Blazers coach Chauncey Billups arrested by FBI for illegal gambling

[sp6r=underrated]

The NBA needs to hire someone outside the NBA ecosystem to investigate the level of gambling corruption. Neither Silver nor his Lieutenants cannot be trusted given Silver's support for gambling. ESPN, Amazon and NBC are too financially invested in the NBA to be trusted. If they find no wrongdoing many people will not believe them even if their investigation was legitimate.

It has to be someone outside the NBA. That individual needs to be someone who doesn't work for the NBA, an NBA team, NBA business partner or players. But it needs to be someone known to NBA fans with a deep-seated knowledge of the NBA and its members.

Given that, a journalist is the best candidate for an independent investigator. Investigative journalists are trained in discovering wrongdoing and communicating that information to the public.

This individual should be intelligent, trustworthy, sincere, industrious and skilled in public communication. They need to have decades of experience covering the NBA.

Given that Skip Bayless is the obvious and only choice.

I was with you until you mentioned Bayless- is that a joke? Bayless is an abomination

I have great admiration and respect for Skip Bayless. As do most Americans. He has been one of the most trusted names in American news for decades. He is the man to lead this investigation.

[Big Lob]

Yeah, that makes sense. Rope in sports guys with plenty of money. The whole idea with cons is never feel for the people you are conning.

[JimmyPlopper]

Why was Billups working for the Mob? I'd like to know more about how this started.

[zimpy27]

Read on Twitter

[Curmudgeon]

Why is this such a massive scandal? It looks to me like a politically motivated attack by the right on "uppity" NBA players.
1. What Billups did had nothing to do with basketball.
2. Yes, players manipulating their own statistics to help others win prop bets is a scandal, but that has been going on for years. What did the NBA think was going to happen when it got in bed with the gambling industry?

Now the Ballmer thing is a huge scandal because it undermines the integrity of the entire collective bargaining structure and makes it almost impossible for an owner to win without cheating.

[Pattycakes]

Why is this such a massive scandal? It looks to me like a politically motivated attack by the right on "uppity" NBA players.
1. What Billups did had nothing to do with basketball.
2. Yes, players manipulating their own statistics to help others win prop bets is a scandal, but that has been going on for years. What did the NBA think was going to happen when it got in bed with the gambling industry?

Now the Ballmer thing is a huge scandal because it undermines the integrity of the entire collective bargaining structure and makes it almost impossible for an owner to win without cheating.

People want to play pretend that there is no political driven reasoning to it, and they’re too ignorant to realize that literally everything the fbi/feds etc do is politically and profit driven.

They were not receiving a cut most likely in which case it’s the only reason it’s such a “massive” national scandal. Anytime there’s character assassination involved I am highly skeptical.

[G R E Y]

Add it to the bingo card probe:

Read on Twitter

[liquidswords]

Bump

Look i would usually agree but of course the guy with the Charlie Kirk avatar cries wolf first.

I'm assuming your referring to me? I was responding to a post that brought up Trump, not sure how that's me "crying wolf" (I don't think that phrase means what you think it does).

Cry wolf:

"to keep asking for help when you do not need it, with the result that people think you do not need help when you really need it"

That's not the only meaning - I was more signaling to the "false alarm for danger when there isn't one." The whole "we're not doing the trump is a racist thing again" when yeah he's a racist. Just today he said ICE can do whatever they want. And many posters in this thread were annoyed with how his egomaniacal administration handled the press conference.

[xdrta+]

Why is this such a massive scandal? It looks to me like a politically motivated attack by the right on "uppity" NBA players.
1. What Billups did had nothing to do with basketball.
2. Yes, players manipulating their own statistics to help others win prop bets is a scandal, but that has been going on for years. What did the NBA think was going to happen when it got in bed with the gambling industry?

Now the Ballmer thing is a huge scandal because it undermines the integrity of the entire collective bargaining structure and makes it almost impossible for an owner to win without cheating.

People want to play pretend that there is no political driven reasoning to it, and they’re too ignorant to realize that literally everything the fbi/feds etc do is politically and profit driven.

They were not receiving a cut most likely in which case it’s the only reason it’s such a “massive” national scandal. Anytime there’s character assassination involved I am highly skeptical.

There are some weird takes here. This was an investigation over a number of years under both Democratic and Republican administrations. What is the political motive? It turned up wire fraud and money laundering involving organized crime over eleven states. That makes it national, whether it's massive (a subjective media term) or not.

