The Atlanta HAWKS thread- Defund Tony Ressler

Discussion in 'The Mainboard' started by Gaknight, Apr 8, 2015.

  1. Fran Tarkenton

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    Nets own the tiebreaker though, so tomorrow will be fun.
     
  2. allothersnsused

    allothersnsused Wow that’s crazy
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    So we need either a Pacers win or a Pacers loss and a Brooklyn loss?

    Can't wait for our own team to go back to playing meaningful ball this weekend.
     
  3. ugafish

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    Pacers could present some trouble for Hawks in rd 1.
     
    #54 ugafish, Apr 15, 2015
    Last edited: Apr 15, 2015
  4. Fran Tarkenton

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    A Police Story Unravels: How Did the NYPD Break an NBA Player’s Leg?
    Dave Zirin on April 15, 2015 - 5:55 PM ET

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    New York City police officers on patrol in Brooklyn. (Reuters/Eric Thayer)

    At the risk of stating the utterly obvious, most Black men and women who suffer physical violence at the hands of the police aren't millionaires. They don't have lawyers on speed dial and lack the resources of a well-funded union leaping to their defense. But most Black men and women aren't NBA players. In other words, they aren't Thabo Sefolosha. The Atlanta Hawks guard will now miss the playoffs after an encounter with the NYPD left him with a fractured leg and an arrest record. In his first comments following the late night scuffle outside a Chelsea club, Sefolosha made clear that while his attorneys asked him to be silent for now, "I will simply say that I am in great pain, have experienced a significant injury and that the injury was caused by the police."

    Already, the gap between the initial police accounts—reprinted as objective narration by some media outlets—and the version that’s coming to light, should be giving NYPD Commissioner William Bratton night sweats. The official story was that Thabo and teammate Pero Antic were arrested after being asked "six times" to leave a crime scene where NBA player Chris Copeland was stabbed. Then, as the original police report proclaimed, “the defendant Thabo Sefolosha [ran] in an aggressive manner towards the direction of Police Officer Daniel Dongvort" and "Officer Dongvort’s back was facing the defendant at the time."

    Yet facts are stubborn things, and the most stubborn fact that makes this story feel like fantasy is that the arrest took place well over 40 yards away from the stabbing. I went down to the block where the stabbing and subsequent arrest took place. The distance is considerable in the light of day. So imagine how far away they would have seemed with dozens of people crowding a narrow 10th avenue sidewalk in between the stabbing and their retreat toward the team hotel. The idea that police were yelling on six separate occasions over the heads of throngs of people—amidst ambulances and all matter of chaos—for two men to walk away, seems absurd.

    An alternative version of what may have happened was told to SI's Greg Hanlon by an anonymous source who had spoken to several people on the scene.

    In this version, as people were dispersing following the Copeland stabbing, "one officer focused on Sefolosha, and then he continues to track him down the block like a D-back tracking a receiver.” Then according to Hanlon's source, “Sefolosha turns to him and asked in substance what the officer’s problem was with him.” Sefolosha was subsequently knocked to the ground, where according to video, an officer is clearly unsheathing and raising some kind of baton.

    What sounds more realistic? That Thabo Sefolosha whose off-court reputation is pristine, decided to bum-rush a police officer whose back was turned, or that a pissed off cop, adrenalized over a melee involving a stabbed NBA player, chose to get aggressive with the other Black NBA player on the premises.

    These kinds of confrontations do not happen every day but they do happen. Police engage in racial profiling and NBA players, who could not be in the league without healthy egos, don’t like being treated like shit by cops. It’s simply a recipe for conflict. Remember the pepper spraying of Chris Webber, when he wouldn’t get off his phone quickly enough for an officer who pulled him over in his car, or the tasing of Dale Davis, after the Indiana Pacers power forward dared police officers to shoot him. Those are only two examples and I could list several more. What I cannot find is an instance with an NBA player seeing a police officer and just going on the attack. Perhaps that is why Internal Affairs is now investigating the arresting officers.

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    What happened to Thabo Sefolosha has happened before. But this case is also different. It is the first one to take place amidst the presence of the Black Lives Matter movement against police violence; the first "cops vs. jocks" story to happen in simultaneous fashion with stories such as the execution shooting of Walter Scott by Officer Michael Slager and the recording of a police officer responding to the dying Eric Harris' plea that he could not breathe because of a police bullet in his back, with "Fuck your breath." It is the first one to happen after a fall of NBA players taking the court to say that they stand with the thousands who believe that the police have a responsibility to not kill the unarmed.

    Now the ball is in Thabo Sefolosha’s hands. He is clearly preparing a lawsuit against the NYPD and if successful, good for him. As the head of an NAACP branch who asked his name to be withheld said to me, “The police are like any business. You sue. You take their money. You get the bureaucrats nervous and hopefully that means you change their behavior.” This is a valid point. But we have also seen big city police departments pay out millions with little to show for it in changed behavior. New York City alone has belched up half a billion dollars since 2009, to settle police brutality civil suits out of court. This payout did not save Eric Garner anymore than it spared Thabo Sefolosha. But if Thabo chooses to mount a public campaign and if NBA players choose to amplify it during the playoffs, then we could have something powerful on our hands that hastens the changes in policing so desperately obvious with every felled Black body. Whatever path Thabo Sefolosha selects may be a personal and business decision before it is a political one. But going public is the best way for Thabo to take the “great pain” he is in, and give some back.
     
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  5. Gaknight

    Gaknight Well-Known Member
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    Game 1 set for Sunday. Now where to watch?
     
  6. ugafish

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    What time?
     
