2021 NBA Offseason Thread

[sailfish]

Considering he surrounds himself with sycophants, probably poorly for a #1 pick compared to LeBron coming into the league. The answer is every guard in the league Chris Johnson and why would anyone guard him like that as a non-shooter?

Should we be really impressed by Simmons making moves against YMCA-caliber players?

 

[Cement]

Hmm, so I guess Wiggins is not alone…

Nope. Not even close.

From the story -

A spokeswoman for Irving declined to respond to a list of questions regarding his vaccination and playing status, and Irving did not immediately respond to a message from Rolling Stone. But as teams return to pre-season training camps next week, fifty to sixty NBA players have yet to receive a single vaccine dose, league sources tell RS. Most are considered merely reluctant skeptics. Some of the holdouts, however, amount to their own shadow roster of anti-vaxxers mounting a behind-the-scenes resistance to Covid protocols — and the truth.

 

[2 For The Brew]

Should we be really impressed by Simmons making moves against YMCA-caliber players?

It’s at least as impressive as Rocky beating up Paulie, or Ohio State clobbering Akron.

 

[sailfish]

Nope. Not even close.

From the story -

A spokeswoman for Irving declined to respond to a list of questions regarding his vaccination and playing status, and Irving did not immediately respond to a message from Rolling Stone. But as teams return to pre-season training camps next week, fifty to sixty NBA players have yet to receive a single vaccine dose, league sources tell RS. Most are considered merely reluctant skeptics. Some of the holdouts, however, amount to their own shadow roster of anti-vaxxers mounting a behind-the-scenes resistance to Covid protocols — and the truth.

Meh. Do you really think they want to come out public with their stance knowing the hate they’re gonna receive from the vocal majority and the media, not that that’s a reason to change their stance. I suspect it’s more than 50-60.

 

[kidduck]

Crunch Time Is Here for Players Who Oppose Covid-19 Vaccinations​

Athletes and coaches who have held out against the shot so far now have to choose whether to forego big and lucrative moments to maintain that stance​

Kyrie Irving, right, declined to address how or whether he would comply with New York City’s requirement to prove vaccination in order to be in an indoor arena.​

Sept. 27, 2021 2:08 pm ET


Media day for the Brooklyn Nets was billed as a potentially explosive spectacle in which leading scorer Kyrie Irving might set out his reasons for not being vaccinated against Covid-19 and signal whether he was willing to miss every Nets practice, home game and potential playoffs this season in order to maintain that position.


In the end, Irving spoke from an undisclosed location on Zoom because the 29-year-old guard wasn’t allowed to enter the Barclays Center. Then he declined to address how or whether he would comply with New York City’s requirement to prove vaccination in order to be in an indoor sports arena.


“I just would love to just keep that private, and handle it the right way with my team, and go forward together with a plan,” he said. “Obviously, I’m not able to be present there today. But that doesn’t mean that I’m putting any limits on the future of me being able to join the team.”

Crunch time has come for some of the most high-profile vaccine opponents in sports. Unvaccinated athletes, some who make many millions of dollars per year, are facing decisions on whether they will bow to vaccine mandates. In some cases, like Irving’s, they’re already finding they have to sit out while they figure out what to do.


For months, sports organizations encouraged—but did not require—athletes to get the shot. They offered the advice of their medical professionals, organized listening sessions, and created incentives for players, such as looser masking and distancing restrictions. They even emphasized competitive advantages for individuals and whole teams. But like many employers across the country, the leagues always stopped short of a mandate.


That’s all changing now. Litigation continues over a vaccine mandate for New York City public school teachers and other school workers. Meanwhile, federal workers are staring down October and early November deadlines to schedule their vaccine appointments. Federal government contractors have to be in compliance by December.


One factor in the more muscular stance is the Food and Drug Administration approval of the Pfizer vaccine. A particularly significant one is increasing concern, and decreasing patience, over the infectious Delta variant and the strain on hospital systems. Taken together, it’s been enough to reverse public health experts’ fears a mandate could backfire, and for employers to seek to override union skepticism of outright demands from management.


Some sports organizations are following suit: The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee has told athletes eyeing the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing that they will need to be vaccinated in order to go; starting Nov. 1, they also have to be fully vaccinated to use official training facilities.


Professional sports leagues still aren’t imposing their own mandates on athletes. But now the demands are coming from a powerful source: state and local laws that individual teams have found that they are subject to.


