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I’ll expand on this by pulling two sequential quotations in the article from NBA commissioner Adam Silver: "It is inevitable that people around the world -- in

I’ll expand on this by pulling two sequential quotations in the article from NBA commissioner Adam Silver: "It is inevitable that people around the world -- including America and China -- will have different viewpoints over different issues. It is not the role of the NBA to adjudicate those differences.” Bullshit, see North Carolina. “However, the NBA will not put itself in a position of regulating what players, employees and team owners say or will not say on these issues. We simply could not operate that way." Bullshit, see Donald Sterling.

adamiscool8 7y ago
I agree with your callout of the NBA's blatant hypocrisy on adjudicating political issues, but Donald Sterling's comments were definitely not a good faith contribution regarding an issue of public contention.
cthalupa 7y ago
>Bullshit, see Donald Sterling. Yeah, blatant racism, including against some of the biggest stars in the NBA's history, is definitely the same thing here. That's not regulating political discourse - that's not allowing a racist to be in a position of power over the very people he is prejudiced against.
- i_am_nomad 7y ago
  No one said anything about political discourse, just about differing opinions on various issues. Surely, racism is one of them. And just so you know, the prevailing Chinese opinion on that is quite a bit different that what we believe in the West.
  - danharaj 7y ago
    Do you think that the extent of racism is what opinions you hold?
    - i_am_nomad 7y ago
      No, but since you asked, can you tell me what racist things Donald Sterling did, besides make some comments in private?
      - gamblor956 7y ago
        Donald Sterling settled multiple racial discrimination lawsuits related to his openly racist criteria for putative tenants in his apartment buildings... See e.g. https://www.espn.com/nba/news/story?id=4619819 https://www.espn.com/nba/news/story?id=4619819
        i_am_nomad 7y ago
        Then we have to wonder why the NBA let him own a team in the first place.
        gamblor956 7y ago
        Google is your friend. Donald Sterling bought the Clippers in 1981. At the time, he was a former trial lawyer that had made millions purchasing and selling high-end ultra-luxury apartment/condo buildings in West LA. (He used to run multiple ads in every issue of the LA Times.) His forays into the low-income housing developments to which the racial discrimination lawsuits relate did not begin until some years after he had purchased the Clippers. His racism was not well known because the Internet didn't exist back then and he spent millions annually on self-promotion, including sizable annual donations to the NAACP.
- rdiddly 7y ago
  You're headed off into the weeds a little. The point was that the NBA does regulate what the players, owners and employees say.
  - cthalupa 7y ago
    >You're headed off into the weeds a little. The point was that the NBA does regulate what the players, owners and employees say. No - I'm being realistic. Silver's point is quite obviously they do not want to step in on political disputes and things of that nature. If anyone was taking him as saying that they wouldn't do anything if they found out an owner was spewing racist rhetoric, they're being obtuse. To take it to the point of absurdity - would you expect an owner sharing Sterling's views to be able to go around on TV repeatedly saying the N word and then use that quote from Silver as a defense and reason as to why they shouldn't be banned from the league? The issue with that sort of behavior, and Sterling's, is that it shows he is unfit to work in a sport where roughly 75% of the players are black. How can you fairly run a team full of black players if you are plainly prejudiced against them? How can you participate in the owner's meetings where so much policy is set? It wasn't just about what he said - it was also about how it effected the professional players on his team and in the league, as well as what it could mean in the future. Comparing Sterling's actions with someone speaking about the Hong Kong protests is horribly obtuse.

adamiscool8 7y ago

I agree with your callout of the NBA's blatant hypocrisy on adjudicating political issues, but Donald Sterling's comments were definitely not a good faith contribution regarding an issue of public contention.

cthalupa 7y ago

>Bullshit, see Donald Sterling. Yeah, blatant racism, including against some of the biggest stars in the NBA's history, is definitely the same thing here. That's not regulating political discourse - that's not allowing a racist to be in a position of power over the very people he is prejudiced against.

i_am_nomad 7y ago
No one said anything about political discourse, just about differing opinions on various issues. Surely, racism is one of them. And just so you know, the prevailing Chinese opinion on that is quite a bit different that what we believe in the West.
- danharaj 7y ago
  Do you think that the extent of racism is what opinions you hold?
  - i_am_nomad 7y ago
    No, but since you asked, can you tell me what racist things Donald Sterling did, besides make some comments in private?
    - gamblor956 7y ago
      Donald Sterling settled multiple racial discrimination lawsuits related to his openly racist criteria for putative tenants in his apartment buildings... See e.g. https://www.espn.com/nba/news/story?id=4619819 https://www.espn.com/nba/news/story?id=4619819
      - i_am_nomad 7y ago
        Then we have to wonder why the NBA let him own a team in the first place.
        gamblor956 7y ago
        Google is your friend. Donald Sterling bought the Clippers in 1981. At the time, he was a former trial lawyer that had made millions purchasing and selling high-end ultra-luxury apartment/condo buildings in West LA. (He used to run multiple ads in every issue of the LA Times.) His forays into the low-income housing developments to which the racial discrimination lawsuits relate did not begin until some years after he had purchased the Clippers. His racism was not well known because the Internet didn't exist back then and he spent millions annually on self-promotion, including sizable annual donations to the NAACP.
rdiddly 7y ago
You're headed off into the weeds a little. The point was that the NBA does regulate what the players, owners and employees say.
- cthalupa 7y ago
  >You're headed off into the weeds a little. The point was that the NBA does regulate what the players, owners and employees say. No - I'm being realistic. Silver's point is quite obviously they do not want to step in on political disputes and things of that nature. If anyone was taking him as saying that they wouldn't do anything if they found out an owner was spewing racist rhetoric, they're being obtuse. To take it to the point of absurdity - would you expect an owner sharing Sterling's views to be able to go around on TV repeatedly saying the N word and then use that quote from Silver as a defense and reason as to why they shouldn't be banned from the league? The issue with that sort of behavior, and Sterling's, is that it shows he is unfit to work in a sport where roughly 75% of the players are black. How can you fairly run a team full of black players if you are plainly prejudiced against them? How can you participate in the owner's meetings where so much policy is set? It wasn't just about what he said - it was also about how it effected the professional players on his team and in the league, as well as what it could mean in the future. Comparing Sterling's actions with someone speaking about the Hong Kong protests is horribly obtuse.