2020 End of Season / Playoffs

[Apollo]

This is also a display of access journalism at its worst:

Shams/Chris Haynes: Kyrie leads inspiring call. Gives the little guy a voice.

Woj: Kyrie, the disrupter. Was on call with union last week and asked about alcohol in the bubble and sponsorship opportunities.

One person's liberator can be another person's disruptor. Both can be relaying an accurate account of what happened. Perception is reality, right?

This is a good reason why all should be weary in believing anything we read that we can't verify by other means.

[DogeLover1234]

This is an example where free decision making based upon regular incentives would naturally solve the problem, but unions muck it up.

Wanna play? Come in, get paid, help the league (and by extension all players), get the appreciation of fans and promote you brand.

Don't want to play? Stay home and forfeit the above.

For the teams that lost players, let them call on their g-league affiliates. If there's enough of them around, maybe one of them will hit a couple of timely 3's on a key playoff game and get an NBA opportunity, as a fitting reward for wanting to do what others didn't want to.

Hard to brand yourself as a socially-conscious, player-friendly league then throw em to the dirt the first time its profitable. Plus aint nobody watching this if it turns into a LeBron hoops mixtape featuring James Harden and G-Leagues.

Its not like anyone is being unreasonable here. Players and owners agreed to start the season and said, "Eh, we'll figure the details out later" - This is them figuring out the details.

[KeonClark]

You know that one know it all everybody knows, he argues everything, when he leaves you go "ugh, he's literally the worst" or "god he's exhausting"?

that's kyrie in a nutshell

Irving, according to Charania, told his fellow NBA players on Friday's call, " I don’t support going into Orlando. I’m not with the systematic racism and the bullsh*t. Something smells a little fishy."

[The Great One]

You know that one know it all everybody knows, he argues everything, when he leaves you go "ugh, he's literally the worst" or "god he's exhausting"?

that's kyrie in a nutshell

Kyrie is literally the last person I would listen to. What's fishy about the NBA plan?

The reality is the racial tension in the US is not going to disappear anytime soon. In fact, this thing will heat up even more(a lot more) in Oct-Nov. Should they cancel next season too?

I say this, Kyrie, Stephen Jackson, Melo, LeBron and all these guys.... they better keep this same energy in NOVEMBER. The worst thing that could happen is all these protests happening for nothing.

[The Great One]

And I don't want to be that guy, but some of what these players posts on social media just makes my eye roll. Kyrie saying he’s ready to risk it all is hilarious. Dude probably thinks he's the Ali of this generation now. We know he's not going to risk it all. Stephen Jackson photoshopped a pic of himself on IG alongside Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King..........c'mon.

Again, they better keep this same energy in November. I'll be watching.

[planetmars]

It's hard to completely understand Kyrie speak.. but I think what he's saying is that sports are a distraction, and that distraction may not be warranted at a time where real change can happen.

And I think he's also saying that he'd show up to Orlando with everyone else, if they all want to play.. but to not forget about what's important.

And he does have a point. Once sports start up, most people stop caring about social injustices around the world.

Of course I could have completely misunderstood his point too.

[KeonClark]

It's hard to completely understand Kyrie speak.. but I think what he's saying is that sports are a distraction, and that distraction may not be warranted at a time where real change can happen.

And I think he's also saying that he'd show up to Orlando with everyone else, if they all want to play.. but to not forget about what's important.

And he does have a point. Once sports start up, most people stop caring about social injustices around the world.

Of course I could have completely misunderstood his point too.

NBA had these plans way before the cop killed George floyd. and it's still almost 2 months away..how long are we gonna protest for? At some point, the changes meed to happen in legislation, in meeting rooms, in boardrooms.

[The Great One]

Also, the message behind the #blacklivesmatter hashtag is important. But if you really want to make change? you VOTE. It's that simple. Posting a pic of yourself on IG with the same damn hashtags everyday is not going to do anything.

Actions > Words.

[inthepaint]

Hard to brand yourself as a socially-conscious, player-friendly league then throw em to the dirt the first time its profitable. Plus aint nobody watching this if it turns into a LeBron hoops mixtape featuring James Harden and G-Leagues.

Its not like anyone is being unreasonable here. Players and owners agreed to start the season and said, "Eh, we'll figure the details out later" - This is them figuring out the details.