Both New York City and San Francisco have mayoral orders in place that require all local players—and any fans—to be vaccinated in order to be in an indoor venue for a sports event. Washington state, meanwhile, requires vaccines of employees in sectors including healthcare, early childhood education—and higher education.


(The USOPC is facing similar pressure: there is a growing sense that China may all but insist upon vaccines to enter the country or compete effectively in the Games.)


That’s a problem for Irving and others who have said they are unvaccinated and now are employed in jurisdictions that will demand vaccination. They include the Golden State Warriors’ Andrew Wiggins and Washington State football coach Nick Rolovich.

It’s too late for an unvaccinated Warriors player to get vaccinated in time for an Oct. 4 preseason home game and be considered fully protected under the San Francisco order. That rule says that someone is only fully vaccinated two weeks after they get the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, or the second shot of the two-dose Moderna and Pfizer regimens, which also require shots to be spaced several weeks apart. Wiggins and any other Warriors who are unvaccinated face an Oct. 7 deadline to get the Johnson & Johnson shot in time for an Oct. 21 home game.


On Friday the league said that it had reviewed and rejected Wiggins’s request for a religious exemption; the Warriors declined to comment. The players’ association did not immediately respond to inquiries.


The Nets have more wiggle room, seemingly, ahead of their first home game on Oct. 24. The New York order only requires proof of receipt of at least one vaccine dose.


The New York Knicks have said that all of their players are vaccinated. The NBA says around 90% of players across the league are vaccinated; unvaccinated players outside of New York and San Francisco are not affected by the cities’ orders because both explicitly exempt visiting teams and visiting athletes, though those orders could change.


Throughout the pandemic, professional sports leagues like the NFL and NBA have generated rich data that has helped scientists better understand Covid-19. Now, with football season in full swing as the Delta variant spreads, WSJ’s Shelby Holliday looks at what we’ve learned so far.

For no team is the issue more salient than the Nets, who begin the NBA season as title favorites with Kevin Durant, James Harden and Irving. Many around the league feel that injuries or unexpected absences are the only thing that can stop them. In a normal season, that could mean a sprained ankle. This season, it could be their vaccination status.


“That’s on Kyrie, and that’s his personal decision,” said Durant, appearing in person at the media day that required attendees to show proof of vaccination. “What he does is not on us to speculate what may happen.”



The Nets declined to comment on Irving’s vaccination status or how they plan to handle his availability for home games.


The NBA has taken on many of the tough calls for the teams: insisting on state and local compliance, saying that it and not the teams will assess medical and religious exemption requests. The league also noted, in a Sept. 1 memo to teams obtained by The Wall Street Journal, that under the player contract, a player who cannot comply with local laws can have pay docked, be fined or suspended.


“A player who fails to provide services due [to] his failure to comply with any such local order…will not be considered to have a proper and reasonable cause or excuse for failing to provide such services,” the memo said.


Rolovich, the Washington state coach, said in July that he had opted not to receive a Covid-19 vaccine “for reasons which will remain private.” Now, an October deadline to meet a Washington state mandate looms for Rolovich, one of the state’s highest-paid employees with $3 million a year in compensation according to a USA Today database. He must either be fully vaccinated by Oct. 18 or have secured an exemption for approved medical or religious reasons.


A Washington State spokesman said he couldn’t comment on any individual’s vaccination status.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

Seems that The Bullshit Whisperer tweeted some completely bogus crap about a Simmons/Murray trade, which caused a bunch of confusion within the Nuggets front office:

Ben Simmons For Jamal Murray Trade Ripped To Shreds By Nuggets Exec

As the Philadelphia 76ers have kicked Ben Simmons trade talks into overdrive, the Denver Nuggets have reportedly emerged as a "sleeper" candidate.

clutchpoints.com

As the Philadelphia 76ers have kicked Ben Simmons trade talks into overdrive, the Denver Nuggets have reportedly emerged as a “sleeper” candidate. That’s according to NBA insider Sam The Bullshit Whisperer....

[Insert typical The Bullshit Whisperer garbage tweets]

But it seems as though the Nuggets brass themselves aren’t aware of their own involvement in the matter. According to Matt Moore aka Hardwood Paroxysm, the rumors have been met with “general confusion.” A Nuggets executive even took a shot at the Sixers star in the process when asked if a deal involving Jamal Murray is being discussed.....

They should have known better than to take The Bullshit Whisperer seriously!

