Milwaukee Bucks boycott Game 5 vs Orlando

Ed Hillel

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Good for them. LeBron will be out protesting and mobilizing voters. For years, people have told Kaepernick to shut up and make change rather than complain about it, well here you go. I'm guessing those same people will not applaud his efforts.
 

BaseballJones

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The other teams should keep playing then. If they all wanted to stop, that's one thing. But if they all wanted to keep playing except LeBron and the Clips....then clearly they're not unified on this and shouldn't feel forced to give in.
 

ifmanis5

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I don't see this as a definite ending yet. I doubt games happen tomorrow but until Silver puts out the official announcement it's not over.
Well done by LeBron though, he's really risen to this role.
 

The Social Chair

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The owners will terminate the CBA if the NBA season is canceled. That would almost certainly lead to a lockout next season, and have long term ramifications.

Lebron's legacy and wealth is set. The younger players may not be prepared to make this big decision within the course of a 2 hr meeting.

I feel for the players. This has to be a really tough decision.
 

Light-Tower-Power

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I’m having trouble embedding tweets on mobile but David Aldridge tweeted that the meeting ended “ugly” and there’s still uncertainty about what happens tomorrow. This is exactly what I was worried about. Bubble infighting isn’t good for anything.
 

Ed Hillel

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The owners will terminate the CBA if the NBA season is canceled. That would almost certainly lead to a lockout next season, and have long term ramifications.

Lebron's legacy and wealth is set. The younger players may not be prepared to make this big decision within the course of a 2 hr meeting.

I feel for the players. This has to be a really tough decision.
LeBron might feel he has a bigger responsibility to the community at large than to the NBA community.
 

Jed Zeppelin

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I’m sorry for the unimportant interlude but I need a minute here...Udonis Haslem is STILL ACTIVE? Does he need to hit a certain number of years before the Miami bylaws demand that he be memorialized in stature form?

Good for them. LeBron will be out protesting and mobilizing voters. For years, people have told Kaepernick to shut up and make change rather than complain about it, well here you go. I'm guessing those same people will not applaud his efforts.
Frankly, the movement needed allies four years ago but a metric fucktonne of people failed Colin Kaepernick. Where are we today if, oh I dunno, coworkers Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers took a knee? Would have cost them nothing.

LeBron was made for this moment, as he has as much cultural cachet as any man alive in a league of the most recognizable superstars in the world outside of the top footballers. I think the season will continue but not without the King making something happen here.

LeBron is going to be a fixture for as long as he wants to be. His son is going to play in the NBA, he can become an owner someday if he wants, or the goddamned Commissioner. The owners can’t simply ignore this.
 

JCizzle

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The other teams should keep playing then. If they all wanted to stop, that's one thing. But if they all wanted to keep playing except LeBron and the Clips....then clearly they're not unified on this and shouldn't feel forced to give in.
Honestly, I think there's room to applaud all the players in this. They're all working toward an admirable goal. Not my place to say if it's better to do that from afar (LAL & LAC) or with access to cameras and TV for the next month of playoff action. I think there's something to be said for us not hearing much about the non-bubble players who are undoubtedly doing great things in their communities. It just doesn't get the same coverage. I have zero issues with whatever the Celtics decide.
 

McBride11

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LeBron is showing that he’s the leader that MJ never wanted to be
Very well put. MJ avoided these scenarios, LBJ is embracing it. Beyond all his other good deeds, like funding that school in Akron. I cannot stand LBJ as a player but as a PERSON, LBJ is a good person and I think genuinely cares.
 

Light-Tower-Power

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GoJeff!

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It's amazing how much the NBA is leading this country this year. The NBA shutting down made everyone take covid seriously. Hopefully this protest will have a similar effect on seriously dealing with the police.
 

HowBoutDemSox

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Light-Tower-Power

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I think we can all agree, maybe, that the players will need to unify one way or the other. If this turns into a public clusterfuck, which would be inevitable given how everything leaks nothing in the league is a secret, it would be bad for the players’ messaging and bad for the league as a whole. A fractured league is seemingly the worst possible outcome here.
 

Bunt Single

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Well, at its core as far as the NBA owners are concerned, it's a labor dispute now and it seems like they're going to have to make some kind of concessions to the players if the players are going to finish the season. I'm using appeasement in the literal sense of the word here.
I don't think categories like "owners" and "labor dispute" really describe the dynamics at work here. Right now, the players hold all the leverage. When Silver speaks about shifting from an Owner paradigm to language like "partnership" in today's NBA he's looking for a way to describe a fundamentally new dynamic.

Star NBA players are assembling themselves in teams chosen as much by themselves as by team owners. They have laid claim to a share of the profits they generate as athletic brands, and in the process they have laid claim to themselves as personal brands. From Magic Johnson to Michael Jordan to Dwayne Wade to, of course, LeBron James, their participation in the management of their careers and their teams has increased. Now it has tipped the scale in some fundamental industry way.

(Remember LeBron described his decision to "take his talents" to Miami? Those words sound kind of different now, don't they?)

Sure, in capitalist terms, the owners do legally "own" their teams. But then, all the those teams have to sell is their players' talent. And they don'w own that talent -- not outright, not unencumbered. Those talents belong, in partnership, to the players, too.

It's such a diametrically different setting for a sport than, say, that shaping the NFL. Which is one of the reasons I have been drawn to the NBA over the past few years.

