Lakers' NBA Cares event in Shanghai canceled amid China rift

When sports and politics wake up and find themselves in the same bed, it should be an acceptable topic of discussion.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/27803863/lakers-nba-cares-event-shanghai-canceled-amid-china-rift

As the NBA spreads their tentacles across the globe to places like China, India and Africa there will be political disputes that creep into the picture but have nothing to do with the wonderful game of basketball. How childish to take your ball and go home.

The ChiComs are afraid of anything that may undermine their power and authority over the masses. Morey's comments were not going to create an overthrow of the Communist regime, but the overly sensitive despotic rulers can't tolerate any threat to their hegemony, no matter how small. Theirs was a truly stupid response to Morey's tweet and actually undermines rather than strengthens their hold on power. I am with Pop. I am proud of the NBA for supporting freedom of speech. This official comment by the ChiCom rulers is just stupid and reveals the underlying suppresive nature of their regime, to which I say, FU.

"We're strongly dissatisfied and oppose Adam Silver's claim to support Morey's right to freedom of expression," the statement read. "We believe that any remarks that challenge national sovereignty and social stability are not within the scope of freedom of speech."

Now back to basketball.

NBA is in bed with some unsavory characters and the Adam Silver honeymoon period if officially over.

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2019/10/8/20905732/china-hong-kong-rockets-daryl-morey-adam-silver

mrkleen09 wrote:NBA is in bed with some unsavory characters and the Adam Silver honeymoon period if officially over.

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2019/10/8/20905732/china-hong-kong-rockets-daryl-morey-adam-silver

The NBA is no different from all of us.
We buy things made in China if the price is low.
Morey put the NBA in a very bad situation.

tjmakz wrote:

mrkleen09 wrote:NBA is in bed with some unsavory characters and the Adam Silver honeymoon period if officially over.

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2019/10/8/20905732/china-hong-kong-rockets-daryl-morey-adam-silver

The NBA is no different from all of us.
We buy things made in China if the price is low.
Morey put the NBA in a very bad situation.

100% disagree. Buying a lawn chair at Target or Walmart is nothing at all like, working hand in hand with the Chinese Communist Party.

The NBA partners with the Ministry of Education. It maintains a training camp in the northwest Chinese region of Xinjiang, where upwards of a million Muslims are in concentration camps — because the Party wants to develop the region and to normalize its atrocities. The NBA profiting handsomely by helping China to whitewash its horrible human rights record - and then throwing up their hands with the bullshit line of "...we are just here to play basketball"

NBA will have to figure some things out here - you cant support free speech of Enes Kanter against a dictator in Turkey, yet try to quiet then in relation to China.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/nba-has-its-limits-in-making-nice-with-china-over-tweet/ar-AAIsPo2?ocid=msn360

NBA has its limits in making nice with China over tweet
Dan Wolken, USA TODAY 18 hrs ago

When NBA Commissioner Adam Silver went to the podium in Tokyo on Tuesday to answer questions about the international crisis his league has found itself in the middle of, he had already made an important choice.

Instead of continuing acquiescence to Chinese political sensitives that were stirred over a since-deleted tweet from Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey in support of protests in Hong Kong, Silver put his league’s highly lucrative relationship with a country of 1.4 billion potential customers on the block and all but told China to deal with it.

“The long-held values of the NBA are to support freedom of expression and certainly freedom of expression by members of the NBA community, and in this case, Daryl Morey as the general manager of the Houston Rockets enjoys that right as one of our employees,” Silver said. “What I also tried to suggest is I understand there are consequences from that exercise of, in essence, his freedom of speech and we'll have to live with those consequences. It’s our hope that for our Chinese fans and our partners in China they’ll see those remarks in the context of now a three-decade if not longer relationship.”

It’s hard to know at this stage whether Silver changed course as a result of the backlash to the NBA’s initial squishiness or whether he had come to the realization over the course of the previous 24 hours that no amount of groveling was going to satisfy the interests that have complete control over how much or how little the league’s product is distributed in China.

