Woj/Shams: Ime Udoka Suspended for 2022-23 Season - Inappropriate Relationship, Conduct Violations

[Synciere]

sorry, I need to see FACTS before I accept blatant race baiting as ok.

So you believe Stephen A should air out white executives and coaches to prove a point here?

Yeah if he is gonna make claims like that at least on example would be great. And if he has the information he should definitely out them

Hard to take SAS take as nothing more than inflammatory wild speculation considering that 1)in recent years the league has taken issues like this more seriously and 2) a white person was fired from a high ranking NBA job just a year ago for inappropriate workplace relationships and 3) inflammatory speculation is literally how he makes his career

An example would help, I agree, but I don't think it's necessary. I've asked someone else in this thread if they're saying in the history of the NBA, in which probably 90% of the coaches, executives, and owners have been white, if they believe there's never been an instance where an member of the organization had a consensual relationship with a subordinate?

A person cannot reasonably think about that question and come up with any other answer other than, of course there have examples of something like this happening. I don't think Stephen A should destroy an (relatively speaking) innocent person to make a point here. I think what happened here is the woman's husband demanded some type of punishment publicly and the Celtics brass relented, though I'm not exactly sure why. That said, this was a reasonable question to ask by Stephen A. imo. Inflammatory commentary is how many people in the industry make their careers. Stephen A. is hardly the exception, or even a pioneer. I give that title to Mad Dog Russo personally, since I remember him from the 90s, but you'll never hear some of the nasty rhetoric said about Stephen A used to describe Russo. That's another thing though...

[Antinomy]

Have to say I don't understand the misogyny conclusion.

Definition of misogyny
: hatred of, aversion to, or prejudice against women

bradybunch wrote:
The bigger deal is the women cheating on their husbands.

Absolutely sickening.

I feel bad for the dudes that were cheated on.

However, they should thank Udoka for showing them their POS wives true colors.

I feel bad for young men that think they can find a decent woman in this day and age. If you're rich, good looking and packing, you can find a decent woman, but if you're a regular Joe, good damn luck.

I say suspend Udoka for 10 games, fire the women, and move on.

Strike 2 / blatant misogyny

How is THAT misogynistic?

He was specifically talking about the wives that cheated on their husbands — not women as a whole.

[mademan]

First year on the job and he has two inter office affairs, sheds off a warning. He won't coach another NBA game.

this i doubt. Ultimately, he hasnt done anything illegal or anything that is deemed reprehensible by the masses. Inter office relationship may be irresponsible, but if it's consensual between 2 adults, it's not morally wrong. He might not coach on the C's anymore, but he's a young successful coach who went to the finals in year 1. Someone else will give him a chance as there's lots of teams not in love with their coach (probably majority of teams)

[Synciere]

Maybe it depends how the organization handles it... or covers it up. As mentioned by others, there's RECENT precedence here. And it happened exactly one year ago.

The Timberwolves fired Gersson Rosas largely for a consensual affair with a staffer. The organization clearly wanted the information out there, whether it was inevitable or not.

We know how connected Woj/Shams are, so clearly this tidbit of news came from the Celtics. They wanted it out there. Perhaps it's because of the precedent set by the Wolves. Perhaps it's because of the hyper-sensitivity culture we live in. Perhaps because they secretly have other issues with Udoka. No idea.

Only that it wouldn't be unprecedented for a large suspension or firing to occur here.

Pretty sure Rosas is Colombian.

I didn't claim he wasn't. I'm simply offering up other reasons for it other than race.

With the Timberwolves, there were rumors of a "toxic" culture along with a new soon-to-be-ownership group conducting its own investigation. Maybe it was a way to besmirch Rosas and fire him so soon in his tenure without much pushback.

With the Celtics, it could be one of many things... beyond Udoka simply being a minority. In fact, it could their own way of besmirching Udoka early in his tenure without much pushback. Maybe they saw how smoothly it worked out for the Wolves.

I'm just saying that throwing out that the reasoning for it being leaked is simply because he's not white seems like begging for clicks than anything else. And very few are as good at begging for clicks as SAS.