....
Sorry, off topic. My main point is, this does not feel like a "labor dispute" in any simple sense. The key decisions about playing or not playing, and what to do with this moment we are all facing -- those decisions seem to me to have shifted to the players' hands. Right now, it's up to the players to figure out next steps. And then it will be up to players and owners both to find to figure out how their symbiotic partnership goes forward.
 

Light-Tower-Power

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These opinions seem to be positioned solely through the lens of the NBA. I’d say either of these things happening, provided they are accompanied by societal progress, are really far from the worst possible outcome.
This is the Port Cellar...

Didn't mean to come off as snarky but this is the place to discuss the NBA through the lens of the NBA.
 

Marciano490

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I think we can all agree, maybe, that the players will need to unify one way or the other. If this turns into a public clusterfuck, which would be inevitable given how everything leaks nothing in the league is a secret, it would be bad for the players’ messaging and bad for the league as a whole. A fractured league is seemingly the worst possible outcome here.
Why would we expect there to be one unified voice or message? And why would that be important for the message? I don’t follow the logic or the parameters.
 

Light-Tower-Power

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Why would we expect there to be one unified voice or message? And why would that be important for the message? I don’t follow the logic or the parameters.
I think if it becomes a public soap opera the league drama will become a distraction from any individual player’s message.
 

uncannymanny

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This is the Port Cellar...

Didn't mean to come off as snarky but this is the place to discuss the NBA through the lens of the NBA.
Did I miss where this action was taken to be in the best interests of the league and not society? If you’re only interested in how this affects the playoffs and salaries that’s fine I guess, but it doesn’t change my reply to those posts without that qualifier.
 

Light-Tower-Power

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There really isn't any drama though. They are unified in the fact that change needs to be made. Cooler heads will prevail tomorrow or the next day and there will be a way to move forward either avenue they pick.
Yeah, this is my hope. I do think there was a lot of drama in the past few hours though.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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I think we can all agree, maybe, that the players will need to unify one way or the other. If this turns into a public clusterfuck, which would be inevitable given how everything leaks nothing in the league is a secret, it would be bad for the players’ messaging and bad for the league as a whole. A fractured league is seemingly the worst possible outcome here.
no, the players don't need to agree nor (to drag up an old topic) do the protestors have to have a unified message).

What is going on here is a visceral reaction to horrible events and a group of people finally getting the support they have deserved for decades. Like we don't necessarily have all the answers for a novel virus, we have an idea what the end goal is even if there are differing opinions on how to get there.

Besides, if a large enough group of certain players walk out of the Bubble, the decision is made for everyone.
 

DannyDarwinism

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It sucks that spaces on-line where these discussions often take place are so infested with dipshittery that my concern-trolling radar is on constant alert.
 

InstaFace

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Colin Kapernick lost the prime years of his career, tens of millions of dollars, and has been made out as a villain and traitor for most of the country, for taking this stand.

This is not without risk for the players.
On the flip side, Kaepernick really and truly did start this whole ball rolling, his sacrifice motivated many other people to view their sport as a vehicle to make a social protest, and so I think it'll be his name in the history books long after the vast majority of his contemporaries have passed peoples' lips for the final time. That'll be more comfort than many NFL athletes get once their playing days are over.
 

BigSoxFan

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Let’s say Lakers and Clippers are, indeed, out but everyone else wishes to remain. You could just have Blazers/Mavs play in the WCF and the East remains untouched. People would obviously put an asterisk on whoever wins but they probably do that anyways. Logistically, it could work.

With that said, I think it would be more powerful for a full cancellation, as it would invite questions for the other sports. The NFL obviously won’t cancel anything and neither with MLB or NHL but they may feel pressured to address the issue in a way that helps move the cause forward, even if it’s for purely business reasons.

Will be interesting to see if LeBron and Kawhi hold firm. I hope they do.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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Oh Jesus, forget it. I’ve always kept my cool on this site but this really pisses me off. I didn’t say anything even close to that. Public infighting, if it happens, would be classic NBA Twitter fodder that could distract from the bigger picture.
If it distracts from the bigger picture, those people are choosing to look away.

The league is an artificial construct. The people involved are very real, however, and like every population, there are a range of views. None of this should surprise any adult. The players opinions are the only ones that matter.
 

Kliq

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Oh Jesus, forget it. I’ve always kept my cool on this site but this really pisses me off. I didn’t say anything even close to that. Public infighting, if it happens, would be classic NBA Twitter fodder that could distract from the bigger picture.
Don't let PC get you frustrated, his accusation was bullshit but lobbing those around is kind of his shtick.

I agree in the sense that personally (not that what I think should really matter to the players) I can accept whatever players choose to do as the right decision. If some teams, like the LA teams, truly want to leave the bubble because they are uncomfortable playing and/or want to make the biggest impact possible, that is something that I can accept. I can also accept that certain teams/players may feel differently and want to continue to play. If the playoffs resume and several teams have been eliminated because they did not want to play, it would be a massive deal and obviously take a lot of momentum away from the season, but it is easy for me as a fan to accept those decisions.

I am concerned that if that does happen, the discussions will center not on WHY the LA teams, but center around why the remaining players/teams are still playing. I think it is unfair to expect all NBA players to accept the burden of boycotting the season, particularly young players who are going to be impacted by the next CBA. There are valid reasons for why players should not play and why they should play, and ultimately each individual has the full right to make that decision for themselves. I fear that the general public though, will see NBA Players as a monolithic block, and unless all teams agree on one specific action, people will be focused on why the players didn't agree as opposed to accepting the validity of the individual choices.