NBA Playoffs thread

[sandiego17]

You keep using the word "force." I doubt that is how it will play out. He will be "encouraged" and that encouragement will involve cash. The encouragement has already started by isolating him. It will continue as he begins to realize more clearly how his presence is devaluing his asset. Sterling's motives in fighting it are only presented to demonstrate that the end-game will be financial, not judicial.

I say force because I keep reading about the owners getting together and if they get 75%, they can force Sterling out. Encourage all they want, they can isolate him, refuse to meet with him, whatever. But just unilaterally voting that he must sell? Hope he fights and wins that.

Again, property rights are a very important principle to me, just as free speech is important to me. But these rights are not absolute, particularly within the context of a society. John Rocker is free to be stupid and he's free to speak his mind about his stupidity. But the rights to respond, sanction and isolate are also available to broader society.

I don't see this as a free speech issue. As you imply, neither was jailed or arrested for their speech, they are still both free to make as many stupid comments as they wish. I agree society has a right to respond and isolate but I would have to understand what you mean by sanction. If he were simply the CEO, the board could decide to sever ties, fine. However, he owns the team he's not simply an officer. If he doesn't want to sell the team, that's his right and simply, that's my point.

[Savage Lizard]

Saying every basketball game looks like every other basketball game is like saying every football game looks like every other football game.

Football games can take a lot of different complexions: high scoring shootout, low scoring defensive battle, field goal heavy, field position battles, lots of scoring early, not so much late, little scoring early and then a bunch ion the 4th quarter, and on and on. A football game can be 10-3, 27-17, or 49-42. Pretty much every basketball game both teams are going to score a minimum of 80-90 points, so those first 80-90 basically mean nothing. I get it, lots of people like the NBA, but every game looks like every other one: both teams score a whole bunch of points, it's going to be within 10 points with a couple minutes left, fouls, free throws, time out. Repeat again next game. More than half the league makes the playoffs, even the occasional sub .500 team, and those playoffs take FOREVER. Luckily with no Lakers to front-run this year it's been pretty easy to ignore.

I saw a guy at a sports bar one time losing his shit over a basket that made the game 6-2, it was fucking ridiculous. Pace yourself dude, I don't think that's going to hold up. I'll just never ever get it, but for those who love it, have fun.

[ArtistFormerlyKnownAsBKR]

I don't see this as a free speech issue. As you imply, neither was jailed or arrested for their speech, they are still both free to make as many stupid comments as they wish. I agree society has a right to respond and isolate but I would have to understand what you mean by sanction. If he were simply the CEO, the board could decide to sever ties, fine. However, he owns the team he's not simply an officer. If he doesn't want to sell the team, that's his right and simply, that's my point.

I only brought up speech to demonstrate that people are free to say pretty much whatever they like, no matter how stupid or classless it may be. There are proscribed forms of speech but they are not pertinent in this case.

I think that timing is a major issue in this case. Anyone who values property rights would probably prefer to see the marketplace return a verdict on Mr. Sterling and his behavior rather than to see these interventions. But without the league's quick and decisive intervention, the 'Clippers franchise' (the not Sterling parts) and league were going to suffer major harms. The NFL's experience with Michael Vick gives us a directional sense as to what that could look like, but obviously on a much, much smaller scale. It wasn't going to simply be a case of people not patronizing a Subway store. It was going to have knock-on effects for the league and other franchises especially if the matter was not handled as quickly and decisively as it was. It likely would have had a significant impact on the league's signature event, the postseason. So while many of us might have preferred a more incremental approach, the circumstances really demanded what was done.

[oneinchpunch]

I say force because I keep reading about the owners getting together and if they get 75%, they can force Sterling out. Encourage all they want, they can isolate him, refuse to meet with him, whatever. But just unilaterally voting that he must sell? Hope he fights and wins that.

I don't think they'll be able to force him out an I don't believe they'll ever come up with the $ to make him want to sell. His family stands to lose too much by selling now.