Either way, this much is clear: If the red line for China’s relationship with the NBA is this easily crossed — we’re talking about one comment by one league employee on a web site that is blocked on China’s Internet to begin with — how can you expect that relationship to last in the first place?

Though there’s certainly an argument to be made that the NBA has a social responsibility as an American cultural institution to stand up for free speech as well as the fragile rights of millions of Hong Kongers — many of whom also watch the NBA — you don’t really need to even delve into the politics to see why it’s critical for the NBA to draw its own line in the sand, even if it puts the Chinese market in jeopardy.

The NBA isn’t the first American entity to bend itself into ethical knots to keep China happy. But unlike an airline or a tech company with anonymous employees who do their jobs and go home, the NBA is uniquely situated in that its employees are public promoters with huge platforms who answer questions every day about all kinds of things.

Though Morey’s tweet was certainly a self-inflicted situation, something like this was bound to happen. And if one tweet that isn’t even controversial to an American audience is enough to provoke the Chinese into suspending television deals and various business arrangements with the Houston Rockets, it’s truly worth wondering whether the NBA can really operate in that kind of environment without walking on political eggshells every time it sends a team over there for a game.

Though there will be a lot of bad-faith criticism of the NBA for being hypocritical from people who don't like the league’s “wokeness,” the reality is that these kinds of uncomfortable arrangements are going to come with the territory of global expansion. And it's not just China.

The NBA is currently partnering with FIBA to build a professional basketball league in Africa, which makes perfect sense for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that a country like Nigeria is projected to have a population of 400 million by 2050.

“I think ultimately it’s because of (the) transformational nature of digital media where in Africa, a continent of over a billion people, where there are something like 700 million cell phones, 400 million of which are smart phones,” Silver said at this year's NBA Finals. “So we see enormous growth opportunities both in terms of players and for participation and ultimately an interest for the league.”

At the same time, though, Nigeria is a country where media is heavily censored by the government. It’s also a country where, for instance, LGBT people have practically no rights and can be imprisoned or executed. In a league where the commissioner and numerous players march in gay pride parades every year, you have to ask whether the NBA can really manage to be one thing here at home and something else to the rest of the world.

And that’s not an easy call because the NBA is the only American sports league that is positioned to make an impact on every single continent, and the financial implications of that pursuit are very real. But the compromises are, too, and Silver's press conference was at least some indication that the NBA does have a breaking point.

It may no longer be up to the Silver what that means for doing business in China, but at least the NBA understands it can’t bend any further.

This is a personal issue for me on several fronts, and not because my father was the largest manufacturer of lawn chairs in the USA in the 1950's and 60's, all produced in the USA I might add...
I had a fabulous girlfriend from Urumqi, Xinjiang. An M.D. Ph.D, so bright and beautiful, who was also born a Muslim. She decried the repression of the Chinese against her Uighyur people, having personally witnessed 200 of her people killed in a protest. There are now 2,000,000 Uighyur's sequestered in virtual concentration camps there, including her, and she - a leading geneticist - has been denied contact with the outside world, including me. So if the NBA loses revenue because an American, speaking in America, supports the right of Hong Kong residents to ask ChiComs to abide by an agreement Beijing made in 1999 with the British and Hong Kong residents, so be it. Now back to basketball in the land of the free.

Dan Wolker is one very astute writer. Kudos!

mrkleen09 wrote:

tjmakz wrote:

mrkleen09 wrote:NBA is in bed with some unsavory characters and the Adam Silver honeymoon period if officially over.

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2019/10/8/20905732/china-hong-kong-rockets-daryl-morey-adam-silver

The NBA is no different from all of us.
We buy things made in China if the price is low.
Morey put the NBA in a very bad situation.

100% disagree.  Buying a lawn chair at Target or Walmart is nothing at all like, working hand in hand with the Chinese Communist Party.

The NBA partners with the Ministry of Education. It maintains a training camp in the northwest Chinese region of Xinjiang, where upwards of a million Muslims are in concentration camps — because the Party wants to develop the region and to normalize its atrocities. The NBA profiting handsomely by helping China to whitewash its horrible human rights record - and then throwing up their hands with the bullshit line of "...we are just here to play basketball"

NBA will have to figure some things out here - you cant support free speech of Enes Kanter against a dictator in Turkey, yet try to quiet then in relation to China.

