Allegations of racism and misogyny within the Phoenix Suns: Inside Robert Sarver's 17-year tenure as owner

[pickle]

I don’t think there’s doubting that he said those things during a roast. That story broke well before this ESPN exposè and I remember the board discussing it at the time.

[JeremyG]

https://www.si.com/nba/2021/11/10/suns- ... okes-video

Wendy Heckmann: "Robert is a really good person and I’ve never heard him say anything derogatory or anything with any kind of racial flair or any kind of sexist flair or anything—he’s never done that in my presence."

Robert Sarver in her presence: "I’m gonna guess his receptionist has small tits."

If Robert Sarver wrote or said what you just wrote, people here would be using that as further proof of his misogyny and a reason to take the team away from him.

Wait what? I don't know if I'm misunderstanding what you wrote, but there is actual video of Sarver saying those words at the link in my post.

[Nodack]

Sorry, I misunderstood. I was thinking you were saying she never heard any misogyny from Sarver because she probably had small tits.

[Superbone]

Sorry, I misunderstood. I was thinking you were saying she never heard any misogyny from Sarver because she probably had small tits.

Whoa nelly!

[JeremyG]

New article on the investigation: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/326 ... dentiality

[Furlanfufi]

[Superbone]

I don’t like how Rankin is leading the witness.

[Nodack]

[AmareIsGod]

I don’t like how Rankin is leading the witness.

I hate this type of reporting with a passion. Constantly baiting an athlete into a response and creating drama within a locker room simply for clicks and eyes on your content. Let the investigation play itself out. If Sarver is deemed to be as bad as being presented when it comes to racism and misogyny, an appropriate punishment and hopeful removal of him as owner will take place. This type of Rankin bullshit does nothing to help the guys in the locker room when it comes to winning games, playing for each other and their coach.

[Indy]

I don’t like how Rankin is leading the witness.

I hate this type of reporting with a passion. Constantly baiting an athlete into a response and creating drama within a locker room simply for clicks and eyes on your content. Let the investigation play itself out. If Sarver is deemed to be as bad as being presented when it comes to racism and misogyny, an appropriate punishment and hopeful removal of him as owner will take place. This type of Rankin bullshit does nothing to help the guys in the locker room when it comes to winning games, playing for each other and their coach.

That is true. But his job is not to help the guys in the locker room. It is to report on the team, and not just the players. He is supposed to ask tough questions, and honestly he didn't ask anything we haven't talked about for 16 pages of this thread.

[Indy]

And there is no way Ayton didn't hear about it. But Ayton showed maturity in answering it the way he did.

[Shabazz]

I have no problem with Rankin asking those questions. It's not only his job, but those are tough questions that a different type of reporter (one only concerned with buddying up to the org) wouldn't ask.

[AmareIsGod]

Fair points to both you and Indy. Turning a blind eye to the situation does no good and definitely makes it feel like a kid friendly reporter towing the company line. I retract my opinion.

[JeremyG]

Yeah, I may be critical of Rankin's writing skills, but he is a good objective reporter and is asking the questions he's supposed to ask.

[Superbone]

All true but I still don't like it. I won't hold it against him.

[Nodack]

He’s a reporter asking the questions he’s supposed to ask. At the same time he’s not on anyone’s side but his own and is fishing for a story. Getting Ayton to say something controversial is his goal, not finding any truth. Ayton seemed to know that and said the appropriate generic answers.

[Superbone]

He’s a reporter asking the questions he’s supposed to ask. At the same time he’s not on anyone’s side but his own and is fishing for a story. Getting Ayton to say something controversial is his goal, not finding any truth. Ayton seemed to know that and said the appropriate generic answers.

I'm pretty sure the team got together and talked about how they would respond to this line of questioning.

[Indy]

He’s a reporter asking the questions he’s supposed to ask. At the same time he’s not on anyone’s side but his own and is fishing for a story. Getting Ayton to say something controversial is his goal, not finding any truth. Ayton seemed to know that and said the appropriate generic answers.

You know his motivation? What makes you think his motivation is specifically to not find the truth?

[jonh]

He’s a reporter asking the questions he’s supposed to ask. At the same time he’s not on anyone’s side but his own and is fishing for a story. Getting Ayton to say something controversial is his goal, not finding any truth. Ayton seemed to know that and said the appropriate generic answers.

You know his motivation? What makes you think his motivation is specifically to not find the truth?

Whats the difference between fishing for a story and trying to respectfully understand and report on important and newsworthy topics related to the team (which is his job, I am assuming). If he didn't ask questions about it, or report on it, I would have the same suspicion with his reporting as I do Gambo--he would be a spokesperson for Sarver, rather than an independent reporter.

His job is to report on the state of the team, and I would argue that what the players on the team are thinking about regarding this massively public and damning report about the owner of the organization and his criticism of one of the main players on the team is newsworthy. Its fair to criticize the way he asked the question, but I honestly have no idea how I would do better in the same situation.

[Nodack]

He’s a reporter asking the questions he’s supposed to ask. At the same time he’s not on anyone’s side but his own and is fishing for a story. Getting Ayton to say something controversial is his goal, not finding any truth. Ayton seemed to know that and said the appropriate generic answers.

You know his motivation? What makes you think his motivation is specifically to not find the truth?

I didn’t mean to imply his motivation was to try to not find the truth. I meant his motivation is to get a story and specifically break a story. Getting Ayton to say something juicy and scandalous is what I believe he was hoping for. I could be wrong. He maybe only cares about the truth and doesn’t care about getting Ayton to say something scandalous on the record.