Pablo Torre: Kawhi/Clippers/Ballmer/Aspiration Thread (part 2)

[ciueli]

The Stephien rule doesn't apply. They can take away all their recent picks then go as far into the future as he wants. The door is completely open to Silver

The Stephien rule? Is that the one where if you have an aging Steph Curry on your team you have to waste draft picks on players who don't pan out when there are still stars on the board?

Stepien rule just means you can't trade future 1st round picks in back to back years.

I was just making a joke because he wrote "Stephien" instead of Stepien.

[In-N-Out 247]

The Stephien rule? Is that the one where if you have an aging Steph Curry on your team you have to waste draft picks on players who don't pan out when there are still stars on the board?

Stepien rule just means you can't trade future 1st round picks in back to back years.

I was just making a joke because he wrote "Stephien" instead of Stepien.

wow right over my head - that's why I don't post much lol

[ryguy613]

the scary thing is literally every day since the story broke more and more and more incriminating evidence is being discovered...and every day the league and silva is getting quieter and quieter about it

I’ve said this before but there’s no way the NBA didn’t know the clippers and other teams use funny business tactics.

The fact that the Clippers are also very united in saying no makes me wonder if they have confidence that the NBA will try to help make this go away

in fairness what do you want them to say? that theyre guilty and theyll take whatever punishment the league sees fit? The "confidence" is just basic posturing. As a billionaire CEO, I can imagine Ballmer is quite used to wearing whatever mask is most beneficial for his bottom line. What, you think he's actually just running around all day screaming and... seizing? in excitement? Its a hype man persona he created at Microsoft. When the walls close in, it helps to present yourself as unfazed and confident, if for no other reason, to try and protect the brand since the public (outside of clipper nation) is not on their side. And look, its working to some extent. I've seen a number of comments that states his confidence makes them think maybe he's really telling the truth. Even in your case, you are being convinced that hes in control of the situation, nefariously or not. For public figures, posturing works... ask Trump.

[Sixers in 4]

the scary thing is literally every day since the story broke more and more and more incriminating evidence is being discovered...and every day the league and silva is getting quieter and quieter about it

I’ve said this before but there’s no way the NBA didn’t know the clippers and other teams use funny business tactics.

The fact that the Clippers are also very united in saying no makes me wonder if they have confidence that the NBA will try to help make this go away

in fairness what do you want them to say? that theyre guilty and theyll take whatever punishment the league sees fit? The "confidence" is just basic posturing. As a billionaire CEO, I can imagine Ballmer is quite used to wearing whatever mask is most beneficial for his bottom line. What, you think he's actually just running around all day screaming and... seizing? in excitement? Its a hype man persona he created at Microsoft. When the walls close in, it helps to present yourself as unfazed and confident, if for no other reason, to try and protect the brand since the public (outside of clipper nation) is not on their side. And look, its working to some extent. I've seen a number of comments that states his confidence makes them think maybe he's really telling the truth. Even in your case, you are being convinced that hes in control of the situation, nefariously or not. For public figures, posturing works... ask Trump.

I mean, come up with something more believable at least

[pepe1991]

the scary thing is literally every day since the story broke more and more and more incriminating evidence is being discovered...and every day the league and silva is getting quieter and quieter about it

I’ve said this before but there’s no way the NBA didn’t know the clippers and other teams use funny business tactics.

The fact that the Clippers are also very united in saying no makes me wonder if they have confidence that the NBA will try to help make this go away

in fairness what do you want them to say? that theyre guilty and theyll take whatever punishment the league sees fit? The "confidence" is just basic posturing. As a billionaire CEO, I can imagine Ballmer is quite used to wearing whatever mask is most beneficial for his bottom line. What, you think he's actually just running around all day screaming and... seizing? in excitement? Its a hype man persona he created at Microsoft. When the walls close in, it helps to present yourself as unfazed and confident, if for no other reason, to try and protect the brand since the public (outside of clipper nation) is not on their side. And look, its working to some extent. I've seen a number of comments that states his confidence makes them think maybe he's really telling the truth. Even in your case, you are being convinced that hes in control of the situation, nefariously or not. For public figures, posturing works... ask Trump.

Problem is fact that league has history of wanting to sweep everything under a rug, pretending it never happened.