[oneinchpunch]

http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-80119655/

Why I hope Donald Sterling fights the NBA to the last gasp

MICHAEL HILTZIK
THE ECONOMY HUB

Few things are as disgusting as the sight of a big business enterprise swaddling itself in morality and sanctimony, proclaiming its high ethical standards.

I'm looking at you, NBA.

The National Basketball Assn. has been showered with praise for the foursquare response of its newly minted commissioner, Adam Silver, in the Donald Sterling case. Silver has banned the Los Angeles Clippers owner from any contact with the team or league for life and is asking the other owners to vote to end Sterling's ownership.

But as we've pointed out, Sterling would have the option to go down fighting -- in court, if necessary.

Please let it be so.

Make no mistake, I don't think Sterling is an appropriate owner of a major league sports team. Yet that's been evident for decades, or almost since the day he acquired the then-San Diego Clippers in 1981. But a nasty fight over the Clippers ownership may be what it takes to really turn this case into a teachable moment. The teachings won't make the NBA look good.

To suggest that the league's fellow owners had their eyes opened to Sterling's true nature just in the last couple of weeks by publication of an audiotape of his private racial musings is a sick joke. Former Clippers GM Elgin Baylor asserted in court papers in 2009 that Sterling told him he wanted the Clippers to be composed of "'Poor Black boys from the South' and a White head coach." The team, Baylor said, was "structured in conformity with Sterling's dictates."

Silver, who says he was "personally distraught" at the "hateful opinions" he heard Sterling utter on the recent tape, had been deputy commissioner and chief operating officer of the NBA for nearly three years when Baylor's accusation was made. How "distraught" was he then?

Silver said the league followed that case, which ended with a jury verdict against Baylor, very closely. No kidding. Baylor named the NBA as an original defendant in the case.

Let's not forget the discrimination cases brought against Sterling by the government and housing rights groups in 2003 and 2009, both filled with assertions of racist remarks and behavior by Sterling, both settled out of court for millions.

Still, what really makes the NBA's declaration of its "progressive" character so repellent is its own labor history. The NBA isn't a charitable anti-discrimination agency; it's a business, the success of which lies partially in its hammering its employees as hard as it can.

Remember the 2011 NBA lockout? The owners used every tool at their disposal to squeeze the players, not least of which was poor-mouthing themselves. Then-Commissioner David Stern claimed that the league faced annual losses of $400 million if player pay wasn't reduced.

This is the ancient device in pro sports of pretending that the value of ownership is based on annual profit-and-loss, rather than on long-term capital appreciation. One can put the claim in perspective by noting that the value of the Clippers, if Sterling can be goaded into a sale, has been estimated as high as $1 billion. He bought the team in 1981 for $12.5 million.

Sports team owners' self-image as forces for all that's good and uplifting in American society is desperately in need of some truth-telling. History shows that the progressive impetus in sports comes chiefly from the athletes, not the owners. Sure, Branch Rickey brought Jackie Robinson into major league baseball. Even if you think Rickey did so entirely out of humanitarian impulses, the entire ownership cadre of the sport had been leaning the other way. Robinson was a 28-year-old "rookie" when he first stepped onto the field in a Dodgers uniform, which gives you an idea of how determined the major leagues were to overlook his talents.

Racial injustice is far more a historical hallmark of professional sports in America than racial equality. The Nation's Dave Zirin runs through a few other examples of sports' misplaced self-praise. Muhammad Ali, so lavishly praised as a civil rights icon today, had his title stripped by the lords of boxing for his efforts. As we write, the National Football League is trying its damnedest to ignore the fact that one of its signature franchises bears a racial slur as its name -- and that the Redskins' founder, George Preston Marshall, was one of the outstanding public racists of his era. (He died in 1969.)

Zirin's observation about Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig's lionization of Jackie Robinson every year -- that he "bathes himself in the history of civil rights as brand enhancement, not as a legacy that needs to be upheld" -- could easily be applied to the other pro leagues.

