'25-26 NBA Thread

[MuggsyB]

In defense of the Portland Trailblazers they stated zero tolerance is zero tolerance.  That's why they hired Ja Morsnt over the summer. 

[tower912]

1 Corinthians 13:11

I hold no grudge for youthful indiscretions.  And I am constantly working on forgiveness. 

There was a path he could have taken that would have minimized this.  One that emphasized contrition, youthful stupidity, personal growth, maturity, etc.

[MuggsyB]

1 Corinthians 13:11

I hold no grudge for youthful indiscretions.  And I am constantly working on forgiveness. 

There was a path he could have taken that would have minimized this.  One that emphasized contrition, youthful stupidity, personal growth, maturity, etc.

So it's not possible in your view that you can say stupid racist and misogynistic things when you're 15, and mature or grow as a human being by the time you're 29?

[tower912]

Sigh

[JWags85]

@JWags85 your "cynical" "not surprised this happened in Portland" actual reasoning aside, your statement makes a legitimate unintentional point.

This dude has been announcing Phoenix wnba games and that's probably heavily playing into the calculus with his sexist posts. Portland just finishing a very successful first season in that league and they are very closely affiliated and do promotions with many of the top blazer players. Portland is also a very heavily Asian city.

Both these matters combined alienating a big chunk of your fanbase makes a borderline decision in some places a no brainer here. 15 year old self losing him his job is rough, but as a public figure in broadcasting he should have long nuked these posts. that's poor judgement much more recent than 14 years ago.

It's not a Portland overly sensitive matter like you're making it out to be, it's that the posts target an inordinate amount of the fan base who is already pretty up in arms about ownership.

These are completely rational/fair points and, like I said in my response to TAMU, I don't necessarily disagree with the Blazers' ultimate decision.  Its rough but from a pure business risk management perspective, I totally understand it.

I saw some people (non faceless accounts) saying it would have been a great opportunity for the Blazers to have him proactively apologize when this was brought to light and then stick with him...but despite some of my feelings expressed previously, that seems a bit unrealistic and risky from a pure business optics standpoint (especially given the rocky start to Dundon's tenure as owner).  So I really don't blame them for not going that route.

I still stand by thinking what KGW researched and "reported" on was hacky nonsense.  And its amusing that you mention its poor judgement to not have nuked his posts from 14 years ago...because the reporter that researched and broke the story had a bunch of misogynistic tweets, way more recent (as an employed adult in the last few years) than the fired guy, and more in number.

1 Corinthians 13:11

I hold no grudge for youthful indiscretions.  And I am constantly working on forgiveness. 

There was a path he could have taken that would have minimized this.  One that emphasized contrition, youthful stupidity, personal growth, maturity, etc.

One of the best passages out of the New Testament when it comes to practical life advice.  However, the path you refer to was never offered before any of it happened, its not like the Blazers asked him to apologize and he refused, thus they fired him.  He apologized yesterday, but that had no bearing on any of this.

Either he should have nuked/wiped all of his previous social media activity being in the public eye, which is CYA and not representative of the scripture you quoted above. 

Or, more realistically, he didn't remember some of the stupid stuff he tweeted as a teen (MANY of us don't remember things we posted on Scoop even a year or two ago until it gets brought up in an argument  ) so the opportunity to choose that path to minimize things would have to happen after something has been brought to light.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

So it's not possible in your view that you can say stupid racist and misogynistic things when you're 15, and mature or grow as a human being by the time you're 29?

Your interpretation is solid, as solid as the prosperity gospel guys

[tower912]

These are completely rational/fair points and, like I said in my response to TAMU, I don't necessarily disagree with the Blazers' ultimate decision.  Its rough but from a pure business risk management perspective, I totally understand it.

I saw some people (non faceless accounts) saying it would have been a great opportunity for the Blazers to have him proactively apologize when this was brought to light and then stick with him...but despite some of my feelings expressed previously, that seems a bit unrealistic and risky from a pure business optics standpoint (especially given the rocky start to Dundon's tenure as owner).  So I really don't blame them for not going that route.

I still stand by thinking what KGW researched and "reported" on was hacky nonsense.  And its amusing that you mention its poor judgement to not have nuked his posts from 14 years ago...because the reporter that researched and broke the story had a bunch of misogynistic tweets, way more recent (as an employed adult in the last few years) than the fired guy, and more in number.

One of the best passages out of the New Testament when it comes to practical life advice.  However, the path you refer to was never offered before any of it happened, its not like the Blazers asked him to apologize and he refused, thus they fired him.  He apologized yesterday, but that had no bearing on any of this.

Either he should have nuked/wiped all of his previous social media activity being in the public eye, which is CYA and not representative of the scripture you quoted above. 

Or, more realistically, he didn't remember some of the stupid stuff he tweeted as a teen (MANY of us don't remember things we posted on Scoop even a year or two ago until it gets brought up in an argument  ) so the opportunity to choose that path to minimize things would have to happen after something has been brought to light.

It shouldn't be offered.  Be man enough to proactively pursue it.

[Scoop Snoop]

So it's not possible in your view that you can say stupid racist and misogynistic things when you're 15, and mature or grow as a human being by the time you're 29?

Read Tower's post again. 

What are your thoughts about someone who, even on his early 40's, still advocates using the military to take out all the bad guys around the world (or a hit squad for a selected target)? I can see a 15-year-old "thinking" like this, but my Gawd, a grown man? You would think the guy would mature and grow as a human being by that age.

[MuggsyB]

Read Tower's post again. 

