NBA investigates Clippers owner Donald Sterling for racism

[Throwdown]

I've been in Silver's corner since February when he took the job, today he impressed me by taking a hard line stance.

 

[dontbelikethat]

Adrian Wojnarowski ‏@WojYahooNBA

On ownership super majority needed to vote Sterling out, one Board of Governor tells Yahoo: "Adam has the votes - all of them, I believe."

 

[m0ng0]

I've been in Silver's corner since February when he took the job, today he impressed me by taking a hard line stance.

As much as I hate to say it, Stern would have done the same thing, there was no way around doing anything less then what Silver did today......it HAD to be done

 

[hawksfansinceday1]

I've been in Silver's corner since February when he took the job, today he impressed me by taking a hard line stance.

As much as I hate to say it, Stern would have done the same thing, there was no way around doing anything less then what Silver did today......it HAD to be done

Mmmmmmmmm, not so sure myself.


Maybe that's just the fact that I despise the guy so much talking.

 

[SeatownJay]

I've been in Silver's corner since February when he took the job, today he impressed me by taking a hard line stance.

As much as I hate to say it, Stern would have done the same thing, there was no way around doing anything less then what Silver did today......it HAD to be done

Considering Stern did absolutely nothing when Sterling's racist behavior came to light in the past, and in fact used his commissioner powers to help make the Clippers more competitive and marketable, I seriously doubt it.

 

[pmedic920]

If Adam Silver sells the Clippers to Ballmer and Hansen, he instantly becomes the GOAT commish

Please excuse my ignorance.
I understand that the NBA with enough votes, can force the sale of a team.
Can they force a move? Will the new owner have an option to move the team? Or will the team stay where it is?

 

[dontbelikethat]

I've been in Silver's corner since February when he took the job, today he impressed me by taking a hard line stance.

As much as I hate to say it, Stern would have done the same thing, there was no way around doing anything less then what Silver did today......it HAD to be done

Considering Stern did absolutely nothing when Sterling's racist behavior came to light in the past, and in fact used his commissioner powers to help make the Clippers more competitive and marketable, I seriously doubt it.

Silver talked about this in the PC. Basically since he wasn't proven guilty in the court of law(won case against Baylor, settled with Department of Justice), there was no bounds for punishment.

 

[Smelly McUgly]

If HBN bought the team, they should just lie. "Of course we are going to stay in L.A.!" Then, after they get approved, ask for a 1.5B arena for the Clippers in, uh, I don't know, Industrial Park? Inglewood? You get the point.

However, to answer pmedic, it won't get that far because Silver would just tie the sale to the move like Stern did with the Kings, and the owners will vote down the move. I'm sure that HBN have already made their calls and got the "We'd shoot it down" answer by now.

 

[dontbelikethat]

If Adam Silver sells the Clippers to Ballmer and Hansen, he instantly becomes the GOAT commish

Please excuse my ignorance.
I understand that the NBA with enough votes, can force the sale of a team.
Can they force a move? Will the new owner have an option to move the team? Or will the team stay where it is?

Cannot force a move. All moves have to be voted on by the board of governors. No idea if they could move the team or if it has to stay because there's ton of factors like arena leases,etc.

 

[Hasselbeck]

If Adam Silver sells the Clippers to Ballmer and Hansen, he instantly becomes the GOAT commish

Please excuse my ignorance.
I understand that the NBA with enough votes, can force the sale of a team.
Can they force a move? Will the new owner have an option to move the team? Or will the team stay where it is?

I would imagine the sale would be very similar to the Kings where even though Sterling may want to sell to one buyer (like the Maloofs wanted to sell to Hansen) they would basically steer it to the ownership group of their choosing.

Now .. who knows.. maybe Silver and the board of Governor's jumps on board behind a Ballmer/Hansen purchase.. that would get the wheels in motion for relocation - but again, the league owners would have to ok such a move.

So the likelihood of 1) Ballmer/Hansen buying the Clippers and 2) Getting the ok to relocate them from LA to Seattle is probably really slim.. but to quote a great movie..

 

[Hasselbeck]

If HBN bought the team, they should just lie. "Of course we are going to stay in L.A.!" Then, after they get approved, ask for a 1.5B arena for the Clippers in, uh, I don't know, Industrial Park? Inglewood? You get the point.

However, to answer pmedic, it won't get that far because Silver would just tie the sale to the move like Stern did with the Kings, and the owners will vote down the move. I'm sure that HBN have already made their calls and got the "We'd shoot it down" answer by now.

I think where there is a huge difference between the Clippers and say the Bucks or Kings.. is the fact LA already has a team, one that is immensely more popular than the Clippers. And this organization has long been the black sheep of LA... whereas even though the Kings and Bucks don't have a whole lot of history in their own right.. they still are the only teams in each respective city.

In this case.. Los Angeles does not lose the NBA .. Seattle gets a team back, one that is not devoid of talent like the Bucks/Kings would be.. AND you do not have to have expansion which further waters down a league that already has a pretty sizable competitive difference. I mean just look at the Eastern Conference outside of Miami right now. It's a wreck. You arguably have only 10-12 good teams out of 30, expanding to 31/32 would not make much sense right now.

Again, I think a LAC to SEA move is a long shot.. but I think it's the best chance that's been out there.

 

[Scottemojo]

LAC to SEA will never happen. NBA will never approve a move to a much smaller market.

Not again, anyway.

 

[Hasselbeck]

LAC to SEA will never happen. NBA will never approve a move to a much smaller market.

Not again, anyway.

I don't think it will either. Even though it would be a truly poetic ending to all of this.

Ballmer should offer $2B for the hell of it though.

 

[Kennedyin92]

If this were 1994 and the Clippers were still astoundingly bad I might be hopeful. However, it's 2014 and the Clippers are actually relevant in the NBA. I don't see any way that this happens.

 

[Throwdown]

If this were 1994 and the Clippers were still astoundingly bad I might be hopeful. However, it's 2014 and the Clippers are actually relevant in the NBA. I don't see any way that this happens.

More than likely not, I still think our best hope is Milwaukee not getting it's act together for an arena plan.

 

[Kennedyin92]

Maybe I'm irrational, but I think the NBA is now withholding a team from us for spiteful reasons. It's become a matter of principle for them.

 

[drdiags]

Naive question. Why is Kevin Johnson (still Mayor of Sacramento, I thought) being involved with this for the players? I can understand he has connections as a former player, since that is what helped him saved the Kings for Sac-town, but seems odd that he is this involved? When does he come up for re-election SacHawk?

Anyway, I was wrong about what the NBA would do. They seem to have the ability to limit who can execute a binding sales contract and can limit a owner's business based on actions detrimental to the image of the league. Wierd how this audio motivated the new commish when prior acts were deemed not that big a deal by the previous commish.

 

[drdiags]

Maybe I'm irrational, but I think the NBA is now withholding a team from us for spiteful reasons. It's become a matter of principle for them.

Probably will have to wait until Stern is dead for a few decades before even thinking of a team here. The NBA here is most likely gone the way of St Louis, Kansas City, Cincinatti and Buffalo.

 

[DynoHawk]

Maybe I'm irrational, but I think the NBA is now withholding a team from us for spiteful reasons. It's become a matter of principle for them.

They are withholding a team from us until every team that needs a new arena, gets one.

 

[Throwdown]

Read into this as you may