Morey’s Three Second Lane Violation

Posted on October 8, 2019 by thependulumswings staff

Did you know who Daryl Morey was prior to last Saturday? The Houston Rockets General Manager brought analytical concepts similar to MLB’s Money Ball approach to the Rockets organization over a decade ago. Under his leadership the franchise has won plenty of games, acquired James Harden, but hasn’t won it all.

But, Morey’s tweet of support of the pro democracy movement/protests in Hong Kong, and vis a vis against The People’s Republic of China, threatened to take money from the NBA, it’s owners (specifically Rockets new owner Tillman Fertitta), and it’s players. So the NBA, Fertitta, and Harden acted quickly. They whistled a violation. It’s the golden rule. He who has the basketball makes the rules. Morey was in the NBA lane (and out of his) for three long seconds.

In a statement Sunday, NBA chief communications officer Mike Bass called Morey’s tweet “regrettable” and said the league had “great respect for the history and culture of China.” “The NBA can be used as a unifying force to bridge cultural divides and bring people together,” Bass said.

Fertitta tweeted that Morey’s tweet did not reflect the views of the NBA organization. He went on to state that their presence in China is to promote the NBA internationally and that the Rockets were NOT a political organization.

Rockets superstar James Harden also pushed back on Morey’s statements. “We apologize. You know, we love China. We love playing there,” Harden said in Tokyo on Monday at practice, ESPN reported. “We go there once or twice a year. They show us the most important love.

“The most important love” actually might be “the most important money.” You see a Chinese sportswear maker, two banks that sponsored the Rockets and a Chinese broadcaster that aired games bailed on the team, according to a Reuters report.

The sportswear maker, Li-Ning, expressed “strong condemnation” of Morey’s tweet, saying that it had suspended cooperation with the Rockets, and one of the banks, SPD, said it had halted marketing and publicity activities with them, Reuters reported.

So, yesterday, Morey under what we assume was intense pressure from the Chinese dictatorial government, China manufacturers and marketers, the NBA, his boss Fertitta, and his other boss James Harden, tweeted that he had contemplated his position on the matter a bit further. “I was merely voicing one thought, based on one interpretation, of one complicated event,” Morey said. “I have had a lot of opportunity since that tweet to hear and consider other perspectives.”

And so, in the real world span of time equivalent to a 24 second shot clock, the tweet heard round the world clanged off of the Pacific Rim. For the NBA the only thing more important than defending this three point Morey shot was getting the rebound and starting a fast break the other way.

Last year Adam Silver, NBA Commissioner, addressed the media for a state of the NBA union. He lamented the fact that the NBA had too few women in coaching positions and refereeing. “There is no reason why we shouldn’t have women in 50% of these jobs,” he continued. It’s about all about equal opportunity in the NBA.

A few years back, in his first as said commish, Silver strongly condemned the then LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling. Sterling was caught on tape tossing around a few racial epitaphs. Sterling got a lifetime ban for speaking in a hateful manner. It’s all about equal opportunity in the NBA.

Ah, but over the weekend, social justice broke an ankle as capitalism pulled a crossed over dribble on it. The NBA is just like many causes, movements, organizations, and individuals these days. They align with all of these great ideals until those ideals don’t align with what’s in their best interest. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Or, not. Alas, there really are no free throws in the NBA.

Fertitta made his fortune acquiring and expanding several restaurant chains. Then, last year he acquired the Rockets. His restaurant portfolio lacks a Chinese chain. Perhaps he wants to put a full court press on Panda Express. With all of the pandering that the NBA has done to appease the Chinese, it should be a slam dunk for him.

And, Morey has a far better understanding of money ball than ever before.

Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity

Posted on July 17, 2019July 17, 2019 by thependulumswings staff

The Wall Street Journal reached out yesterday. They asked us to comment on rumors that boomboomsroom.com, aka BBR, was contemplating going public. We directly squashed the rumor. We have no plans to IPO now nor in the future.

Our rationale is simple. We want our sole focus on delivering the best content day in and day out. To do so we need to hire the best people to do their best at the job that they are qualified to do. Our deep and talented staff shakes it’s collective head at the daily outcry for diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace. Don’t misread our position. We are all for all people, regardless of race, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religion, or whatever group we forgot, to succeed in the business workplace. We just think that the best/most qualified should be the final determination.

When did hiring the best and most qualified go out of style? It’s when political correctness became the style. It’s when capitalism was first assaulted by socialism.

Take Uber. The newly public company released on Monday its latest diversity report, which included a breakdown of its US workforce by race or ethnicity and gender. White men still make up most of its staff (30.1%), a pattern that is even more evident in leadership, tech, and leadership in tech roles. Black women make up 5.3% of its overall workforce in the US, black men 4%, Hispanic women 3.7% and Hispanic men 4.6%.

Diversity is defined as each person is unique. And, each person may have a different point of view that should be considered. It certainly can be due to different upbringing, background, education, race, ethnicity, etc. But, it’s about each individual.

For the first time, Uber is setting some diversity and inclusion goals for 2022 that will be tied to the compensation of several of its senior executives — CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, chief financial officer Nelson Chai, chief legal officer Tony West, and chief people officer Nikki Krishnamurthy. Chief People Officer! What the hell?

Want to guess what percent of the US 2018 census best estimate of the American population is white and male? It’s 37%. Should they focus on hiring more white men? It would be equitable, but not politically correct.

“While these numbers are an improvement, they are not where they need to be,” wrote Megan Rose Dickey of the Tech Crunch website. Project Include’s Ellen Pao has previously said the numbers need to be at 13% black and 17% Latino in order to reflect the demographics of the U.S. population. So, employee demographics need to match our population. If everyone is employed (nearly the case right now) don’t they in the macro?

So, how do you get there? Ah. What isn’t being said is that nearly 33% of the Uber employees are of Asian decent. So, is that good or bad? Aren’t Asians a minority too? Of course they are. Every race is except white. But apparently there are too many of them working at Uber for Megan and Ellen. How else can you say it? If you need to have more blacks and Latinos you must need less Asians. Isn’t that racist? Isn’t that prejudiced?

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in May that his league had done a poor job hiring females as referees. Currently there are three female officials in the NBA, and he wants that number to rise. “The goal is going forward, it should be roughly 50-50 of new officials entering in the league,” he said. “Same for coaches, by the way. We have a program, too. There’s no reason why women shouldn’t be coaching men’s basketball.” Sounds politically correct. Except, maybe they don’t want to referee in the NBA?

Someone should ask Adam how many female refs applied for the job in the last twelve months. If it was way more than the three that they have whose fault is it that they only have three? It’s the NBA’s. If the number that applied is way less than men, how do you fix that? Should you even try to fix that?

And, most of all, someone should ask Adam why there is such an imbalance in the league’s players. According to racial equality activist Richard Lapchick, the NBA in 2015 (the most recent info we could find) was composed of 74.4 percent black players, 23.3 percent white players, 1.8 percent Latino players of any race, and 0.2 percent Asian players. If I were an Asian Uber employee I might declare my eligibility for the 2020 NBA draft.

Diverse? Sure. Inclusive? Yes. Equitable? No. The most qualified? For sure. Ah, now we are getting somewhere.