[NBA Gossip] Donald Sterling Hates the Blacks, Including Magic

I appreciate you playing devil's advocate here and I agree with you - legally and Constitutionally speaking, there is nothing to indicate that Sterling broke the law. He did not tell Staples Center staff to bar black people from coming to Clippers games; he did not refuse to sign black players; while he has illegally discriminated on the basis of race in his past business dealings, there's no evidence that he has done so in regards to the Clippers.

However, that is not to say that his comments are not totally reprehensible and he should be out of the NBA today. It's just that we live in a society where you cannot be arrested and your property cannot be seized on the basis of speech. Unfortunately, the Clippers team is his property (I really hate using that word in this circumstance - please note that I mean the trademark and organization, not the people therein. Sterling doesn't seem to get that distinction) and there is no precedent for revoking the team's charter in the NBA on the basis of repugnant speech. However, the NBA has a business interest in not allowing such a disgusting character to be visible in the second-largest city in the country. I can only imagine the backdoor cajoling and threats being made to Sterling right now by the league.

I honestly think a buyer will be found and Sterling will get a golden parachute out of the league. The new owner will face a PR crisis unlike any other and the damage in Los Angeles could be felt for many years in the form of ticket sales, free agent signings, etc. In short, they'll go back to being the Clippers. There's no solution that is palatable - either Sterling holds onto the team and becomes a pariah until he dies, cratering the value of the organization, or he sells and comes out with a gigantic profit while the NBA has to smooth over the fact that a detestable human was in their ranks for 30 years and escaped through a hedge-fund-level escape shoot.

 

I agree with all of this, and I'll also say that I think it is GOOD that you can't have your property taken away due to speech. It would seem "fair" in this circumstance, but as you know (you seem like an intelligent individual) you can't have rules apply in only certain circumstances. If he could be stripped of his team for simply being a racist, that grants all sorts of powers to limit speech.

But I do agree completely with you that his positions are reprehensible and I'm sure the owners and Silver are working on a strategy to push him out. And as long as they use market forces to do it, then that is fine. Simply taking his team away would be wrong, but shaming him in the marketplace? His sponsors pulling out? His coach quitting? Media shaming him? All of that is fair game. Heck, I would applaud the heck out of any player that would say "I will retire next season before I play for him."

With all that said, it's a little silly that apparently he is a "known racist" and "scumbag" and has been for years and all these players have gladly signed there as free agents, Doc Rivers torpedoes the Celtics to get over there to the Clippers, etc. Now they get all righteous and people want him thrown out of the NBA. They didn't say that BEFORE they got their money.

 

Is that you Putin? Get the F&&k out of here!

 

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that poster was trying to be funny based on the silliness of a Jewish man being racist. His GF pointed that out to him on the phone as well but he blew it off.

 

Well, then you can be around the NBA now. Nobody will stop you, noone! :grin:

 

Guys, really

Is it so hard to hit the report button instead of the quote button??

It's bad enough that crap got posted in the first place, then yall keep responding to it and repeating it further in the thread.

 

If Donald Sterling is the best that a jew can be in Los Angeles a lot of people are going to say **** it and no thank you. Living a life of owning things and being a sugar daddy isn't much of a life. Just hearing him talk was disturbing.

 

My apologies Rockets2K.

 

I agree - the NBA probably doesn't want to open the can of worms about removing franchises on the basis of speech. That would create instability in the valuation of their teams in an era where the Milwaukee Bucks are being sold for $550 million; potential owners don't want to spend half-a-billion dollars if there's risk that they could abruptly lose their investment on the basis of speech.

I also agree that the market can really make Sterling hurt here. The loss of sponsors, ticket sales, merchandise revenue, free agents and becoming a do-not-sign-here destination will make any temptation to hold onto the team a lot less enticing for him. The question is whether the NBA would be willing to take a totally dramatic step and allow current Clippers players to become free agents if Sterling refuses to sell. Again, that would create precedent for weakening centralized control in the NBA and I do not think Adam Silver wants that so quickly into his tenure.

What nobody knows is how deluded Sterling is. Does he really think there's a way he can get away from this and still own the team? If he goes quietly into the night, then the PR work can begin. But is he so consumed by the hubris of owning an NBA team that common sense won't work with him? That could be the question Silver is wrestling with now.

