NBA and China controversy

[pwaldo]

https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2019/10/...ntroversy.html

As we relayed on Sunday, the Chinese Basketball Association and other business in China have suspended their relations with the Rockets in the wake of a Daryl Morey tweet in which the Houston general manager expressed support for protestors in Hong Kong. Although Morey deleted the tweet and the Rockets and the NBA made efforts to walk it back, the league remains in a tenuous spot, writes Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today.

The NBA issued a statement on Sunday, calling it “regrettable” that Morey’s tweet had offended “many of our friends and fans in China” and noting that Morey’s tweet didn’t represent the Rockets or the NBA. However, the league doesn’t intend to fine, suspend, or otherwise punish the Houston GM, sources tell Zillgitt.

Interestingly, the NBA’s statement also looked a little different in Chinese than it did in English, according to Yanan Wang of The Associated Press. In Chinese, the league referred to Morey’s tweet as “inappropriate,” a word that didn’t show up in the English statement. League spokesperson Mike Bass said today that the discrepancy wasn’t intentional (Twitter link via Zillgitt).

The NBA has to walk a fine line in this controversy, since the league typically hasn’t discouraged its coaches, players, and executives from speaking up about political and social justice causes that matter to them. In this case though, it’s clear that the NBA’s business interests in China’s massive market are influencing the league’s decision to distance itself from Morey’s initial comments and to placate its Chinese partners.

This thing seems to be snowballing out of control from just 1 tweet but it looks like the NBA is clamping down on it as they don't want to lose that China $$$$$$$$$$$$$

[WilyWestbrook0]

I contemplated posting something about this, but wasn't sure about the political nature. One thing about this is that it's waking up so-called 'woke' athletes, coaches, etc. to struggles outside of their own demographic groups and nation. At least we actually have the freedom to speak out, tweet, kneel, and protest in various forms the issues and political figures who bother us; not all countries allow that.

[doniceage]

I contemplated posting something about this, but wasn't sure about the political nature. One thing about this is that it's waking up so-called 'woke' athletes, coaches, etc. to struggles outside of their own demographic groups and nation. At least we actually have the freedom to speak out, tweet, kneel, and protest in various forms the issues and political figures who bother us; not all countries allow that.

Your totally right it is a wake up call for everyone. The problem I see is that the athletes do not like the repercussion for their actions on being blackballed from the NFL and I would say Colin definitely was. I agree he should have the ability to protest but you have to remember for every action is a equal reaction and the NFL owners labeled him a problem child. He then ended up with no job. Could he beat at least 10 of the worst qb's in the league I have no doubt. Don't cry about to me about not having a job as you have wanted to protest a cause which your owner did not want you to do. Why did he never go out outside of the game and protest to his heart content. He then could easily have sued for much more and created a bigger platform as many on the other side of the aisle would not hate him as much as they do.

I wonder when these so called athletes who talk about fairness and justice will look outside their nation and take time to speak about causes that truly suppress folks. The problem is only going to get worse as China will reclaim HONG KONG sooner or later and then stuff really going to hit the fan imo.

DON

[Theodor Madison]

Mum is the word, especially if it affects your pocket. When not kneel to the anthem. Words are cheap, unless you speak about china. I really think many players would like to speak out, must be in contract not to speak.

[pwaldo]

"If you look at the history of the world, the biggest problems come when people don't speak." -Steve Kerr

[WilyWestbrook0]

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...-players-china

Not surprised by this at all. I think we can all read between the lines and guess what the points of discussion were, too.

[pwaldo]

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...-players-china

Not surprised by this at all. I think we can all read between the lines and guess what the points of discussion were, too.

He told them to shut up and dribble....

[WilyWestbrook0]

Oh, wow. I heard LeBron's comments while on night shift. That's actually way worse than I expected. I figured LeBron and some of the other players were just angry and had tunnel vision because Morey didn't get blackballed like Kaep. But LeBron just showed it's all about the $ with China and not even about social justice anymore. This is a level of hypocrisy that's going to change the way he's viewed. Easily the worst move he's made, and should (not sure if it will, but should) get more backlash than the Decision because of what's at stake.

[Tennelson55]

Oh, wow. I heard LeBron's comments while on night shift. That's actually way worse than I expected. I figured LeBron and some of the other players were just angry and had tunnel vision because Morey didn't get blackballed like Kaep. But LeBron just showed it's all about the $ with China and not even about social justice anymore. This is a level of hypocrisy that's going to change the way he's viewed. Easily the worst move he's made, and should (not sure if it will, but should) get more backlash than the Decision because of what's at stake.

Saw it last night; and my comments are harsh on LeBron. I thought morally LeBron would have a conscious and be a relatively supportive person of our countries stance on democracy. LeBum heard it from my twitter line as well. I called him out. He's a POS who cares about the bottom dollar and my LeBum collecting may have just come to an end. His comments are appalling to me via telling Moorey he's uneducated... Where did you go to school LeBron? Where did Moorey go to college? OH MOOREY JUST WENT TO MIT AND TRANSFORMED THE BASKETBALL GAME (shooting more three pointers than two); but I guess he's uneducated.

LeBron lost a supporter today and I can only imagine his image taking a huge hit because of this. I would not want my children looking up to LeBum anytime in the near future until he understands the concepts of democracy and communism.

[WilyWestbrook0]

Well, it looks like he has gotten quite the backlash now, although he has some supporters on ESPN as well.

At the very least, no matter how much he tries to justify himself at this point, he proven he's inconsistent and hypocritical. If you truly believe "an injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere," and want to be part of a global social justice movement, you can't then backtrack and say we should stay local (which is his latest point). But that's the problem a lot of these SJW types run into -- once justice matters start approaching groups and countries that aren't part of their own demographics, it reveals the human tendency to care only about those in one's own tribe and one's own experiences and expertise. LeBron's done a lot for the inner city (as a black minority), Kerr speaks a lot against gun violence (as someone who lost his father to such), and Pop speaks out more broadly against American leadership (he was in the military). Yet the justice movement wants to expand into every part of the world. I wonder if some of these people will finally start realizing the impossibility of trying to care about any and every issue around the world and recognize we can't save the planet every second of the day, only the issues that hit closest to home and our own race, gender, tribe, country, experiences, and affiliated groups. This is certainly about the most prominent example of such that I've seen so far.