The NBA is coming back

[kAzE]

It seems to me that both positions are plausible:

1. The Adam Silver/Lebron/Chris Paul/Dame Lillard position of: "if we play, (i) the economic impact will be a good thing and (ii) the players will have an equal or, perhaps greater, platform than they have now to advocate for positive change on BLM issues."

2. The Kyrie concern of: "if we play, it is possible that the message we want to focus on communicating won't be heard because the audience will be paying attention to the games rather than BLM issues."

I think the first position is more compelling, but Kyrie's doesn't strike me as obviously wrong or crazy.

No argument with that. Kyrie probably does have good intentions, although I also suspect he loves the attention.

The problem is, kyrie doesn’t have a plan to actually help the BLM movement in a tangible way. There’s no end game. His idea is half baked. In addition to not using the NBA’s global platform for the good of BLM, if the players don’t play, that actually directly hurts black communities because a lot of players do contribute huge amounts of their own money into their communities (e.g. LeBron with his school), and not restarting the season would take immeasurable amounts of money out of the players’ pockets.

[cato]

No argument with that. Kyrie probably does have good intentions, although I also suspect he loves the attention.

The problem is, kyrie doesn’t have a plan to actually help the BLM movement in a tangible way. There’s no end game. His idea is half baked. In addition to not using the NBA’s global platform for the good of BLM, if the players don’t play, that actually directly hurts black communities because a lot of players do contribute huge amounts of their own money into their communities (e.g. LeBron with his school), and not restarting the season would take immeasurable amounts of money out of the players’ pockets.

The loss of NBA earnings is measurable. Were you referring to sponsorship earnings? My guess is that people like LeBron and Kyrie are not taking much of a hit compared to players that depend on their NBA contract for most of their wealth.

And I do think most people will ultimately make the decision to get paid.

[Bluedog]

The loss of NBA earnings is measurable. Were you referring to sponsorship earnings? My guess is that people like LeBron and Kyrie are not taking much of a hit compared to players that depend on their NBA contract for most of their wealth.

And I do think most people will ultimately make the decision to get paid.

I'm pretty sure kAzE was using "immeasurable" to indicate "a heck of a lot". But, yes, I get the defintion of "immeasurable" is "cannot be measured."

[kAzE]

The loss of NBA earnings is measurable. Were you referring to sponsorship earnings? My guess is that people like LeBron and Kyrie are not taking much of a hit compared to players that depend on their NBA contract for most of their wealth.

And I do think most people will ultimately make the decision to get paid.

If we're going to be Merriam-Webster about it, it's $1.2 Billion dollars collectively owed to the players if this restart goes as planned. You think the players who depend on that money for their wealth are going to want to give as much back to their communities if they don't get their slice of that?

[cato]

If we're going to be Merriam-Webster about it, it's $1.2 Billion dollars collectively owed to the players if this restart goes as planned. You think the players who depend on that money for their wealth are going to want to give as much back to their communities if they don't get their slice of that?

Nope. As I said in the post you quoted, I think most people will decide that getting paid is better than not getting paid. Particularly if they don’t get paid funny money by Nike, Adidas or UA.

[duke96]

If Kyrie really did propose on a serious players' conference call that the players start their own league (which has been reported but I haven't seen mentioned here, perhaps I missed it)...I would submit that puts him in a whole new level of jackas*ery relative to his past actions and comments. And if anyone was taking him somewhat seriously, those days are likely over.

[bundabergdevil]

If Kyrie really did propose on a serious players' conference call that the players start their own league (which has been reported but I haven't seen mentioned here, perhaps I missed it)...I would submit that puts him in a whole new level of jackas*ery relative to his past actions and comments. And if anyone was taking him somewhat seriously, those days are likely over.

Here's a link to an article about Kyrie's proposal. If he did say this on a team call or group chat as the article suggests, his first problem is that he has a teammate sending it straight to the press!

