ATL - Season Resumes page 87

[Chuck Diesel]

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“Especially Ersan, I played with him on OKC. I played with him on the national team. Cedi and Furkan played with my brother on the national team. That's the thing that hurts me the most. They're just scared.”

Always been really curious about this dynamic with Kanter & Ilyasova. What Kanter revealed is what I suspected. Unfortunate.

Also politely asked Milwaukee media members for a comment on Ersan’s perspective multiple times through the years but it’s a topic that’s clearly been muzzled by Bucks PR.

I don't know if Bucks PR has muzzled it as much as Ersan isn't willing to speak about it. He's been on other teams and hasn't spoken out. It's a very unfortunate situation but I don't really blame Ersan. He can't publicly talk about it because if he supports Erdogan, his career is over and everybody will hate him. If he speaks out against Erdogan, Ersan won't ever be allowed back in his home country and his family will be endangered. Kanter is brave for speaking out but his family back in Turkey had to publicly disown him so they wouldn't be imprisoned. Kanter knows if he goes back to Turkey he'll be killed.

I don’t blame Ersan either, but this has still been a worthy story for journalists covering the Bucks to write about through the years, even if the most they get from Ilyasova is “no comment.” To completely ignore it is what I take issue with.

[Beorn]

Even the "no comment" option is bad for his folk back in Turkey. No questions is the safest option for everyone involved.

Serbia is also headed this way too, Vucic is the next Orban according to every Serb I have met.

[trwi7]

If he speaks out against Erdogan, Ersan won't ever be allowed back in his home country

Why can't he go back to Uzbekistan?

(That one's for you, pp)

[theFireBlanket]

[quote="Beorn"]Even the "no comment" option is bad for his folk back in Turkey. No questions is the safest option for everyone involved.

Serbia is also headed this way too, Vucic is the next Orban according to every Serb I have met.[/quote]

If he requests not to air his opinion, via team management, I respect that. He's probably looking out for his family foremost. There are other means to advocate for change. The way he lives his life & handles his business privately should affect what he supports. While I personally hope that he opposes Erdogan, i
can't selfishly expect him to risk the safety of his family.

[Chuck Diesel]

He did post a picture with Mehmet Okur, a known Erdogan detractor.

[Ron Swanson]

Always have been and always will be for athletes speaking out on political issues, but this whole public-shaming guys for "not speaking out" needs to stop as well. Especially in this specific situation when these guys just, you know....don't want their families to be thrown in jail or killed, and stuff. Takes a lot of courage to do what Kanter has done, but putting Ersan and his other countrymen on blast is a bit of a dick move. A simple "it's difficult but I understand why they don't" would have been much more empathetic.

[Chuck Diesel]

I don’t think Kanter is upset NBA Turks don’t speak out against the dictator as much as he’s hurt they give him the silent treatment. He says he understands it, he’s just hurt by it. No shaming going on.

“In the end these players represent Turkey. Whenever we play against them I pray for them. I hope we win the game but I hope they play good. They are representing their families, their country, their people. I got a lot of respect for them. I don’t blame them. I understand that they are scared. When these things settle down and when this regime changes, I’m sure they’ll change their mind.”

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

Lame. No need to apologize.

Just catching up on the thread, but you can be right and an inexcusable a-hole at the same time. He wasn't an edgy internet poster responding to an internet troll. He is in a high-profile position position responding to a US senator. He could've responded in 100 different ways that would've been more productive way. How Woj responded was the worst way possible for both his career and actually doing some good out of it.
The worst thing about out political discourse these days is that it has resorted to name calling and anger instead of people arguing from a stance on higher moral ground.

[trwi7]

Call me crazy but I think U.S. Senators have about a billion other things that they could be doing right now instead of sending emails to professional sports leagues suggesting what names players should wear on the back of their jerseys. That alone deserves a **** you.

[emunney]

Lame. No need to apologize.

Just catching up on the thread, but you can be right and an inexcusable a-hole at the same time. He wasn't an edgy internet poster responding to an internet troll. He is in a high-profile position position responding to a US senator. He could've responded in 100 different ways that would've been more productive way. How Woj responded was the worst way possible for both his career and actually doing some good out of it.
The worst thing about out political discourse these days is that it has resorted to name calling and anger instead of people arguing from a stance on higher moral ground.

Political discourse requires good faith engagement from two or more political positions. You can't have an honest discussion with somebody who starts a conversation the way the Senator did, as an obvious troll.