[tdot_steel]

Why is this such a massive scandal? It looks to me like a politically motivated attack by the right on "uppity" NBA players.
1. What Billups did had nothing to do with basketball.
2. Yes, players manipulating their own statistics to help others win prop bets is a scandal, but that has been going on for years. What did the NBA think was going to happen when it got in bed with the gambling industry?

Now the Ballmer thing is a huge scandal because it undermines the integrity of the entire collective bargaining structure and makes it almost impossible for an owner to win without cheating.

Was this income reported? There is obviously some implication for Steve Ballmer and yet if anyone gets prosecuted it will be Kawhi. However, most on this board will side with going after the player and not the people making the bribe which would fall under racketeering.

[mojomarc]

Why is this such a massive scandal? It looks to me like a politically motivated attack by the right on "uppity" NBA players.
1. What Billups did had nothing to do with basketball.

This appears to not be true. It appears he was Co-Conspirator 8, who also was providing information around players who would not be playing to the gamblers. Reading between the lines, it seems like this was Billups, and the specific instance was around Lillard going from "probable" to "doubtful" to "not playing for the rest of the season" in 2023, with about $100k in bets being placed on this non-public information.

2. Yes, players manipulating their own statistics to help others win prop bets is a scandal, but that has been going on for years. What did the NBA think was going to happen when it got in bed with the gambling industry?

This is a very fair criticism of this whole Silver plan.

Now the Ballmer thing is a huge scandal because it undermines the integrity of the entire collective bargaining structure and makes it almost impossible for an owner to win without cheating.

Also agree this is much more an attack on the integrity of the game. But saying that what Billups did, which appears to be game-related, should be excused because it is a smaller issue doesn't sit well with me. I'm all for Ballmer being forced to sell and being banned, assuming the NBA has the goods. I'm all for Billups being banned for life as well, assuming the NBA has the goods, because letting gamblers get this kind of foothold is detrimental to the integrity of the game. And I'm in favor of forcing Silver out for setting up this atmosphere where this kind of corruption is tacitly encouraged by lack of enforcement or bringing in sports betting orgs as prime sponsors. You can be in favor of all or none of these on their own merits, but one shouldn't say "because one was tolerated the other should be as well" still leaves the game in a bad place.

[JustLucky]

“Everyone else was speeding too, why did you only pull me over?” isn’t a real defence though.

No doubt, but this is about multiple people already in law enforcement custody, not people who haven't been caught.

Also, I suspect that some of the gangsters have already been indicted and this is just a bottom prosecution where you hope everyone rolls.

wow thats before nba went pro sportsbetting! its almost like it had nothing to do with it! and grown men just like to gamble. last I heard the nba has no say if its players play poker

[RRyder823]

Look i would usually agree but of course the guy with the Charlie Kirk avatar cries wolf first.

I'm assuming your referring to me? I was responding to a post that brought up Trump, not sure how that's me "crying wolf" (I don't think that phrase means what you think it does).

Cry wolf:

"to keep asking for help when you do not need it, with the result that people think you do not need help when you really need it"

That's not the only meaning - I was more signaling to the "false alarm for danger when there isn't one." The whole "we're not doing the trump is a racist thing again" when yeah he's a racist. Just today he said ICE can do whatever they want. And many posters in this thread were annoyed with how his egomaniacal administration handled the press conference.

Seriously we're at the point that in this thread about an illegal gambling ring people are bringing up ICE? Get some help

Mods your job sucks. I get it. But damn



Sent from my SM-S918U using RealGM mobile app

[enigmatics]

Why is this such a massive scandal? It looks to me like a politically motivated attack by the right on "uppity" NBA players.
1. What Billups did had nothing to do with basketball.
2. Yes, players manipulating their own statistics to help others win prop bets is a scandal, but that has been going on for years. What did the NBA think was going to happen when it got in bed with the gambling industry?

Now the Ballmer thing is a huge scandal because it undermines the integrity of the entire collective bargaining structure and makes it almost impossible for an owner to win without cheating.

People want to play pretend that there is no political driven reasoning to it, and they’re too ignorant to realize that literally everything the fbi/feds etc do is politically and profit driven.

They were not receiving a cut most likely in which case it’s the only reason it’s such a “massive” national scandal. Anytime there’s character assassination involved I am highly skeptical.

Except the investigation started during the Biden admin.

Imagine worrying about "politics" when this famous bball player (who made over $100mil) was PURPOSELY using his atatus to lure regular people into a gambling trap bilking them - sorry- SCREWING them out of millions collectively. On top of that the mafia who he was in bed with used their old tactics to intimidate and collect.

