Somewhat...He's absolutely right though
James caught it and deserved every bit of it. From what he did before training camp to that last press conference, he earned every criticism he got.
NBA Season is Returning This Year!!!!!!!
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James caught it and deserved every bit of it. From what he did before training camp to that last press conference, he earned every criticism he got.
Sources: NBA players wary of promoting vaccine
Many top NBA players are hesitant to promote coronavirus vaccines, sources told ESPN.www.espn.com
Sources: Many top NBA players hesitant to promote coronavirus vaccines
1:44 PM ET
Adrian WojnarowskiSenior NBA Insider
Many of the NBA's top players are expressing apprehension about accepting invitations to participate in league-sponsored public service announcements to bolster broader acceptance of the coronavirus vaccine, sources told ESPN.
The NBA's outreach to the agents of many of the league's elite players -- with hopes of getting stars to participate in PSAs to promote the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine -- has been met with a tepid response, sources said. Player apprehensions about receiving the vaccine are consistent with those that also exist in Black communities throughout the country, agents and players told ESPN.
Sources describe a number of factors contributing to many players' reluctance to participate, including uncertainty about taking the vaccine themselves, reluctance to advocate its use for others and resistance to extending favors to a league amid the largely unpopular plans for an All-Star Game.
On a call with league general managers on Tuesday, commissioner Adam Silver continued to tell top team executives that the league wouldn't "jump the line" of the general public to get vaccines, but he suggested an optimistic timeline that included the possibility of late March and early April for the start of player vaccinations, sources said. Nevertheless, that's considered a fluid timeline, largely meant to reaffirm to teams the need to be prepared for whenever the opportunity to vaccinate players comes from public health officials, sources said.
The NBA shared with teams an expectation of 70 million to 100 million vaccine doses likely distributed by mid-March.
In the hours after the call with the league's GMs, Dr. Anthony Fauci -- the nation's leading infectious disease expert -- told CNN that his original hope of April as a target for widespread vaccine availability for those outside of priority groups could be pushed back.
"That timeline will probably be prolonged into mid- to late May and early June," Fauci told CNN.
As the league works to educate players on the benefits of the vaccine, Silver told the general managers that the process could be incentivized for teams and individuals with the loosening of quarantine and testing protocols for those vaccinated, sources said. Those would be measures consistent with CDC recommendations.
The NBA has been working to educate teams and players on the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine, including mandatory team seminars with Dr. Leroy Sims, the league's senior vice president of medical affairs.
The NBA has done vaccine PSAs with Hall of Fame center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, but there's a strong belief the league's top players -- many of whom who are Black -- can impact many more in Black and Brown communities, which have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"In the African American community, there's been enormously disparate impact from COVID ... but now, somewhat perversely, there's been enormous resistance [to vaccinations] in the African American community for understandable historical reasons," Silver said recently. "If that resistance continues, it would be very much a double whammy to the Black community, because the only way out of this pandemic is to get vaccinated."
Dr. Sims told ESPN Wednesday he has completed 20 presentations to individual teams on the benefit of the vaccines and expects to have met virtually with all 30 teams by Monday. Dr. Sims said he's approached the player presentations with an emphasis on the scientific and data-based findings about the vaccines -- and the potential good done by endorsing its use among the broader community.
"I've tried to tackle misinformation -- that the development process was rushed, that the vaccine can alter genetics, that the trials lacked diversity," Sims said. "I get the question of: 'If I get this shot, is it going to impact my performance?' I walked them through what the results were, about the different types of vaccine, and I conclude with the benefits of the vaccination.
"I can tell you these guys are listening based on questions that I'm getting. They also ask: "Why should we get this when there hasn't been a whole lot of time to see what the long-term effects are?' These guys look at data all the time. I know they get the data, and appeal to them at that level.
"When it comes to vaccinations, any long-term (issues) with vaccinations, you historically tend to see in the first couple of months. Shots started going into people's arms in March of last year, so we have a trove of data already and we're continuing to gather it.
"When I talk about leadership, I reference fighting health disparities and role modeling, augmenting community service, showing our support for public health and sound medical data and science. Our players are extremely sophisticated and they see what I am asking.
