Author Topic: 2013-14 NBA thread v. Adam Silver Lays the Pipe on Donald Sterling ©2014antigoon  (Read 112847 times)

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Offline TempusVox

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Given his alleged history of making inappropriate comments, I wouldnt be surprised that the NBA didn't somehow help the girlfriend set him up. Then the owners could easily oust him if thats what they desired all along. Has anyone asked, why was a private conversation between two people recorded in the first place? I agree this sets a terrifying precedent in its own right, but it's not anything new.

Baseball long abhorred Marge Schott here in Cincinnati, and could not wait to be rid of her. I had the chance to meet Marge several times, and while I wouldn't personally choose to be her friend under normal circumstances, I had a lot of respect for her. She had ten gallon balls in a mans world. Baseball ultimately kicked her out. I recall the Hitler comments she made. In my opinion they were taken completely out of context, and in response to a direct question from a reporter, Marge was quoted as saying, "Hitler was good in the beginning, but he went too far." What is ALWAYS left off of that statement is the follow up sentence, which was "I mean he was good for Germany when he took over, but it turned out he was crazy." Some would argue thats pretty close to it. Now, I don't know if she was a racist, or an anti-Semite. All of the other controversial comments attributed to her were by former employees of the Reds, and were all hearsay. I do believe she was however not very bright. At all. She did some damn near crazy numbskull things; and my personal experiences with her showed me that not only was she not very smart; bu that she refused to listen to reason or logic at all. But there is no rule that says wealth and brains must go together. But it wasn't long after, that she was out of baseball. A sport where the commissioner himself once stated in reference to both Marge Schott and the widow of Ray Kroc that, "Women really didn't have a place in baseball ownership."

No, I'm afraid the billionaires club had no choice really when it comes to PR; and Sterling basically showed he is an idiot of the highest order. But the "punishment did not fit the crime" IMO.
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Offline black_biff_stadler

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Being an owner of a sports franchise isn't like owning a house, or a regular company. You're part of a weird club/fraternity with its own special rules and conditions.

And yet they retain their right to freedom of speech.

Employers can fire employees without freedom of speech getting in the way. I think 1st amendment rights mainly pertain to citizens versus the government.
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Offline ReaPsTA

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Re: 2013-14 NBA thread v. Tim Lincecum Lays the Pipe on the Padres
« Reply #912 on: April 29, 2014, 11:50:29 PM »
Out of curiosity, is somebody stole all of your hard drives and posted them to TMZ, would you be allowed to own an NBA team? Should you be allowed to?

It's not for me to decide.  The money is a bigger issue I think.

But to kinda get to the heart of your question - if the contents of my hard drive went public I'd have to just own it and see what happens.  I couldn't really say "this is stuff I made in private," because it'd be public, and you have to deal with it that way.
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Offline j

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^I thought private employers couldn't legally take action against employees for legal behavior that occurs outside the workplace?  You're right, I doubt it's derivative of the first amendment, maybe it's a labor code thing.  Aren't there some law people here?

-J

Offline Super Dude

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Present, but sorry, I'm stumped. I don't know anything about labor law. There is a torts doctrine called "frolic and detour" that touches upon stuff employees do outside of the workplace, but it's so far from the issues involved here.
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Offline El Barto

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^I thought private employers couldn't legally take action against employees for legal behavior that occurs outside the workplace?  You're right, I doubt it's derivative of the first amendment, maybe it's a labor code thing.  Aren't there some law people here?

-J
I don't think this is actually a labor issue, though. If the NBA wants to suspend him for life I have no problem with it (in theory, that is). It's the ownership issue that creates a problem. It does appear that the bylaws allow for the ouster of an owner with a 3/4 majority vote. He signed onto this agreement, so they're probably within their rights to force him to sell. With that said this is new territory, which I don't think has happened in any sporting league before, so there's no telling how this would play out if he chose to fight it in court. It's also possible that the owners who are publicly calling him out now might be a little more nuanced in their positions when they have to actually pull the trigger on setting a frightening precedent. Wouldn't be surprised if more than a few of them decided forcing the removal of a team might not be int heir best interest once it came time to vote.

Somebody in another forum made an interesting point. The owners own the rights to players in the NBA. This actually does cause a ripple effect through the league. If somebody is drafted by the clippers then they have no choice but to play for Sterling (unless they're Archie Manning's kid, I suppose). I personally think that nobody has a right to an NBA career, but it creates an interesting dilemma nevertheless.
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Offline ReaPsTA

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there's no telling how this would play out if he chose to fight it in court.

