martin wrote:

smackeddog wrote:Marcus and Markieff aren't in Orlando- either they're giving it a miss or they might have tested positive for COVID-19

So far LAC has given the Knicks a first rounder for 12 games of Marcus Morris

Very generous of them!

Tweet was deleted or there was problem with the URL:

https://twitter.com/HowardBeck/status/1285215420782391296

I'm not even going to give him the satisfaction of a click on the article. As much as don't like him, and hated Dolan's refusal to explicitly back BLM, and his support of Trump, the Knicks record with regards to hiring black coaches and executives' and treatment of players (where Dolan has gone way beyond to help and support players with difficulties in their private lives) is way beyond most of the teams who made token statements. To have as an opening line "Do black lives matter to James Dolan?" is really taking this anti-Dolan vendetta by beat writers to new lows

martin wrote:

smackeddog wrote:

Tweet was deleted or there was problem with the URL:

https://twitter.com/HowardBeck/status/1285215420782391296

I'm not even going to give him the satisfaction of a click on the article. As much as don't like him, and hated Dolan's refusal to explicitly back BLM, and his support of Trump, the Knicks record with regards to hiring black coaches and executives' and treatment of players (where Dolan has gone way beyond to help and support players with difficulties in their private lives) is way beyond most of the teams who made token statements. To have as an opening line "Do black lives matter to James Dolan?" is really taking this anti-Dolan vendetta by beat writers to new lows

Tweet was deleted or there was problem with the URL:

https://twitter.com/JCMacriNBA/status/1285225092553867265

Howard Beck went from being one of my favorite Knick beat writers to just being toxic about them. What annoys me about making this into a Dolan issue, is that it lets all the other owners off the hook simply because they did a hollow gesture- hold them all to the same standard, don’t trivialize it

Tweet was deleted or there was problem with the URL:

https://twitter.com/SIChrisMannix/status/1285591576153133056

Seems so small with the crowd section covered in screens- I presume they'll have fake crowds/past crowd film on the screens

Tweet was deleted or there was problem with the URL:

https://twitter.com/johnhollinger/status/1286022560963076099

wargames wrote:A little off topic but I just found out the Chinese Consulate is in Houston.

So in addition to the crazy Odds that was needed for Derrick Rose to end up being drafted by his hometown Chicago, and Lebron being drafted by his hometown Cleveland (and them winning so many lotteries after he left), and recently Zion going the Pelicans who had just lost AD, who lets not forget was drafted 1st right when the league sold the team to its current owners....... and LaVar wishing Lonzo to LAL, Yao Ming ended up being drafted in the same coty the oldest Chinese Consulate was in so there was a who system set up to market him there.......

The Draft is FIXED!!

It’s so fixed it’s insulting

I thought last year seemed a bit suspect too- Pelicans just happen to get the first as they're due to have to trade their franchise player. LA just happens to get the 4th when they're trying to trade for AD.

However some stuff doesn't make sense (off the top of my head- boston not getting Tim Duncan, instead he goes to the Spurs who already had David Robinson)- life's just weird sometimes.

smackeddog wrote:

wargames wrote:A little off topic but I just found out the Chinese Consulate is in Houston.

So in addition to the crazy Odds that was needed for Derrick Rose to end up being drafted by his hometown Chicago, and Lebron being drafted by his hometown Cleveland (and them winning so many lotteries after he left), and recently Zion going the Pelicans who had just lost AD, who lets not forget was drafted 1st right when the league sold the team to its current owners....... and LaVar wishing Lonzo to LAL, Yao Ming ended up being drafted in the same coty the oldest Chinese Consulate was in so there was a who system set up to market him there.......

The Draft is FIXED!!

It’s so fixed it’s insulting

I thought last year seemed a bit suspect too- Pelicans just happen to get the first as they're due to have to trade their franchise player. LA just happens to get the 4th when they're trying to trade for AD.

However some stuff doesn't make sense (off the top of my head- boston not getting Tim Duncan, instead he goes to the Spurs who already had David Robinson)- life's just weird sometimes.

The NBA is a business. If it WASN'T fixed I would be surprised. This makes sense to everyone?

Nalod wrote:

wargames wrote:

smackeddog wrote:

wargames wrote:A little off topic but I just found out the Chinese Consulate is in Houston.

So in addition to the crazy Odds that was needed for Derrick Rose to end up being drafted by his hometown Chicago, and Lebron being drafted by his hometown Cleveland (and them winning so many lotteries after he left), and recently Zion going the Pelicans who had just lost AD, who lets not forget was drafted 1st right when the league sold the team to its current owners....... and LaVar wishing Lonzo to LAL, Yao Ming ended up being drafted in the same coty the oldest Chinese Consulate was in so there was a who system set up to market him there.......

