The Bucks Are Officially Big Fat Cheaters Who Were Found Guilty Of Tampering This Offseason
Look, tampering happens. It will always happen, your favorite team does it, there is no stopping it. I don't care what the league says or what rules they try and put in place, teams and players will always tamper. Now that we know the penalty is only a 2nd round pick I can only imagine things will ramp up even more. Who gives a shit about a second round pick if it lands you a good player?
In the end, it didn't really matter for the Bucks. Even without Bogdanovic they were still able to convince Giannis to sign his max extension so I'm pretty sure they have no regrets. Had they been able to pull it off and add a player like Bogdanovic to the Jrue/Holidau/Middleton core they would have really had something, but Giannis was clearly the big fish. I think they'll gladly send over that 2nd round pick and not regret it one bit.
So why did I include a picture of LeBron/AD laughing in the thumbnail? Well read that second tweet by Shams.
finding that early discussions did occur and constituting conduct detrimental to the league, sources said.
Hmmm, are we to believe that AD and the Lakers/Klutch/LeBron didn't have early conversations about teaming up? Shit, as I put in an earlier blog today, AD even confirmed LeBron came calling!
So the Bucks violated the rules by getting to Bogandaovic a few days early, but the Lakers didn't do a damn thing while they were talking to AD over a year before he hit the market. OK. The same team that got penalized for….tampering. I'm sure nobody in the front office of the Lakers ever talked to AD/Klutch about it. That's totally believable.
This is why it pays to be NBA royalty. You think the league was going to step in and prevent AD from joining LeBron in LA? No chance. They decided to rig the lottery for NO instead to get them Zion. Even Steven if you ask me.
Again, everybody tampers. It's silly to get worked up about it. Just wait until your favorite team lands someone because they clearly tampered. In fact, I'd be upset if my team WASN'T tampering. Especially if it only costs a 2nd round pick? Tamper your dicks off for all I care. We have AD demanding out early, Paul George did it after basically one year, Harden is now doing the same, and we're to believe there is zero tampering going on? I will say, it is a little funny how inconsistent the league is about it. Now that it was the Bucks, the league cares. That seems weird. Why pick on the Bucks? They haven't even made a Finals and employ the next face of the NBA. If anything, the league should be covering shit up for them just like they are doing for the Lakers/Nets/Clippers/etc.
As someone who now has to see his favorite team play the Bucks in the season opener, I'm afraid a 2nd round pick penalty is not enough. I haven't read the NBA bylaws but I'm pretty sure this warrants an automatic suspension of their two best players. At the very least, Khris Middleton has to be held out. If you're a Celts fan, you know why. This is about the integrity of the league for crying out loud and I expect Adam Silver to do the right thing.