The NBA constitution is apparently pretty strict about making sure things go to arbitration.  And once you get there, the clauses about being forced to sell the team if you bring great harm to the league (which Sterling did) are clear.

Quote
It's also possible that the owners who are publicly calling him out now might be a little more nuanced in their positions when they have to actually pull the trigger on setting a frightening precedent. Wouldn't be surprised if more than a few of them decided forcing the removal of a team might not be int heir best interest once it came time to vote.

Cuban said a couple days ago that he was against voting out Sterling, but changed his tune to "I support commissioner Silver" when the announcement happened  No owner wants to be labelled a pro-racism owner.  Since apparently every owner has released some form of an "I support commissioner Silver" statement, it would look even worse to back track from it.
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Offline Dimitrius

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That point about owning the rights to the players drafted is interesting, I would love to know if there's some clause/rule/whatever that a player could use to get out of playing for the team that drafted him. They certainly can't do like baseball player do and just don't sign and go to college or play somewhere else (Philly fans will remember JD Drew).

Maybe they could play a season in Europe and come back as a free agent?
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Offline ReaPsTA

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Maybe they could play a season in Europe and come back as a free agent?

Definitely not.  NBA teams draft players who play in Europe on purpose because it's a great way to get free development.
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Offline Super Dude

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Just a tiny nitpick about the subject line: ™, not ©.
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Offline KevShmev

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In game news, remember two years ago, after the Thunder had won Game 1 of the 2012 Finals over the Heat, when some wondered if LeBron would ever win a championship since they thought the Thunder were on their way to their first, which was gonna be their first of a bunch in a row?  Seems more than just a bit laughable now.

Offline ReaPsTA

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In game news, remember two years ago, after the Thunder had won Game 1 of the 2012 Finals over the Heat, when some wondered if LeBron would ever win a championship since they thought the Thunder were on their way to their first, which was gonna be their first of a bunch in a row?  Seems more than just a bit laughable now.

Definitely.

Thunder need to fire Scott Brooks.  The stuff he runs on offense is a joke.
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Offline El Barto

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there's no telling how this would play out if he chose to fight it in court.

The NBA constitution is apparently pretty strict about making sure things go to arbitration.  And once you get there, the clauses about being forced to sell the team if you bring great harm to the league (which Sterling did) are clear.

Quote
It's also possible that the owners who are publicly calling him out now might be a little more nuanced in their positions when they have to actually pull the trigger on setting a frightening precedent. Wouldn't be surprised if more than a few of them decided forcing the removal of a team might not be int heir best interest once it came time to vote.

Cuban said a couple days ago that he was against voting out Sterling, but changed his tune to "I support commissioner Silver" when the announcement happened  No owner wants to be labelled a pro-racism owner.  Since apparently every owner has released some form of an "I support commissioner Silver" statement, it would look even worse to back track from it.
As I just said in another forum, Silver would have done anything he possibly could to get out of the situation quickly and prettily. Whether or not it's valid is another matter altogether. If they get shot down in court they still look squeaky clean and Sterling's still an asshole; no harm, no foul.

This applies to the owners, as well. I wouldn't be surprised is they decide once things cool down that the legal ramifications of forcing him to give up a billion dollar asset aren't something they want to fight for. 
Argument, the presentation of reasonable views, never makes headway against conviction, and conviction takes no part in argument because it knows.
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Offline ReaPsTA

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This applies to the owners, as well. I wouldn't be surprised is they decide once things cool down that the legal ramifications of forcing him to give up a billion dollar asset aren't something they want to fight for.

If the owners do this, they won't be out of it quickly and prettily.  The fiasco will start up again.
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Offline KevShmev

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In game news, remember two years ago, after the Thunder had won Game 1 of the 2012 Finals over the Heat, when some wondered if LeBron would ever win a championship since they thought the Thunder were on their way to their first, which was gonna be their first of a bunch in a row?  Seems more than just a bit laughable now.

Definitely.

Thunder need to fire Scott Brooks.  The stuff he runs on offense is a joke.

Yep.  That play he drew up for the end of OT last night - Durant from like 5 feet behind the 3-pt line? :lol :lol - was terrible.  That team needs a coach that knows how to harness and best utilize Westbrook. 