2019 NBA- Kawhi investigation led nowhere.
2023 Terry Rozier NBA investigation led nowhere, cleared him from all wrongdoings, yet FBI still continues investigation over same subject. I can't stress enough how bad it is to have active player in very same league where he is being investigated for game rigging.

Tim Donaghy scandal. There was A LOT of suspicion that many other refs were involved. Tim Donaghy, Matt Boland and Scott Foster called each other around 400 times over 6 months span of investigation. Tim called Foster 134 times over 6 months of investigation. One went in jail, two remain referees to this date in nba.
In Tim's book it literally says that Mark Wunderlich was betting with other refs about who will call first call. Mark Wunderlich is to this date, VP of referee operations in NBA.
Today it's easier to gamble & sport bet on things than ever. What stops today's referees from doing same? What stops players from tipping guy to put i don't know, $400K on him going under 18 points and just casually having "off night with 3 quick fouls".

Donald Sterling saga. Did nba ever actually did itself to prevent it? How many years we had rumors of racist, stingy owner who wanted to keep 9 men roster to cut costs? But no, it still wasn't NBA that busted him, it was TMZ tape. Once again, everything that nba did was as usual, one big- nothing.
Than all that fake outrage by NBA. Like they didn't know all about him for 20 years.

And even during China/Hong Kong- Morey saga we saw how NBA actually works. Freedom of speech, freedom for workers, freedom for everybody, anti child labor etc. Everybody has mouth full of human rights. Until they touch red communist beast. In a moment China elected to drop preseason games whole league was in panic mode due financial dependency (+10% revenue from China). In that moment Morey was forced to forget about his freedom of speech and apologize, Silver was reading public statements that PR people wrote for him. All those "human rights" commercials & promotion went right back to garbage.

Amin Elhassan: “Lamar Odom played in an era where [the NBA] had the ‘3-strike rule’ [for marijuana testing]… The third strike, you’re done for life — you’re kicked out [of the NBA]. Lamar Odom got his first two strikes his rookie year in LA.”

Odom, by his own words, started with crack, cocaine in summer of 2004. Meaning, he spent 10 years in nba, doing cocaine, never failing another test. But hey, nba has strict anti doping & drugs tests.


Just wait until they allow oil warlords to own teams in NBA "Europe". Those boys will play by rulebooks for sure

[Tha Cynic]

I’ve said this before but there’s no way the NBA didn’t know the clippers and other teams use funny business tactics.

The fact that the Clippers are also very united in saying no makes me wonder if they have confidence that the NBA will try to help make this go away

in fairness what do you want them to say? that theyre guilty and theyll take whatever punishment the league sees fit? The "confidence" is just basic posturing. As a billionaire CEO, I can imagine Ballmer is quite used to wearing whatever mask is most beneficial for his bottom line. What, you think he's actually just running around all day screaming and... seizing? in excitement? Its a hype man persona he created at Microsoft. When the walls close in, it helps to present yourself as unfazed and confident, if for no other reason, to try and protect the brand since the public (outside of clipper nation) is not on their side. And look, its working to some extent. I've seen a number of comments that states his confidence makes them think maybe he's really telling the truth. Even in your case, you are being convinced that hes in control of the situation, nefariously or not. For public figures, posturing works... ask Trump.

Problem is fact that league has history of wanting to sweep everything under a rug, pretending it never happened.

2019 NBA- Kawhi investigation led nowhere.
2023 Terry Rozier NBA investigation led nowhere, cleared him from all wrongdoings, yet FBI still continues investigation over same subject. I can't stress enough how bad it is to have active player in very same league where he is being investigated for game rigging.

Tim Donaghy scandal. There was A LOT of suspicion that many other refs were involved. Tim Donaghy, Matt Boland and Scott Foster called each other around 400 times over 6 months span of investigation. Tim called Foster 134 times over 6 months of investigation. One went in jail, two remain referees to this date in nba.
In Tim's book it literally says that Mark Wunderlich was betting with other refs about who will call first call. Mark Wunderlich is to this date, VP of referee operations in NBA.
Today it's easier to gamble & sport bet on things than ever. What stops today's referees from doing same? What stops players from tipping guy to put i don't know, $400K on him going under 18 points and just casually having "off night with 3 quick fouls".

