The NBA Thread.

dangerous? lebron can [uck fay] off.

 

Someone needs to tell him that this doesn’t help

 

It is beyond incredible that he thought the clarification would help. It’s truly depressing that Chinese money drives so much here. F**k China.

I think we’ll surely see a surge in American opinion in this area. On both sides of the aisle.

 

I do read the follow up tweets a little bit differently. I’ve read elsewhere that the situation for the players in China over this past week was very uncomfortable and stressful, and I can see why. His tweet definitely put The players over there in a really bad position.

I’ve also read that players have been asking why Morey hasn’t been reprimanded, citing that any player who loses the league millions by tweeting something controversial would definitely be reprimanded in some way. I agree in a sense.

So idk. I was pissed when I saw the initial comments, but once I read the follow up tweets, it almost sounded like LeBron was saying “look what you put us through with that tweet. Unintended consequences that affect more than just Morey.” He even said something along the lines of “Could have waited a week to send it.”

 

If you have to bring up money to make a point about this circumstance, you've already kind of lost me. What does money have to do with democracy and liberty?

 

[uck fay] him

 

Fair.

 

Imagine how it’d be received had a GM in the league tweeted that to Lebron, and his speaking out about American social issues.

 

FAIR

 

It’s definitely an aspect of Liberty.

 

Oh. How much for one liberty, please?

 

Being in charge of your property and money is a huge aspect of freedom.

 

Agreed, absolutely. Making more money that you are in charge of, off of collaborating with an oppressive authoritarian "communist" regime is (to me) not an aspect of liberty but rather an act of oppression in itself.

Play an NBA game in China to help make money there? Okay. Become complicit with the oppression of Hong Kong and stifling of criticism of a single-party dictatorship so you can make money there? Not okay.

 

I have no issue with them making money in China.

The issue I have is that they have no principles besides making money. The NBA is under valuing their brand. They should set the standards in which they allow the Chinese government to air their games, not the other way around.

The players and league have a huge platform that could do a lot of good in China with the popularity of the sport.

 

LeBron telling an owner he is uneducated and shouldnt have spoken about China is absolutely ridiculous. Free speech as long as you are saying it against the right people I guess and go figure its 100% ok to say whatever you want about American politics and issues but hey, watch what you say about China. [uck fay] the players and their "difficult week" in 5* hotel suites

 

Exactly

 

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...on-james-adam-silver-make-break-moments-china

Good rendering of the story at ground level by ESPN. This exchange caught my eye:

Silver opened the floor. James raised his hand.

His question was related to Morey -- and the commissioner's handling of the Rockets' GM. James, to paraphrase, told Silver that he knew that if a player caused the same type of uproar with something he said or tweeted, the player wouldn't be able to skate on it. There would be some type of repercussion. So, James wanted to know, what was Silver going to do about it in Morey's case?

Silver pushed back, reminding the players that the league never doled out discipline when they publicly criticized President Donald Trump. Morey was exercising the same liberty when he challenged China. Regardless of the financial fallout of one versus the other, that's not what should matter. Silver might have disliked the ramifications of Morey's tweet, but he would defend the right to say it.

The part which particularly disturbed me was the end in which Morley's future is discussed and was rendered in financial terms. Meaning, if he cost the NBA enough money, he may be out of a job. I'm just wondering what the line is, or the amount of money, in which you are able to freely express yourself and where it is the oppressive foreign dictatorship gets to call the shots.

 

It is well known that I can’t stand Lebron, largely, because he’s just a brand, and everything he does is carefully orchestrated so as to build, advance and protect it.

I’d love to call him a fake, phony and a hypocrite, because I don’t like him. But it’d also be so disingenuous of me as to be hypocritical, given both my zealous adherence to capitalism and how I rail on how Trump is often perceived and treated.

He didn’t that Hong Kong didn’t matter, that they shouldn’t be free, or that he didn’t believe that China was right in how they’re playing this.

He also didn’t disagree with the GM’s comments or advocate that he should suffer any penalty for them. He didn’t say that he had no right to speak out on the issue, either. He just said that it caused unforeseen difficulties for the league, himself and others. He said it in the most pretentious way possible, but that’s the gist of what he meant....and it’s entirely correct. That one tweet has cost the NBA, and in turn Lebron, millions. Good, bad, right, wrong, or somewhere in-between, he’s right.

And it’s hypocritical to criticize Lebron for doing exactly what the GM did - exercising his free speech in speaking on an issue of importance to him.

Supporting Hong Kong and making money off of China aren’t mutually exclusive, at least necessarily. Lebron can do both, as can anyone else. And if we’re going to start demonizing any business for doing the same, there are much bigger, wealthier and better fish to fry than Lebron...like Apple, Google, the NBA, etc.

At worst, Lebron missed an opportunity to lend his voice in speaking out for Hong Kong, but even still, he isn’t wrong. And you can’t discard everything that he’s ever said or spoken out about, because you now believe, and label him to be, a hypocrite. There remains merit to those things, and those ideas, just as his failure to speak out in support of Hong Kong in no way dissuades the justice of their cause.

Lebron isn’t wrong, and we’re judging him too harshly.

 

You must be NYY's [penis] judging a wet T-shirt contest, because you've gone soft.