Kind of a tense day in Thunder Nation over the selfish win in Portland last night by Isiah Roby. I mean…for God’s sake, lose the damn game in the last minute. Be a team player. Either you have the goal of obtaining a difference making superstar through the tanking process or you don’t.
Sam Presti looked foolish last night.
This is not rocket science. It’s just basic math.
So if you have a process and your fan base supports you to obtain a superstar, then at the least stack the mathematical odds in your favor as best you can.
Traber and few of his listeners had some interesting takes. Some people who allow me to post on their Thunder Nation forums were not happy with the win.
I know it’s Oklahoma. But the earth is not flat. Donald Trump is not the messiah. 2+2 doesn’t equal five.
So here’s my question…at the beginning of the season both Barry Tramel and Jim Traber said it would be fiduciary malpractice if the Thunder didn’t tank this season.
So was that fiduciary malpractice last night in Portland?
As a graduate of the Bob Jackson School of Street Law…I would yes. This was fiduciary malpractice, but perhaps it was driven more by bad business judgement than a breach of loyalty and care to the shareholders.
I have no skin in this game so I’m pretty much the adult in the room on this one.
I think since the defending NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks have no one on their team drafted higher than No. 15 in the NBA draft… I’m optimistic Sam Presti at the least can draft another beta to be the second or third best player moving forward.
But the Thunder need a superstar. A face of the franchise player a little better than Shai or Josh who can bring some mojo back to the market.
Sell some tickets. Get the Thunder back on national telecasts. Put some juice in the Thunder feel around town.
I think Jaylin Williams is better than Bobby Portis was back during his days at Arkansas. Jaylin would be a nice piece. Mark Williams would be a nice piece. Keegan Murray would be a redundant piece who does pretty much what Giddy and Shai do already.
Anyway…I’m going to listen to a little of the Godfather soundtrack, have a glass of wine, and be the voice of calm in Thunder Nation on this one.
Have a calm night through the storms later tonight.
But make no mistake about it…what we witnessed in Portland last night was a variant of fiduciary malpractice by Sam Presti since he’s calling the shots.
I doubt you will read anything like that on the Daily Cupcake. Not a chance.
You know why?
Sam Presti in essence controls the narrative on that ‘blog’ and in this market per his team. Nary a questioning voice or question.
Tell me I’m wrong.
Let’s look at this a bit deeper from the legal aspect of the various doctrines of fiduciary.
Did Sam Presti do his professional best to tank for his shareholders and board members? I would have to say no. He failed to weaken his roster sufficiently to lose enough games in the last three weeks of the season.
In essence … that is the principle of tanking to weaken the roster with premediated intent (mens rea) to lose an inordinate amount of games.
Did he breach his oaths of ‘legal care’ and ‘loyalty’ to his shareholders, investors, and ticket holders?
That’s a somewhat murky one from my view. I would say he didn’t breach these oaths unless there’s some evidence like in the case of the removal of the team from Seattle that comes to public light.
So was it just flawed or ‘bad business judgement’ to tank with a team this strong at the bottom third of the roster?
I was say yes, this was somewhat a flawed design by Sam Presti. But under the doctrine of ‘bad business judgment’ you probably don’t have a clear cut version of fiduciary malpractice. But more to the point…just careless or bad business judgment.
I think both Jim Traber and Barry Tramel need to do more research on the various doctrines of fiduciary malpractice.
You get it all on this Thunder blog, baby. No fluff, just the objective facts.
That’s why God moved me from the Daily Cupcake to the award winning okcthunderground.com.
The objective truth matters.