The NBA has been out in front on certain social issues for some time. If the players want to use this as an opportunity to advance the league's commitments, more power to them. The NFL is committing $250M over 10 years and launching a slew of new initiatives, Jordan Brand and Michael Jordan are donating $100M to combat racism. If I'm the players, I push the NBA to up its monetary commitment, community initiatives, etc. The league already implemented some ownership initiatives after the Donald Sterling debacle but I'm sure more could be negotiated there --- and, in another 5-10 years, I fully expect a few more NBA players to be owners in addition to Jordan and Shaq. LBJ, obviously...

I was also sorting through iconic sports/social moments and most were made WHILE playing/leveraging the platform not refusing to play. Here's an article that highlights some of the great moments in social/sports activism.

I mean, how many people have this poster in hanging in their rooms for inspiration? Nobody is going to hang a poster of Kyrie sitting on his couch eating Cheetos.

1968-smith-and-carlos-GettyImages-640827780.jpg

[1991 duke law]

If Kyrie really did propose on a serious players' conference call that the players start their own league (which has been reported but I haven't seen mentioned here, perhaps I missed it)...I would submit that puts him in a whole new level of jackas*ery relative to his past actions and comments. And if anyone was taking him somewhat seriously, those days are likely over.

So now Kyrie is of the view that the players are being so substantially taken advantage of they should start their own league? At the end of the day, we are in a capitalist society and he and whoever wishes to finance it are welcome to start a new league.

What I do not understand is what is the social justice end game by starting a new league? Perhaps Kyrie will unveil his master plan.

We live in an interesting society where an individual earning around $40 million annually at the age of 28 threatens to leave his employment. I have a friend earning 3-5M a year at a bank - he is not the boss and answers to many. He can at anytime be canned and eventually will be. But every time I see him he tells me that no matter how much crap he eats he is so grateful that he has the good fortune to earn so much. Perhaps Kyrie is tired of eating the crap? Or simply wants to be the guy who feeds others who have to eat it? Who knows.

The more I hear these type of things come out of Kyrie’s mouth I tend to think that he is a young man who is a narcissist. Notwithstanding this, if he can create a league to compete with the NBA, the more power to him. That would be a gutsy move and if he can pull it off, I would be impressed.

[BigZ]

Kyrie might be signing a different toon if he was healthy and the Nets were contenders. He has also proven to be a lossy teammate and is a flat Earther. I like him as a player but he comes off as a guy and who isn’t all there

[bundabergdevil]

Here's a link to an article about Kyrie's proposal. If he did say this on a team call or group chat as the article suggests, his first problem is that he has a teammate sending it straight to the press!

Poor form to self-quote but reports coming out that when these comments aired Kyrie left his team's group chat.

Also some of his teammates are beginning to suggest the "start their own league" remarks were never made or wildly misinterpreted.

We shall see.

[Devilwin]

They can all go pound sand and take the NFL with them..

[flyingdutchdevil]

Poor form to self-quote but reports coming out that when these comments aired Kyrie left his team's group chat.

Also some of his teammates are beginning to suggest the "start their own league" remarks were never made or wildly misinterpreted.

We shall see.

He is so petty. It's really amazing. He is a 12 year old in a 28 year old body.

I think what Kyrie initially did - propose delaying the NBA so it's not a distraction to social justice - is worthy of recommending. Not suggesting it's the correct angle but it's worth proposing so the NBA can assess all ideas. But the way he did it and the way he's handled the aftermath are just gawd awful.

[howardlander]

He is so petty. It's really amazing. He is a 12 year old in a 28 year old body.

I agree with all the criticism Kyrie is getting. He can really be a dope on occasion. That said, it was beautiful watching him carve up the Warriors last night on a game 7 2016 replay. But sometimes you just wonder what the heck he is thinking.

[duke96]

Poor form to self-quote but reports coming out that when these comments aired Kyrie left his team's group chat.

Also some of his teammates are beginning to suggest the "start their own league" remarks were never made or wildly misinterpreted.

We shall see.

Would be nice / interesting to see KD come out to support him.

[flyingdutchdevil]

I agree with all the criticism Kyrie is getting. He can really be a dope on occasion. That said, it was beautiful watching him carve up the Warriors last night on a game 7 2016 replay. But sometimes you just wonder what the heck he is thinking.

