I don't see a thread out there so I'll get this going. Not a good start for Silver
Billups, Rozier arrested in gambling investigations
Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and Heat guard Terry Rozier have been arrested as part of a pair of investigations related to illegal sports betting and rigged poker games backed by the Mafia, authorities announced.www.espn.com
They are claiming it was rigged poker games. Does not sound NBA related but the dude is in major trouble.
I still wonder if the salary apron eventually gets to them but that might be the only thing that can save the rest of the league. They've done a great job of stacking draft picks which helps a ton, but it'll be extremely difficult to maintain their depth once they're paying SGA, Jalen, and Chet $150 million per year instead of the $58 million they currently pay.
It’s naive though to believe that gambling isn’t prone to outside influences, gaming the system with the hope that one’s greed pays despite the known realistic odds of winning.
I always love this argument. Just as likely that if his foot isn't on the line, they lose in regulation because the shot no longer goes in.
I get it, but I also just think his body has slowed down a lot in recent years. It hasn't impacted his scoring numbers a ton because he's one of the great shooters of all-time, but his ability to get to the rim basically evaporated and he went from being a legitimately impactful defender to mostly floating and every once in awhile making a play.
Yeah it was a perfectly fine trade at the time, especially given the fact that it also netted you Kawhi.
Fair enough but if I recall it was barely on the line no? Like if the shoe is just a bit smaller.
One of my most hypocritical views: I bet on sports all the time, love a trip to the casino. Hate that it's all legal/especially hate that we are constantly bombarded with ads/have the ability to bet at our fingertips.
Rigged poker games ? Ok. So now we’re talking the lowest of the low.
Yes. At absolute minimum, teams and leagues should've been prohibited off the rip from partnering with gambling sites because of the clear conflicts of interest. It's less of an integrity issue with media rights partners but just tacky as hell, and that was before the proliferation of ads between pitches and free throw attempts.
I get it. It's totally fine and not detrimental for some folks. The costs are just really high overall.
Like the Cleveland pitchers throwing a first pitch ball. Easy to guarantee that
That line's been drawn. Too much money in play now. It would take a radical change to redraw the line.
Even beyond the stars, so many useful players (at least for a time) came out of that draft: Ayton, Wendell Carter, Sexton, MPJ, DiVincenzo, Huerter, Grayson Allen, Simons, Mo Wagner, Mitch Robinson, Gary Trent, Vanderbilt, Bruce Brown...
I knew it was going to be a disaster from the minute I heard it might be legalized. What really gets me riled up are the celebrity endorsers like Jamie Fox and the mannings who have more money than they’ll ever need schilling for these companies . They know they are just encouraging people to give away their money to the giant corporations because the house always wins in the long runI get it. It's totally fine and not detrimental for some folks. The costs are just really high overall.
I actually think that's where the tech gets us in trouble. Back in the day when gambling meant hitting a casino in Vegas, Atlantic City, an out of the way reservation or something the barrier to get into a potentially destructive situation was pretty high. It's not that it couldn't still be harmful, there was just some protection in how intentional a person had to be to get into the situation.
Now, when it's sitting on a person's phone?
Dang, yeah. There's a lot of production from that draft class.