Donald Sterling saga. Did nba ever actually did itself to prevent it? How many years we had rumors of racist, stingy owner who wanted to keep 9 men roster to cut costs? But no, it still wasn't NBA that busted him, it was TMZ tape. Once again, everything that nba did was as usual, one big- nothing.
Than all that fake outrage by NBA. Like they didn't know all about him for 20 years.

And even during China/Hong Kong- Morey saga we saw how NBA actually works. Freedom of speech, freedom for workers, freedom for everybody, anti child labor etc. Everybody has mouth full of human rights. Until they touch red communist beast. In a moment China elected to drop preseason games whole league was in panic mode due financial dependency (+10% revenue from China). In that moment Morey was forced to forget about his freedom of speech and apologize, Silver was reading public statements that PR people wrote for him. All those "human rights" commercials & promotion went right back to garbage.

Amin Elhassan: “Lamar Odom played in an era where [the NBA] had the ‘3-strike rule’ [for marijuana testing]… The third strike, you’re done for life — you’re kicked out [of the NBA]. Lamar Odom got his first two strikes his rookie year in LA.”

Odom, by his own words, started with crack, cocaine in summer of 2004. Meaning, he spent 10 years in nba, doing cocaine, never failing another test. But hey, nba has strict anti doping & drugs tests.


Just wait until they allow oil warlords to own teams in NBA "Europe". Those boys will play by rulebooks for sure

Agree with most if not all of what you said. On your last line - I don’t think the East is somehow more corrupt than the West. The West just uses media to hide all the corruption the West is involved in as you can see with all the double standards with Israel vs Russia, Trump being able to try to follow in the footwork of Putin and Kim Jong Un without repercussions. Both sides of the world are no different.

[JustLucky]

Ballmer is an idiot and Microsoft sucks.

This dummy could have just bought gold via the LLC of an LLC and given it to KL over time. Melt it -can get a torch at any head shop- and it’s totally untraceable. No one can force him to show them his gold and if the feds ever came knocking (they wouldn’t) he could claim it’s misplaced in one of his mansions. This could have been done with one assistant who wouldn’t need to know what was up.

For all the NBA owners reading this…you’re welcome. This is how you circumvent the cap and never get caught. DM me for more quality advise (fees apply).

he probably was this aint the only way he paided him

[LuDux1]

I’ve said this before but there’s no way the NBA didn’t know the clippers and other teams use funny business tactics.

The fact that the Clippers are also very united in saying no makes me wonder if they have confidence that the NBA will try to help make this go away

in fairness what do you want them to say? that theyre guilty and theyll take whatever punishment the league sees fit? The "confidence" is just basic posturing. As a billionaire CEO, I can imagine Ballmer is quite used to wearing whatever mask is most beneficial for his bottom line. What, you think he's actually just running around all day screaming and... seizing? in excitement? Its a hype man persona he created at Microsoft. When the walls close in, it helps to present yourself as unfazed and confident, if for no other reason, to try and protect the brand since the public (outside of clipper nation) is not on their side. And look, its working to some extent. I've seen a number of comments that states his confidence makes them think maybe he's really telling the truth. Even in your case, you are being convinced that hes in control of the situation, nefariously or not. For public figures, posturing works... ask Trump.

Problem is fact that league has history of wanting to sweep everything under a rug, pretending it never happened.

2019 NBA- Kawhi investigation led nowhere.
2023 Terry Rozier NBA investigation led nowhere, cleared him from all wrongdoings, yet FBI still continues investigation over same subject. I can't stress enough how bad it is to have active player in very same league where he is being investigated for game rigging.

Tim Donaghy scandal. There was A LOT of suspicion that many other refs were involved. Tim Donaghy, Matt Boland and Scott Foster called each other around 400 times over 6 months span of investigation. Tim called Foster 134 times over 6 months of investigation. One went in jail, two remain referees to this date in nba.
In Tim's book it literally says that Mark Wunderlich was betting with other refs about who will call first call. Mark Wunderlich is to this date, VP of referee operations in NBA.
Today it's easier to gamble & sport bet on things than ever. What stops today's referees from doing same? What stops players from tipping guy to put i don't know, $400K on him going under 18 points and just casually having "off night with 3 quick fouls".

