7 ms·

NBA commissioner Silver says Chinese government asked him to fire Rockets GM

94 points by bdz 7y ago

AnimalMuppet 7y ago
The NBA commissioner probably has the power to do that. Note that he, essentially, fired the owner of the Clippers. So, in principle, he probably could do it. In practice, there is absolutely no way he could do so. He'd destroy the NBA for at least a decade, maybe a generation.
ngcc_hk 7y ago
When you have 100 million, getting only 50m is hard. That is how chinese ccp play the game. That is how at least one nba player play the game. They will relax, tight, find some weaker ... they have taken control of 1.4 billion people. They know politics. God bless America.
remarkEon 7y ago
> "We made clear that we were being asked to fire him, by the Chinese government, by the parties we dealt with, government and business," Silver said. "We said there's no chance that's happening. There's no chance we'll even discipline him." Okay fine, but thus far it’s felt like the overriding concern here is the financial fallout. I don’t know how else to explain LeBron’s behavior recently. Maybe players are acting more independently now, hoping to get their own China deals and that the Player’s association would back them up?
- AnimalMuppet 7y ago
  LeBron is not the NBA, though. If he wants to not tarnish his personal brand in China (at the price of tarnishing it here in the USA), that's his choice. Don't blame the whole NBA for it. As for the NBA, I don't think that Silver had to say this. By saying it, he's shining a spotlight on China's attempt to destroy anyone who says anything bad about them.
  - djmips 7y ago
    He wasn't going to say this and probably didn't want to bring it to light since it's possibly damaging to the NBA relationship with China but it's a calculated risk to try shore up the NBA's reputation in America. That's my take.
atonse 7y ago
That's admirable that he is showing restraint. But bigger moneyed interests might play into this over time.
nodesocket 7y ago
The NBA is absolutely huge in China, while it would be a big hit to owners and franchisees, the NBA should announce they are pulling out of everything in China indefinitely. This strategy would reverse the pressure back onto China, as Chinese citizens will be very upset to not have NBA games and merchandise available. It would shift the focus back onto the Chinese government from its own citizens.
- yongjik 7y ago
  I really don't see how a freaking basketball franchise could make Chinese people angry at their government. Remember Dixie Chicks? The only thing they did was to say "We're ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas," right before Bush invaded Iraq. There wasn't even any government action necessary - radio stations blacklisted them for years. They pretty much sunk into a black hole. Beijing just has to say that NBA insulted China. They wouldn't even need to ban anything (although I think they probably will) - the angry people will do the job. Don't underestimate the efficacy of a well-tuned propaganda.
- rjf72 7y ago
  Reverse the situation and imagine how you would feel. Say China was running extensive media in favor of an increasingly China-friendly group within the US equally unpopular with both average US citizens and the US government, but quite popular with Chinese citizens and the Chinese government. And now a Chinese executive in charge of a Chinese product popular in the US, spoke out in favor of this group. Following US pressure with implied economic threats, he not only refused to retract his statements but chose to completely pull his company's product from the US - perhaps iPhones, which we'll pretend could be made nowhere other than China for the sake of the hypothetical. Are you going to be mad at the US government? Most likely this would just work to further evangelize anti-China and anti-China-friendly group sentiment within the US. And I think this is true without even getting into the cultural differences in terms of things like nationalism. I think in your comment you're probably transplanting the average US citizen worldview onto the average Chinese citizen. In that case your idea would very much work, but that's not the case here.
  - 7y ago
NicoJuicy 7y ago
So, they don't want us to think about lives in Hong Kong. But they interfere with other countries to literally try to get lives destroyed. Yeah, so people were wondering why i was Anti-China i suppose? :p

94 points by bdz 7y ago

The NBA commissioner probably has the power to do that. Note that he, essentially, fired the owner of the Clippers. So, in principle, he probably could do it. In practice, there is absolutely no way he could do so. He'd destroy the NBA for at least a decade, maybe a generation.

ngcc_hk 7y ago

When you have 100 million, getting only 50m is hard. That is how chinese ccp play the game. That is how at least one nba player play the game. They will relax, tight, find some weaker ... they have taken control of 1.4 billion people. They know politics. God bless America.

remarkEon 7y ago

> "We made clear that we were being asked to fire him, by the Chinese government, by the parties we dealt with, government and business," Silver said. "We said there's no chance that's happening. There's no chance we'll even discipline him." Okay fine, but thus far it’s felt like the overriding concern here is the financial fallout. I don’t know how else to explain LeBron’s behavior recently. Maybe players are acting more independently now, hoping to get their own China deals and that the Player’s association would back them up?

AnimalMuppet 7y ago
LeBron is not the NBA, though. If he wants to not tarnish his personal brand in China (at the price of tarnishing it here in the USA), that's his choice. Don't blame the whole NBA for it. As for the NBA, I don't think that Silver had to say this. By saying it, he's shining a spotlight on China's attempt to destroy anyone who says anything bad about them.
- djmips 7y ago
  He wasn't going to say this and probably didn't want to bring it to light since it's possibly damaging to the NBA relationship with China but it's a calculated risk to try shore up the NBA's reputation in America. That's my take.

atonse 7y ago

That's admirable that he is showing restraint. But bigger moneyed interests might play into this over time.

nodesocket 7y ago

The NBA is absolutely huge in China, while it would be a big hit to owners and franchisees, the NBA should announce they are pulling out of everything in China indefinitely. This strategy would reverse the pressure back onto China, as Chinese citizens will be very upset to not have NBA games and merchandise available. It would shift the focus back onto the Chinese government from its own citizens.

yongjik 7y ago
I really don't see how a freaking basketball franchise could make Chinese people angry at their government. Remember Dixie Chicks? The only thing they did was to say "We're ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas," right before Bush invaded Iraq. There wasn't even any government action necessary - radio stations blacklisted them for years. They pretty much sunk into a black hole. Beijing just has to say that NBA insulted China. They wouldn't even need to ban anything (although I think they probably will) - the angry people will do the job. Don't underestimate the efficacy of a well-tuned propaganda.
rjf72 7y ago
Reverse the situation and imagine how you would feel. Say China was running extensive media in favor of an increasingly China-friendly group within the US equally unpopular with both average US citizens and the US government, but quite popular with Chinese citizens and the Chinese government. And now a Chinese executive in charge of a Chinese product popular in the US, spoke out in favor of this group. Following US pressure with implied economic threats, he not only refused to retract his statements but chose to completely pull his company's product from the US - perhaps iPhones, which we'll pretend could be made nowhere other than China for the sake of the hypothetical. Are you going to be mad at the US government? Most likely this would just work to further evangelize anti-China and anti-China-friendly group sentiment within the US. And I think this is true without even getting into the cultural differences in terms of things like nationalism. I think in your comment you're probably transplanting the average US citizen worldview onto the average Chinese citizen. In that case your idea would very much work, but that's not the case here.
- 7y ago

NicoJuicy 7y ago

So, they don't want us to think about lives in Hong Kong. But they interfere with other countries to literally try to get lives destroyed. Yeah, so people were wondering why i was Anti-China i suppose? :p