And so....it begins! NBA Season Restarts! July 30th - October 12th.

[JayBirdHawk]

 

CP3 is the President, Irving is the VP - didn't y'all discuss with the rest of the excutive committee, then take it to team reps who would take it to the general members for some kind of feedback???? Sigh.

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[High5]

If players aren't comfortable playing in these conditions and/or they want to take a stand on social issues then that's certainly their prerogative. I just wish this movement wasn't being led by Kyrie. He's a pseudo-intellectual who will say anything for attention and he's not playing anyway.

[Spud2nique]

23 minutes ago, High5 said:

He's a pseudo-intellectual who will say anything for attention and he's not playing anyway.

Agreed. Kyrie is a bit of a nut bag. The earth is flat and so on. 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

Michele Roberts prepared for players testing positive for COVID-19

Michele Roberts told the Globe the NBPA is prepared for several players to test positive just because of the contagiousness of the virus, regardless of the league’s safety measures and social distancing. “Of course [the players] understand it could be a positive test and they want to know what the protocol is,” Roberts said this past week. “No one is saying, ‘Suppose a player tests positive?’ We’re beyond that. The question now is, ‘When a player tests positive, what are we going to do?’ ”

“That’s the only realistic mind-set you can have going into this. A player is going to test positive,” Roberts said. “It’s not any more of this ‘if’, it’s ‘when’ and what can I do to mitigate against the ‘when.’ When it happens, if I’m not successful, what treatment is available to me, what are my chances of being really, really sick, and how are you detecting the presence of an infection? Honestly, I don’t think this is any different than what any American has to come to grips with.”

Roberts said no player is being mandated to play and there will be no repercussions — besides financially — if a player decides to sit out the season. “I don’t believe any player would say this was forced upon them, it’s not,” she said. “Not a single player has to play. This is not involuntary servitude. I don’t have to work. They don’t have to work. But it’s of course a mitigation of risk with the players. On this health and safety protocol, I’m satisfied that it can’t be any better than this. But I’m candid that it’s not bulletproof.

-via Boston Globe

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

On 6/13/2020 at 12:02 AM, High5 said:

If players aren't comfortable playing in these conditions and/or they want to take a stand on social issues then that's certainly their prerogative. I just wish this movement wasn't being led by Kyrie. He's a pseudo-intellectual who will say anything for attention and he's not playing anyway.

 

On 6/13/2020 at 12:26 AM, Spud2nique said:

Agreed. Kyrie is a bit of a nut bag. The earth is flat and so on. 

It may be lead by him but other players are voicing concerns. They just want to HEARD! Why wasn't this a discussion with the entire NBAPA before though. Seems the 'top end stars' pushed it through??

 

 

[Spud2nique]

17 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

HEARD

Honestly with Kyrie I don’t know if this is true. I question his motives and he doesn’t represent anyone but himself. 

[JayBirdHawk]

40 minutes ago, Spud2nique said:

Honestly with Kyrie I don’t know if this is true. I question his motives and he doesn’t represent anyone but himself. 

He is not the only player who is against playing. Forget the messenger, listen to their message.

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[bleachkit]

On 6/13/2020 at 12:02 AM, High5 said:

If players aren't comfortable playing in these conditions and/or they want to take a stand on social issues then that's certainly their prerogative. I just wish this movement wasn't being led by Kyrie. He's a pseudo-intellectual who will say anything for attention and he's not playing anyway.

Psudo-intellectual is being too kind. More like self-centered dumb-a**.

[kg01]

Not here to defend Kyme, but can we put the flat earth thing to rest?  He said that to illustrate that the media would take any dumb thing and run with it.  I'd say he was right.

[Spud2nique]

2 hours ago, kg01 said:

Not here to defend Kyme, but can we put the flat earth thing to rest?  He said that to illustrate that the media would take any dumb thing and run with it.  I'd say he was right.

Ohhhh ur not gonna like the PM I sent before reading this reading Kyrie.  Ok fine I’ll give you the flat earth thing but hasn’t he said a few other stupid things since? I dunno he strikes me as a shady individual but like Bird said I’m trying to hear the message and not the messenger. 

Edited June 15, 2020 by Spud2nique

[macdaddy]

If there is opposition then someone other than Kyrie and Dwight need to be in the forefront.  Regardless of what folks think of them I'm just not convinced either guy has widespread respect of the players off the court.   