The best way for the league to be socially-conscious and player friendly is to allow players to individually decide if they want to participate or not, and respect those decisions either way. If player X is immunocompromised or is just concerned about covid in general, let them stay home without reprimand.

When it's all said and done, we'll probably see a league missing a couple of stars, and a few role players, which is what you get every year anyway because of injuries. There will be millions watching that, as long as they don't let some paranoid cats spoil for everyone else.

This is a league that made thousands of African-Americans millionaires over the years. Made many of them revered household names worldwide, which in turn helped inspire and sometimes turn around the lives of countless at-risk youth (of all races) all over the world. It's a league that has always been on the forefront of fighting discrimination, celebrating black history month every year, giving public notoriety to many players doing basketball camps for troubled kids, and have always fostered a public space where people of different ethnicities and backgrounds come together on the same team to win something together.

That's the league that's trying to be back. It's a league that was the first to shut down with the safety of players and fans in mind, and is now creating a heavily protected environment (with daily testing, limited people, abundant medical professionals around and scrutinized catered food for people to get back to work), basically becoming one of the safest places covid-wise in the U.S. to work and live by the time August rolls around,

If someone is disturbed or entitled enough to twist or misconstrue the above as "systematic racism and the bullshit" (like Kyire said) or do the players dirty somehow, then the high road answer is: let them. Let them chose not to participate, but without spoiling for the overwhelming majority of players that see it for what it is: An honest attempt in an imperfect world to bring their livelihoods back. To give people that enjoy and pay money to see their athleticism and talent some sense of normalcy and help bring back something as unifying and engaging as sports, on tough times of social and economic unrest.

Basically, let's allow people do what they feel it's best for them based on their own situation, is my take. In the NBA and in the real world. There's been too much interfering of government, police, unions, special interests groups, right twitter and left twitter in people's lives lately. Everything is divisive and politicized. Let's allow people to freely think and do what they feel is best for themselves and their families for a change, and let's see some basketball back.

[slaw]

Also, the message behind the #blacklivesmatter hashtag is important. But if you really want to make change? you VOTE. It's that simple. Posting a pic of yourself on IG with the same damn hashtags everyday is not going to do anything.

Actions > Words.

Vote for whom? Joe Biden has been in politics for 50 years. Almost all the big cities in the US are run by Dems. Vote for them harder?

[S.R.]

Also, the message behind the #blacklivesmatter hashtag is important. But if you really want to make change? you VOTE. It's that simple. Posting a pic of yourself on IG with the same damn hashtags everyday is not going to do anything.

Actions > Words.

Meh, things are much worse under Trump but all the issues being protested now were there under Obama and plenty of other Dem presidents over the years. Part of the system change that needs to happen in the US is that one party has not really been any better at this than the other, it's honestly the whole system.

I am no Bernie bro but I do respect he was the one guy talking about a much deeper level of systemic change. People are going to need to continue to be disruptive until they get it. I really hope this doesn't all fizzle out with another establishment Dem presidency and no really change. If it does we'll all be back here again in a few years.

On the NBA front - really hard to read the situation now with Kyrie's noise. If it's just him making noise and being disruptive, this'll all be settled in a week. If a number of guys actually have serious misgivings, that'll be different. But those will also need to be high profile players.

[bertarapsfan]

I want Kyrie to say what his plan is. If he think Basketball is a distraction to the BLM movement. Tell us what your going to do if you are successful in getting the season cancelled? What are you going to do with that extra time? Are you going to be paying the salary's of Jarret allen, wilson chandler etc? I mean the least you could do is pay your team mates salary who are going to be losing paychecks.
Are you going to be using your time not in Orlando talking to New york goverment? Are you going to start a youtube show of NBA stars talking about injustice. Whats your plan Kyrie?

[DogeLover1234]

The best way for the league to be socially-conscious and player friendly is to allow players to individually decide if they want to participate or not, and respect those decisions either way. If player X is immunocompromised or is just concerned about covid in general, let them stay home without reprimand.

When it's all said and done, we'll probably see a league missing a couple of stars, and a few role players, which is what you get every year anyway because of injuries. There will be millions watching that, as long as they don't let some paranoid cats spoil for everyone else.