It's not just your lawn chair.
What about our $1,100 Iphones?
We as Americans from the U.S. spend what $650 Billion per year worth of goods from China.

The NBA is no different from probably every top company in this country who has a business relationship with China.
China is not the only significant human rights violator.
There are dozens of countries who regularly violate the human rights that we believe in.
We do business with those countries too.

tjmakz wrote:

It's not just your lawn chair.
What about our $1,100 Iphones?
We as Americans from the U.S. spend what $650 Billion per year worth of goods from China.

The NBA is no different from probably every top company in this country who has a business relationship with China.
China is not the only significant human rights violator.
There are dozens of countries who regularly violate the human rights that we believe in.
We do business with those countries too.

Lets not start with the whataboutism - we are talking about China and the NBA.

The NBA - the worlds game - the global ambassador of sport. Give me a break.

This is China. There is no freedom. There is no human rights. There is no freedom of speech or expression. Every thing is controlled. Who gets to do business, who gets a loan, who gets to stay in a city, who gets to play basketball. And what they get to watch. But they will never tell you all this.

Yao Ming probably gave a nice speech. Fact is Yao Ming is controlled. He is a puppet that is being played by a giant organization. The CCCP. The NBA wants to sell its product to China, it needs to learn being played like a puppet by the CCCP.

I love basketball and I want to see the game grow and prosper. But not at the hands of human rights and hypocrisy. You trying to justify their behavior with ...well everyone does it, rings hollow. Sorry.

mrkleen09 wrote:

tjmakz wrote:

It's not just your lawn chair.
What about our $1,100 Iphones?
We as Americans from the U.S. spend what $650 Billion per year worth of goods from China.

The NBA is no different from probably every top company in this country who has a business relationship with China.
China is not the only significant human rights violator.
There are dozens of countries who regularly violate the human rights that we believe in.
We do business with those countries too.

Lets not start with the whataboutism - we are talking about China and the NBA.  

The NBA - the worlds game - the global ambassador of sport.  Give me a break.

This is China.  There is no freedom.  There is no human rights.  There is no freedom of speech or expression.  Every thing is controlled.  Who gets to do business, who gets a loan, who gets to stay in a city, who gets to play basketball.  And what they get to watch.  But they will never tell you all this.  

Yao Ming probably gave a nice speech.  Fact is Yao Ming is controlled.  He is a puppet that is being played by a giant organization.  The CCCP.  The NBA wants to sell its product to China, it needs to learn being played like a puppet by the CCCP.

I love basketball and I want to see the game grow and prosper.  But not at the hands of human rights and hypocrisy.  You trying to justify their behavior with ...well everyone does it, rings hollow.  Sorry.

No, I am trying to justify the NBA's behavior for having a business relationship with them.
I can see no legitimate reason for criticizing the way the NBA has handled this.
If the NBA and China can move past this, great.
If not, so be it.
The NBA will not bend any further.

worcester wrote:This is a personal issue for me on several fronts, and not because my father was the largest manufacturer of lawn chairs in the USA in the 1950's and 60's, all produced in the USA I might add...
I had a fabulous girlfriend from Urumqi, Xinjiang. An M.D. Ph.D, so bright and beautiful, who was also born a Muslim. She decried the repression of the Chinese against her Uighyur people, having personally witnessed 200 of her people killed in a protest. There are now 2,000,000 Uighyur's sequestered in virtual concentration camps there, including her, and she - a leading geneticist - has been denied contact with the outside world, including me. So if the NBA loses revenue because an American, speaking in America, supports the right of Hong Kong residents to ask ChiComs to abide by an agreement Beijing made in 1999 with the British and Hong Kong residents, so be it. Now back to basketball in the land of the free.

Great first hand account Worcester. Scary stuff.

tjmakz wrote:

No, I am trying to justify the NBA's behavior for having a business relationship with them.
I can see no legitimate reason for criticizing the way the NBA has handled this.
If the NBA and China can move past this, great.
If not, so be it.
The NBA will not bend any further.

