough time in the day. But that's not the situation, because there's zero chance LeBron wasn't aware of what Watson has done.

I didn't ask what you specifically do. I asked what we collectively do. And I think collectively we aren't as diligent as you about making sure we don't consume entertainment from "bad guys". Whether its because we put our pleasure first, or we believe in grace, or we are ignorant or whatever.

I'm not trying to defend Lebron's choices here. He's a grown man. I just disagree with this public flogging he's taking for doing so. If he didn't say anything, he'd be criticized for that too and you know that's true. Again, not speaking about you specifically to be clear.

I thought it showed that he thinks he is an ambassador and leader but a lot of players though differently and it pissed them off. No doubt he is an NBA legend but maybe a legend in his own mind when it comes to players looking to him philosophically about anything.

[Texas Chuck]

I thought it showed that he thinks he is an ambassador and leader but a lot of players though differently and it pissed them off. No doubt he is an NBA legend but maybe a legend in his own mind when it comes to players looking to him philosophically about anything.

I too get the sense that Lebron sees himself as Important Guy.

And I'm sure that rubs some players the wrong way. But I think we are letting our personal biases come into play if we don't realize he's almost certainly the most influential current player amongst the player pool as a whole. This was true of Kobe back in the day, it was true of Mike. It's the nature of the beast when you are this kind of player. Giannis, Jokic, Luka won't be in similar position even as the first two are the best players in the world and Luka is coming. It will be Tatum or Ja or Ant or Cade or.....

But this need to diminish Lebron is so odd to me. I'm no fan of his game and I find him pretty cringey at times. But in terms of being a face of the league? League could never have hoped for better. And he deserves respect for that that sadly he rarely gets. He just gets jumped any time he does anything someone personally would have done differently.

[Scoot McGroot]

Damn, remember past years when this thread was all about which player put on 40 pounds of muscle?

I hear Haliburton is in the best shape of his life. Added a whole new dimension to his game. I wouldn't be surprised if he had his best season yet...

[Colbinii]

In this particular situation, his strong public support for the Browns bringing in DeShaun Watson would seem to signal that LeBron doesn't really give a hoot about misogyny.

Does it? Do you think there are other fans of the Browns who just wanted a good quarterback? Don't we all do this from time to time? Do we vet every moral choice of every musician we listen to? Or of every action taken by every player on every team we root for?

As I said to start, we all have inconsistencies. We are humans. None of us are perfect. Which includes Lebron, but not especially Lebron either.

No, I don't think I've ever knowingly cheered for a sexual predator because they're good at sports and on my team. When I find out that sort of thing (happens far too often unfortunately) I tend to stop cheering for that player and possibly organization depending on how they handle it.

Do I vet everything I consume, obviously not, it's impossible, simply not enough time in the day. But that's not the situation, because there's zero chance LeBron wasn't aware of what Watson has done.

I still wear my Adrian Peterson Jersey when I go out for Vikings Games

[Colbinii]

LeBron is signifciantly smarter than everyone who is posting on this board and understands how to create a successful brand and business within the United States as well as anyone ever has. He typically sends out tweets and makes a statement when there is already an uproar and mob forming and holding pitchforks.

The fact people actually spend time in their day caring about what he says and discussing a calculated tweet on a forum board says a lot about this society.

[MoneyTalks41890]

This entire "debate" such as it is started because I posted about LeBron's tweet when it happened. But then Chris Paul weighed in right after. So if folks assign too much baggage to Bron to be able to discuss this issue, feel free to talk about the Chris Paul statement instead!

[165bows]

not sure why people don't understand the difference in a governor and a fellow player and how it might impact what Lebron says publicly versus what he says privately. I think there is this misperception that players don't speak in private but air all their business in public when just like anyone else that's far from the case. I'm sure leaders of the NBAPA like Lebron and Paul have had conversations with other players about issues. Just because they don't publicly flog them doesn't make them a hypocrite.

It's really the other way around imo. He's publicly advocated for bringing in the most arrested guy in the league, JR. It's not about what he says in private (which we can't know, and we can assume is *plenty*), but what the actual public statements and actions are.

Again, he sets a very high bar in his statement for what should and shouldn't be accepted in the league. He may be right about that. But again, do his public actions support that is really his belief? People can judge for themselves but I can't remember one time he's moved a guy out of his camp (team, business dealings etc) for their behavior or even publicly criticized one his "his" guys - they have all been choir boys?

[MoneyTalks41890]

Sorry, JR Smith, the player who famously turned his life around and is now getting his college degree? We’ve lost the plot folks.

[kobe_vs_jordan]

JR isn’t a chroir boy but let’s add some context to his arrests.

Guy had an accident while speeding , arrested for fighting a couple times , riding a scooter without a license and breaking a fan phone. He not some violent criminal abusing women.

JR got problems of his own and need better decision making skills. He seems to be on a good track at this point but it’s a stretch to compare his to a sexist and racist.

[JRoy]

JR isn’t a chroir boy but let’s add some context to his arrests.

Guy had an accident while speeding , arrested for fighting a couple times , riding a scooter without a license and breaking a fan phone. He not some violent criminal abusing women.

JR got problems of his own and need better decision making skills. He seems to be on a good track at this point but it’s a stretch to compare his to a sexist and racist.

Plus he whipped that dude vandalizing his car.

[zimpy27]

LeBron was pretty clearly talking about the representation of the NBA. He is the face of that and he is calling on them to be better.
He is not the face of the NFL.
It's worth distinguishing the difference between when he's talking about the NBA as a representative of that versus when he's just himself representing himself. I know it can be confusing as it all comes from the same account/mouth.

