Sarver ESPN story

[wordsenuff]

Whether Sarver did all this or not, people will continue to accuse him of all these allegations and assume Phoenix has a bigot as an owner. We don't need that negativity in our organization. No player will want to come to Phoenix to play basketball. He needs to be removed ASAP.

[Waylay13]

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If he's going to make a statement I would think he should probably say if he ever witnessed any of the reported behavior. I'll give Watson credit for putting his name on his claims. And if Ryan hadn't witnessed any that obviously doesn't mean it didn't happen.

Sent from my SM-G986U using RealGM mobile app

He might have a life long NDA that says he cant talk about the interworking of the Org.

[MathiasPW]

I don't dispute any of the allegations made against Sarver, and I'm glad an investigation has been opened to dig deeper.

I do, however, see evidence of a scripted article/conspiracy theory/power-play to get Sarver out of office.

It's been mentioned about the cherry-picking of facts. Baxter also uses a lot of writing nuances to give his claims credibility. Here are some:

- His original tweet: "Based on interviews w/ 70+ current & former employees throughout his 17-year tenure as owner, my story on Robert Sarver’s Phoenix Suns. >> Tries to make it sound like 70+ people had something (mostly bad) to say about Sarver, when it's clear only a minority where the basis of the article, and most likely most went "no comment" or even backed Sarver up, like Kerr and Babby.


- The tweet also includes an anonymous quote ""If the commissioner comes in and investigates to see what the f--- is going on in Phoenix, [he] would be appalled" without citing that came from "one current business operations employee" that could be talking about anything related to the (bad) culture, not necessarily racism and misogyny nor even Robert Sarver himself.

- Then this: "You're like, 'Whoa! Robert, you can't do that,'" said one former basketball executive. Another former Suns head coach said such instances were commonplace" .. ANOTHER is used both to indicate that someone else agreed with the first quote, but makes you think it's someone else rather than Earl Watson, while he could just have written "Earl Watson confirmed such claims "QUOTE".

- "More than a dozen employees recalled Sarver making lewd comments in all-staff meetings, including discussing times when his wife would perform oral sex on him. >> another attempt at inflating the number of people supporting a claim. More than a dozen recall lewd comments (could be anything), INCLUDING (and that means it wasn't the more than a dozen, could have been just one) discussing oral sex with his wife. He could just have written "more than a dozen employees recalled Sarver discussing times when his wife would perform oral sex", but he doesn't, because, well, that wasn't claimed by that many people, as we he wants to make it sound like.

[Waylay13]

of all of the things that I seen on this; the reporting that Sarver wanted to players to take out Vince Carter maybe the most damning. There should never be a case where you even kid about hurting a player intentionally. https://www.reddit.com/r/suns/comments/qn6dtq/vince_carter_said_that_sarver_tried_to_put_him/

[Slim Charless]

This is a report of disgruntled former and current employees. Nothing more.
“Bombshell”?

“Rob hurt my feelings” is all I am reading. And it sounds like a disgruntled e Watson was the big catalyst. That dude’s salty that he is garbage.

“The world has turned into a pussy whipped version of itself.” -Simon Phoenix

White boss uses N word in front of a black man repeatedly even after being asks to stop. Also uses said word to describe black players.


You: Stop being so snowflakey. He's your boss, he has a right to call you guys N words.

Cool story bro. Maybe go back to lurking again yeah?

[bigfoot]

I don't dispute any of the allegations made against Sarver, and I'm glad an investigation has been opened to dig deeper.

I do, however, see evidence of a scripted article/conspiracy theory/power-play to get Sarver out of office.

This ... a power-play by a minority owner(s) is the most logical explaination. Jahm Najafi seems to be the most logical person to orchestrate this maneuver. We will see if he/they can get the league to oust Sarver.

Don't forget about this

https://www.thebiglead.com/posts/robert-sarver-phoenix-suns-dick-heckmann-memorial-service-video-01f9kyj99jcj

[matt131]

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[matt131]

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[Slim Charless]

Yeah, I have no idea about that.

Ultimately I don't have a huge opinion on all this because it's all conjecture and he said/she said stuff with no real concrete evidence and I never believe everything I read or watch on tv. Now if there is concrete evidence it's different.

I'm just surprised if this is a big deal we NEVER heard anything before, and we've heard plenty of things like firing that arena employee, goat poop, etc.

