Mark Medina: Doc Rivers on the pandemic: “It would be great to have national leadership on this, which we have zero.”
Donald Trump Rumors
Ever open to helping out, Barkley went to the White House in 2017 at the invitation of President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who heard Barkley speak on the need to narrow the gap between rich and poor. So what happened? “Absolutely nothing,” Barkley said. “That’s why I told you (back then) I wanted to see where they were going, and nothing happened. That’s what I told you, ‘Hey listen, I’m going to give them a chance,’ and they talked really good, but nothing happened. I wanted to listen. They (talked) prison reform, trying to help minorities get businesses started was one of my priorities, and nothing happened. I gave ’em a chance. I’m not a Trump guy, but I gave ’em a chance. As usual, everybody talks a good game.”
Did they use you? “No, I made sure that when I went to the White House, I said, ‘Listen, this ain’t no photo op.’ I don’t want to be seen, like, ‘We invited a Black guy to the White House.’ And they actually held up their end of the bargain. Nobody knows I went to the White House (he revealed the visit on Jamele Hill’s podcast in April 2019). … I wasn’t mad or disappointed. I went in with my eyes wide open, and nothing happened, and it is what it is.”
Bill Russell: No YOU are the scandal of our times!
MSNBC: President Trump on coronavirus testing: “I said to my people, slow the testing down, please.” Jordan Clarkson: idk what smoke they got in the white house? but this the dumbest s— i heard.
He talked about his admiration for Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, an outspoken critic of President Trump and his administration. “To see a white man of his stature, he’d be the first one to jump out there, and he don’t care about what no one else thinks,” DeRozan said. “He speaks the truth … you got to love and respect an individual like that.”
Chris Haynes: City of Tulsa – along with Houston Rockets star Russell Westbrook – will now host a global Juneteenth Block Party virtually as well as on-the-ground on June 20 during Donald Trump’s rally in the city that day. It’s an effort to reclaim airwaves, keep focus of weekend on freedom.
Of course, not long after that article, Fertitta did seek help from the government—he’s on video asking Donald Trump in person to consider expanding the definition of restaurants that can receive bailouts. The word is that 2020 has been particularly hard on Fertitta’s bottom line. Cash is tight. (Most of the money he used to finance the Rockets purchase came from Citibank, Deutsche Bank, Fidelity, and Putnam.)
Financial stability is the primary thing NBA team governors can offer the league. Which begs re-visiting the question at the beginning of this story: “Why did the NBA let a fourth-generation member of a mafia family buy the Rockets?” There are a lot of billionaires who would like to own NBA teams. It is curious that in 2017, well into the tenure of the strategic Adam Silver, Fertitta—with the baggage of his family name, a need for profoundly creative financing, and not even the high bid—made it to the front of the line.
Donald Trump may be beating Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden in fundraising towards November’s election overall in the United States… but that is not so in the NBA. Per our research from the Federal Election Commission‘s data, Trump is once again struggling with the NBA constituency, as was the case back in 2016 when donors from the league sided their financial contributions heavily to Hillary Clinton, who raised over $1.4 million from NBA donors.
So far towards this election, Trump only has four NBA donors, all members of ownership groups. The highest of those donations is $5,600 from Orlando Magic chairman Dan DeVos, a name that might sound familiar as Betsy Devos, Dan’s sister-in-law, is Trump’s Secretary of Education. Other NBA donations for Trump thus far are $2,800 Indiana Pacers vice-chairman James Morris, $200 from Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta and $318.75 from Los Angeles Lakers part-owner James Buss. In total, Trump has raised $8,918.75 from NBA donors.
I wonder if the former Air Force officer thinks the law-and-order militaristic approach can work for Cadet Bone Spurs in the campaign. “I honestly do,” he says. “I feel badly for the military around Trump because they’re dealing with the guy who is the poster boy for the aggrieved wannabe. And he’s taking it out on the world and it’s ruining our country.”
He continues about Goodell: “He got intimidated when Trump jumped on the kneeling” and “he folded.” Popovich says it is analogous to Republican lawmakers who support Trump out of fear “that they’ll get tweeted out of their office and not get elected the next go-round.” Don’t Tom Cotton and Lindsey Graham have people at home they are embarrassed to look in the eye, he ponders.
What does he think about the fact that seven N.F.L. owners, including Jerry Jones and Robert Kraft, each gave a million to Trump’s Inaugural Committee? “It’s just hypocritical,” he replies. “It’s incongruent. It doesn’t make sense. People aren’t blind. Do you go to your staff and your players and talk about injustices and democracy and how to protest? I don’t get it. I think they put themselves in a position that’s untenable.”
When Spike Lee heard why James Dolan wouldn’t comment on George Floyd’s death or police brutality, he thought of Donald Trump. Specifically, Lee, the most famous of Knicks fans, thought about Trump declining to pick a side when white supremacists rallied in Virginia three years ago. “That sounds like the guy in the White House commenting on what happened in Charlottesville, that there were good guys on both sides,” Lee said Thursday on ESPN’s “First Take.” “For me, that’s the same thing. That’s the same mentality.”
CJ McCollum: Sick move by a sick man
Jamal Crawford: Can’t wait until we vote this dude out in November..
CJ McCollum: Sick move by a sick man
Jamal Crawford: Can’t wait until we vote this dude out in November..
Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard on Tuesday dropped a track railing against racism, with lyrics that touch on President Donald Trump, the return of the NBA and police brutality. Under his stage name Dame DOLLA, Lillard released “Blacklist,” a 2-minute, 54-second track that is pointed, emotional and biting, hitting at the core of the civil unrest following the most recent deaths of black men and women at the hands of police.
Damian Lillard: As a brother with a good heart, I say f— you if you racist; Or white staying quiet, you disabling the changes; F— being famous, tired of watching us complaining; Cops kill a brother, get released after arraignments; We in a pandemic, thought getting out I would be more joyed; Then I watch a cop, knee to the neck, and kill George Floyd.
Lillard didn’t hold back, taking aim at one point at President Trump. How the president get on TV and be mad casual, like if you lootin we shooting, like its a game; Dude a clown and a trust-fund baby, he numb to pain; Never had it hard. Came into office unpatched the scars; Let the racist folks tell us we really aint make it far.
Brad Townsend: . @Shawn Marion says that, to this day, whenever he gets pulled over by police, the first thing he does is place both of his hands out of his car window. Marion has strong opinions about President Trump, too. pic.twitter.com/NaWLOHnB7V
Bill Russell: #Trump you projected your narrative that #TakingAKnee is disrespectful & #UnAmerican it was never about that! You are divisive & a coward. It takes true courage 2 stand 4 what is right & risk your life in the midst of a #pandemic #Proud2kneel #BlackLivesMatter @MSNBC @BostonGlobe
Steve Kerr slams Donald Trump again
“Trump is drawing the battle lines for the election,” Kerr said during NBC Sports Bay Area’s “Race In America: A Candid Conversation” on Friday. “He’s now just paving the way for, ‘I’m the law and order president, and you’ve got to vote for me unless you want the chaos to ensue.’ Which is ironic because chaos has ensued under his own administration. But clearly, this is the beginning of what’s going to be a chaotic campaign. Trump, as he’s been doing for not only his presidency, but for much of his adult life, he’s just trying to divide people and stir up the pot. And as I said, he’s drawing the lines and trying to bring his supporters to the side.”
Kerr immediately criticized Pence for hypocrisy on Twitter, as Pence staged a highly publicized walkout of a 2017 game between the 49ers and Indianapolis Colts due to San Francisco players kneeling during the national anthem in protest of police brutality and institutional racism. At the time, Pence tweeted he wouldn’t “dignify any event” disrespecting the flag and the national anthem. “When you’re incapable of being authentic, you’re just throwing stuff at the wall and you don’t even really care,” Kerr said. “But this is the problem, that truth and facts have sort of gone out the window. So anybody who is paying attention knows full well that not only did the administration not accept peaceful protests, but they turned it around and turned it into an anti-American act. “So, we all saw that and then to then fast forward four years and say, ‘No, no, we actually definitely feel strongly that Americans should be allowed to peacefully protest.’ It’s just like an utter lack of concern or conviction for anything in terms of your truth. There is no truth. So, no character, no conviction and that’s a big part of the issue right now, is that the people leading our country are just speaking from both sides of their mouth and just saying whatever they want to say.”
Silver has had weekly calls with executive committee members Paul, Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry and Dallas Mavericks center Dwight Powell; another weekly call with the league’s general managers and team presidents; and biweekly calls with the 30 owners. In between there are Zoom, FaceTime, Webex and Google Meetup calls with business leaders, public health officials, President Donald Trump, and executives from Major League Baseball, the National Football League and the National Hockey League.
During an appearance on “The Axe Files” podcast Thursday with CNN commentator and former Obama administration official David Axelrod, Cuban said as recently as last month he commissioned a pollster to gauge his prospects as an independent candidate but decided not to pursue it further after seeing how he’d match up in a race with President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden.
“What they found out is I’d take some votes away from Donald Trump, particularly with independents,” Cuban said. “In a three-way between me, Biden and Trump, I dominated the independent vote — I got like 77 percent percent of it and was able to take some votes away from Donald and some votes away from Biden. But in aggregate, I was only able to get up to 25 percent. From every which way, crosstab, you name it, I had it analyzed and scrutinized every which way, projected, and they could only see me getting up to 25 percent. That’s why I didn’t pursue it further.”
Cuban said fears about helping Trump get re-elected if he ran as an independent didn’t factor into his thinking. “Not so much that. I just didn’t think I could win,” Cuban said. “The competitive side of me thought, when people heard me speak, when people heard my positions, when people heard the fact that I understood what I was talking about and understood technology and none of the candidates understood technology that maybe I could do it.”
Tobias Harris: Last month, armed men took over the steps of Michigan’s capitol building. To protest the QUARANTINE. And what did the President call them? “Good people.” But we go out and protest that another black life has been taken senselessly, and we’re “THUGS.” Come on. This is why black Americans are angry. For police officers who commit this violence, there has been no accountability. Cops are supposed to be held to a standard of conduct, but they always get the benefit of the doubt, inherently. They act like we ain’t supposed to question nothing.
Steve Kerr: I feel so much better seeing him hold the Bible. Now I know he is a moral man driven by family values and a strict set of personal ethics. This changes everything.
Ben Simmons: This is not what a leader looks like. His actions and cold words are cowardly. Do not allow these messages of hate and divide draw your attention away from the REAL goal of UNITY and EQUALITY which is achieved through LOVE and COMPASSION. I love y’all, stay safe