Get your mind right.

[Curmudgeon]

Why is this such a massive scandal? It looks to me like a politically motivated attack by the right on "uppity" NBA players.
1. What Billups did had nothing to do with basketball.
2. Yes, players manipulating their own statistics to help others win prop bets is a scandal, but that has been going on for years. What did the NBA think was going to happen when it got in bed with the gambling industry?

Now the Ballmer thing is a huge scandal because it undermines the integrity of the entire collective bargaining structure and makes it almost impossible for an owner to win without cheating.

People want to play pretend that there is no political driven reasoning to it, and they’re too ignorant to realize that literally everything the fbi/feds etc do is politically and profit driven.

They were not receiving a cut most likely in which case it’s the only reason it’s such a “massive” national scandal. Anytime there’s character assassination involved I am highly skeptical.

Except the investigation started during the Biden admin.

Imagine worrying about "politics" when this famous bball player (who made over $100mil) was PURPOSELY using his atatus to lure regular people into a gambling trap bilking them - sorry- SCREWING them out of millions collectively. On top of that the mafia who he was in bed with used their old tactics to intimidate and collect.

Get your mind right.

And so you take all of the accusations at face value?
And Billups did not lure "regular people." They were very wealthy pidgeons who could afford to gamble for those kinds of stakes-- the same kind of high rollers that Trump, Steve Wynn, et. al. try to lure to their casinos.

[52-12-7]

Why is this such a massive scandal? It looks to me like a politically motivated attack by the right on "uppity" NBA players.
1. What Billups did had nothing to do with basketball.
2. Yes, players manipulating their own statistics to help others win prop bets is a scandal, but that has been going on for years. What did the NBA think was going to happen when it got in bed with the gambling industry?

Now the Ballmer thing is a huge scandal because it undermines the integrity of the entire collective bargaining structure and makes it almost impossible for an owner to win without cheating.

People want to play pretend that there is no political driven reasoning to it, and they’re too ignorant to realize that literally everything the fbi/feds etc do is politically and profit driven.

They were not receiving a cut most likely in which case it’s the only reason it’s such a “massive” national scandal. Anytime there’s character assassination involved I am highly skeptical.

Except the investigation started during the Biden admin.

Imagine worrying about "politics" when this famous bball player (who made over $100mil) was PURPOSELY using his atatus to lure regular people into a gambling trap bilking them - sorry- SCREWING them out of millions collectively. On top of that the mafia who he was in bed with used their old tactics to intimidate and collect.

Get your mind right.

Ignore him. There are lots of irrational liberals in Portland. They dress up as chickens to protest as if that's supposed to mean something. Trust me, I live in Portland.

[Old_Blue]

Chauncey should just pay Trump the $25 million or whatever the going rate is for a Presidential pardon and be done with it.

[mojomarc]

Chauncey should just pay Trump the $25 million or whatever the going rate is for a Presidential pardon and be done with it.

Nothing solves corruption these days better than a much larger heap of corruption, I suppose.

[jbk1234]

No doubt, but this is about multiple people already in law enforcement custody, not people who haven't been caught.

Also, I suspect that some of the gangsters have already been indicted and this is just a bottom prosecution where you hope everyone rolls.

wow thats before nba went pro sportsbetting! its almost like it had nothing to do with it! and grown men just like to gamble. last I heard the nba has no say if its players play poker

Just so we both understand this was a rigged game for which playing against Billups was the main attraction. It was very sophisticated rigging as well (cards marked with special ink only visible if you were wearing special contacts, rigged shuffling machines, even x-ray machines). They took people for tens of millions of dollars. If you're involved in that type of criminal conspiracy, it's very much the NBA's business.

[Mikistan]

I'm assuming your referring to me? I was responding to a post that brought up Trump, not sure how that's me "crying wolf" (I don't think that phrase means what you think it does).

Cry wolf:

"to keep asking for help when you do not need it, with the result that people think you do not need help when you really need it"

That's not the only meaning - I was more signaling to the "false alarm for danger when there isn't one." The whole "we're not doing the trump is a racist thing again" when yeah he's a racist. Just today he said ICE can do whatever they want. And many posters in this thread were annoyed with how his egomaniacal administration handled the press conference.

Seriously we're at the point that in this thread about an illegal gambling ring people are bringing up ICE? Get some help

Mods your job sucks. I get it. But damn



Sent from my SM-S918U using RealGM mobile app

The irony of this post is palpable