"One of the elite players in the league said to me, 'Dr. Sims, what you're asking is for us to be spokesmen?' My response was: Absolutely. Yes, we do want you to be spokesmen. We do want you to partner with us.
"But it's multi-fold. Right now, they can't get shots, but they can still show support for parents or grandparents getting their vaccines now; and when the time comes, they can show their support by speaking and telling people they've gotten it -- or showing pictures of them getting it. There will be a tremendous benefit having some of our players coming out publicly supporting this because their actions, their words, carry weight in the community."
The NBA has lost 30 games to virus-related postponements this season, and concerns over the short- and long-term health impact on infected players remain. The NBA playoffs are scheduled to start on May 22, and the fear of positive tests or outbreaks derailing a postseason is part of the motivation to get as many players and staff members vaccinated as soon as possible.
Good & they have every right not to promote it if they don't want too. Whether you agree with vaccines or not they shouldn't be forcing athletes to promote it, them cats aren't medical professionals.
Oh no question. And he did say James dogged it big time. I got no problem with the heat he got. That was fucked up how he did it.
The Warriors were impressively tough as a team tonight. Even before Curry caught fire at the end, it was the best game I have seen in a while. Great gritty team effort.
Exactly
Man oh man
They REALLY don't want to do this...
So what about the "rogue official" rings?
what about the refs and league did to the Suns and then the Kings in the playoffs?
Or Duncan "strike" ring?
Damn... so KD Warrior rings are tainted too?
"Kyrie" ring?
So how many "Robert Horry"rings dudes got?
In fact should the Warriors LOSE a ring cause Lebron almost beat them without Kyrie and Love?
Bubble ring? Clipper fans better block whoever made that before they hurt themselves
Man i wish a hater would post this bullsh*t.
Exactly
A dark skin man with a brown skin wife cant be the best in this league. Someone biracial or ambiguous is gonna prove this nigga been fooling us all the last 18 years. He will never be MJ, never be Kobe, they "post racial", he just a nigga scared to shoot at the end of games. Hell just in the grocery store yesterday I seen this...
Doesnt that caption look so much better versus a LeBron vs. Embiid one?
A white person walking past that is gonna notice it so much better than one with 2 darkies on it. If white folks wanna see a bunch of darkies play basketball they can go to the local Y, this is the NBA goddammit. People pay top dollar to see folks beat the darkies and ruin them professionally. Go Steph! Kill em dog!!
I wanna see this dude drop 50 tonight. Fuck the Black family nigga, swirlers do it better mutha fucka!!!
It was a one on one with Bazemore and Herro for like 4 possessions in a row and Bazemore scored each time.. crazy
See the issue with teams is they decided for the most part to try to take advantage of y'all lack of size but ended up being run off the court. The only team to match your size was us and I'm surprised more teams didn't go that route.
CJ ain't serious right?
Ummm remember this...
Him and Dame gotta be the most shit talking-est niggas in the nba...
And they've done nothing, individually, as a team, as a backcourt... they've accomplished absolutely NOTHING
Well most teams don't have the luxury of adjusting
If them dudes could shoot 40% on wide open shots omg
The defense is already top 5
It's just them dudes brick so damn much it's about time Someone was an nba player and said oh they're doubling steph I'm going to score lol
what are your thoughts on this cuz?
Throw the whole all star game in the trash
They need to scrap it
apparently that is NOT gonna happen
questions is this
what happens if elected players REFUSE to go?
Nba players has some pull but I don't think they could pull that off.
I'm sure players like Lavine, Randle and Zion will be excited to go
This some bullshit.
No way there should be an all star game.
Not at all. And to cram all this shit into one night is even worse. It's gonna be a mess.
Bron captain of the West and leading ASG vote getter again.
Fuck James Harden
Of course he should’ve left if he wanted to join an already established team to win, but he wanted to do it his way.
Yes going to the Warriors or Heat would’ve made things easier, but he probably didn’t want to join others to win.
And the Bucks had the best record in the league the last two years, they should be aight.