You cant see a legitimate reason to criticize an organization the runs basketball training facilities in the same city where millions are held in concentration camps?

Now that the cat is out of the bag, this is principal over money. Plain and simple.

And this is not a one way street. The NBA is very powerful and need to grow a set of balls. If China won’t broadcast Rockets games, why should it get to see LeBron James in person?

China may have 1.4 billion people and $4 billion worth of a basketball market, but only the NBA has NBA basketball. That is nonnegotiable in its own way, if the league is willing to stand up for itself.

mrkleen09 wrote:

tjmakz wrote:

No, I am trying to justify the NBA's behavior for having a business relationship with them.
I can see no legitimate reason for criticizing the way the NBA has handled this.
If the NBA and China can move past this, great.
If not, so be it.
The NBA will not bend any further.

You cant see a legitimate reason to criticize an organization the runs basketball training facilities in the same city where millions are held in concentration camps?

Now that the cat is out of the bag, this is principal over money.  Plain and simple.

And this is not a one way street.  The NBA is very powerful and need to grow a set of balls.  If China won’t broadcast Rockets games, why should it get to see LeBron James in person?

China may have 1.4 billion people and $4 billion worth of a basketball market, but only the NBA has NBA basketball. That is nonnegotiable in its own way, if the league is willing to stand up for itself.

Of course it's about money to the NBA.
Don't expect the NBA to terminate a relationship with China when every other large American company has a business relationship with China.
if you don't think the NBA should have a relationship with China, then you are living in a glass house while you sit in your Chinese made lawn chair as you talk on your iphone.

Having the NBA in China and Africa and trying to give the kids a healthy game to play and enjoy can make a positive impact on young people's lives.
Basketball has made a huge difference for many kids in Africa. Hopefully in China too.

tjmakz wrote:
Of course it's about money to the NBA.
Don't expect the NBA to terminate a relationship with China when every other large American company has a business relationship with China.
if you don't think the NBA should have a relationship with China, then you are living in a glass house while you sit in your Chinese made lawn chair as you talk on your iphone.

Having the NBA in China and Africa and trying to give the kids a healthy game to play and enjoy can make a positive impact on young people's lives.
Basketball has made a huge difference for many kids in Africa. Hopefully in China too.

This is a PR disaster for the NBA. They can no longer pretend to traverse some moral high road. No amount of "helping poor kids" can over come this bottom line. Good luck to Adam Silver. His job just got exponentially harder.

mrkleen09 wrote:

tjmakz wrote:
Of course it's about money to the NBA.
Don't expect the NBA to terminate a relationship with China when every other large American company has a business relationship with China.
if you don't think the NBA should have a relationship with China, then you are living in a glass house while you sit in your Chinese made lawn chair as you talk on your iphone.

Having the NBA in China and Africa and trying to give the kids a healthy game to play and enjoy can make a positive impact on young people's lives.
Basketball has made a huge difference for many kids in Africa. Hopefully in China too.

This is a PR disaster for the NBA.  They can no longer pretend to traverse some moral high road.  No amount of "helping poor kids" can over come this bottom line.  Good luck to Adam Silver.  His job just got exponentially harder.  

You are right.
This is a no win situation for the NBA which could get significantly worse.

I like the way Commish handled this. Basically, we're not apologizing for our freedom of speech. It is what it is. Take it or leave it. We know to be sensitive to others about it that don't have it. But you won't be getting an apology. Ever.

"Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said it will no longer air the two preseason games. CCTV is also reviewing all of its cooperation and exchanges involving the NBA, it said in a statement posted to CCTV Sports' official social media account.

The broadcaster indicated the decision was prompted by earlier remarks Silver made in Japan.

"We're strongly dissatisfied and oppose Adam Silver's claim to support Morey's right to freedom of expression," the statement read. "We believe that any remarks that challenge national sovereignty and social stability are not within the scope of freedom of speech.""

