NBA 2017-2018 Season

[Chris2K]

If I ever hear Bill Walton is going to be on commentary again I'm either switching off or muting the TV. I don't need someone trying to be a heel colour commentator/fanboy on a sporting event.

[Pooker]

2 hours ago, Chris2K said:

If I ever hear Bill Walton is going to be on commentary again I'm either switching off or muting the TV. I don't need someone trying to be a heel colour commentator/fanboy on a sporting event.

I don't know if he's still the same way, but he was so horrible when Luke Walton was playing for the Lakers.

[Tyrone]

Crazy amounts of bricks in the 3-point contest. Even Klay didn't do that well.

EDIT: Mitchell had a great dunk contest! Pretty good competition overall.

Edited February 18, 2018 by Tyrone

[Pooker]

For the NBA not wanting to even invite him to participate in the dunk contest, Donovon Mitchell sure did pretty damn good at winning it.

[JasonM]

So SI.com just came out with a report about the Dallas Mavericks' office culture, and well, it's really really bad.

https://www.si.com/nba/2018/02/20/dallas-mavericks-sexual-misconduct-investigation-mark-cuban-response

Extremely hostile work environment, and the acting CEO (Not Mark Cuban) was an unrepentant rapey piece of shit who treated women like shit.

Quote

At this meal, with ESPN crew members seated nearby, Ussery struck up an unusual conversation. As the woman recalls the exchange, Ussery claimed that he knew what she was going to do over the coming weekend. When the woman asked, confusedly, what Ussery meant, he smiled.

“You’re going to get gang-banged,” he asserted, “aren’t you?” 

“No,” the woman responded, caught off-guard. “Actually, I’m going to the movies with friends.”

“No,” Ussery insisted. “You’re definitely getting gang-banged.”

Just disgusted, and the only positive thing about this article is that the locker room and the players themselves were beacons of professionalism who treated people right.

But fuck, this made me feel shit at being a Mavs fan. And even if Mark Cuban was never involved with the business side of things, you'd think he would have a clue that this shit was going on in his organization.

Just utterly vile and terrible shit, and I think action needs to be undertaken. I thought the Mavs were always one of the good teams in terms of how it was run, but I was clearly wrong... I'm angry and I feel disgusted.

Edited February 21, 2018 by Jasonmufc

[Pooker]

Not as big of a deal, but Mark Cuban recently admitted to telling his players to tank this season and they'll make a comeback next season.

It doesn't look very good for Cuban right now. I wouldn't be surprised if he was forced to sell the team.

[Meacon Keaton]

...why? Because he told the players they're tanking? Not a chance. 

[Maxx]

Its one of the literally only two ways to rebuild in the NBA.  You tank and get young players or you assemble a super team.

[Pooker]

Not saying I disagree with you guys. But, the NBA has been pretty clear against teams openly tanking. They forced the GM out in Philly for it. And for an owner to admit to it, he's going to get in trouble.

If it was just the tanking issue, I would say just a big fine. But, mixed with the SI report, I think they'll force him to sell.

[Meacon Keaton]

They won't force him to sell because a pervy guy worked for him. If it was Cuban, then yeah maybe.

And they forced a GM out. Not an owner. They'd need some much more incriminating evidence to force a sell than him telling his players it's ok if they don't win. 

[livid]

Yeah he'll get fined for making the comments but that's it. He'll only be forced to sell if he ends up being a bigger part of the workplace investigation than initially reported. 

[Pooker]

I hope you guys are right. I like Cuban as an owner and as open as he is, it's not his fault nobody came right to him. I see stuff like this and instantly think the worse thing that could happen.

[JasonM]

Another problem with selling Mark Cuban is that he's pretty much the face of the NBA owners. He's the guy that's most out there in the world, with his role on Shark Tank making him a recognisable face, and other than some of his politics he's always been an extremely respectable human being who has treated his people right. Forcing him to sell would be a gut punch to the entire league.

I don't believe there's any malice from Cuban, because all reports of him show him as an upstanding person. But at the same time, Ussery was with the Mavericks for 18 years before he left for UA in 2015. It's unfathomable that in that time Cuban didn't get any sort of report or inkling about how much of a piece of shit he was to his employees.

Action needs to be undertaken, and an investigation is going to be done. Should Cuban sell, I hope not, but at the same time it's not out of the realm of possibilities if he was accused of wrongdoings himself.

This is a kick in the gut for fans though, to know that such a well run basketball team has such a toxic corporate structure above it. Players who do everything to keep the team in a good light and help the community at every opportunity, and executives who seemingly do their darndest to abuse their power rampantly with little oversight.

The biggest fear I have as a fan is the team losing a draft pick. The past few seasons have been rough as a team, yet we've always done our best to be competitive. This is the first time that the team has actively started to lose (in a ridiculously competitive way, mind), so this is a struggle to endure although the possible results might help us reboot the franchise again. If we lost that pick, that would be a stab in the gut.

But ultimately, I just want all the shit to be unearthed, and to have the league and hopefully Cuban too to clear out the entire organization of the shitty elements, and start a rebuild of the executive branch just as the team is rebuilding on the court.

Edited February 21, 2018 by Jasonmufc

[Pooker]

Couldn't have said it any better @Jasonmufc.

Cuban has been fined $600k for his comments about tanking. 

[Maxx]

The NBA has forced the sale of a team once in its history, and it was for something far, far worse than publicly talking about tanking.

[Meacon Keaton]

$600,000 to Mark Cuban is like me giving my daughter a penny to throw in the wishing well.

I mean I don’t think he should have been fined more but that’s cute.

[gunnar hendershow]

The fine is weird since the comment was like "Well guys it's in our best interest to lose but I know you as players don't want to do that". That's pretty much the general feeling around tanking. It's hard to actually tell players to go out and lose this one for the benefit of the team in 3-4 years.

[Benjamin]

That’s real, @Giannis_An34 👊🏽 pic.twitter.com/YdELGQzbM9

— Bleacher Report NBA (@BR_NBA) February 22, 2018

 

Giannis is pretty damn adorable.

[Monkey D. Lars]

Damian Lillard is the most underrated player right?

[Pooker]

I feel like the Western conference playoff seedings is going to come down to the last game of the season.