This is from Hawley's letter:

"The truth is that your decisions about which messages to allow and which to censor – much like the censorship decisions of the CCP – are themselves statements about your association’s values. If I am right – if the NBA is more committed to promoting the CCP’s interests than to celebrating its home nation – your fans deserve to know that is your view."

The NBA and NBPA coordinated on a list of messages to put on player jerseys, and Hawley's addition to the "discourse" is to claim that it means they love China more than the U.S. So yeah, **** him.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

Lame. No need to apologize.

Just catching up on the thread, but you can be right and an inexcusable a-hole at the same time. He wasn't an edgy internet poster responding to an internet troll. He is in a high-profile position position responding to a US senator. He could've responded in 100 different ways that would've been more productive way. How Woj responded was the worst way possible for both his career and actually doing some good out of it.
The worst thing about out political discourse these days is that it has resorted to name calling and anger instead of people arguing from a stance on higher moral ground.

Political discourse requires good faith engagement from two or more political positions. You can't have an honest discussion with somebody who starts a conversation the way the Senator did, as an obvious troll.

This is from Hawley's letter:

"The truth is that your decisions about which messages to allow and which to censor – much like the censorship decisions of the CCP – are themselves statements about your association’s values. If I am right – if the NBA is more committed to promoting the CCP’s interests than to celebrating its home nation – your fans deserve to know that is your view."

The NBA and NBPA coordinated on a list of messages to put on player jerseys, and Hawley's addition to the "discourse" is to claim that it means they love China more than the U.S. So yeah, **** him.

So the best way to respond is to say "F-U" on company email? Just because the other side sucks doesn't mean you should drop down to their level. Bottom-line is ESPN can't allow their employees to respond that way and that is why he got the suspension. It's not like they were suspending him because he tweeted the letter out with an explanation of why the Senator is a troll and undeserving of office. They suspended him because he was acting like a teenager while representing the company.

[Chuck Diesel]

If anything I think this helps Woj’s career.

[trwi7]

So the best way to respond is to say "F-U" on company email?

Not the best way. If anything, Woj should've added more expletives and called him out on being the slimy piece of **** he is.

[emunney]

Just catching up on the thread, but you can be right and an inexcusable a-hole at the same time. He wasn't an edgy internet poster responding to an internet troll. He is in a high-profile position position responding to a US senator. He could've responded in 100 different ways that would've been more productive way. How Woj responded was the worst way possible for both his career and actually doing some good out of it.
The worst thing about out political discourse these days is that it has resorted to name calling and anger instead of people arguing from a stance on higher moral ground.

Political discourse requires good faith engagement from two or more political positions. You can't have an honest discussion with somebody who starts a conversation the way the Senator did, as an obvious troll.

This is from Hawley's letter:

"The truth is that your decisions about which messages to allow and which to censor – much like the censorship decisions of the CCP – are themselves statements about your association’s values. If I am right – if the NBA is more committed to promoting the CCP’s interests than to celebrating its home nation – your fans deserve to know that is your view."

The NBA and NBPA coordinated on a list of messages to put on player jerseys, and Hawley's addition to the "discourse" is to claim that it means they love China more than the U.S. So yeah, **** him.

So the best way to respond is to say "F-U" on company email? Just because the other side sucks doesn't mean you should drop down to their level. Bottom-line is ESPN can't allow their employees to respond that way and that is why he got the suspension. It's not like they were suspending him because he tweeted the letter out with an explanation of why the Senator is a troll and undeserving of office. They suspended him because he was acting like a teenager while representing the company.

I don't know what the best way to respond is--I would probably just ignore him, like everybody else on the email did--but I don't think there's anything wrong with saying **** you to a troll. To lower yourself to his level, you'd have to actually engage with his bull.

[MAC1987]

Wow

Sent from my SM-G935V using RealGM mobile app

[Plossum]

Big new for Wolves, looks like Taylor is selling.

[tydett]

Ersan probably doesn't talk to Kanter because he's a Gulen supporter, who is as bad (if not worse) than Erdogan. The only difference between their levels of terribleness is that Erdogan won the power struggle between the two, but Gulen would see Turkey sent back to 1914.

[truly]

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And now apparently the talks with Thibs have stalled and they are going for Kidd...

[Licensed to Il]

Taj Gibson and Coach Thibs reunited again! So glad to see this crazy world returning to normal!

[MikeIsGood]

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And now apparently the talks with Thibs have stalled and they are going for Kidd...

The stalled talks/Kidd discussion was from yesterday, wasn't it? Or did it happen again today? I think this is an update that Thibs is actually the guy and they worked through their talks.

Either way, lol.