Regular Degular Redux - 2019-20 NBA Season thread 2

i mean, he's not wrong

I do think letting the stars decide is the way to go

well it's sorta the reality one way or anothe r

what the

Stephen A Smith compares what Kyrie Irving and Dwight Howard are doing to rioting and destroying their own community

Max Kellerman "Rioting in their own communities? Black people don't own those communities" pic.twitter.com/YQXquGkDXm

— gifdsports (@gifdsports) June 15, 2020

kellerman's been about the shit on the espn

jesus christ

SAS is a fucking clown and always has been. if he gets canceled yesterday it’d have been too late

lol the look on his face he thought he had a layup won that tired old play

SAS is a fucking clown and always has been. if he gets canceled yesterday it’d have been too late

― k3vin k., Monday, June 15, 2020 8:17 PM (twenty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

otm, i have no idea why anyone even pays attention to what these guys say

i think he's entertaining enough in bite size clips here or there. no reason to take him seriously or watch him daily though.

he's very deferential to power... he's also very funny

the Drew Magary profile of him was great, I think it did a great job of getting to the essence of Stephen A Smith

fwiw I kinda love the guy even though he's wrong about basically everything. I cringe whenever he talks about any non-sports stuff b/c I know he's gonna say something terrible

It’s really funny when Stephen a smith talks football and thinks a retired player is starting that Sunday at tight end

J0rdan S.
Posted: June 15, 2020 at 4:16:25 PM
well it's sorta the reality one way or anothe r

wld be interested in hearing about how star players came to wield so much power union wise

The NBA has long presented itself as a league of star players, not a league of teams. Their influence with fans gives them leverage with owners, their leverage with owners gives them pre-eminence in the union.

idk if that really scans

i mean i guess marginal players cld be sucking up to stars to get jobs but that seems more like an edge case

like most personnel decisions arent influenced by stars, and most players arent stars but also not end of the bench guys in danger of falling out of the league if some star doesnt cosign them

breaking

Sources: NBA teams Disney hotels based on seeding:

-Grand Destino: Bucks, Lakers, Raptors, Clippers, Celtics, Nuggets, Jazz, Heat
-Grand Floridian: Thunder, 76ers, Rockets, Pacers, Mavericks, Nets, Grizzlies, Magic
-Yacht Club: Blazers, Kings, Pelicans, Spurs, Suns, Wizards

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 16, 2020

stars bring in the money. having an outsized effect on the league's profitability gives them outsized power.

yeah but in a union where everyone gets a vote whats the mechanism of that power

kyrie reeeeally trying to disrupt things

In a recent chat group with Nets players, Kyrie Irving lobbied for skipping the bubble, the Daily News has learned. In that chat, he also proposed that the players can start their own league, according to a source. https://t.co/SqC0wcccPJ

— Stefan Bondy (@SBondyNYDN) June 16, 2020

players league! players league!

I’ve noticed that amongst some of my more out there friends that lockdown has really sharpened a lot of their edges, so if that holds true this scans

by which I mean kyrie learning really hard into his antisocial shit

yeah makes sense

(only downside of the players league is i suspect the nba is actually a great deal for the players but still i want to see it)

when I game it out in my head the owners band together and spend billions to squash it, just lock them out of every stadium and gym in the country and bribe every city

i think someone wld take the players money

whats the mechanism of that power

in a nutshell, the pecking order. nba athletes are very aware of it. visibly setting yourself up in opposition to what the top players want and failing to rally enough support is a dangerous career move in a league that's as status-conscious as the NBA. only a very secure player would hazard it.

idk man

i mean the gms hire players not the other players

*except for lebron obvs

which isnt to say the stars dont have some influence on their teams personnel decisions but just going along w what the stars want in detriment to yr own interests doesnt make a ton of sense

i think the stars are maybe more organized cause they tend to stay in the league longer, they form a block and stack the union leadership etc in their favor, then peel off enough rank and file with glow/intimidation and it kinda makes sense

use Tidal as a model and promise only high quality play in the new league. Could make a convincing A/B reel from kyrie's last celtic season alone.

xp it's also a unique situation where some of the stars we have are really good at this stuff--like cp3 and lebron would have been leaders in any field they chose because they're so intelligent, savvy, and capable. also they really want to do it, they're not lone wolf types like mj or kobe.

nice to see kyrie at it again btw--a breakaway players league would be bled dry by litigation and create tremendous ill-will in the process.

wasn’t this the plot of high flying bird?

yeah

i forgot about that--is it any good?

my memory of that movie is mostly paying no mind to character or plot and just puzzling out how soderbergh was playing tricks with an iPhone camera

There was a Ringer thing yesterday saying that Kyrie “relished” going against Lebron in this that definitely made me go hmmm. A players league might be cool but could be really tough to figure out how to structure.

rumor going around that kyrie got mad at all of this cause he wanted to go to the bubble and they said only active players can

not sure that the theoretical players league is something you wanna do off the cuff with kyrie in charge is my major objection; this is something you organize and finance quietly and thoroughly for years

of course kyrie ultimately just wants us all to free our minds god bless him

Bless this man and his love of messy drama

to do it you need an exit strategy from the nba which would take really smart people years to develop

players can already leave the nba to play in another league if they want

i support comrade kyrie