Clipper Draft Picks

I’ve seen someone mention the fact that Silver should take away their picks for the next 10 years, but I believe it does no good to the organization whether Sterling is there or not.

I’ve seen someone mention the fact that Silver should take away their picks for the next 10 years, but I believe it does no good to the organization whether Sterling is there or not.

 Celtics own Clips 1st rounder next year. I mention this for no other reason than it feels good to type it.

 Celtics own Clips 1st rounder next year. I mention this for no other reason than it feels good to type it.

 Lets all just pray that Donald Sterling comes to his senses and agrees to sell the team to Magic Johnson and turn the Clippers in Showtime and build up a dynasty in LA to rival the Lakers.  Well not this Lakers team lol but the Lakers of old. 

 Lets all just pray that Donald Sterling comes to his senses and agrees to sell the team to Magic Johnson and turn the Clippers in Showtime and build up a dynasty in LA to rival the Lakers.  Well not this Lakers team lol but the Lakers of old. 

 Removing draft picks would just make the Clippers the Clippers of old; a shitty team with a cheap racist ass hole owner.

 Removing draft picks would just make the Clippers the Clippers of old; a shitty team with a cheap racist ass hole owner.

Sterling’s remarks were unacceptable, but there are no rules against having unpopular opinions. All we’ve proven is that his worldview is stuck in 1861. You can’t take away his team’s draft picks — or his franchise — because you don’t agree with his opinions. I disagree with his views wholeheartedly, but he hasn’t committed any crimes and he hasn’t violated any of the NBA’s legal obligations.

His views haven’t prevented him from writing massive paychecks. He hasn’t refused to hire or refused to pay any of his employees on the basis of race. Yes, his words were asinine, but he was being recorded without knowledge of it, much less consent. I know none of you own NBA teams, but how many of you would probably be embarrassed by saying something stupid if some private discourse of yours was captured, unbeknownst to you?

Any player entering the NBA draft does so having agreed to and acknowledged the fact that the NBA is an employer and he is applying to be an employee. He is eligible to be drafted by any of the league’s franchises, regardless of the personal opinions of its owner (as objectionable as they may be).

If a player felt strongly enough about the situation to refuse to report to a team that drafts him based on the viewpoint of its owner, then he should feel strongly enough about it to forgo the enormous paycheck that that very owner has agreed to provide.

If a draftee could place stipulations on which team drafts him, and backs it up with the threat of refusing to report, then where would that end? Weigh the risk versus the reward. If you don’t like some of the possible outcomes of entering the draft, then don’t enter the draft.

If I learned that my potential employer held beliefs that I disagreed with enough, my choices would be: A) Join the company anyway because the good outweighs the bad, or B) Decline the offer because the bad outweighs the good. And you can’t translate that into, “Go work for another franchise,” because for a draftee, the channel through which he must enter the company is the draft, and he is well aware of this going in.

Sterling’s remarks were unacceptable, but there are no rules against having unpopular opinions. All we’ve proven is that his worldview is stuck in 1861. You can’t take away his team’s draft picks — or his franchise — because you don’t agree with his opinions. I disagree with his views wholeheartedly, but he hasn’t committed any crimes and he hasn’t violated any of the NBA’s legal obligations.

His views haven’t prevented him from writing massive paychecks. He hasn’t refused to hire or refused to pay any of his employees on the basis of race. Yes, his words were asinine, but he was being recorded without knowledge of it, much less consent. I know none of you own NBA teams, but how many of you would probably be embarrassed by saying something stupid if some private discourse of yours was captured, unbeknownst to you?

Any player entering the NBA draft does so having agreed to and acknowledged the fact that the NBA is an employer and he is applying to be an employee. He is eligible to be drafted by any of the league’s franchises, regardless of the personal opinions of its owner (as objectionable as they may be).

If a player felt strongly enough about the situation to refuse to report to a team that drafts him based on the viewpoint of its owner, then he should feel strongly enough about it to forgo the enormous paycheck that that very owner has agreed to provide.

If a draftee could place stipulations on which team drafts him, and backs it up with the threat of refusing to report, then where would that end? Weigh the risk versus the reward. If you don’t like some of the possible outcomes of entering the draft, then don’t enter the draft.

If I learned that my potential employer held beliefs that I disagreed with enough, my choices would be: A) Join the company anyway because the good outweighs the bad, or B) Decline the offer because the bad outweighs the good. And you can’t translate that into, “Go work for another franchise,” because for a draftee, the channel through which he must enter the company is the draft, and he is well aware of this going in.

They don’t have a 1st anyway, but removing future picks just makes it that much harder to sell the team.  They need to enable expedition, not create roadblocks.

…and sinse someone mentioned Magic Johnson, I’ll just say that he’s come off extremely self serving the last few days.  The most vocal critic, angling to position himself to have the most to gain.

They don’t have a 1st anyway, but removing future picks just makes it that much harder to sell the team.  They need to enable expedition, not create roadblocks.

…and sinse someone mentioned Magic Johnson, I’ll just say that he’s come off extremely self serving the last few days.  The most vocal critic, angling to position himself to have the most to gain.

 They should move the team to Seattle.  The whole Clippers franchise is a joke.  They knew about this guy for years but kept cashing the checks.

 They should move the team to Seattle.  The whole Clippers franchise is a joke.  They knew about this guy for years but kept cashing the checks.