Offline antigoon

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It's amazing how many teams - good teams, even - still employ head coaches who rely on iso-heavy hero ball to win almost all their games. 

Offline ReaPsTA

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That team needs a coach that knows how to harness and best utilize Westbrook.

This to me is the bigger thing.  Durant does dumb stuff because he plays in a dumb culture, but if you give him a smart coach he'll go along with it.  He puts in the work.  He cares.

I like watching Westbrook play because he clearly cares a lot.  But his decision-making is so bad, and he's so relentlessly who he is.  Very tough player to coach right.

Scott Brooks is a likable person.  This speech in the huddle of game 5 of the 2012 finals about treating the Heat like champions was creative and brilliant.  He's created a culture in OKC where you're expected to work hard and develop well.  But a better coach can push Durant and Westbrook to another level.

Brooks isn't as bad as Vinny Del Negro at all, but look what Doc Rivers has done for Blake and DeAndre.  Imagine what a better coach could do for Westbrook and Durant.
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Offline antigoon

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I like the Grizzlies and all - and a 2nd round re-rematch between them and LA would be really intriguing - but I think we'd be losing something to see OKC go out in the first round. As ugly as their offense can be at times I feel like we deserve to see more of them in the playoffs.

Offline Nekov

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That point about owning the rights to the players drafted is interesting, I would love to know if there's some clause/rule/whatever that a player could use to get out of playing for the team that drafted him. They certainly can't do like baseball player do and just don't sign and go to college or play somewhere else (Philly fans will remember JD Drew).

Maybe they could play a season in Europe and come back as a free agent?

The answer is no. The Spurs held the rights to draft Luis Scola for several years but never went with it because they had to pay too much money. After some time they traded the draft rights to Houston who ended up getting him. So unless the team decides to get rid of the draft rights the player has to either play for that team or don't play at all in the NBA.
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Offline Syzzle

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You'd think after Spoelstra embarrassed him in the Finals everyone would realize how terrible of a coach Brooks is. It seems OKC is fine with wasting Durant and Westbrook's careers with a terrible coach though.

Offline Destiny Of Chaos

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You'd think after Spoelstra embarrassed him in the Finals everyone would realize how terrible of a coach Brooks is. It seems OKC is fine with wasting Durant and Westbrook's careers with a terrible coach though.

 :rollin :rollin :rollin I could have coached the Heat to the finals with that team.

So did Brooks pull the trigger on giving Harden away, because that's unquestionably the biggest difference between the Thunder team that made the finals, and the 2 since then....

Offline Nekov

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I normally don't agree with Syzzle but this time he's right, the Thunder don't have any game plan other than giving the ball to Durant/Westbrook and have them play one on ones. The only reason they win so much is because of the individual talent of those 2 guys plus the amazing defense Ibaka provides.
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Offline Nekov

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I don't get the people that say the Spurs are boring
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Offline Dimitrius

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Kobe Bryant's reaction to D'Antoni resigning:

Joe and I in the same squad is basically the virtual equivalent of us plowing a rape van through an elementary school playground at recess.

Offline antigoon

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That zoom gets me every time.

Offline Dimitrius

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That's gotta be a top 10 gif.
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Offline TheOutlawXanadu

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Raptors almost gave me a heart attack last night. They played the worst fourth quarter I've ever seen. :lol
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Offline antigoon

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I really hate tired sports cliches, but the Nets - especially with Pierce and Garnett on the bench - are just a soft-ass team. Does any Nets fan have faith in Deron Williams to do anything to lead this team to a series win?

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Pierce said they were soft but his play is suspect as well this series.
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Offline ReaPsTA

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Brooks actually coached a good game.  Deserved win.
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Offline Syzzle

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And to think this guy was actually picked to be an all star what a joke :lol


Offline Dimitrius

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Being picked for the All-Star means nothing.

Kobe was picked for the All-Star and he barely played this year.
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Offline Syzzle

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Yeah except Kobe was voted in by the fans and Hibbert was picked by the coaches you would think that the coaches would be smarter than that.

Offline Dimitrius

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I bet they were trying to make Vogel happy, he was the All-Star coach. :lol
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Offline Destiny Of Chaos

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Considering that his career PPG avg is 11.2, I don't see the merit in this. Sure, he's having a horrible series for multiple reasons, but let's not pretend that he is being paid to be some sort of offensive juggernaut.