But the point Stephen A is making is that the majority of the owners, executives, and coaches have been white, and yet the only two examples we can find of this have been a Colombian and Black man?? You don't find that fishy?

[Eric Bieniemy]

Were Jeanie and Phil not dating while he was with the lakers?

Put this in lights.

I also mentioned WNBA players dating their assistant coaches.

[Pointgod]

:lol: oh man, NBA news has been lit this week.

Best league in the world!

[KRANG]

People were calling for his head early in the season last year.
Somehow he overcame that and proved he could lead a team to the finals in his first season.
Really impressive stuff

Why risk your career for some cheap affair? After years and years of hard work to get to this position?

[shakes0]

So you believe Stephen A should air out white executives and coaches to prove a point here?

absolutely. If you're going to race bait on national TV you most definitely better back it up with actual facts. especially in today's climate

And why would he take issue with naming names? he's a reporter. They literally get off on that ****. Especially if he is SOOO upset about the unfair treatment of Udoka. Seems like the perfect opportunity for him to engage in some prime time whataboutism.

So again I ask... you're saying in the history of the NBA, in which probably 90% of the coaches, executive, and owners have been white, you believe there's never been an instance where an member of the organization had a consensual relationship with a subordinate?

you can ask as many times as you like. I'm not answering a completely irrelevant question that only serves to help you move the goal posts.

[Nick Sigler]

First year on the job and he has two inter office affairs, sheds off a warning. He won't coach another NBA game.

this i doubt. Ultimately, he hasnt done anything illegal or anything that is deemed reprehensible by the masses. Inter office relationship may be irresponsible, but if it's consensual between 2 adults, it's not morally wrong. He might not coach on the C's anymore, but he's a young successful coach who went to the finals in year 1. Someone else will give him a chance as there's lots of teams not in love with their coach (probably majority of teams)

Almost any corporate structure has explicit policies against this - especially if one is management and the other is subordinate.

A big piece of the story will be if there was any "quid pro quo" involved - that is what brought down Vince McMahon with WWE, Bobby Petrino at Arkansas, etc. If the women were promoted, given money, etc. due to the relationship with Udoka that's a non-starter and he's probably done in the NBA.

[Pointgod]

Read on Twitter

Shocker Stephen A. would go there. SHOCKER.

The Celtics having policy regarding this behavior has absolutely jack squat to do with how a demographic of people may or may not behave in their professional lives.

Are you saying he's wrong?

Yes Gersson Rosas got fired for something similar and I’m not even sure that was a direct subordinate. There have been examples of Execs that got fired, not just suspended for having a relationship with a subordinate that they didn’t disclose. Sometimes Stephen A Smith is right on some things, on this one he’s an idiot.

[TroubleS0me]

pimpin aint easy huh ?

[Synciere]

Were Jeanie and Phil not dating while he was with the lakers?

They were both management. Also, she clearly outranked him. Lastly, they spoke to everyone in the organization early in their relationship and neither of them had other relationships at that time. But yeah, this is clearly an executive/owner sleeping with their subordinate.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

At this point doing anything with a female co-worker beyond required work conduct and basic greetings should be keenly avoided by any man. Odds are entirely stacked against us in this day and age.

And before you quote me, no I don't give a damn what your opinion on equality is or your thoughts on why this is akshually a good thing.

90% of the cases when a powerful man has an inappropriate relationship with a female subordinate at work she's the one getting the worse hand, if that gets out.
Don't even start with this BS, there are so many examples and I have seen situations myself, inclusing our President for EU having an affair with his SVP Finance and she was the one being demoted.
I don't know the story, but let's not start painting Ime as the victim, he did this to himself.
And I am pretty sure the lady is not going to have a lot of fun either, very likely her NBA career is over.

[Synciere]

absolutely. If you're going to race bait on national TV you most definitely better back it up with actual facts. especially in today's climate

And why would he take issue with naming names? he's a reporter. They literally get off on that ****. Especially if he is SOOO upset about the unfair treatment of Udoka. Seems like the perfect opportunity for him to engage in some prime time whataboutism.