Also, I agree with you that the players' objections do ring a bit hollow. There have been news stories about Sterling's management for decades; the penny-pinching, sub-par facilities, deliberately giving out checks late, walking through the locker room, etc. It wasn't a secret. Doc Rivers himself admitted that he didn't give much thought to Sterling's history when he signed on this summer.

 

Wow Blake lost Kia and Chris Paul lost State Farm.

I don't see them playing good in game 5.. They probably p*ssed as hell.

 

I think you'd have to open up the CBA in order to get that exception pushed through. I'd be shocked if the league wants to risk opening the CBA for another fight when the players already felt screwed last time to accommodate this small handful.

I think the easiest fix here is going to be Sterling stepping away and his son in law becoming the head of the organization. Sterling would still own the team probably, but it would in name (and profits!) only.

 

Um, I was just pointing out that a poster named "noone" said, basically, "noone will want to be around the NBA."

That's kind of like me saying "B-Bob will be ready for lunch," you see, except more funny, as if you went around talking about yourself in the third person.

nm, sorry

 

http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-sterling-racist-history-2014-4

 

Ahahahahahahahahahahaaha!

Oh man, that is awesome!

Q: Sir, the question was "is this your handwriting?"

Gold Jerry, gold!

 

I'm not sure that's true. The companies make separate deals with players, and that's why the players often don't wear their league uni's or insignia in their commercials.

Actually, KIA could do some pretty interesting stuff now, with nod-nod, wink-wink comments to the situation. Would be risky but potentially memorable.

Blake at the KIA dealership. "Yeah, I'm going to need to carry some more people to games." (Pan to a group of African American people standing outside waiting.)

Go to commercial part about new KIA that seats six or some crap. Then back to Blake.

Blake turns around, looks at the group. "Okay, I'll need about 100 of that model please. Thanks... Actually, do I get a bulk discount or something?"

 

I expect he'd call their bluff. His teams have been bad for decades and it never bothered him before. He'd just trot out rookies and journeymen, and he'd still make money because (1) he still gets his share of league revenues and (2) LA doesn't seem to have a shortage of gullible fans willing to watch a racist's terrible team just because a couple of rookies show a little promise. I could easily see him leave them out to dry, knowing they'd be sacrificing their prime playing years in the fight. Quitting is a huge gamble for them.

And, Doc won't do anything, either. He's hoping it'll all blow over so he can go on coaching his Big 3. The peer pressure will have to be high for him to do anything ballsy to protest Sterling.

I think it's on Clippers fans. Are people really planning to attend Game 5? No doubt, most ticket-owners will go. But, if no one showed up, he'd be dead in the water. But everyone wants to have their cake and eat it too. They want Sterling to sell, but they aren't willing to lose their jobs, break their contracts, waste their tickets, or even sacrifice the emotional investment they've made in this last Clippers season. Magic wants the players to play. Doc is waiting for something he can say satisfies him. The players rationalize playing by wearing black socks. Fans rationalize with legalities. The only people willing to make a sacrifice are the companies that market through the Clippers, and that only because it's not much of a sacrifice.

 

Yeah, I really doubt that State Farm has dropped Chris Paul and Kia Blake Griffin individually, it's the team sponsorships that were dropped.

If they did those type of commercials that you just listed that would be so cool.

 

Agreed. Kenny Smith was saying last night that the players have a responsibility to take a stand, but they aren't going to do that if there is any real risk to themselves. What the players and the coach want is for the NBA to come in and make this all go away by throwing out Donald Sterling. Then the players will talk a big game about how this was what needed to happen, they wouldn't play for a racist, etc. and people will call them heroes.

Reality? If the league does nothing at all, the players will suit up next year for a known racist just like they did this year for a known racist.

The only thing that has changed is that now people are talking about it on tv.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Safe to say no one is supporting the Clippers at this point. Sponsor Sprint announces they are suspending all marketing activities.</p>&mdash; darren rovell (@darrenrovell) <a href="https://twitter.com/darrenrovell/statuses/460875036573052928">April 28, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

Sterling's ex-wife and children just threw him under the bus.

http://www.tmz.com/2014/04/27/shelly-sterling-donald-sterling-racist-statement-clippers/