Chinese Basketball Association announce that they will cut off all cooperation with the Houston Rockets

[TdotRap4Lyfe]

If they let HK free Taiwan Is next. Fat chance China will let them go without a fight...

[NBAFan93]

You're right, but lots of other places have reasonably sensitive beliefs we don't conform to. Should NBA players and front office staff face penalties for speaking in defense of same sex marriage? Cause I'm pretty sure that's not popular in alot the Middle East/Africa. If a player or front office member publicly supports NATO, pretty sure that's not popular in Russia or many former Soviet block countries. Should that person face punishment? The NBA has a global reach, but it's a sport born and based in America, and it should be flavored by American sensibilities. Feel free to disagree, just remember the stance you took when someone on the team you root for says something mildly offensive to some fat flung dictatorship, and that dictatorship makes the team you root for, and league you support, it's bitch.

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If the NBA want to cultivate foreign fanbases, then it has to cater to foreign sensibilities.

By the way, many Chinese view Hong Kong independence similarly to how Americans view Confederate secession.

Except the south was fighting to keep people enslaved, and Hong Kong is fighting to just be left alone to live freely, so anyone who wants to falsely equivocate those things can **** right off. I'm not a moron, and you'd have to be to fall for that "both sides" bs. And the NBA isn't asking the places it's expanding to, too change for them. They're saying here's this sport, would you like to watch it? What right does the country watching the sport have to change the beliefs or ideas of those playing or administrating it? I'll answer that for you, none! They have no such right, unless you bend over and give the right to tell you what's ok to say or think.

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Word. In America we have free speech and our athletes, owners and coaches use it all the time - them wanting to ban the broadcast of the Rockets cause of something someone said is ridiculous. And it has really nothing to do w/ the team or players on the Rockets - they are just playing a game when they are on TV, they aren’t giving political speeches, etc. - so what the ban is really about is them trying to force the league/Rockets ownership to PUNISH Morey for a tweet.

NBA should make a stand and say you do that then you aren’t having any other of our teams either like was said above.

[NeutralObserver]

If I'm the NBA, I'm leaning ALL THE WAY in on the pro-Hong Kong supporters in hopes to gain more viewership elsewhere to stop whatever bleeding that may occur from the Chinese market.

The NBA siding with authoritarians (whether it be Trump Cultists, Erdogan's regime, Saudi Arabia' Monarchy, or the Chinese Communist Party) over their own employees is a BAD look and shows a weakness that would extend FAR beyond the NBA, internally.

Morey did the right thing - let's see if the ultra-woke NBA is capable of leading the way in something special. Being Anti-Trump is a good start, but being anti-authoritarianism as a WHOLE is a lot more admirable.

Adam Silver, all 170 pounds of him, looks like the frail type, though.

[theforumblue]

If this gets out of control and Morey ends up costing the league and the owners some real money, how does he survive in the NBA?

[SFour]

It's going to be interesting to see what Adam Silver does....he's always stood on some sort of moral high ground when it comes to various political issues in the past...will he care more about China's money or Daryl Morey freedom of speech & the people of HK.

[letsgorockets]

And the south viewed the north challenging their right to own people as northern aggression, does that mean they were right? Do you support the south pov on the Civil War? I'm the Chinese are very angry and frustrated that there's a population of people in their country that haven't been able to subjugate and beat to submission yet. But just because the have a point of view doesn't mean it's a respectable one, and not every point of view is worthy of being considered, or respected. If the best argument you can propose is that, much like the confederacy, China has a warped pov on their attempts to belittle and dominate a populous of people, then I guess all I can say is **** China's opinion, they're wrong, period. And so was the confederacy, so a retroactive **** them, and their opinion, for them as well.

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No you don't get the analogy here.

Unionist North = mainland

Secessionist South = Hong Kong


What Morey did was by supporting Hong Kong independence is the Chinese equivalent of waving the Confederate flag.

Lmao

And again, why would I give a **** about what murderous dictators think? The NBA wouldn't give a **** either if they didn't have a pile of money to shove in front of them. You seem to trying to bring me around to seeing that the are two sides, and understanding why China is so angry about it. But guess what? I already know there's 2 sides, and know why they're angry, and yet still say **** them and their opinion. They're still wrong, and I still don't care how they view things from their side. I'm curious as to why you are so insistent that I need to understand the POV of a bunch of power hungry douchebags, because I don't need to understand them and why the hell would I want to? I'm sure serial killers have a perfectly sound reason for doing what they do in their own twisted heads, do I need to understand them and their motivations, their pov?