Donald Sterling saga. Did nba ever actually did itself to prevent it? How many years we had rumors of racist, stingy owner who wanted to keep 9 men roster to cut costs? But no, it still wasn't NBA that busted him, it was TMZ tape. Once again, everything that nba did was as usual, one big- nothing.
Than all that fake outrage by NBA. Like they didn't know all about him for 20 years.

And even during China/Hong Kong- Morey saga we saw how NBA actually works. Freedom of speech, freedom for workers, freedom for everybody, anti child labor etc. Everybody has mouth full of human rights. Until they touch red communist beast. In a moment China elected to drop preseason games whole league was in panic mode due financial dependency (+10% revenue from China). In that moment Morey was forced to forget about his freedom of speech and apologize, Silver was reading public statements that PR people wrote for him. All those "human rights" commercials & promotion went right back to garbage.


s

Amin Elhassan: “Lamar Odom played in an era where [the NBA] had the ‘3-strike rule’ [for marijuana testing]… The third strike, you’re done for life — you’re kicked out [of the NBA]. Lamar Odom got his first two strikes his rookie year in LA.”

Odom, by his own words, started with crack, cocaine in summer of 2004. Meaning, he spent 10 years in nba, doing cocaine, never failing another test. But hey, nba has strict anti doping & drugs tests.


Just wait until they allow oil warlords to own teams in NBA "Europe". Those boys will play by rulebooks for sure

Wasn't there something similar in mid 90s?

[Ckay]

She playing both sides.

[madmaxmedia]

I’ve said this before but there’s no way the NBA didn’t know the clippers and other teams use funny business tactics.

The fact that the Clippers are also very united in saying no makes me wonder if they have confidence that the NBA will try to help make this go away

in fairness what do you want them to say? that theyre guilty and theyll take whatever punishment the league sees fit? The "confidence" is just basic posturing. As a billionaire CEO, I can imagine Ballmer is quite used to wearing whatever mask is most beneficial for his bottom line. What, you think he's actually just running around all day screaming and... seizing? in excitement? Its a hype man persona he created at Microsoft. When the walls close in, it helps to present yourself as unfazed and confident, if for no other reason, to try and protect the brand since the public (outside of clipper nation) is not on their side. And look, its working to some extent. I've seen a number of comments that states his confidence makes them think maybe he's really telling the truth. Even in your case, you are being convinced that hes in control of the situation, nefariously or not. For public figures, posturing works... ask Trump.

I mean, come up with something more believable at least

Ballmer tried that at first and it didn't go well

At this point, they have to just say the bare minimum while generally denying allegations, until the investigation is over. Nothing they say is going to really help their cause, but can come back to bite them if Pablo drops another bomb afterwards. Hence "We know the rules, we follow the rules" rather than specific statements about the endorsement deal, different investments in Aspiration and what they presumably were for, etc. This could actually largely be the case whether they were actually innocent or not.

Cuban can post knee jerk Twitters because it doesn't impact him one way or the other, he's just expressing his opinions about what's going on with another team and owner.

[xb3at band1tx]

Read on Twitter

Clips media trying to throw it under the rug

Kinda funny to see a sports team run their org like it is the KGB haha

Read on Twitter

[Shock Defeat]

I guess rules don't apply if you have money or are in a position of power. We see it throughout society. The rich and powerful can do whatever they want and get away with it.

[levon]

Clippers PR is basically the NBA deep state. I remember Zach Harper said the Clippers reached out to him after he made a wise crack about Chuck the Condor

[xb3at band1tx]

Read on Twitter

?s=46&t=ehuaig45Ck1FX59a7yloXw

[brutalitops]

Put option on the stock guaranteed by the founder. Jesus

WTF, man...
As a former employee of 3 public trading companies, basically a senior/staff level IC, nowhere near decision making or any higher management - I, just as any other employee, was prohibited to deal with ANY options - not only PUT, but even CALL as well.
Paying someone with PUT options is shady AF

100%

It speaks to the owner was aware of the health and knew the company would bottom out in a matter of years, then it's also a way to trick the other party that they were basically getting at worst, 20m in cash.

[Jellybeans]

If something actually happens after they find something 100% true it could start real witch hunt because everyone does that.
Question just remains how much other teams do that under the table crap and how big does numbers are