If you realise that LeBron is somewhat self-interested then it should all be pretty clear:
- he thinks the NBA should have come down harder on Sarver for their brand and the future of that brand.
- he is glad his team got a good quarterback.
- he didn't like the idea of China being disrespected since a lot of money comes from there for his brand and the NBA.

Not saying he's selfish though, just self-interested (there is difference that you should understand), like every being on this planet. He's also active in trying to expand causes that interest him, which is a great thing.
Being that he's a minority from a poor background, I think it's fair to say that a lot of his active and expanded interest is well aligned with what we see as progress towards a better future anyway. But he's not some deity. He's a person.


And I am primarily a LeBron fan btw, I'm not actually a Lakers fan beyond him playing there and that will be clear if he moves team. If anyone ever wondered why I don't have a Lakers flare under my name.

[HartfordWhalers]

Okay fine, we are off the rails.

I'm fine with Lebron not advocating for anything.
I'm fine with Lebron advocating for things that would make the world better.
I'm not going to call him out for advocating for some issues and not advocating for others; I grew up hearing Bob Barker say to get your Cats and Dogs Neutered and I'm sorry that isn't the most important message he could have said every single episode.

I'm not fine with Lebron advocating for wrong. Even if you want to be quiet because whatever not great thing is good for you also, that is to me a huge step from advocating for the bad thing. I definitely think he hit that problem with the China stuff, he blasted a team GM for expressing a view that a city should have some level of democracy as an uneducated position and literally tried to shut down free speech because he lost money as a result of it. That I think is a fully legit reason to criticize Lebron and his social brand, which I agree with a poster however many posts ago said, is very well brand managed and voices displeasure when its riding a wave versus starting a wave.

But I don't judge him solely based off that, or negate what he says here because of all of it.

[MKWB]

NBA / LBJ / ESPN have no moral ground to stand on. Their biggest financial partner, the Chinese Communist Party, commits ongoing genocide, literal racism resulting in thousands of deaths of minorities.
https://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/467295-uighurs-china-and-the-lucrative-hypocrisy-of-lebron-james-nba/

And no one associated with the NBA is allowed to publicly speak on this or any other China-related issue, or they are pressured and/or censored (Morey... LBJ & Kerr towing the company line).


There were also the reports of systematic abuse at NBA China camps, that was conveniently swept under the rug:
https://www.westernjournal.com/nba-refuses-condemn-china-amid-reports-abuse-nba-china-academies/

"One of the American coaches went as far as to describe the project was 'a sweat camp for athletes.'
'Imagine you have a kid who’s 13, 14 years old, and you’ve got a grown coach who is 40 years old hitting your kid,' another coach
said.

'We’re part of that. The NBA is part of that.'"

Just this year, Warriors partial owner Chamath Palihapitiya proudly proclaimed that caring about the ongoing genocide (the systematic mass killing of a minority group of people) of the Uyghurs is "below his line" of care or concern. No investigation or punishment has been done into him.

" … I'm telling you a very hard, ugly truth. Of all the things that I care about, it is below my line."

When challenged by his co-hosts, he doubled down.

"I care about the fact that our economy could turn on a dime, if China invades Taiwan," he said.

"But if you're asking me do I care about a segment of a class of people in another country -- not until we can take care of ourselves, will I prioritize them over us."

[HartfordWhalers]

Okay away from Lebron for a minute...

Read on Twitter

?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1570571501677715460%7Ctwgr%5E736a2ccf1335bd13b160bbdce1777914ff66f97f%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fhoopshype.com%2Frumors%2F

[HartfordWhalers]

All parts:

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

I don't know how high up this VP is, but um, internally that has to be something....

[HartfordWhalers]

Oh wow. "Najafi, who owns the second-largest ownership stake in the Phoenix franchise behind Sarver,"
Worth 3.5b according to google search 1 with 0 vetting (so I have no opinion on its accuracy). Yeah, when the number 2 owner is publicly calling you unfit to ever be an owner it has to be noteworthy.

Then again, Kings minority owners have been in arms for a while, Cuban was actually sued by his etc.

[zimpy27]

Oh wow. "Najafi, who owns the second-largest ownership stake in the Phoenix franchise behind Sarver,"
Worth 3.5b according to google search 1 with 0 vetting (so I have no opinion on its accuracy). Yeah, when the number 2 owner is publicly calling you unfit to ever be an owner it has to be noteworthy.

Then again, Kings minority owners have been in arms for a while, Cuban was actually sued by his etc.

Yeah it's a really big deal.

[babyjax13]

I think that takes some integrity to do.

[shangrila]

Paul and LeBron already said it is not enough.

Nothing will happen.

As bad as Sarver is he's nowhere close to Sterling. Paul, Lebron and any others that make comments will get their retweets and that will be that.

First off, you don't need to do something as bad as Sterling to get your team taken away. The fact you are insinuating this is really bizarre.

This also opens up a can of worms for the owners where if they made any comments in the 2000s or 2010s via email it could come back and get them.

Let's be honest, multiple owners have made comments in the past similar to Sarver in some capacity.

Sterling is the precedent, even if it didn't technically happen the way the narrative goes, so...yeah, that's the bar currently. Not to mention the "make him sell the team" types of comments seem to gloss over the significant legal issues that would certainly arise with that.

But either way you'd need something extreme enough to significantly cut into the bottom line for other owners to try and force Sarver out, for the reason you mentioned among others. And that's likely going to be a player revolt, which was on the verge/sort of happening for Sterling but is incredibly unlikely to happen now.

[HartfordWhalers]

I think that takes some integrity to do.

Or being the number 2 owner and forcing the number 1 to sell can only be good for you? I'm not sure I'm more or less positive on it as a motived value judged course of action based off knowing who he is, but I'm seeing it as a lot more unstable for a franchise situation even if the minority owner is in practice fully and absolutely powerless as I believer they have always been.