 

[sailfish]

Seems that The Bullshit Whisperer tweeted some completely bogus crap about a Simmons/Murray trade, which caused a bunch of confusion within the Nuggets front office:

Ben Simmons For Jamal Murray Trade Ripped To Shreds By Nuggets Exec

As the Philadelphia 76ers have kicked Ben Simmons trade talks into overdrive, the Denver Nuggets have reportedly emerged as a "sleeper" candidate.

clutchpoints.com

As the Philadelphia 76ers have kicked Ben Simmons trade talks into overdrive, the Denver Nuggets have reportedly emerged as a “sleeper” candidate. That’s according to NBA insider Sam The Bullshit Whisperer....

[Insert typical The Bullshit Whisperer garbage tweets]

But it seems as though the Nuggets brass themselves aren’t aware of their own involvement in the matter. According to Matt Moore aka Hardwood Paroxysm, the rumors have been met with “general confusion.” A Nuggets executive even took a shot at the Sixers star in the process when asked if a deal involving Jamal Murray is being discussed.....

They should have known better than to take The Bullshit Whisperer seriously!

Sam needs to stay off the trade machine.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

Right back down the rabbit hole.

Awesome.

@Sebastian

 

[Lee]

Carefully avoiding the political aspect here ...

Notice how Irving's and Wiggins' teammates were supportive of them? Obviously they don't agree with not getting the vaccine and know that missing key players will hurt the team. So why support those guys?

One word - respect. The players respect the opinions of other players even if they don't agree.

I suggest that this respectful approach is more likely to bring those guys around than attacking them, but I'll never be a pro athlete and my opinion on this is not even worth 2 cents.

Personally I'm really tired of everybody hitting everyone else over the head with a sledgehammer. That's not going to convince anybody of anything.

I hope people get vaxxed BTW.

I dont agree. I doubt most of GS or the Nets respect Wiggins or Kyrie's decision. How the fuck do we know what they think? All we know is they arent taking a PUBLIC stance against the unvaxxed player. Privately they could be pissed, even said something to the player.

We are really in the dark on this and just because we havent heard anything from teammates doesnt mean they are pissed....ok Durant isnt pissed, but who knows about the others.

 

[daddywags]

I can't wait for the damn season to start so we'll have something else to talk about.

 

[Lee]

In case people haven't noticed, the vaccinations aren't working very well. They do not prevent the spread of the disease. Deaths from Covid are now higher than they were last summer and fall, for a seasonal disease, even though 70+% of the adult population is vaccinated. If the vaccinations were clearly working I don't think that there would be a problem getting people to take them.

You can add to that that young, healthy athletes in their 20s are at very very low risk from Covid, with a chance of death at less than one-tenth of one percent if they get the disease, the technology used in the vaccines is new and experimental, and vaccines do in fact have risks of their own. So add it all up and you're saying -- risk taking a new and experimental vaccine that doesn't work very well for a disease you have a 99.9% chance of surviving anyway if you get it. It's not at all unreasonable for NBA players to be reluctant

The problem will always be the unvaccinated are selfish and only think of their own risk, not their wives, children, parents grandchildren, friends, uncles, aunts or anyone else they may come in contact with.

If you chose to ignore 1,000 of studies or reports or the fact the vaccine has been given to BILLIONS of people with extremely high success you will continue to ignore. The evidence is so overwhelming you are 100 times better getting vaccinated, maybe 1,000 times better, but some people chose to ignore the evidence. Its just silly at this point.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

I can't wait for the damn season to start so we'll have something else to talk about.

We do have something else to talk about. It's just that some people believe they are so much smarter/better informed than the rest of us that they have a moral obligation to impart their knowledge to all of us uneducated Walmart shoppers.

I truly dislike such people, but they post anyway. Go figure.

 

[2 For The Brew]

Say, did anyone hear LeBron’s deep thoughts today?

 

[Rich]

Hmm, so I guess Wiggins is not alone…

I mean there were clearly quite a few of them considering the NBPA didn't budge on the issue. That means there's at least a fairly significant contingent of players who aren't going to get the Vax.


I also can very easily see players just lying. Particularly the mega stars.

I mean if LeBron James isn't vaccinated are we honestly gonna believe the Lakers wouldn't just lie for him and have their doctor lie for him? Assuming that's who confirms someone is vaccinated? Like....let's not be naive here.

 

[Sebastian]

Right back down the rabbit hole.

Awesome.

@Sebastian