This is a league that made thousands of African-Americans millionaires over the years. Made many of them revered household names worldwide, which in turn helped inspire and sometimes turn around the lives of countless at-risk youth (of all races) all over the world. It's a league that has always been on the forefront of fighting discrimination, celebrating black history month every year, giving public notoriety to many players doing basketball camps for troubled kids, and have always fostered a public space where people of different ethnicities and backgrounds come together on the same team to win something together.

That's the league that's trying to be back. It's a league that was the first to shut down with the safety of players and fans in mind, and is now creating a heavily protected environment (with daily testing, limited people, abundant medical professionals around and scrutinized catered food for people to get back to work), basically becoming one of the safest places covid-wise in the U.S. to work and live by the time August rolls around,

If someone is disturbed or entitled enough to twist or misconstrue the above as "systematic racism and the bullshit" (like Kyire said) or do the players dirty somehow, then the high road answer is: let them. Let them chose not to participate, but without spoiling for the overwhelming majority of players that see it for what it is: An honest attempt in an imperfect world to bring their livelihoods back. To give people that enjoy and pay money to see their athleticism and talent some sense of normalcy and help bring back something as unifying and engaging as sports, on tough times of social and economic unrest.

Basically, let's allow people do what they feel it's best for them based on their own situation, is my take. In the NBA and in the real world. There's been too much interfering of government, police, unions, special interests groups, right twitter and left twitter in people's lives lately. Everything is divisive and politicized. Let's allow people to freely think and do what they feel is best for themselves and their families for a change, and let's see some basketball back.

I agree, at the end of the day the best you can do is offer up a plan and give players a choice take it or leave it - consensus is not reasonable. Lets be honest though, the league made a lot of guys millionaires, but Magic, Bird, MJ, Kobe, Shaq, West, LeBron, etc. made the league. The NBA has an interest in including players in a startup plan which is what they are doing. Maybe im misunderstood, but the plan never included a lot of details, as they come out guys are raising concerns on the fly - I expect everyone works it out for the best quality product. The Kyrie thing is over the top, but even that, I get it if guys feel like its not a great time to take 2-3 months away from family and community. Tough to criticize guys for being entitled for getting paid millions of dollars to play a game then also criticize them for acknowledging there are bigger things then basketball and saying now isn't a great time to drop off the map for a couple months to train for playoffs.

At the end of the day, I totally agree, its on individuals to make a choice for them and their families - credit to the NBA cause as you mention thats what they are going with from the sounds of it. Too many voices out there - but thats the era we live in.

[NeedTristanThompson]

Kyrie just didn't like Lebron. The whole shadow and team thing was maybe partially true, but more a politically correct answer.

Lebron is a dad who likes to work out, drink wine, and hang out with powerful movers and shakers. Kyrie likes to smoke the funny lettuce and talk about the moon. KD is a lot closer to his type B personality than Lebron is.

Right righttt

Ya I think I buy this!

Tho KD strikes me as like, the responsible version of Kyrie hahaha

[NeedTristanThompson]

I agree, at the end of the day the best you can do is offer up a plan and give players a choice take it or leave it - consensus is not reasonable. Lets be honest though, the league made a lot of guys millionaires, but Magic, Bird, MJ, Kobe, Shaq, West, LeBron, etc. made the league. The NBA has an interest in including players in a startup plan which is what they are doing. Maybe im misunderstood, but the plan never included a lot of details, as they come out guys are raising concerns on the fly - I expect everyone works it out for the best quality product. The Kyrie thing is over the top, but even that, I get it if guys feel like its not a great time to take 2-3 months away from family and community. Tough to criticize guys for being entitled for getting paid millions of dollars to play a game then also criticize them for acknowledging there are bigger things then basketball and saying now isn't a great time to drop off the map for a couple months to train for playoffs.

At the end of the day, I totally agree, its on individuals to make a choice for them and their families - credit to the NBA cause as you mention thats what they are going with from the sounds of it. Too many voices out there - but thats the era we live in.

I like all of the above!

Let's go woooooooooooooooooo

RAPTORS REPEAT BABY W KAWHI THE ONLY STAR TO KEEP ON PLAYING ASIDE FROM PASCALLLL

YOLO