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[letsgorockets]

If this gets out of control and Morey ends up costing the league and the owners some real money, how does he survive in the NBA?

Losing China would hurt the NBA's bottom line, no doubt about it, but they'd survive just fine. The Chinese market only really started to open about 18 years ago, and really only became hugely profitable in recent years. The NBA will continue to be profitable and popular in Africa, Europe, Canada, Mexico, parts of south America, and the rest of the Pacific/Asain countries not named China, all of whom don't care a bit what a general manager of a sports team thinks of Hong Kong.

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[brutalitops]

Hard to make a moral stand when 29 rich white dudes care about the value of their team then doing the right thing

[NeutralObserver]

Lol. Ahhh...

The good ole' "can't you see it from the bloodthirsty, dictatorship's perspective?" argument.

Very similar to the "good people on both sides" argument.

[Capn'O]

This sums up the dilemma pretty well...

Read on Twitter

IMO, if the league goes after Morey they can kiss any moral high ground goodbye. The stakes are very high here.

[letsgorockets]

If the NBA want to cultivate foreign fanbases, then it has to cater to foreign sensibilities.

By the way, many Chinese view Hong Kong independence similarly to how Americans view Confederate secession.

Except the south was fighting to keep people enslaved, and Hong Kong is fighting to just be left alone to live freely, so anyone who wants to falsely equivocate those things can **** right off. I'm not a moron, and you'd have to be to fall for that "both sides" bs. And the NBA isn't asking the places it's expanding to, too change for them. They're saying here's this sport, would you like to watch it? What right does the country watching the sport have to change the beliefs or ideas of those playing or administrating it? I'll answer that for you, none! They have no such right, unless you bend over and give the right to tell you what's ok to say or think.

Sent from my SM-G955U1 using RealGM mobile app

Word. In America we have free speech and our athletes, owners and coaches use it all the time - them wanting to ban the broadcast of the Rockets cause of something someone said is ridiculous. And it has really nothing to do w/ the team or players on the Rockets - they are just playing a game when they are on TV, they aren’t giving political speeches, etc. - so what the ban is really about is them trying to force the league/Rockets ownership to PUNISH Morey for a tweet.

NBA should make a stand and say you do that then you aren’t having any other of our teams either like was said above.

Unfortunately I think the weak, gutless Fertitta is gonna bail Silver out from having to take a stand. He'll fire Morey, not just for the money but also because he's a Trump acolyte who probably loves the dictator model of business, and that'll be that. I just hope he loses everything as a result. I want Harden to demand a trade, Westbrook demand a trade, and self respecting free agents refusing to even give this team a meeting, D'antoni resigning, and eventually for this tool to sell the team. I love the sport of basketball, watching Hakeem bring home back to back titles are some of my earliest sports memories and the Rockets are my favorite sports team in the world. But I'll be god damned if I'll support any team who would so wholly sell out to the likes of China. I'd rather see the team burned to the ground and become the Seattle or Vegas Rockets if that's the path this ownership/league would take.

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[picc]

I stand with Daryl, because I see his tweet inciting real positive change in China.

Ehhh, I don't see much change coming out of this (I'm born in China, moved to the US at a very young age, FWIW). They don't necessarily think as we do. China is a different culture with different values. They're going to be more sensitive to some issues that we don't think much of while not caring much about things that we seemingly spend all day debating about.

Their values/culture could indeed "evolve" over time into more western style thinking, but it be would slow and take generations.

For now they value stability above all else, which for all intents and purposes the CCP has given them. Before the CCP, China was just a very large but fragmented and struggling country. Now they've lifted a lot of people out of poverty. They have infrastructure, technology, spending power and roofs over their heads. Given where they were about 60 years ago, that's all that really matters to them.

More western values (liberalism, debate, social justice, acceptance/integration of different cultures, etc...) don't mean a whole lot to them at this time, especially given how homogeneous the population is.

They see stability of the state as #1 above all else, and they trust the government to ensure it. They see things such as "Taiwan Independence" or this Hong Kong stuff as an affront to that stability and possible slippery slope. They perceive those things as a bunch of foreign influence trying to weaken them and take them down.

Okay, but you do understand that Daryl tweeted his disapproval of China's actions right? What choice do people have but to change after something like that?

