Some reporters have taken leave of their senses on this issue. I read an Athletic beat guy write that the league suspending Draymond in part based on his past conduct constituted ‘double jeopardy,’ and as a lawyer I felt my soul leave my body.
The most incredible thing to me is the idea that Sabonis pushing Klay for the rebound was "dirty" play, as if it's not something that happens on every contested rebound in the playoffs.
Definitely, it's almost like he consistently does dirtier shit than anyone else in the league.
Sabonis is a habitual pusher. One of the worst in the league. TL was mad about it when they played this year and he's usually pretty chill.
This is nicely summarized. Am sort of amazed at the ...looking for a polite word/phrase...dumb-fucking ass stupidity of much of the commentary, but saying suspensions are reserved for punches as if a kick much less a stomp is much more powerful than a punch is...very very very dumb.
Well he more pulled than pushed, but yes, that sort of stuff happens at least a few dozen times a game
Maybe I'm misremembering, but I feel like back when Draymond was kicking people in the nuts in 2016, media people tried to be like "It's a natural athletic move, it wasn't intentional" or whatever. I love that it's evolved to "Listen, he stomped on a guy, but he shouldn't be suspended because, it robs us of an important series" I love that for media people it's the league's responsibility to recognize the moment and give Draymond a pass, with no thought to the idea that maybe Draymond should have recognized the moment and not stomped on a guy. But he did, because he's an enormous piece of shit. Really hoping the Kings can flush him and the GSW down the toilet for this season, enough is enough.
Sabonis is definitely sneaky dirty…kind of reminds me of Jordan Poole honestly. But I don’t remember the outcry when Poole was doing shit in the finals.
News of him playing came across just prior to the line move. Comes with the caveat that he gives it a go and body doesn’t hold up. We don’t know that but he’ll be preparing to play.
I kind of like the Bucks chances better without him out there with a back injury. Let the rest of the team jack up 50-60 threes at home, with the crowd behind them trying to pick up the slack, vs a nervous Giannis playing a different style or (gasp) trying to shoot instead of drive!
Yeah and Redick is normally good…I didn’t see him say Sabonis should get suspended but that is absolutely fucking insane.
The league's written statement was really dumb all around. Just suspend him for his actions, which were clearly both intentional and caused harm to another player. If Sabonis had tackled Draymond and gotten kicked, maybe it would be a different story. That's not what happened. Not sure what Redick is on about, but if there's anyone that does not deserve the benefit of the doubt, it's Draymond.
I figured that was a direct response to criticisms that the league has enabled Green by letting him get away with all this crap for so long. And maybe (maybe) some sort of a warning to him to cut the shit.
I guess that kind of makes sense. The funny thing is, not many people are taking it that way. There's my disagreement stated above, and then there are idiot Warriors fans saying that it proves the stomp shouldn't have resulted in a suspension and they're just out to get him.
I think what he was trying to explain was that these things have grey areas, and that when you're determining things like intent, and benefit of the doubt a guy with a long history of unsportsmanlike plays is not going to get the kind of benefit of the doubt on intent that someone with a clean record might.
Agree with all this, and it's been disappointing to me that the league and media haven't focused on the player safety angle. It feels like this weird thing where a punch crosses some huge line, while an action that's just as if not much more dangerous gets a pass, because it doesn't "look" that bad.
Like most things in NBA player and media reactions to anything it's mostly about:
Totally. I think if the NBA messaged the safety thing, it would help a lot to cut through all that.
Agree with this.
Because the 9:00 timeslot is the NBA TV game, and they're not putting Lebron and the Lakers on NBA TV.
Yeah, it’s like people can’t see the parallels to what we have done as a society forever. If you are a repeat offender, obviously the typical punishment isn’t getting through to you. If you don’t want to be treated harshly, then don’t be an asshole.
As a labor lawyer the commentariat's references to double jeopardy and time served are infuriating. It's a fundamental principle of just cause that an employee's prior disciplinary history should be considered when an employer is determining a disciplinary sanction. This is precisely because discipline is assumed to be corrective rather than simply punitive and progressive discipline is the norm.
They’re doing a free preview of NBA TV on Sling, probably other cable providers as well?
They are? Why did I have to add the sports package yesterday in order to get NBA TV then? WTF
I guess. The question would be, why wasn't I getting NBA TV yesterday if that's the case? Not sure if spending time troubleshooting all of that is worth getting the $11 back when I can just watch the games now. Maybe if I have time later I'll chat them up.
