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Donald Sterling (LA Clippers owner) banned for life from the NBA

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Player gets banned for life, they lose their livelihood and likely get hit with financial hardship. Owner gets banned for life, they sell their asset and reinvest their hundreds of millions into something else.

Oh, and players rules of conduct aren't the same as those for owners. So what fucking precedent are you even talking about?
 
Why even discuss the Kobe situation? That happened under Stern, Silver had no say.

We might as well bring up every controversy and hypothesize what Silver would do.
 
Arrogant Bastard said:
so if Kobe, or any other player for that matter had a history of making bigoted comments on the court or in the locker room he shouldn't be banned for life? Why?
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Context matters. A player who says racist things or bigoted things towards people of that nature all the time, sure.

People who blurt out a word without the intention of demeaning that lifestyle (or race/religion etc) is not the same thing at all. It's still wrong but it's not in the same stratosphere.

I am pissed and lost my temper and I called a straight person a faggot and then showed remorse

vs

I don't want my girlfriend to be around black people because they are subhuman and that type of association makes me look bad around my rich white friends and I don't give a fuck what people think.

Not remotely the same thing. Not at all. Both are wrong, but not the same.
 
Byakuya769 said:
Player gets banned for life, they lose their livelihood and likely get hit with financial hardship. Owner gets banned for life, they sale their asset and reinvest their hundreds of millions into something else.

Oh, and players rules of conduct aren't the same as those for owners. So what fucking precedent are you even talking about?
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This is spot on.
 
Omega Rex said:
Why even discuss the Kobe situation? That happened under Stern, Silver had no say.

We might as well bring up every controversy and hypothesize what Silver would do.
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We're looking for ways that banning a piece of shit racist is actually a bad thing. And we'll take whatever means necessary to get there!
 
Maybe the Clippers can actually have a chance with a new owner. This guy is one of the worse.

I'm just saying, maybe we could get a mic in Mike Brown's house...
 
Arrogant Bastard said:
See this is the thing I was afraid of when I started this. I'm not defending the guy, I'm not saying that he is a nice guy, he is a racist piece of shit. I just think it sets a precedent that the NBA better be ready to back up in the future.
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I don't think that you're defending him but I got the impression from your comments that you thought this was a one time thing. This is truly an unprecedented pattern of behavior by someone who's a public figure and I never even heard of him until a few days ago.

Honestly I'm more offended and upset that the NBA and media have been covering up for this guy for all these years than the comments on the tape.
 
vas_a_morir said:
Kobe's 'slur' was made publicly, while on the court of an NBA game, directed toward another player in a confrontational manner. Is that not worse than clandestinely-recorded comments made in private? Do you now feel pressure to ban him for life?

Should we hold people affiliated with the NBA to different standards of moral decency?. Should we not protect all groups from discriminatory and vile comments?

I'm only asking hypotheticals here. 'Banned for Life' for offensive comments is the new precedent.
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Nope, because the players are very very clearly not held to the same standard/rules of conduct as the owners.

Period and end of story.

There will be probably a dozen more fined NBA players between today and 3 years from now, but the punishments they receive will be less severe than if the same infractions were committed by NBA team owners. People can flail about whether or not this is fair, or just, or moral, but its the truth, and its not new.

I could make an ass of myself at work tomorrow saying dumb shit and be fired or put on leave, but let the CEO of our company do some shit like that and they would be target of a massive public media drone strike. It comes with the position in the hierarchy.

o16vPRS.png
 
Saint Gregory said:
Have you actually taken a look at this guy's track record? I think that Kareem said yesterday that the stuff on the tape wasn't even in the top 10 most racist things that Sterling has said or done and I thought it was hyperbole until I looked him up.

The question shouldn't be why the NBA is doing this now but really why it took them this long.
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Except Silver stated explicitly that Sterling's history was not taken into account when he laid the hammer.
 
Byakuya769 said:
Player gets banned for life, they lose their livelihood and likely get hit with financial hardship. Owner gets banned for life, they sale their asset and reinvest their hundreds of millions into something else.

