Teams are boycotting games

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https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29750724/inside-hectic-hours-historic-nba-boycott

THE BIGGEST DEBATE in the meeting Wednesday night was whether the league could do more from inside its bubble in Orlando or outside.

Portland Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum challenged players who wanted to end the season not to forfeit this platform by just quietly returning to their homes.

Boston Celtics swingman Jaylen Brown asked his colleagues, "Are you going home to work? Or are you going home to be on the front lines?" Iguodala said that if they stop the season, the players should be on the front lines of Kentucky or Wisconsin. Otherwise, what was the point?

Some players were vocal about holding owners accountable and demanding they take concrete action, James among them.

Several players questioned the Bucks on why they had decided to strike without consulting other teams or players. Sources described the questioning of the Bucks and their unilateral action as "uncomfortable."

Bucks guard Kyle Korver said he understood why other players and teams were upset at being blindsided by Milwaukee's move. According to sources, Giannis Antetokounmpo stuck up for his team. Then Brown jumped in to defend the Bucks, saying they had nothing to apologize for.

Players and teams discussed voting on whether to continue. Clippers guard Patrick Beverley said he thought the coaches should leave the room so players could talk and vote among themselves.

"Some of you don't want to play, but you don't want to say it in front of the coaches," Beverley said, according to sources.

Rivers agreed and led the coaches out of the room.

But it didn't result in clarity. Many players said they wanted to continue playing, including the Bucks, sources said. Many did not. Players on the Lakers and Clippers voted not to continue the season, and several -- including James -- left the meeting early.

It was not seen as a formal vote. Just a moment of reckoning, after a day no one will soon forget.

"If we stop playing today," one front-office executive asked his players on Wednesday, "is that changing anything in the world? Will everyone else in the world just move on, and then will we lose our platforms?"

Another executive said, "The question we asked our players: What do you hope to accomplish by not playing the games? The answers were very different. I think that's something everyone is still formulating for themselves. What's the endgame here, and does not playing accomplish it?"

It's far too soon to know whether things will look clearer on Thursday. But the NBA had reached a point where it just needed to stop. To think, to feel, to plan.

Or maybe just to breathe.
 
At the end of the day, money talks. They can rationalize it all they want.
 
So the playoffs start back tmr. As a black man they should have held their ground. Now they basically just took a day off. They just did this so the base can’t say they didn’t care. You could have really created a shock to the system and establishment by ending the playoffs. But hey with money on the line they just got a free day off
 
AldoTrapani said:
So the playoffs start back tmr. As a black man they should have held their ground. Now they basically just took a day off. They just did this so the base can’t say they didn’t care. You could have really created a shock to the system and establishment by ending the playoffs. But hey with money on the line they just got a free day off
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Yeah, I'm sure the plan was to manufacture a way to squeeze in one more visit to "It's a small world after all".
 
Rastapopoulos said:
Yeah, I'm sure the plan was to manufacture a way to squeeze in one more visit to "It's a small world after all".
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They couldn’t even do a week. 1 day? Lol what a joke. They could have shocked the establishment and powers at be with so much money on the line. But hey the bosses said get back to work your day off is over
 
illmatic99 said:
Waiting to see all that falls out of this-- there has to be something. Getting the owners all in one room today was a first step.

But this was a fine line the players were walking. They have no platform if the bubble is burst because they go home. And the implications for the CBA next season would be massive.
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The implications for the CBA are already in effect. When they took away a percentage of the game checks from this season the invoked the force majeure clause. Now the owners will renegotiate the CBA there's no way in my mind that they won't. Woj said that they have until September to make that decision, he didn't say when in September (one time he said through September and the other time he said until). There has been no other reporting on when the owners have to make their decision since May 11, that's a lot of time for radio silence and such ambiguity. The NBA can't survive the next couple of seasons under it's current model and the fact that they have no start date currently for this next season is very telling. Big big changes will happen after these bubble playoffs come to a close. I wouldn't be surprised if after the playoffs are over the NBA announces that they are suspending next season until they can safely get fans in stadiums at full capacity (many players have financial obligations based on the continuing income of their current contracts so maybe a completely new model will have to be set up and it would have to be year to year... no long term new CBA can be expected with so much uncertainty.
 
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AldoTrapani said:
They couldn’t even do a week. 1 day? Lol what a joke. They could have shocked the establishment and powers at be with so much money on the line. But hey the bosses said get back to work your day off is over
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At least get it straight that it will be two days. Your consistent negativity without full information, then your "my bads", followed by your doubling back on negativity that you had previously said is staggering. The fact that you make judgments like this one with no clue as to what has been agreed to is indicative of your usual knee jerk reactions. Take a fucking beat and then form an at least minutely educated opinion for fucks sake. I mean that's just my advice, the beauty of it all is you are free to make as big of a fool of yourself and continuously diminish the value of your opinion as much as you want to.
 
blazerkor said:
At least get it straight that it will be two days. Your consistent negativity without full information, then your "my bads", followed by your doubling back on negativity that you had previously said is staggering. The fact that you make judgments like this one with no clue as to what has been agreed to is indicative of your usual knee jerk reactions. Take a fucking beat and then form an at least minutely educated opinion for fucks sake. I mean that's just my advice, the beauty of it all is you are free to make as big of a fool of yourself and continuously diminish the value of your opinion as much as you want to.
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Mmm I have to say in this instance I agree with him. If they dont end this season this is all for show and just a laugh. Take it in the pocketbook and show how much it means. Forgo a title and show us how much this means. Going back to the season now leaves underlying assumptions, etc. NO we dont know what was potentially worked out, but im willing to bet, hardly anything, because something like that would take much more than just one meeting.
 