[Jim Naismith]

Hard to make a moral stand when 29 rich white dudes care about the value of their team then doing the right thing

You know what rich white dudes like? Hong Kong.

FILTH

Failed
In
London,
Try
Hong Kong

[JeepCSC]

How is he the hero? He makes some genric tweet about Hong Kong...then takes it down when his enployer asked him to. Nothing heroic about that at all. Just looks immature

Morey is the hero of the piece. If the NBA wants to be morally bankrupt, they’ll stay silent. If they want to be morally despicable, they’ll take China’s side.

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Because in a nation of 300 million, there is a frightening few who even acknowledge HK with anything beyond a neutral stance. Morey has gotten this discussion further than anyone in DC has. This is the world we live in, we take what we can get.

[NBAFan93]

Except the south was fighting to keep people enslaved, and Hong Kong is fighting to just be left alone to live freely, so anyone who wants to falsely equivocate those things can **** right off. I'm not a moron, and you'd have to be to fall for that "both sides" bs. And the NBA isn't asking the places it's expanding to, too change for them. They're saying here's this sport, would you like to watch it? What right does the country watching the sport have to change the beliefs or ideas of those playing or administrating it? I'll answer that for you, none! They have no such right, unless you bend over and give the right to tell you what's ok to say or think.

Sent from my SM-G955U1 using RealGM mobile app

Word. In America we have free speech and our athletes, owners and coaches use it all the time - them wanting to ban the broadcast of the Rockets cause of something someone said is ridiculous. And it has really nothing to do w/ the team or players on the Rockets - they are just playing a game when they are on TV, they aren’t giving political speeches, etc. - so what the ban is really about is them trying to force the league/Rockets ownership to PUNISH Morey for a tweet.

NBA should make a stand and say you do that then you aren’t having any other of our teams either like was said above.

Unfortunately I think the weak, gutless Fertitta is gonna bail Silver out from having to take a stand. He'll fire Morey, not just for the money but also because he's a Trump acolyte who probably loves the dictator model of business, and that'll be that. I just hope he loses everything as a result. I want Harden to demand a trade, Westbrook demand a trade, and self respecting free agents refusing to even give this team a meeting, D'antoni resigning, and eventually for this tool to sell the team. I love the sport of basketball, watching Hakeem bring home back to back titles are some of my earliest sports memories and the Rockets are my favorite sports team in the world. But I'll be god damned if I'll support any team who would so wholly sell out to the likes of China. I'd rather see the team burned to the ground and become the Seattle or Vegas Rockets if that's the path this ownership/league would take.

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I hope it doesn’t come to that. I don’t like the rumblings I’m seeing on Twitter though about how the Rockets are considering firing him. Omg that would be awful.

[Mikistan]

Word. In America we have free speech and our athletes, owners and coaches use it all the time - them wanting to ban the broadcast of the Rockets cause of something someone said is ridiculous. And it has really nothing to do w/ the team or players on the Rockets - they are just playing a game when they are on TV, they aren’t giving political speeches, etc. - so what the ban is really about is them trying to force the league/Rockets ownership to PUNISH Morey for a tweet.

NBA should make a stand and say you do that then you aren’t having any other of our teams either like was said above.

Unfortunately I think the weak, gutless Fertitta is gonna bail Silver out from having to take a stand. He'll fire Morey, not just for the money but also because he's a Trump acolyte who probably loves the dictator model of business, and that'll be that. I just hope he loses everything as a result. I want Harden to demand a trade, Westbrook demand a trade, and self respecting free agents refusing to even give this team a meeting, D'antoni resigning, and eventually for this tool to sell the team. I love the sport of basketball, watching Hakeem bring home back to back titles are some of my earliest sports memories and the Rockets are my favorite sports team in the world. But I'll be god damned if I'll support any team who would so wholly sell out to the likes of China. I'd rather see the team burned to the ground and become the Seattle or Vegas Rockets if that's the path this ownership/league would take.

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I hope it doesn’t come to that. I don’t like the rumblings I’m seeing on Twitter though about how the Rockets are considering firing him. Omg that would be awful.

You have to assume a large chunk are bots

[xdrta+]

From the Ringer:

What’s the functional impact to the Rockets?

In addition to the CBA suspending cooperation with the Rockets, at least two other sponsors—sportswear brand Li-Ning and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (SPDB)—also announced they were halting their relationships with the organization, according to Reuters. A former Rockets reporter tweeted that SPDB would “stop all marketing and promotion activities related to the Rockets.”