Oh, and players rules of conduct aren't the same as those for owners. So what fucking precedent are you even talking about?
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Welcome to capitalism, where the discrete investment of existing capital, which does not take away from the time or ability to do labor, is treated more favorably than the continuous investing of time, skills, and labor, which takes away from the former.
 
Kobe and Sterling incidents are completely different. The NBA might not want to admit it but it included Sterlings past actions into the punishment. If it was some isolated incident then a good chance it would if been less severe but his pattern of behavior left no one to give him the benefit of the doubt.
 
vas_a_morir said:
Kobe's 'slur' was made publicly, while on the court of an NBA game, directed toward another player in a confrontational manner. Is that not worse than clandestinely-recorded comments made in private? Do you now feel pressure to ban him for life?

Should we hold people affiliated with the NBA to different standards of moral decency?. Should we not protect all groups from discriminatory and vile comments?

I'm only asking hypotheticals here. 'Banned for Life' for offensive comments is the new precedent.
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Donald Sterling (an unpopular team owner with a history of racist statements) was banned because of the public outcry for him to be punished for offensive statements (plural) that he wouldn't even admit that he said.

Kobe (a very popular basket ball player), said a slur, publicly apologized, and most of the public had forgiven him before a fine was even handed out.

These two situations will never be on the same playing field.
 
What has he been banned from? Is he not allowed to go to his own games? He still owns the Clippers. I think the whole "BANNED FOR LIFE" thing was just to grab headlines and put out the fire this caused. To get people to forget about the whole thing and sweep it under the rug. But at the end of the day he's still the owner of the Clippers.

There isn't much the NBA can do if he doesn't want to sell the team.
 
I'm glad he won't be a part of the NBA, anymore. When I read about the tapes (a few hours before ESPN covered the story), I just blew it off. Did not think it would turn into this. People were acting surprised, as if Donald Sterling had gone crazy. But he didn't go crazy -- he went Donald Sterling. I guess I'm just shocked that none of the NBA saw this coming.
 
Kreed said:
Donald Sterling (an unpopular team owner with a history of racist statements) was banned because of the public outcry for him to be punished for offensive statements (plural) that he wouldn't even admit that he said.

Kobe (a very popular basket ball player), said a slur, publicly apologized, and most of the public had forgiven him before a fine was even handed out.

These two situations will never be on the same playing field.
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I'm talking about hypothetically moving forward. Not about what happened in the past. Just wondering how that situation will be handled moving forward. You get what I mean? Let's start fresh:

Let's say Spurs coach calls someone a 'faggot' in a privately recorded conversation. Banned for life?
 
Arrogant Bastard said:
I'm not minimizing the things he said, I'm just not going to continually say it over and over. He said some jacked up crap, we get that. The point is when you carry out the maximum punishment, what do you do when a more grievous violation occurs. My controversial opinion I know, but the NBA reacted so swiftly and so punitively because of the public outcry.
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I think you are minimizing things when you equate 2 entirely different situations, including the attitudes of the perpetrators after the incident occurred.

The owners are also going to be voting based on his lifetime history as suitability to be owners. If another incident causes a threatened player boycott and sponsors dropping like flies, they probably would do the same, including a lifetime ban on a player (I don't think any player could rise to similar levels of repugnance based simply on lack of power--treating players like objects, discriminating in housing, etc).

Different situations can be spun differently all the time, there are fringe calls for hypocrisy when owners vote on the sale and move of the Supersonics but forbid the sale and move of the Kings, or when the league approves 1 trade but not the other, but those usually fell on deaf ears because the public can understand nuances and differences better than you seem to be able to.
 
vas_a_morir said:
I'm talking about hypothetically moving forward. Not about what happened in the past. Let's say Spurs coach calls someone a 'faggot' in a privately recorded conversation. Banned for life?
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No, most first offenses will be forgiven, especially if they are good at their job. Develop a pattern then yeah it should happen.
 