From ESPN Article Lakers' NBA Cares event in Shanghai canceled amid China rift

Uhhh, Idiot says WHAT?!! I think he just summed up free speech (and the lack of it) very nicely!! Nothing is off the table. Anything less is not free speech.

db

dboss wrote:When sports and politics wake up and find themselves in the same bed, it should be an acceptable topic of discussion.

I would agree that this may be one of those times. It is a point where sports and politics have crossed paths. As long as we keep it civil, of course. No one should be trying to ram their opinion down anyone else's throat in this topic or any other.

I think Pop made his usual insightful comments, and spoke his mind clearly. Like his opinions or not, he never leaves any room to misinterpret his thoughts. Silver supported Morey's right to express an opinion, which I think he should have, while trying to manage damage control in a no win situation. But on this topic, I think Doc Rivers may have put it best. Doc said that it's always right to support freedom of speech, but that you have to remember freedom of speech, is not freedom from consequences. You have to think about the result before you speak. Did Morey intend to open this can of worms?

Dealing with countries like China is a double edged sword. A nation where capitalism is growing under a communist rule is a departure to say the least. Technically, they're considered to have a socialist market economy, but it's evolving more like western style capitalism. Except where Beijing decides to slow things down. Hard to argue that the government doesn't systematically repress it's people, yet they allow for a certain amount of westernization. Maybe The Party's desire for trade with the world's free market economies will eventually be the lever for human rights there. It's a complicated situation the NBA finds itself wading in, and a problem much bigger than the NBA can handle by itself.

Sports in general in the USA has been a tremendous force for positive change over many many years 

That change has had an impact on our culture.  So when The NBA sets its sights on global expansion, growing pains are bound to surface because of conflicts of culture.  A rather innocuous tweet by our standards has generated an over reaction by a country that remains nervous over their intentions to exert more mainland control over Hong Kong.

Our democratic values are not shared by the regime in China.  Our relationship with them is transactional.  They hold over a trillion dollars of our depth and we have opened up the huge US market to their goods.  The foundation of this great country, the American worker, has been a pawn in this game of making money.  

If the NBA experiences problems in China it does not change anything for the average NBA sports fan.  Teams do not have to travel 1,000's of miles to play over there.   NBA fans do not have to tune in and watch games over there.   America is not going to shut up about freedom.  It's part of our DNA.

https://miscellanynews.org/2019/10/10/sports/gms-hong-kong-tweet-reveals-nbas-true-priorities/



GM’s Hong Kong tweet reveals NBA’s true priorities



By JAAN CHOUDHRI

Posted on October 10, 2019 in Sports


Maybe better than any other professional league, the NBA has largely held itself accountable to becoming a vehicle for social justice in our vastly changing political climate. Players have spoken out about police brutality, owners have been fired for racist remarks and some international hoopers have even called out their oppressive native governments, like the Turkish-born Celtics center Enes Kanter. Yet recently, the NBA is catching some flack due to its questionable handling of a tweet that created a dispute with the Chinese government.

The NBA has a reputation of being “the woke league,” as social justice has been a key talking point for players and coaches in the league, particularly for stars like LeBron James. Last week however, Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey sparked a fierce controversy with a comment on the political demonstrations occurring in Hong Kong. Morey’s tweet voiced his support for the people of Hong Kong, who are currently staging a political revolution in China. For those unaware, since June, the people of Hong Kong have fought to keep their political independence from China through activism and grassroots revolution, something that has been heavily pushed back against by the mainland Chinese government. Protestors have been met with violent opposition from Chinese police forces, who have brutally beaten protesters in the streets and arrested protesters (BBC News, “Hong Kong: Timeline of extradition protests,” 09.04.2019).