In an even bigger blow to the franchise and the league, Tencent—the NBA digital rights holder in China—“announced a blacklist of Daryl Morey due to his ‘Free HK’ tweet” and said it would “suspend all reports/streaming” of the Houston Rockets. Tencent is now offering a “switch home teams” option for fans who bought a single-team pass to watch Rockets games.

In July, Tencent and the NBA announced “a five-year expansion of their existing partnership” that would keep them in business through 2024-25 season. According to the release, nearly 500 million Chinese fans watched NBA games on Tencent platforms—which was up almost threefold from the 2014-15 season—while 21 million Chinese fans watched Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals through the service.

Bottom line? Morey is on thin ice.

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2019/10/6/20901828/daryl-morey-hong-kong-china-houston-rockets-tweet-controversy

[sikma42]

Dont mistake ignorance with heroism. He has a responsiblity to the people in that franchise and the other teams in the NBA not to just fly off and take stances directly opposed to his team and the league. If he was that anti-China then he souldnt have signed with Houston any way.

How is he the hero? He makes some genric tweet about Hong Kong...then takes it down when his enployer asked him to. Nothing heroic about that at all. Just looks immature

Morey is the hero of the piece. If the NBA wants to be morally bankrupt, they’ll stay silent. If they want to be morally despicable, they’ll take China’s side.

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Because in a nation of 300 million, there is a frightening few who even acknowledge HK with anything beyond a neutral stance. Morey has gotten this discussion further than anyone in DC has. This is the world we live in, we take what we can get.

Sent from my SM-N960U using RealGM mobile app

[Pantsman]

The nba should cancel all China relationships. But silver is way too soft for that.

[letsgorockets]

Word. In America we have free speech and our athletes, owners and coaches use it all the time - them wanting to ban the broadcast of the Rockets cause of something someone said is ridiculous. And it has really nothing to do w/ the team or players on the Rockets - they are just playing a game when they are on TV, they aren’t giving political speeches, etc. - so what the ban is really about is them trying to force the league/Rockets ownership to PUNISH Morey for a tweet.

NBA should make a stand and say you do that then you aren’t having any other of our teams either like was said above.

Unfortunately I think the weak, gutless Fertitta is gonna bail Silver out from having to take a stand. He'll fire Morey, not just for the money but also because he's a Trump acolyte who probably loves the dictator model of business, and that'll be that. I just hope he loses everything as a result. I want Harden to demand a trade, Westbrook demand a trade, and self respecting free agents refusing to even give this team a meeting, D'antoni resigning, and eventually for this tool to sell the team. I love the sport of basketball, watching Hakeem bring home back to back titles are some of my earliest sports memories and the Rockets are my favorite sports team in the world. But I'll be god damned if I'll support any team who would so wholly sell out to the likes of China. I'd rather see the team burned to the ground and become the Seattle or Vegas Rockets if that's the path this ownership/league would take.

Sent from my SM-G955U1 using RealGM mobile app

I hope it doesn’t come to that. I don’t like the rumblings I’m seeing on Twitter though about how the Rockets are considering firing him. Omg that would be awful.

From the Ringer:

What’s the functional impact to the Rockets?

In addition to the CBA suspending cooperation with the Rockets, at least two other sponsors—sportswear brand Li-Ning and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (SPDB)—also announced they were halting their relationships with the organization, according to Reuters. A former Rockets reporter tweeted that SPDB would “stop all marketing and promotion activities related to the Rockets.”

In an even bigger blow to the franchise and the league, Tencent—the NBA digital rights holder in China—“announced a blacklist of Daryl Morey due to his ‘Free HK’ tweet” and said it would “suspend all reports/streaming” of the Houston Rockets. Tencent is now offering a “switch home teams” option for fans who bought a single-team pass to watch Rockets games.

In July, Tencent and the NBA announced “a five-year expansion of their existing partnership” that would keep them in business through 2024-25 season. According to the release, nearly 500 million Chinese fans watched NBA games on Tencent platforms—which was up almost threefold from the 2014-15 season—while 21 million Chinese fans watched Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals through the service.

Bottom line? Morey is on thin ice.

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2019/10/6/20901828/daryl-morey-hong-kong-china-houston-rockets-tweet-controversy

It will be a sad day, and the 1st of many unfortunately. Dictators don't generally get their way once and leave it at that. This will happen again and again, and again, whenever China wants it to and the NBA will be worse for it.

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