  7. Gaknight

    Gaknight Well-Known Member
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    Not announced
     
  8. allothersnsused

    allothersnsused Wow that’s crazy
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    Nets tied with Orlando going into the 4th.
     
  9. je ne suis pas ici

    je ne suis pas ici Well-Known Member
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  10. Pancho

    Pancho Emptyin’ my bladder on a twenty foot ladder
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    I was listening to the radio today and they were having a discussion about who they would rather the Hawks play in the playoffs :puzzled:
     
  11. It'sAlwaysSunnyInAthens

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    Pacers are down 13 in the second.. Fuck.
     
  12. ugafish

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    Why puzzled? One team might be easier to beat than another, so it's a fair topic.
     
  13. Fran Tarkenton

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  14. Gaknight

    Gaknight Well-Known Member
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    One team also meant lottery pick for the Hawks
     
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  15. ugafish

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    I don't think that was necessarily what the discussion was about. Of course we wanted Indiana from a draft standpoint, but they may have been a tougher matchup.
     
  16. It'sAlwaysSunnyInAthens

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    No one was worried about the pacers.. Wanted the pick badly. Fuck.
     
  17. Gin Buckets

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  18. Pile Driving Miss Daisy

    Pile Driving Miss Daisy It angries up the blood
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    So sick of these fucking losses, even if it means jack shit. I hope we beat the ever living FUCK out of Brooklyn.
     
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  19. Gaknight

    Gaknight Well-Known Member
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    Starters barely played last night
     
  20. Pile Driving Miss Daisy

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    I know, but I want to see Ws and less cuntfaces that keep doubting the Hawks at every opportunity they get.
     
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  21. allothersnsused

    allothersnsused Wow that’s crazy
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    I am a little worried about the amount of time since we've played meaningful ball. Hopefully it just means starters legs are fresh and we can tear through the playoffs.
     
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  22. Fran Tarkenton

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    you could be confusing Grant Hill's prior bidder with this new one

    Grant Hill was previously told he was out with Richard Chaifetz, this is an entirely new bid this week.
     
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  23. ugafish

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    I have seen 8 seeds drive the 1 to the brink and we haven't been great by any means since we had that crazy streak.
     
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  24. It'sAlwaysSunnyInAthens

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    If we can't beat the Pacers what does it matter? We aren't winning shit anyway and we could get a franchise changer even in the late lottery this year. We'd smoke the pacers. :twocents:
     
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  25. Gaknight

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    Ugh besides that 3 game skid last month and the last 3 games(which had no meaning) the Hawks have been great the last half of the season. You also have to consider how many games Bud has rested guys in since the #1 seed has been locked up.
     
  26. allothersnsused

    allothersnsused Wow that’s crazy
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    But Brooklyn should have the first post-lotto pick after we smoke their asses in round 1? Worst record in the playoffs and a 1st round loss should be enough, right?
     
  27. Fran Tarkenton

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    Brooklyn went from the 10th best lottery odds to a guaranteed 15th pick last night. Sucks.
     
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  28. allothersnsused

    allothersnsused Wow that’s crazy
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    Yeah, I figured there would be a handful of western conference teams in between lottery-Brooklyn and playoff-Brooklyn. Bummer
     
  29. Gin Buckets

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    Hawks required to use that pick this year or can they use it next year?
     
  30. Fran Tarkenton

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    this year

    it was a deal where in 2014 and 2015 we held rights to swap our pick for Brooklyn's (which we will do both years)

    obviously we can trade the 15th pick in 2015 for a future 1st; we hold full rights to that pick.
     
  31. Fran Tarkenton

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    the good news is that we have the easiest path to the conference finals and should remain rested by the time we get there

    if we can't do it this year it might never happen
     
  32. Fran Tarkenton

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    Cleveland and Chicago will likely murder each other over 7 games. I don't like our chances against either, but Philips should be a blast regardless.
     
    #84 Fran Tarkenton, Apr 16, 2015
    Last edited: Apr 16, 2015
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  33. Pile Driving Miss Daisy

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    Really? The only teams I think that can beat us are Cleveland and maybe, just maybe, Toronto.
     
  34. Fran Tarkenton

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  35. ugafish

    ugafish Not a new member
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    Would you rather win in 5 games or 7? Spurs toughest series last year was round 1. Heck, we pushed the pacers and celtics in years past even though we were supposed to be smoked.
     
  36. Pile Driving Miss Daisy

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    Why is Chicago scary? Because Rose is sort of healthy?
     
  37. It'sAlwaysSunnyInAthens

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    I'd rather win in 7 and pick 10th.
     
  38. Fran Tarkenton

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    No. Because our biggest weakness is rebounding and Chicago has Paul Gasol, Joakim Noah, and Taj Gibson. They are extremely tough defensively. They are physical. They are experienced. They also have Nikola Mirotic, Derrick Rose, and Jimmy Butler.
     
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  39. Fran Tarkenton

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  40. Fran Tarkenton

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    Chris Mannix has us drafting Poeltl (passing on Dekker, Oubre, and Portis)

    Draft Express has us drafting Dekker (passing on Looney, Lyles, and Portis)
     
  41. Pancho

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  42. Pile Driving Miss Daisy

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    Just saw that on Hawks reddit. Best Hawks hype video ever!
     
  43. jkun

    jkun UGA, United, Falcons, Braves, Tennis, Chelsea
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    ooooooh that was nice
     
  44. TDintheCorner

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  45. ugafish

    ugafish Not a new member
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    Without a healthy Rose and Noah, they are much less of a threat. I would rather play Chicago than Toronto, but we just had to pull the starters last night.
     
  46. ugafish

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    The team has not been great since January ended, even while acknowledging some of the resting going on.
     
  47. TDintheCorner

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