NeoROCK said:
What has he been banned from? Is he not allowed to go to his own games? He still owns the Clippers. I think the whole "BANNED FOR LIFE" thing was just to grab headlines and put out the fire this caused. To get people to forget about the whole thing and sweep it under the rug. But at the end of the day he's still the owner of the Clippers.

There isn't much the NBA can do if he doesn't want to sell the team.
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He can and probably will be forced out and forced to sell his team, hence Silver's comments, but that official process hasn't started yet as far as we know.
 
NeoROCK said:
What has he been banned from? Is he not allowed to go to his own games? He still owns the Clippers. I think the whole "BANNED FOR LIFE" thing was just to grab headlines and put out the fire this caused. At the end of the day he's still the owner of the Clippers.

To put it quite simply. There isn't much the NBA can do if he doesn't want to sell the team.
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His name is on some pieces of paper. He can't go to the games, practices, can't be involved in executive decisions, won't be seen with the other owners.

They took away every meaningful aspect of ownership except waiting for payday when he sells the team.
 
Arrogant Bastard said:
I'm not minimizing the things he said, I'm just not going to continually say it over and over. He said some jacked up crap, we get that. The point is when you carry out the maximum punishment, what do you do when a more grievous violation occurs. My controversial opinion I know, but the NBA reacted so swiftly and so punitively because of the public outcry.
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I don't like that the housing stuff was swept under the rug but hopefully this is a "make-up call" for Stern not doing anything.
 
He seems like a piece of shit when his past is highlighted, guess the NBA was fine with it until something finally stuck with the public.
 
mr2xxx said:
No, most first offenses will be forgiven, especially if they are good at their job. Develop a pattern then yeah it should happen.
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I see. However, I do think if Mark Cuban, a man with no racist past, said this exact same conversation, he would have got the same punishment. But, I guess you can't really know.

I'm not too far off, because Jeff Van Gundy is discussing the same thing on air right now.
 
vas_a_morir said:
I'm talking about hypothetically moving forward. Not about what happened in the past. Just wondering how that situation will be handled moving forward. You get what I mean? Let's start fresh:

Let's say Spurs coach calls someone a 'faggot' in a privately recorded conversation. Banned for life?
Click to expand...

Just that? Probably not.

Having multiple incidents of tangible discrimination against LGBTQ people, repeated use of slurs, and tape recording of that person expressing those bigoted remarks? Probably.
 
TrueGrime said:
Yup. Makes no sense whatsoever. I mean.. as an owner, did he not have even the smallest professional relationship with the players?
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Racists often have interactions/relationships with the targets of their hatred. It is even true that many racists have minority friends. They will tell you they are "one of the good ones." Sterling didn't even care that his half-black mistress had sex with black men (in fact, I'd bet it secretly turned him on). Paula Deen has an elderly black friend that she truly loves as a person, though I think if he ever "crossed a line" she would think he was out of place. Sterlings interactions with black people were probably limited to those too powerless or polite to say anything forceful back to him, and even if they were to do so, he would consider it to be indicative of their inferiority.

Good on Silver for the ban and fine. It doesn't bother me that this will make a rich racist even richer. It is difficult to punish the wealthy. Racism doesn't deserve jail time, but Sterling obviously enjoyed the perks of ownership more than raw wealth.
 
bkfount said:
He seems like a piece of shit when his past is highlighted, guess the NBA was fine with it until something finally stuck with the public.
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Well there's a new sheriff in town now. The old sheriff seemed to be OK with a lot of shitty things and I just hope that this new guy continues cleaning house.
 
NeoROCK said:
What has he been banned from? Is he not allowed to go to his own games? He still owns the Clippers. I think the whole "BANNED FOR LIFE" thing was just to grab headlines and put out the fire this caused. To get people to forget about the whole thing and sweep it under the rug. But at the end of the day he's still the owner of the Clippers.

There isn't much the NBA can do if he doesn't want to sell the team.
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They can absolutely bar him from going to games or league events and the other owners explicitly have the power to force him out with a vote.
 
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