Morey’s tweet (which was quickly deleted) read: “fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong” (NBCNews, “Daryl Morey’s tweet on Hong Kong shows how China is calling the shots in the NBA,” 10.08.2019). Despite the tweet’s quick removal, screenshots of it flooded the internet, becoming viral across China and in the United States. Chinese NBA fans quickly started to criticize Morey for his comments, resulting in a massive economic and social blow to Morey and the Houston Rockets. The Chinese Basketball Association, which is run by former Rocket Yao Ming, quickly condemned Morey’s statement, calling it “inappropriate,” and later cut all economic ties with the Houston Rockets (NBA, “Rockets working to mend ties with China after executive’s Hong Kong tweet,” 10.07.2019). This means no streaming of games, no reporting of scores and no sale of merchandise. Morey quickly walked his comment back, stating that he did not intend his tweet to “cause offense to any Rockets fans and friends…in China,” (Twitter, [@]dmorey, 10.06.2019). Even Rockets stars James Harden and Russell Westbrook issued apologies on behalf of the team.

The most interesting development occurred after this, when the NBA sent out two separate media releases regarding Morey’s statement, one being an English transcript for American viewers, and another in Mandarin intended for the NBA’s Chinese audience.

What’s interesting is the difference between the NBA’s tone in each statement. In the American version, the league’s commissioner Adam Silver stated it was “regrettable” that Morey’s statement offended Chinese fans, but that “the values of the league support individuals educating themselves and sharing their views on matters important to them.” However, the Chinese transcript contained a much more hostile tone, calling the tweet “inappropriate” and stating that the NBA is “extremely disappointed” with Morey’s statement (abcnews, “NBA’s reaction to Morey tweet differs in English, Chinese,” 10.07.2019). The fallout would continue as the days progressed, with scheduled broadcasts of all NBA preseason games in China being canceled by the Chinese national state television network (Washington Post, “Chinese state TV cancels broadcasts of NBA preseason games and sponsors drop out in dispute over Hong Kong comments,” 10.08.2019).

This marks a clear departure from the NBA’s ostensible social responsibility. The NBA has no problem having Martin Luther King Day games, or banning former Clippers owner Donald Sterling for racist remarks, but now appears to have no issue bending their knee to a politically oppressive regime. Why is that? Simple. Money.

Last season, the Houston Rockets were the second most popular team in China, trailing only the Golden State Warriors. An interesting detail to note is the NBA recently inked a five-year partnership worth $1.5 billion with Tencent (which also suspended all broadcasts of NBA events in response to Morey’s tweet), a Chinese media super mogul (CNBC, “Chinese state media and Tencent suspend broadcast of NBA preseason games in China,” 10.09.2019). The deal gave full streaming rights to Tencent, giving them complete control over NBA media in China. The NBA has been doing everything in their power to increase revenue, from allowing sponsorships on jerseys to an extensive effort to globalize the game, with teams playing throughout the season in London, Mumbai, China and South Africa. Does the NBA really want to lose its biggest foreign market over a single tweet?

Harden and Westbrook have their own personal interests in mind as well. Harden has built a brand for himself as the MVP with the world’s best beard. And don’t forget that Adidas deal he signed. Adidas’ largest source of revenue is the Asia-Pacific region, and I can only imagine how much the Chinese love his sneakers. Same thing with Westbrook, a Jordan Brand athlete. Does it really make sense for Westbrook to lose on tens of millions of dollars because of something going on across the world that has no effect on him? For both of these two superstars, of course not. But as individuals sharing a national spotlight, players and coaches should set an example as drivers of free speech and social activism.

The NBA is rapidly growing monetarily; there is no doubt about that. As it is one of my favorite sports, I’ve loved seeing basketball grow into a global sport in front of my eyes. But what I’d like to see out of the league is morality. Although it may not be directly explicit, the league has chosen to take an immoral stand, siding with a Chinese government that has not permitted Chinese citizens their ability to speak freely and constructively criticize the government without punishment. This is the same league that moved the 2017 All Star game from Charlotte to Las Vegas as a result of the state of North Carolina passing the H2B bill, which severely limited the rights of transgender people. This is the same league where teams wore “I can’t breathe” shirts following the death of Eric Garner. This is the same league that had players and coaches speak out against our president. How much of this past “activism” has been motivated by social concern, and how much of it was simply for monetary gain? It’s hard to tell. Ultimately, I can’t say I’m surprised by the league’s decision to value money over politics, but I hope this can be an eye-opener to the public that the NBA is socially conscious—but only as long as it doesn’t hurt their bottom line.


bob


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