[Texas Eagle]

Can owners of a sports franchise no longer hire the person they believe is best qualified without making it into an issue of race?

No. If the fans are going to be subject to behavior modification so must the owners.

[Rummyfan]

If I am the owner of the team I am free to hire whomever I wish. As it is I think Nash is making a mistake because (1) the league is in serious financial trouble due to taking a blatant political stand and (2) the Nets are a moribund franchise which has been to the Finals once in its existence. Nash will however get some experience; maybe he can get an overseas coaching gig when the NBA hopefully folds.

[dfwgator]

Phil Jackson wishes he had that “White Privilege”

In the years immediately following the end of his playing career, Jackson coached in professional leagues like the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) and Puerto Rico’s National Superior Basketball (BSN). While in the CBA, he won his first coaching championship, leading the Albany Patroons to their first title in 1984. Jackson was named the CBA Coach of the Year in 1985.[16] In Puerto Rico, he coached the Piratas de Quebradillas (1984 and 1987) and the Gallitos de Isabela (1984–1986). He regularly sought NBA jobs, but was turned down.

[mfish13]

Stepen A. Smith is a jerk. He hates white people.

[bk1000]

“Can owners of a sports franchise no longer hire the person they believe is best qualified without making it into an issue of race?”

No, not when, to a majority of your players, skin color is the most important factor. Especially since they have been taught that ANY oversight over ANY shortcoming of a POC is strictly based on disdain for his color. Listen up, home boys: it’s actually your culture. Pull your pants up. Clean up your music. Nobody owes you a damn thing.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

First, the NBA is a Black-dominated sport, as a large percentage of the world’s best basketball players are Black. Men like Michael Jordan and LeBron James have been the faces of the league for decades, and it is not uncommon to see 10 Black players on the court at any one time. (For those not familiar with basketball, that would mean that every player on the court would be Black.)

But there are only 5 black head coaches in the NBA - I think that's what Smith is complaining about.

Is anyone surprised by the NBA's hypocrisy? These are people who babble incoherently about injustice in their own country while they profit off slave labor and snuggle up to Communist dictators. The NBA's hypocrisy of calling out racism in the rest of America while they practice it in their own coaching ranks is just small potatoes compared to their hypocrisy in general.

[fidelis]

Steve Nash is the reason I stopped watching the NBA forever. When he and the Suns made a big public stink in 2015 about opposing Arizona’s immigration law, SB 1070, that was it for me.