SO it seems like you're not believing this then? I know you're no Sarver lover so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt there but what part of this seems wrong to you:

Person A is known to be a crappy individual by generally ALL who have watched him in action.
Person A is accused of doing something very crappy to his workers.
Person A says he didn't do any of those crappy things-even though we have years of evidence of him doing other crappy things.

Correct me if I got any of that wrong.



We're good? OK tell me why we should believe person A especially since on the opposing side we have a number of people saying otherwise.

TIA

Replace Person A with the name "Donald Trump". Somehow half of the US doesn't mind.

The same people who voted for 45 most likely are supporting Booby $arver right now.

[Nando88]

Some people in here have some really terrible, warped morals. Ugly honestly

[matt131]

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[bigfoot]

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Hopefully his powerplay is stronger than the Coyotes !!

[bwgood77]

SO it seems like you're not believing this then? I know you're no Sarver lover so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt there but what part of this seems wrong to you:

Person A is known to be a crappy individual by generally ALL who have watched him in action.
Person A is accused of doing something very crappy to his workers.
Person A says he didn't do any of those crappy things-even though we have years of evidence of him doing other crappy things.

Correct me if I got any of that wrong.



We're good? OK tell me why we should believe person A especially since on the opposing side we have a number of people saying otherwise.

TIA

Replace Person A with the name "Donald Trump". Somehow half of the US doesn't mind.

The same people who voted for 45 most likely are supporting Booby $arver right now.

I doubt James Jones did. And it seems like the majority of people on this forum are liberal. I think even the ones on the right don't like Sarver.

Is anyone really backing him?

Just because the story doesn't seen terribly damning doesn't mean people are backing him.

[bwgood77]

Some info on Najafi, from the great source of wikipedia. Sounds pretty impressive though..

Career
Najafi worked for Salomon Brothers, a Wall Street firm that became part of Citigroup,[2][3] before he served as CEO of Pivotal Private Equity[4] and partner and COO of the parent company, The Pivotal Group,[5][6][7] which he ran with his brother, Francis Najafi. Pivotal focused on the purchase of commercial properties, such as The Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, Alameda, California-based Harbor Bay and 650 California Street in San Francisco.[8][9]

Najafi was a founding partner of Social Venture Partners, a philanthropic venture capital fund that invests in emerging nonprofit organizations, as well as on the board of Urban Land Institute and the Arizona State University Committee for Design Excellence. He was named to the Phoenix Business Journal's Forty under 40 list in 2001.[6]

He serves as partial owner and vice chairman of the Phoenix Suns professional basketball team[2][10] and a governor on the board of the National Basketball Association. He has also served on the board of directors for the Phoenix Symphony and Phoenix Metropolitan Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, and as chair of the board of trustees of Phoenix Country Day School.[7]

Najafi Companies (Najafi Cos.), a private-equity firm, was established in 2002. Najafi, head of the company, invests only his own capital. The company makes investments in companies with transaction value up to $1 billion and holds investments from five to ten years.[1][2][7][11]

In December 2020, Najafi was announced as the next vice-chairman of McLaren Racing, a Formula One constructor.[12]

Investments
In 2003, Najafi, through Najafi Cos., purchased Network Solutions from Verisign Inc. for $20 million. In 2007, it sold Network Solutions to General Atlantic for $800 million.[1] Najafi led the company through the acquisitions of the Pert Plus shampoo brand and Sure deodorant brand from Procter & Gamble in 2006,[11][13] and Trend Homes Inc. in 2008,[14] Also in 2008, Najafi and Najafi Cos. purchased Direct Group, the parent company of the Book of the Month Club, Columbia House and BMG Music Service, from Bertelsmann AG, a German book publisher. The company later acquired the France, Belgium, Switzerland and Quebec operations of Direct Group.[2][15][16]

Najafi and his company Najafi Cos. were named highest bidder in negotiations to buy out Borders Group from bankruptcy protection in 2011. The bid fell through when Borders was liquidated.[2][17][18][19] Najafi and Najafi Cos. also bid to buy The Boston Globe in 2013.[20] The company invested approximately $200 million to Jeff Berg's talent agency, Resolution, after Najafi negotiated the deal in 2013.[10][3][21]

In 2014, Najafi, through Najafi Cos., invested between $75 and $100 million to Paula Deen and Paula Deen Ventures to fuel her rebranding after she was fired from The Food Network in June 2013.[22][23][24][25]