Orion Bailey said:
Mmm I have to say in this instance I agree with him. If they dont end this season this is all for show and just a laugh. Take it in the pocketbook and show how much it means. Forgo a title and show us how much this means. Going back to the season now leaves underlying assumptions, etc. NO we dont know what was potentially worked out, but im willing to bet, hardly anything, because something like that would take much more than just one meeting.
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From what I've been reading the Bucks were willing to take it in the pocketbook. If the rest of the players and the league wouldn't have backed them up, all of the Bucks players would have been in breach of their contracts... the owner of the Bucks could have as he felt fit terminated whichever contracts he wanted to, the players on the Bucks didn't care. The rest of the players scheduled to play yesterday stepped up and supported them, I'm sure they were thinking that the league wouldn't want to terminate all of their contracts, like it could have but it was a risk. Then the players got together and I'm sure made a plan going forward that eventually included resuming play... your assumption that it's all or nothing is pretty narrow minded. At the very least the players made huge headlines yesterday about the seriousness with which they take these social justice issues but I would bet that they got more out of agreeing to finish these bubble playoffs than just headlines but we'll have to wait and find out. Finally, you don't know what the players decided the object of yesterday and today's stoppage is, in life we rarely get all of what we want but there is a very good possibility that the players collectively weighed out what they were being offered, the results of what ending the playoffs now would be and what they could or couldn't do without the media attention that will continue to be focused on the bubble. They decided that resuming play under whatever conclusions they came to among themselves and the league was what they felt was right, don't belittle these men by questioning their motives and goals.
 
blazerkor said:
From what I've been reading the Bucks were willing to take it in the pocketbook. If the rest of the players and the league wouldn't have backed them up, all of the Bucks players would have been in breach of their contracts... the owner of the Bucks could have as he felt fit terminated whichever contracts he wanted to, the players on the Bucks didn't care. The rest of the players scheduled to play yesterday stepped up and supported them, I'm sure they were thinking that the league wouldn't want to terminate all of their contracts, like it could have but it was a risk. Then the players got together and I'm sure made a plan going forward that eventually included resuming play... your assumption that it's all or nothing is pretty narrow minded. At the very least the players made huge headlines yesterday about the seriousness with which they take these social justice issues but I would bet that they got more out of agreeing to finish these bubble playoffs than just headlines but we'll have to wait and find out. Finally, you don't know what the players decided the object of yesterday and today's stoppage is, in life we rarely get all of what we want but there is a very good possibility that the players collectively weighed out what they were being offered, the results of what ending the playoffs now would be and what they could or couldn't do without the media attention that will continue to be focused on the bubble. They decided that resuming play under whatever conclusions they came to among themselves and the league was what they felt was right, don't belittle these men by questioning their motives and goals.
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Okay, but I can have my opinion that I think they just blew their chance at having a real impact, and it seems like money trumped ideals. Don't belittle others for having this opinion which is valid and fair.
 
The coaches, commentators and players have made some powerful political statements throughout this walkout so far....when is the last time athletes and professional sports figures called out to vote for change Nov 3rd? That's not using the walkout for just money...it's making a statement about the handling of a national crisis,,,post game interviews are not just about basketball this time around...when I see Doc Rivers and Robert Horry weeping on camera...it has an effect on me...that's not fluff
 
PtldPlatypus said:
My question is--what is the goal of the current boycott? Obviously I know the desire is racial justice, but is there a benchmark they're seeking to attain? Is it, "Once the police officers responsible for the Blake shooting are arrested, we'll return to the court"? Are they shutting down until there's a nationwide referendum on police training/funding? I don't in the slightest begrudge the players their right to use their platform to send a message, but what's the end-game for the present action?
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Sad part is the people they are trying to reach don’t even watch the NBA. I would say easily the majority of NBA fans stand by them.......(except a handful on here) The ones that need to hear this message won’t be tuned in anyway. Curious how the few in hear who are against kneeling for the flag/the BLM movement/are pro guns/support trump/think this virus is just a liberal hoax/sees nothing wrong with the confederate flag or statues...... How do they still support our Blazers?
 
