The Grip - WED Oct 16 2019

Is LeBron the “misinformed” one?

October 16, 2019

Wednesday, Oct 16th, 2019

  The opening tip

  • LeBron James is back on the public’s bad side after his China-Morey remarks

  • The defeatist’s guide to the NBA season finishes up the Eastern Conference with a look at the Heat and Wizards.

  • The NBA season starts ….. in six days

  • Purdue alum Carsen Edwards officially has our attention

1. LeBron gets in trouble for saying too little

One week away from the start of the new season, the NBA is somehow still unwillingly stuck in the middle of political turmoil between Hong Kong and China. The latest person to feed the flame is LeBron James, who, on Monday night, claimed that Daryl Morey was “misinformed” about the whole situation.Here’s the full quote, which he had a week to prepare: 

“I think when we all sit back and learn from the situation that happened, understand that what you could tweet or could say (could affect people). We all talk about this freedom of speech. Yes, we all do have freedom of speech, but at times there are ramifications for the negative that can happen when you’re not thinking about others, and you’re only thinking about yourself.“I don’t want to get into a word or sentence feud with Daryl Morey, but I believe he wasn’t educated on the situation at hand, and he spoke, and so many people could have been harmed, not only financially, but physically. Emotionally. Spiritually. So just be careful what we tweet and what we say, and what we do. Even though yes, we do have freedom of speech, but there can be a lot of negative that comes with that too.”

This air ball has resulted in what Marc Stein called his “harshest criticism perhaps since ‘The Decision.’”Although he tried to clear things up on Twitter, he still stayed neutral on the Hong Kong movement, and ended up getting ratioed* pretty badly, a problem usually saved for the Doug Gottliebs of the world.(He was asked about his comments yesterday, and responded with a big ol’ no comment.)

(*Ratioed: The act of getting a disproportionate amount of replies -- usually negative -- to retweets.)

The consensus: LeBron is financially entwined with the Chinese market, including partnerships with Coca-Cola, Beats by Dre, and, most importantly, a lifetime deal with Nike, which receives 16 percent of its revenue from China.In short: He chose money, just like Michael Jordan used to. 

Max Kellerman: “It’s called selling out. When a billion dollars of business you don’t want disturbed. So now you’re quiet. In this instance it’s called selling out. I understand it’s a very high price, and I’m not saying how I would behave given the same circumstances, if I had a billion dollars on the line, but that’s what it’s called. It’s very easy to take a stand when there’s no to low cost. Right? Then you can take a stand. When the cost is high, when there is a real price to pay, for taking a stand, then who will stand up? Mohammad Ali, in this case. Not LeBron James.”

Why is this so disappointing? He’s been outspoken on so many issues in the past (u bum), that you would at least expect him to not completely throw Daryl Morey under the bus. For him to condemn freedom of speech is unabashedly hypocritical.Here are a handful of the outlets who panned LeBron for his comments:

2. Preseason Magic

Celtics rookie Carsen Edwards dropped 30 points on eight 3s in the third quarter alone during last night’s preseason game, reminiscent of his wild game in the Elite Eight against Virginia, where he hit 10 3-pointers. Brad Stevens, after the game: “I’ve never seen anything like that.”

3. The Heat belong to Jimmy Butler now

What’s ridiculous: About eight dramatic things happen a day in the world of the NBA, so you might have forgotten this, but Jimmy Butler threw a temper tantrum last year in Minnesota, terrorizing his teammates for a month before forcing a trade to the 76ers. His reason for wanting to leave the Wolves? All he wanted was to win. That’s it, he said. Nothing else.So, what did he do? He left a title contender in the 76ers to join the 39-43 Miami Heat. Call us crazy, but maybe he has other interests than winning. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with making millions of dollars to live in South Beach and play for an average team, but that renege is laughable. He got one good look at Dwyane Wade’s retirement tour and changed his mind.What’s exciting: This man Tyler Herro, the rookie whom the Heat drafted at No. 13 out of Kentucky, is creating some of the most hyperbolistic headlines you’ll ever see. 

Guess he’s a one-namer from now on. That’s just Tyler!What’s true: For a smart basketball man, Pat Riley has handed out some stupid contracts in the years since LeBron left. He gave Hassan Whiteside $100 million over four years, though he finally traded him, to Portland, this offseason. He gave Dion Waiters $52 million over four years. He gave James Johnson $8 million more than Waiters over the same time frame. He gave Kelly Olynyk another $50 million. All that for an eighth seed.

4. The Wizards are the sad boys of D.C. 

What’s true: It’s an unusually good time to be a sports fan in Washington, D.C. The Capitals won the Stanley Cup in 2018. The Mystics are WNBA champs. The Nationals just clinched their first trip to the World Series. And didn’t Wayne Rooney play for the MLS team there? The Yings to those other Yangs are the Washington Racial Epithets and the Wizards, who both seem to be dead set on out-sucking each other. Right now, we’ll give the Wizards the edge, based on their foresight to leave their offensive nickname where it belonged: in the 1990s, but it is certainly close.A number to think about: $122,472,000. John Wall is owed that much over the next four seasons. He’s played 72 games over the last two, and won’t play a single minute this season. He tore his Achilles last season, and will probably not be an effective basketball player again.What’s positive: Everyone’s favorite short man, who’s actually even shorter than we previously thought, is playing for the Wizards this year, and it seems like he’ll actually have a chance to, you know, play, once he returns in November from his thumb surgery. Isaiah (he’s a one-namer on this newsletter) has played only 44 games for three teams since the magical 2016-17 season. Seeing him get buckets on a bad team will be cathartic for all of us.A prediction: Bradley Beal, who remains very good on a team that is very bad, has been a noble trooper through the Wizards’ descent. But he’s 26, in his prime, and would fit with any team in the league. He has two years left on his deal, and Washington would be stupid to let this thing bleed out without getting some value for him in a trade.What’s great: Washington finally moved on from general manager Ernie Grunfeld, who did so many dumb things while in charge of the Wizards.

  Quick Hits 

 Concrete Reads 

  • ESPN’s politics policy, and its journalism, tested by NBA-China controversy [The Washington Post]

  • The burnout of the shooting star, Carmelo Anthony [ESPN]

  • Enes Kanter: I will not be silenced over Turkey [The Boston Globe]

  • City of Angles: How L.A. became the NBA media capital of the world [The Ringer]

  Podcast Pick 

LeBron’s stumble [The Bill Simmons Podcast]