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NBA vetoes a trade: exposes the protection in place for large corporations
Renegade:
Here's the thing... Professional sports operate outside of the law in many ways.
Suppose Stephen and I both work for IBM. We then decide to bet on whether IBM or HP will have a better fiscal 2011 EBIT. This is not illegal. If we were in the NBA or NFL, it would be. How the hell is that "rule of law"?
Now, suppose Stephen decides to go work for Oracle and I decide to go work for HP. And some other organization blocks me from working for HP when HP clearly wants to hire me. WTF? Seriously?
Stephen has a point there.
40hz:
Despite being businesses, professional sports are still considered "private associations" which is why they're also sometimes referred to as "sports clubs."
The rules and laws governing such associations have a few quirks and wrinkles in them that don't make them work quite the same way as what would be considered a simple business.
Renegade:
Despite being businesses, professional sports are still considered "private associations" which is why they're also sometimes referred to as "sports clubs."
The rules and laws governing such associations have a few quirks and wrinkles in them that don't make them work quite the same way as what would be considered a simple business.
-40hz (December 10, 2011, 07:01 PM)
--- End quote ---
Ahem...
All animals are equal, except that some animals are more equal than others...
Like I said... So much for the rule of law.
Paul Keith:
Here's the thing... Professional sports operate outside of the law in many ways.
Suppose Stephen and I both work for IBM. We then decide to bet on whether IBM or HP will have a better fiscal 2011 EBIT. This is not illegal. If we were in the NBA or NFL, it would be. How the hell is that "rule of law"?
Now, suppose Stephen decides to go work for Oracle and I decide to go work for HP. And some other organization blocks me from working for HP when HP clearly wants to hire me. WTF? Seriously?
Stephen has a point there.
-Renegade (December 10, 2011, 06:35 PM)
--- End quote ---
This appeal towards the law is IMO the very same catalyst for why the law is also broken/has been broken by more troublesome and confusing laws.
To uphold just laws, it's not about which entity operates outside of it but on what those actions entail.
The problem with this scenario is it's just not that applicable of an analogy. It's seen by your counter analogies and it's seen by the over-reaction of stretching it towards professional sports as if this wasn't a trade but the NBA literally telling Chris Paul his contract is being changed without his permission. That's not the case.
LA can still renegotiate for Paul. This "version" of the trade is vetoed. Not the entire trade concept.
If the government or lawyers block you from working for HP because of some technicality like immigration problems, they can.
Whether they are in the right or wrong, the point is they can impose that because you chose to live in the vacuum where people have given up their power to the almighty government of "country X". It's the same way with the NBA (where teams all play for one popular "league") only LA has so many hail mary trades thrown at them, this is nowhere near an abuse. Not to the level of suddenly equating this with all of professional sports or equating this with how the rich takes advantage of the poor and powerless.
Similarly, whatever NO gets by keeping Paul - it has never really made them over the top unless they have another trade happening barring the over-achievement Pauls Hornets have shown throughout their careers. Over-achievements which haven't even resulted in a championship yet anyway.
Plus, a Paul trade can still happen and Paul if he really wants to leave can leave. Only he has to leave the NBA. No more different than your boss can veto a branch move "within" a company. You can leave for HP but within the company the boss has a right to block your attempt to move to the board of directors. The only reason the NBA doesn't come off this way is because it's mainstream and with that comes size of angry over-reactive fanbase and size of departments that literally branch out to full blown team ownership, over-paid player contracts and every other aspect size of that magnitude entails. Size that creates the illusion that teams are more independent than they are unless an event like this actually happens.
Another thing with this operating outside the law issue: The NBA is not an illegal business nor is it a 3rd Party. Sure, because of it's size, you have owners who want to break the law by tampering or refs who want to earn an extra chunk of cash by ruining the integrity of the sport or spoiled players who worsen these lockouts because they and their agents seek the big payload when they are already living in the age of huge contracts but they do not operate outside of the law. It's what fuels the overreaction to the veto. The veto was done "within" the right of the NBA to do so as allowed for the law. If it was really outside of the law, the whole league would have been arrested, detained, destroyed. Zero NBA. A more apt analogy would be a parent's right to drag their underage offspring away from any type of party they deem dangerous. Is it always just? Is it always fair? No. But it's sure as hell not slavery or parents 100% wanting guaranteed profits from having a child that didn't risk going to jail and ending up have a poorer future with less cash to subsidize them when they are retired.
Finally, a trade to LA does not make all animals equal. The rest of the teams have suffered from LA constantly winning championships because of blockbuster trades. It was never equal to begin with and it never will and it has only gotten worse. The rule of law "fakes" these attempts which is why you have watered down teams. To then claim that a counter-reaction to the failure of the rules is suddenly proof that the law has failed? That's ass backwards. That reeks of over-reaction. This is a sport folks. Not government wars. Not secret wall street meetings. Not even a company blocking you (the working Stephen who finally attracted a better job at another place) from reaching your dreams. This is purely a battle between rich people and those who worship and pay to make rich people argue on these things for the sake of a bigger paycheck in the guise of competition. It doesn't mean this issue may not be worth fighting for but don't dirty the issue and make it to be something it isn't. Even as a basketball fan, I already have to stomach the faux attempt of a new Boston-Laker rivalry that never really was there because both Boston and LA could attract superstar trades because of their team's prestige. I already have to stomach the idea of Lebron winning not 1, not 2, not 3 championships in the future because of the Decision. The last thing any basketball fan needs is to have more legacies by legends be further tarnished and hijacked by an event that's really only notable in basketball and not in general.
Edit: Also, I think it's worth emphasizing that pulling out of a trade which LA has done (only read about it now) is different from being blocked/banned from pursuing an action. A boss can demotivate me to leave the company by offering a higher paycheck to nowhere's ville. One that completely gives zero benefit for my long term future worse than whatever the Lakers have to deal right now and if I give in to the offer, he's not doing anything against the law.
Renegade:
I'm not sure if I'm clear about what's going on now...
3 teams organize a trade and agree on it.
The league steps in and vetoes it.
Is that right?
If it is right, then it seems like the league is clearly overstepping their bounds as an officiating organization.
It seems to me like Dolby and Fraunhofer want to trade a couple employees, then MPEG-LA comes out and says no. Well, not quite exactly like that, but close enough.
Am I missing something? Do teams not have the right to hire their own employees?
FYI - I don't follow professional sports at all. I am relatively ignorant about whatever is going on in that world. To me, teams seem to be companies, while the "league" itself is also another company that acts basically to administer the season, etc. etc.
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