What are your thoughts about someone who, even on his early 40's, still advocates using the military to take out all the bad guys around the world (or a hit squad for a selected target)? I can see a 15-year-old "thinking" like this, but my Gawd, a grown man? You would think the guy would mature and grow as a human being by that age.

He apologized. 

And no, taking out scumbags who murder amd cause mass destruction isn't immature at all. 

[The Sultan]

Tower, do we have Juvenile laws in our country?  If you're 15 and rob a bank at gunpoint, and maim a few people in the process, is that not worse than racist tweets?  If you commit a robbery at 15 isn't that expunged from your record? 

lol. What a terrible analogy.

[JWags85]

It shouldn't be offered.  Be man enough to proactively pursue it.

You're operating under this assumption he knew about everything he tweeted 15 years ago.

The timeline seems to be he was hired, new station tells Blazers they found tweets and will publish a story, Blazers inform him of this and that he is fired.  Where was he supposed to "be a man and proactively pursue it?"

How do you proactively pursue something you don't even remember or realize you did? Thats the whole point here.

Otherwise you're offering blanket platitudes that, while they may be correct in message and sentiment, don't work with the situation here.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

So it's not possible in your view that you can say stupid racist and misogynistic things when you're 15, and mature or grow as a human being by the time you're 29?

I don't think any reasonable people are saying that. Of course it's possible. In fact, i think the fact that he stopped for years is proof that he grew enough to at least not make those statements publically. But it's also possible that he still holds those views and may still make comments like that privately. None of us can know for sure.

From a business risk perspective,  firing him is a no brainer that 99% of companies would choose. Past offensive comments are a reputational risk, a culture risk, and could increase liability if hes ever accused of harassment or discrimination in the future. If you can get an equally skilled employee without those risks, smart move is to fire him.

As i said before, I can understand wanting a company to act against their self interest to do something you consider morally right. But I'll be honest,  it makes me raise an eyebrow that this is the issue you spend time and energy posting about wanting a company to do the right thing instead of the smart thing. There are so many more critical issues like economic justice, health insurance companies denying life saving procedures, drug companies charging exorberant prices, large corporations devastating small businesses etc. Youve been asked a few times about the environmental impacts some recent policy changes and business decision are going to cause and you've been silent despite being passionate about animal conservation. Why is this important enough to demand that a company act against their own self interest but not others?

[The Sultan]

As i said before, I can understand wanting a company to act against their self interest to do something you consider morally right. But I'll be honest,  it makes me raise an eyebrow that this is the issue you spend time and energy posting about wanting a company to do the right thing instead of the smart thing. There are so many more critical issues like economic justice, health insurance companies denying life saving procedures, drug companies charging exorberant prices, large corporations devastating small businesses etc.

He thinks those things are fine.

[The Sultan]

You're operating under this assumption he knew about everything he tweeted 15 years ago.

The timeline seems to be he was hired, new station tells Blazers they found tweets and will publish a story, Blazers inform him of this and that he is fired.  Where was he supposed to "be a man and proactively pursue it?"

How do you proactively pursue something you don't even remember or realize you did? Thats the whole point here.

Otherwise you're offering blanket platitudes that, while they may be correct in message and sentiment, don't work with the situation here.

Maybe he shouldn't have done it in the first place. I don't understand why this is so hard for people to understand. He made a couple of racist tweets, that were still publically available, and he lost his job because of it.

As TAMU said, it is an absolute no-brainer decision for a replacement-level play by play guy who is a public face of the team.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

I still stand by thinking what KGW researched and "reported" on was hacky nonsense.

I mostly agree with this. I think it was irresponsible journalism. Reporting something that you knew would cost a person their job when there wasnt really a societal value to sharing that information.

But that being said... news stations are also businesses.  And it's undeniable that this story has generated a lot of attention. It may be the biggest story in terms of traffic that this news station ever breaks. From a business perspective, I get why they did it. I think it's wrong and devisive, but this is what happens when everything is about what's best for the bottom line. 

[MU82]

Tower, do we have Juvenile laws in our country?  If you're 15 and rob a bank at gunpoint, and maim a few people in the process, is that not worse than racist tweets?  If you commit a robbery at 15 isn't that expunged from your record? 

C'mon, man.

One is a legal situation decided by courts that are following laws.

The other is ... well ... not that.

Do better.

[MuggsyB]

Was it also a "no brainer" for the Blazers to sign Ja Morant?  Every locker room should be recorded, in every sport,  for misogynistic and racist comments.  In fact the Blazers should go though all player and employee phones right now.

[tower912]

You seem nervous.

[Shaka Shart]

Was it also a "no brainer" for the Blazers to sign Ja Morant?  Every locker room should be recorded, in every sport,  for misogynistic and racist comments.  In fact the Blazers should go though all player and employee phones right now.

But what about the genocide in Sudan

[MuggsyB]

Why aren't we going after this guy's parents?  They have no responsibility over their 15 year old? 

[MuggsyB]

But what about the genocide in Sudan

These tweets are way worse.

[The Sultan]

Was it also a "no brainer" for the Blazers to sign Ja Morant?  Every locker room should be recorded, in every sport,  for misogynistic and racist comments.  In fact the Blazers should go though all player and employee phones right now.

There are way less Ja Morants in the world than play by play announcers.

[MuggsyB]

There are way less Ja Morants in the world than play by play announcers.

Shifting goalposts.  Shocker.  Read the Blazers' statement.

[The Sultan]

Shifting goalposts.  Shocker.  Read the Blazers' statement.

I am not shifting goalposts. This is what I said yesterday...

But know going into it that a replacement-level television guy has a much lower standard in that regard than team owners, management and athletes.

[MuggsyB]

Hopefully we can read your virtue signaling/fake outrage drivel for years to come.