A swift resolution of the Donald Sterling case can only help to paper over this noisome history once again. A long, drawn-out legal battle over the Clippers, however, will provide occasion to recapture reality. It might even lead to new revelations, since Sterling is the longest-serving NBA owner and surely knows a few things. We might even end up paying more attention to the anti-gay comments of Rich DeVos, the Amway founder whose family owns the NBA Orlando Magic.

It can only be healthy to be reminded that the professions of progressivism and equality mouthed by sports leagues are typically commercial window dressing . That may be the only healthy aspect of a long fight over the Clippers ownership. But we shouldn't forget that while the NBA's desire for a clean, quick break with Donald Sterling may be somewhat in the interests of the players, fans and Los Angeles community, it's even more in the interest of Sterling's fellow owners. The league shouldn't get off so easily.

[ArtistFormerlyKnownAsBKR]

Stultifying hypocrisy.

Shocking.

[oneinchpunch]

Yup. I did say both were predictable.

I'm thinking the plan of action for Sterling will be litigation while seeking forgiveness and redemption.

[Mister Hoarse]

I'm thinking the plan of action for Sterling will be litigation while seeking forgiveness and redemption.

A Racist walks into a Courtroom, a Church, and a Recycling Center...

[oneinchpunch]

PBT:

Shelly Sterling says she wants to maintain ownership of Clippers. That’s a wildcard for NBA.

Shelly Sterling, Donald Sterling’s wife of 50 years, owns half of the Clippers (thanks to California law). It’s always been a potential complication in the league’s stated goal of forcing a sale.
Especially since she wants to maintain control of the team.

She told the Los Angeles Times she wants to maintain control of the Clippers.

Los Angeles Clippers co-owner Shelly Sterling said Wednesday that she believes she is legally entitled to maintain ownership of the NBA team and will attempt to do so, even as the pro basketball league pushes to remove her husband from the team he has owned for 33 years.

Sterling described her long tenure as a “die-hard” fan of the Clippers and said she believes that the sanctions against Donald Sterling — which included a lifetime ban and $2.5-million fine — do not apply to “me or my family.”
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has said that this is not acceptable, that the family cannot maintain control of the team.
He’s right. She’s just serving as his proxy here.

Shelly is far from clean (although proving it in a legally acceptable way will be more difficult, she has less of a paper trail).

The night after the recording of Donald making racist statements went public she had dinner with her husband and yelled “he’s not a racist” at the cameras. She was a partner with Donald in his real estate firm and in the lawsuits brought against him a former employee said Shelly used to pose as a government inspector to take a census of the races in their buildings, and to harass some tenants. She allegedly has used plenty of racist language herself. She is far from clean.

For the league, from a business perspective, the sponsors will not care which Sterling owns the team they will pull out.

Same from the players — Doc Rivers found out and he’s not likely to stick around to work for her. Most fans will have the same reaction. The league is moving to wrest control of the team from Sterling’s people, with long-time employee and team president Andy Roeser taking a leave of absence and the owners looking to install a new CEO to oversee the operation.

Reportedly Donald signed ethical contracts with the league, which gives the league solid footing on him in the effort to force a sale. Forcing those on her could prove more problematic. The above instances were in settled cases.

This is how the Sterlings fight. They are not going to easily give up control. They are going to work in concert. Their egos are too wrapped up in owning the team. Plus, if Sterling (who is battling cancer) passes away during before the team is sold the rest of his family could save hundreds of millions on capital gains taxes. They are not going to go quietly.

The league needs to have a real stomach for this fight, because the Sterlings count on bullying you in the courts. The other owners are united, but this is not going to be simple and clean.

[Mister Hoarse]

How much of this is being pushed by moneyed interests salivating over controlling a potential gold mine in LA Live?
Could really be some scrambling between big time investors now.

[ArtistFormerlyKnownAsBKR]

Richard Sherman's comments on the subject were silly.

[ArtistFormerlyKnownAsBKR]

So Donald Sterling made his racist comments to try to get V. in bed. What an aphrodisiac! I feel much better now.