[AHF]

11 hours ago, kg01 said:

Not here to defend Kyme, but can we put the flat earth thing to rest?  He said that to illustrate that the media would take any dumb thing and run with it.  I'd say he was right.

It makes for a curious spokesman to have someone known to peddle in conspiracy theories that some people do legitimately believe just to get some lols at the media.  As if there aren't athletes, politicians and other public figures who say this stuff and mean it.  And he has said similar things like that he doesn't believe in dinosaurs, etc.   

Kyrie has been a curious guy his whole career.  He was notably immature in Cleveland where he didn't want to be overshadowed by the obviously superior LeBron James.  In Boston, he threw his teammates under the bus several times (both young and vets) and repeatedly talked about how he was doing some of the coaching there or educating Brad Stevens on the game.  He publicly committed to resign with Boston.  Then ended up bailing for the Nyets when he couldn't elevate the team in any meaningful way.

Then there is just the weirdness of how he communicates:

Quote

Hermetic Friends, Inc. My light Brothers and Sisters! The age of No More Secrets is upon us. World Peace will be achieved in our life time and we better Effin believe it! Let them have the fabricated bull****. That genuine love and energy spreads all over the world. Eye see all.  I AM

Quote

Steak Doesn't Come From Anything Natural

Quote

I'm an Actual Genius When It Comes to This Game

Can't say how many times he has referred to himself as being super intellectual / genius but it is a lot.  

Between his mixed messaging on things, his obvious selfishness, and the fact that he literally can't play this season, he makes a far from ideal spokesperson on this issue.  If he didn't share his views in the weeks while this was being contemplated and has chosen to take his case directly to the public rather than his union brothers then that is another issue.  

As an aside, I'd say that there will be much more opportunity to make the public case for why Black Lives Matter and the protests are important with games than without.  No one is paying much attention to MLB or NFL players right now because they aren't playing.  If games resume, the NBA and its players will become lightning rods for attention.  Seems like there is the opportunity to work out a player's union message or joint league / union message (segment with testimonials, highlighting cases, highlighting statistics, etc.) as part of the broadcast where they could make the case in a very direct way.  Not sure if the networks would go along with that or not but now would be the time to have that conversation. 

[AHF]

Rather than looking back at his history, let's pull another quote from Kyrie this weekend that illustrates why he is a terrible spokesperson for the players:

Quote

There’s only 20 guys actually getting paid, and I’m part of that. Let’s not pretend there’s not a tiered system purposely to divide all of us.

There is so much stupidity to unpack in this but let's take it piece by piece:

(1) Maximum salaries actually limit the earnings of the top players, bringing them closer to the average player's earnings.  The system is designed to take money that the very best players would earn in league without a limit on individual salary and make that money available for lesser players.  The cap exceptions (mid level exception, etc.) further reinforce this by promoting the salaries of the "middle class" players with money that literally cannot be used on the top earners.

(2) Minimum salaries increase the earnings of the worst players.  This bring players closer together in earnings.  The vet minimum in particular allows teams to circumvent the salary cap hit for the full salary a vet minimum player gets allowing a run of the mill vet minimum player to earn far more than he would earn in a system where there was no floor and where every dollar counted against the cap.

(3) His notion that the system is 'purposefully setup to divide us' seems a very strange one given that the mechanics of NBA salary actually bring players closer together in earnings than they would be in a normal economy.   As such, I have no idea what he means by this.  What system does he think would not have players earning different salaries?  In MLB, you see huge salary disparities despite having no individual cap on a player's salary and not having any hard cap on team salaries.  

Would you feel comfortable deciding to give away a substantial part of your 2020 and 2021 earnings based on advice from someone like Kyrie who doesn't even understand the basics of how NBA economics work?  The only thing in his statement that is accurate is that he is among the highest 20 salaries in the league.  Not surprising for a player known for looking out for his own numbers and self first for his career that he gets his own position but not how the system affects others.

All in all, it is a provocative statement that implies the league is trying to pit players against each other through its economic system but one that seems completely lacking in any reality.  That is an irresponsible accusation to make.  Moreover, the league doesn't choose the system.  The system is a product of negotiations between the player's union and the league.  The league cares first and foremost about what total % of the pie they keep versus the % that the players get.  So who is most responsible for the shaping of player salaries?  The player's union.  Why do you think they opted for max salaries, etc.?  To spread the money around more evenly among their members.  So the current system is a bigger product of what the players have chosen than anything else and you are attacking it as something designed to pit players against each other?  Come on.