The Draft is FIXED!!

It’s so fixed it’s insulting

I thought last year seemed a bit suspect too- Pelicans just happen to get the first as they're due to have to trade their franchise player. LA just happens to get the 4th when they're trying to trade for AD.

However some stuff doesn't make sense (off the top of my head- boston not getting Tim Duncan, instead he goes to the Spurs who already had David Robinson)- life's just weird sometimes.

Not really Robinson was about to retire, and that not only set them up for a new star, it got them a championship.

I was talking to a friend and the best idea we came up with is picks are probably bought silent auction wise. With the earnings shared with the other teams. That’s why Gilbert was so pissed when Lebron left. He had probably spent a ton on the auction for that pick. They probably gave him a crazy discount in price for the next few years which led to all those “lottery wins”. The warning being shared with teams is why nobody talks. Teams can come away with millions from this.

Maybe home teams are given a discount, or they tend to pay more because they know they can earn money from locals who want to see the hometown kid play.

David Robinson played 6 seasons WITH Timmy. He made the all star game 3 years of them. He was not washed up. Two of them he played 80 games! His last season at age 37 he played 64 games. Spurs had the second best odds that season. No conspiracy.
Zion has no history with the city of NOLA or the region. Not like Lebron or DRose.

The Peoples Republic of China has 5 consulates and an embassy in the USA. All NBA cities. http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/zmzlljs/t84229.htm

Embassy opened in 1875. Naturally things were different then. I recognize Houston is now th 4th largest city in the US but would have thought port cities in LA, SF and NY would have had a longer history and importance.
But hey, what’s a conspiracy when logic matters? Are we to believe after the embassy in our nations capital Houston was the next important city to open one? That as a port city all ships from China would have to travel thru the Panama Canal? That all operations of a consulate over many years would not engage a west coast city first? Or the financial capital of the Western Hemisphere NYC? I can’t find dates that China established its 5 consulates to verify.
I will go this, it is entirely possible that given Ming was basically “Property” of the national team back in 2002 then they could have dictated where he goes as a prerequisite to his NBA entry. They did not have to grant him release to play in the NBA.
1st three picks were NBA/Chinese consulate cities......GSW and Chicago.

You keep believing in all those crazy odds being luck. It’s Santa Clause for adults,

Nalod wrote:How do the lakers and Pel’s fit? The lakers trade FOR AD and get the 4th pick?
Pels got a nice return for AD, where is the logic for the League to grant them Zion?

Pels got the 1st to get Zion to replace AD (much needed for a small market team) AND the league knew the Lakers wanted to trade for AD, so gave the Lakers the 4th pick so they could get the deal done (landing AD in LA AND the pelicans get another high pick to speed up their rebuild and put a good team round Zion.

Not saying it did happen, but you can definitely see the logic behind it.

smackeddog wrote:However some stuff doesn't make sense (off the top of my head- boston not getting Tim Duncan, instead he goes to the Spurs who already had David Robinson)- life's just weird sometimes.

Long story short, Michael Jordan gambled on the NBA. While he was playing. Bad ****. Stern and the NBA were being blackmailed over it.

Peter Holt made it go away. In exchange, he got to buy the Spurs and the team was gifted Duncan as a reward for basically saving the league. He literally saved the entire NBA. That kind of scandal, we are talking about an athlete with the name recognition up there with Ali and with billions on the line ( think about the networks, Nike, merchandising, etc) would have destroyed the league for good.

Jordan had to "retire" in his prime to punish him and to reduce leverage against the league.

Do you remember Marlo from The Wire? You know what he would do if he had met Peter Holt? He'd wash his car. Then Holt would make him clean the rain gutters for the house across the street. Then he'd go make Holt a sandwich. Then he'd get slapped in the face for not cutting the crusts off and run like a bitch in a corner hoping not to get an icepick shoved in his eye and and pray he didn't have to watch his family die like in some bizarre deleted scene for a John Wick movie.

These are all ****ed up people. I know lots of people have mixed feelings about Rex Ryan, but one of the reasons he was so beloved by his players was that he was a rarity, someone who was not a gigantic piece of **** in professional sports. You know what Stephen King said? He said the worst thing when he first got famous was to meet celebrities who he used to admire from afar, only to realize most of them were out of control *******s.

Tim Duncan was a gem. He was a rose that bloomed from a pile of **** around him.