Yeah. What Kyrie does on the floor is entirely different then what he does off the floor. That Cavs-Warriors series in 2016 is, for me, or the best NBA Finals I've ever seen. And Kyrie was a big part of that.

[AustinDevil]

You may have a straw man there. My own position is that Duke players, even somewhat controversial ones, deserve balanced treatment on DBR. Therefore, I am happy to respond to critics by taking the initiative to point out the positives of Kyrie -- not only his world-calss hoops talent, but that he has been honored with a VP at NBPA and no shortage of demand for his services. He's maddeningly eccentric but has other positives qualities as a hoops player.

No intent here to stifle other viewpoints. Now if some Duke player was sitting in the slammer convicted of a crime, there would be no need for balance.

I doubt Kyrie is in agreement with Kyrie. He strikes me as a young person with a sincere interest in understanding the world, his position in it and what he can do to improve the position of others. And he is willing to discuss these issues in public.

I have known lots of people like that, but few of them had the type of platform from which to pontificate that Kyrie has.

I raise the point of the conference calls and Kyrie's position in the player's association not to suggest that a majority of people are taking the same "position" that Kyrie is taking, but to rebut the narrative propounded on DBR that Kyrie is a looney tune that no one takes seriously. To the contrary, players are at least listening to what he has to say.

Kyrie is not merely "eccentric," nor does he possess any "sincere interest in understanding the world." His flat-earth nonsense is miles over the line and beyond these misleadingly banal descriptions. I'll leave it at that.

Meanwhile, I wonder how much of the very detailed, 113 pages of NBA rules will be implemented at Duke. Or, more than those rules could come into play at Duke: it is interesting to see that Duke Trustee Silver wanted to ban coaches of a certain age from the bench, but backed down on that.

https://www.nytimes.com/article/nba-...gtype=Homepage

[sagegrouse]

Kyrie is not merely "eccentric," nor does he possess any "sincere interest in understanding the world." His flat-earth nonsense is miles over the line and beyond these misleadingly banal descriptions. I'll leave it at that.

Meanwhile, I wonder how much of the very detailed, 113 pages of NBA rules will be implemented at Duke. Or, more than those rules could come into play at Duke: it is interesting to see that Duke Trustee Silver wanted to ban coaches of a certain age from the bench, but backed down on that.

https://www.nytimes.com/article/nba-...gtype=Homepage

Sorry, but what does the article cited have to do with your assessment of Kyrie?

[niveklaen]

Kyrie is not merely "eccentric," nor does he possess any "sincere interest in understanding the world." His flat-earth nonsense is miles over the line and beyond these misleadingly banal descriptions. I'll leave it at that.

Meanwhile, I wonder how much of the very detailed, 113 pages of NBA rules will be implemented at Duke. Or, more than those rules could come into play at Duke: it is interesting to see that Duke Trustee Silver wanted to ban coaches of a certain age from the bench, but backed down on that.

https://www.nytimes.com/article/nba-...gtype=Homepage

wrt the coaches issue, I wonder if a threat of an age discrimination suit played a role in the decision to scrap that proposed rule? The presence of a disease that disproportionately kills old people seems like a pretty decent justification to engage in age discrimination, but I dont know if the law permits for rational purposes...

[AustinDevil]

Sorry, but what does the article cited have to do with your assessment of Kyrie?

It doesn't relate, except that both are Duke-relevant topics. Hence the transitional adverb, "Meanwhile..."

[flyingdutchdevil]

Biggest name yet to pull out of the restart: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...amily-concerns

While Bradley isn't a top 3 player for the Lakers, he started 44 of 49 games this season and is arguably the Lakers' best on-ball guard defender.

Big loss. And now they're thinking about Mr Liability to take this place: JR Smith.

Silver must be sweating bullets. All these role players backing out is fine (Bradley, Ariza), but once a big name player backs out, it could cause a chain reaction. Fortunately, plenty of time before the restart (July 31).