In 2017, Najafi bid for ownership of Time Inc. through his company, Najafi Cos. Time is the owner of publications including Sports Illustrated, Fortune and People. Opposing bids came from former Warner Music Group executive Edgar Bronfman Jr., Iowa-based company Meredith Corporation, and private equity firm Pamplona Capital Management.[26][27]

Personal life
Najafi has a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of California, Berkeley. In 1986, he received a master's degree in business economics from Harvard University.[2][28] Najafi and his wife, Cheryl Najafi, live in Arizona with their three children.[28]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jahm_Najafi

[matt131]

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[bwgood77]

Agreed that he wasn’t fit to be a HC but his prior reputation from playing 12 years of playing in the NBA and being assistant coach on the Blazers doesn’t sound like a guy that “engage in unprofessional behavior” and uses “extremely offensive language” which is what he’s being accused of.

Yeah, I have no idea about that.

Ultimately I don't have a huge opinion on all this because it's all conjecture and he said/she said stuff with no real concrete evidence and I never believe everything I read or watch on tv. Now if there is concrete evidence it's different.

I'm just surprised if this is a big deal we NEVER heard anything before, and we've heard plenty of things like firing that arena employee, goat poop, etc.

SO it seems like you're not believing this then? I know you're no Sarver lover so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt there but what part of this seems wrong to you:

Person A is known to be a crappy individual by generally ALL who have watched him in action.
Person A is accused of doing something very crappy to his workers.
Person A says he didn't do any of those crappy things-even though we have years of evidence of him doing other crappy things.

Correct me if I got any of that wrong.

We're good? OK tell me why we should believe person A especially since on the opposing side we have a number of people saying otherwise.

TIA

I have not seen rebuttals of previous crappy things accused of.

Ultimately I don't know. I wasn't there. I don't believe based on conjecture, a source that doesn't have confirmation from another source. If there was a third person in a room that heard Sarver use the word, that's enough but one word against another, I don't know that holds.

But I never believe everything I read, watch on tv, Flex tweets, etc, so I am not going to put much credence into claims made without any evidence presented.

I don't doubt he did some of this stuff like passing around the photo of his wife in Suns gear or whatever, but none of that seems to be that big of a deal to me. It was dumb but worth removing him as owner?

I would prefer another owner but I don't know if it's enough.

[Slim Charless]

Replace Person A with the name "Donald Trump". Somehow half of the US doesn't mind.

The same people who voted for 45 most likely are supporting Booby $arver right now.

I doubt James Jones did. And it seems like the majority of people on this forum are liberal. I think even the ones on the right don't like Sarver.

Is anyone really backing him?

Just because the story doesn't seen terribly damning doesn't mean people are backing him.

I didn't say our forum. Go take a look at the GB. Different scenario over there. Either way I think this is approved by the other owners in an attempt to force Booby out.

[bigfoot]

The same people who voted for 45 most likely are supporting Booby $arver right now.

I doubt James Jones did. And it seems like the majority of people on this forum are liberal. I think even the ones on the right don't like Sarver.

Is anyone really backing him?

Just because the story doesn't seen terribly damning doesn't mean people are backing him.

I didn't say our forum. Go take a look at the GB. Different scenario over there. Either way I think this is approved by the other owners in an attempt to force Booby out.

Let's be clear about what you mean by owners. Not the owners of other teams but the other owners of the Suns. With a large group of Suns owners publicly supporting Sarver, I think it is really one owner trying to get him forced out. That owner holds the second-largest share of the Suns.

[Revived]

If Sarver refuses to answer for his actions, and based on his use of his lawyers in the ESPN report he likely will, then we should hear from other white people. How were Frank Kaminsky and Dario Šarić impacted by what Sarver has been accused of doing? Was NBA commissioner Adam Silver disgusted by Sarver’s language? Do the other white male owners condemn or condone Sarver’s actions?

https://theundefeated.com/features/phoenix-suns-owner-robert-sarver-report-is-an-issue-for-white-men-to-solve/

[TeamTragic]

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Asking Nash whether or not he heard any disparaging comments about black players/staff and/or women

The claims are coming from the non-MVP players that maybe didn't make Sarver millions of dollars.

Maybe we should ask the ball boys/girls. I'm sure they want to tell their story as well.