Orion Bailey said:
Okay, but I can have my opinion that I think they just blew their chance at having a real impact, and it seems like money trumped ideals. Don't belittle others for having this opinion which is valid and fair.
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Don't use the word trump in here that's for the OT forum. Seriously though, you're right, you are one hundred percent entitled to having your own opinion and expressing it... I was expressing my difference to that opinion but in re-reading my response it may have been belittling to yours and for that I apologize.
 
THE HCP said:
Sad part is the people they are trying to reach don’t even watch the NBA. I would say easily the majority of NBA fans stand by them.......(except a handful on here) The ones that need to hear this message won’t be tuned in anyway. Curious how the few in hear who are against kneeling for the flag/the BLM movement/are pro guns/support trump/think this virus is just a liberal hoax/sees nothing wrong with the confederate flag or statues...... How do they still support our Blazers?
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This is more about reaching out to young kids and letting them know their heroes will not accept this anymore
 
blazerkor said:
Don't use the word trump in here that's for the OT forum. Seriously though, you're right, you are one hundred percent entitled to having your own opinion and expressing it... I was expressing my difference to that opinion but in re-reading my response it may have been belittling to yours and for that I apologize.
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All good. :)
 
This thread is not exempt from any political entity that has caused the boycott in my view..It's not neutral entertainment right now...it's a boycott for serious reasons...
 
Orion Bailey said:
Okay, but I can have my opinion that I think they just blew their chance at having a real impact, and it seems like money trumped ideals. Don't belittle others for having this opinion which is valid and fair.
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I agree with this 100%.. The players had the attention and control of the narrative and they were being backed up by even the teams, the league, and the sports media... and then they just gave it all back. What did yesterday and today really accomplish? A little bit of renewed focus, or a bunch of millionaires acting on emotion and then realizing that they would have to make financial sacrifices to make any real change and then backed down. It's disheartening, because I thought for once some people with power were finally going to say "this shit can't continue" and back it up with actions. The players have the power, they produce the product. But their agents or their advisers got into their ears and talked them down.
 
riverman said:
This is more about reaching out to young kids and letting them know their heroes will not accept this anymore
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Yeah, I don't know if you read that post by Moe Harkless or have been listening to LeBron but both of them mentioned their kids and the future. More importantly I don't think this is some kind of conceptual opinion to three quarters of the players in the NBA, they are literally having visceral reactions to this stuff, actual fear for their lives on a daily basis. Now people can spew skewed facts about them being more likely to be killed by another black man than by police but that's not the way they are feeling it and as some of them have said, because of their socioeconomic status it just isn't their reality. If one of those cops in the Moe Harkless situation or a situation Stephen A. talked about yesterday... if some of these cops aren't sports fans, we don't know how those situations would have turned out, how traumatic, how dangerous or even how deadly they could have been. This is the reality of what's going on between black men and the police in America and it's easy for me to have my opinion about it but it's not easy for black men to have to live it.
 
riverman said:
This is more about reaching out to young kids and letting them know their heroes will not accept this anymore
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Great point, but once again, the youth that follow the NBA and look at these players as heroes aren’t the ones who need this message. It’s the family in Kentucky whos parents proudly display a confederate flag on their truck that need to hear this message. I support the guys in what they are doing 100%, I just wish it was reaching the target audience.
 
chris_in_pdx said:
I agree with this 100%.. The players had the attention and control of the narrative and they were being backed up by even the teams, the league, and the sports media... and then they just gave it all back. What did yesterday and today really accomplish? A little bit of renewed focus, or a bunch of millionaires acting on emotion and then realizing that they would have to make financial sacrifices to make any real change and then backed down. It's disheartening, because I thought for once some people with power were finally going to say "this shit can't continue" and back it up with actions. The players have the power, they produce the product. But their agents or their advisers got into their ears and talked them down.
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Your first sentence has a lot of assumptions in it. We have no idea what teams and the league were telling the players and how much they had their back. Again, you and I don't know what the point of the stoppage was except for what the Bucks players said and that was seemingly a very quick decision. It would be nice if people with power finally said this shit can't continue but to expect the NBA players to sacrifice their livelihoods and ability, as Dame has said, to continue to impact their communities with the money they earn through play is completely unfair to the players. Why are they the ones (especially because they are part of the demographic being systematically marginalized in a number of ways) who need to be the only "powerful" people to step up? (I'm hoping you realize that their power is perceived and not even comparable to multibillionaires and the government) The truth is it's obviously your call if you're going to be disappointed with these guys but just understand that we don't know everything that went on behind the scenes yesterday and today.
 
blazerkor said:
At least get it straight that it will be two days. Your consistent negativity without full information, then your "my bads", followed by your doubling back on negativity that you had previously said is staggering. The fact that you make judgments like this one with no clue as to what has been agreed to is indicative of your usual knee jerk reactions. Take a fucking beat and then form an at least minutely educated opinion for fucks sake. I mean that's just my advice, the beauty of it all is you are free to make as big of a fool of yourself and continuously diminish the value of your opinion as much as you want to.
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Dude 2 days? You know the powers that be got them crumbling within 48 hours.
 
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