So again I ask... you're saying in the history of the NBA, in which probably 90% of the coaches, executive, and owners have been white, you believe there's never been an instance where an member of the organization had a consensual relationship with a subordinate?

you can ask as many times as you like. I'm not answering a completely irrelevant question that only serves to help you move the goal posts.

That's what Stephen A. was referring to, which you are disputing. How is that irrelevant? Or because you don't want it to be relevant you'll just ignore it. Sounds mighty white of you.

[Bird4Three]

For anyone citing Jeanie/Phil, note that Jeanie out-ranked him, therefore SHE would be the one in the position of power in the org, and besides that, totally different organization and rules, and situation for that matter.

[mademan]

First year on the job and he has two inter office affairs, sheds off a warning. He won't coach another NBA game.

this i doubt. Ultimately, he hasnt done anything illegal or anything that is deemed reprehensible by the masses. Inter office relationship may be irresponsible, but if it's consensual between 2 adults, it's not morally wrong. He might not coach on the C's anymore, but he's a young successful coach who went to the finals in year 1. Someone else will give him a chance as there's lots of teams not in love with their coach (probably majority of teams)

Almost any corporate structure has explicit policies against this - especially if one is management and the other is subordinate.

A big piece of the story will be if there was any "quid pro quo" involved - that is what brought down Vince McMahon with WWE, Bobby Petrino at Arkansas, etc. If the women were promoted, given money, etc. due to the relationship with Udoka that's a non-starter and he's probably done in the NBA.

ya but now youre adding a bunch of other stuff. Maybe if he paid them off, gave them promotions (can he even do that, lol)...then sure, he's done for. But if it's a simple inter office relationship between consenting adults, ya, it's a problem for corporate of that particular company. But he's good at his job and some other team will give him a shot, because, again, he didnt do anything immoral or illegal...just something against company policy.

[Saint_Killa]

There is no way that Ime returns next year. Damage is done already, front office now just waits, that he will sign resignation papers peacefully.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Pretty sure Rosas is Colombian.

I didn't claim he wasn't. I'm simply offering up other reasons for it other than race.

With the Timberwolves, there were rumors of a "toxic" culture along with a new soon-to-be-ownership group conducting its own investigation. Maybe it was a way to besmirch Rosas and fire him so soon in his tenure without much pushback.

With the Celtics, it could be one of many things... beyond Udoka simply being a minority. In fact, it could their own way of besmirching Udoka early in his tenure without much pushback. Maybe they saw how smoothly it worked out for the Wolves.

I'm just saying that throwing out that the reasoning for it being leaked is simply because he's not white seems like begging for clicks than anything else. And very few are as good at begging for clicks as SAS.

But the point Stephen A is making is that the majority of the owners, executives, and coaches have been white, and yet the only two examples we can find of this have been a Colombian and Black man?? You don't find that fishy?

Not necessarily. Not if we look at context.

We're living in a far different era than we did 50 or even 10 years ago. The Me Too movement took down many, many people for actions that were commonplace for years, decades, heck even longer.

There's less forgiveness for such actions nowadays. There are too many repercussions by too many groups of people who can be much louder via social media and other avenues in today's world.

Heck, let's say Jerry West was banging Jeanie Buss and Paula Abdul simultaneously. And the word leaked throughout the organization. Ok. Who else is gonna know about it? The person with that knowledge wasn't going to Tweet about it or post a Tik Tok. They couldn't even put it on MySpace for chrissakes. Maybe the Celtics and Timberwolves simply knew they couldn't keep these things secret any longer and had to act in a PR way to save themselves. Because it would be a worse look of word came out that the Celtics were cool with it. That's a PR disaster in 2022.

So if SAS is claiming that RIGHT NOW there are these things happening all over the place and only minorities are being targeted... that's one thing. But if he's pointing to things that happened in 1973 or even 2013... we're missing some obvious context.

[mademan]

There is no way that Ime returns next year. Damage is done already, front office now just waits, that he will sign resignation papers peacefully.

They'll negotiate some sort of buy out where Ime gets the majority of his money, imo. Coaches have a union as well and i dont see the team going through the headache of fighting them

[Ckay]

Dude was thirsty. Lol