This isn't only Silver's call. He must have the support of a strong Players Union when making these decisions and they are only going to go along with so much as far as penalties go. His hands are kinda tied in many cases. Look at what he did when he did have support....Sterling banned for life the next day. Stuff like that can't happen with players.
A good NBA team, in midseason shape, properly motivated, would obliterate any other non-NBA team in the world....and I'm being generous.
I don't think that's off the table, but Silver has to establish a rhythm for this event, fix the early-edition bugs with it, get fans used to the idea, and then he can start experimenting again. Just doing this at all - with basically no net-new games or changes to the league calendar writ large - is an achievement. If we get through year 3 and the ticket prices and ratings for tournament games are double that of the adjacent non-tournament games, and some fans are saying stuff like "well at least the year wasn't a total waste, we did win the NBA Cup, that was awesome, I wish I'd gone to Vegas for it", he will have latitude to think more creatively about it - and will have a receptive audience for those ideas among the players, union and ownership.
Jan Vesley says bring it on
Any professional team. The Wizards would get absolutely waxed by the French or Canadian National Team (with NBA players not on their team playing for their nation).
Ok, but at the same time for Silver to go along with the Warriors' soft punishment of a fine and no suspension for Draymond's punch of Poole last season shows he has no interest in even using player safety to assert shit that just can't fly. I suppose we'll get a true read this time around since this cannot be blown off as an "internal team incident", it happened during game action.
Do I really think he should be charged with attempted murder? No. But shrugging off a player trying to choke another player out is fucked up if Rudy's on the level.
All of a sudden, I only think Rudy is kind of a douche.
IMO, he has to get at least 10 games. I think the chances of that are small but a message needs to be sent.
Sorry. I used to think he was a douche. Now only kinda (his covid press conference was brutal).
This goes back to the comment about the GS broadcasters up thread. Even the Athletic called them out today with this:
I admit that I love Kerr, and I get the imperative for a coach to defend his players in public no matter what they might say behind closed doors. But he and the broadcasters really just make themselves look absurd.
Yeah, I don't really mind a coach defending their team/players and trying some gamesmanship through comments in the media. We shouldn't expect them to be a non-partisan source of perspective and information.
The internet is so awesome sometimes:The starting point for any punishment should be greater due to his mega-repeat offender status.
Basically, Draymond every time:
Agree with all that. But it's the problem when you're in bed with someone who is mentally unbalanced, as Draymond clearly is (someone close to his wife tells me quite convincingly -- YMMV -- that he's quite abusive within his family, too). Dealing with those type of characters is a bit like telling Kyrie the earth isn't flat: will not get through. That said, the way to hold the organization accountable is to hold Draymond accountable. If he's actually suspended for his egregious acts and if during regular games he's held to the same standards as other NBA players, then the organization will pay the price of a big contract for a guy who would often be either unavailable or less effective since he's being called on his BS.
The reasoning to me has always been simple and why I've been a huge proponent of this thing.
Kerr seems like a really good guy off of the court. I've always appreciated his stance on social issues and he seems to be a very thoughtful, intelligent person.
Wait, so when it costs him nothing and garners him praise he is a “good guy”. I don’t buy into this decision rule for judging a man. One of his players assaulted another of his players, no problem. Assaults opponents, no problem. Other team player plays hard(Marcus Smart), Kerr questions his character. Fuck this guy.
I don't think anyone would hold that against him if he didn't act holier than thou when an opponent does something that Draymond does nearly nightly. Kerr broke the code.
So what do you want him to do....not support his player for him to receive a longer suspension? Piss off Steph for not supporting his guy and now have to play without him for a longer period of time? Doing this is what is breaking the code of a coach throwing his player under the bus. All NBA players know that their actions are always defended by the Head Coach and the NBAPA. No coach is losing his player or his team over this.....and I've been on the "Kerr is overrated" train for awhile but he's doing this part of the job the only way he can.
There is. He could say something like his guys are super competitive and things can get heated and look worse under a microscope than they the seem to someone competing in the moment. There are defenses that can be made that are not obvious over the top bullshit.
I don't think that's a great comp either since a big part of the FA Cup is lower league teams competing against the big boys and there's a chance for a Cinderella run through the competition by one of them. Also, some of the FA Cup games I've tuned into have had shockingly low crowds which I found odd.
I agree this would be a better response but aside from those of us scrutinizing and braking down every play the majority of people hearing him say this take him for his word. The suspensions that come from this will be interesting...
You said this way more gently than I did. He didn't miss it. He saw it, and then gaslighted the press about it. Just disgusting.
Defend his guys all he wants. Do that while not also attacking other teams or players when the shoe is on the other foot (I.e. Grizzlies last year "broke the code" rant, Smart diving for the ball, etc.) when you're coaching a team with Draymond on it. Unless the comments weren't widely reported, Chris Finch managed to defend his guys last night without going after Draymond for being a clown.
Kerr literally threw McDaniels under the bus for last night, immediately, blaming him for starting the whole thing (when it was clear to anyone with two sets of eye balls that Klay grabbed him first).
I didn’t expect (or think he should have) thrown Draymond under the bus.
Well said. The "you expect him to throw his guys under the bus" trope is a red herring. i don't think anyone said that. But Kerr buying into a "Rudy started it..." implying Rudy deserved it thing is where the criticism is.
50% over what? Last year? Are you talking about RSNs or the TNT/ESPN games? NBA ratings are pretty low so I'm not sure if a 50% increase is good or not.
Source
You are correct that they aren't getting peak sitcom audiences but by all measures the NBA is getting more eyeballs overall as a result of the tournament.
>50% of fans will never see the video. I'd guess closer to 80% never will and only go by the words that they heard.
