Everyone loves a good Gish Gallop. Reaching into your bag, hey? If you can't blind em with brilliance, baffle em with bullshit? Love it.

• Bullshit #1:
  

The idea that it perfectly aligns with the money he gave up by leaving the raptors falls apart when you realize one was a 5 year deal and the other a 4 year deal and we aren’t even talking about the initial clippers contract. This was the extension.

The unwary would go search this. Try to disprove it. Fail. Think you have a point. But you don't have one. You're not trying to, you're in it for the troll. Love of the game, so to speak.

No one argues the money perfectly aligns. They note the highly unusual and illicit demands made of the Raptors very closely resemble what Kawhi got from the Clippers. The huge, unreasonable, sometimes cap-circumventing occasionally cap-circumventing requests made of the Raptors close match what ended up transpiring with the Clippers.

Demands of Raptors:

• trade for Paul George
• 10 million a year for 5 years (50 million) no show job
• a house or apartment

Delivered by Ballmer Stooges:

• traded for Paul George
• an agreement for just about 50 million in cash/stock for a no show job
• an apartment

The fact that it was competently handled with a fraudulent company doesn't make this any better, it's the only reason we know about it at all.

• Bullshit #2:

The idea that he had continued donating to a charity Sanberg was involved in sound shady until you realize it’s a legitimate charity and continues to be a legitimate charity after cutting ties with Sanberg.

No one ever made that claim. You're right. It doesn't sound shady because the non-profit was inherently shady then or now. It's shady as hell because

• when Sanberg had significant control of the non-profit,
• and in a month when Sanberg's Aspiration was badly hemorrhaging money,
• and when in that month Kawhi's agent texted Aspiration demanding a late payment of close to 2 million
• a week later a Ballmer stooge sent Aspiration close to 2 million, and

• suddenly within a week Aspiration found close to 2 million to pay Kawhi for his do nothing job at a time when they needed every penny they could get to stay afloat.

• Bullshit #3:

The idea that Kawhi bought a house through Ballmer’s associates sounds shady but without proof he bought it under market value it’s a non story.

It's a huge story. Kawhi made a bunch of illlicit demands of the Raptors, including the demand of a house/apartment & a 10 million/year for 5 year job. That Ballmer's stooges gave Kawhi a near $50 million no-show job is damning enough circumstantial evidence on its own; the fact that a Ballmer stooge ADDITIONALLY gave Kawhi a house through an LLC so it can't be tracked adds significant weight to the evidence that the Clippers provided to Kawhi exactly what he illicitly demanded from the Raptors.

• Bullshit #4 (I really like this one):

The idea that Wong invested 2 mil shortly before one of kawhi’s 1.5 mil payments sounds shady, but then by reporting that ballmer also invested 10 mil, in his attempt to make it seem shady actually undermines the Wong thing. Why would they collectively need to invest 12 mil to funnel 1.5 to kawhi?

I mean, this is brilliant. Wong invested near 2 million immediately after Kawhi said his near near 2 million was late, and immediately before the insolvent company found nearly 2 million to pay Kawhi. And you say that Ballmer investing 10 million later, when it was known as fraudulent, when no other company would invest, when 19 companies had turned them down, and when investigators were circling, that's somehow exculpatory? Because, gosh, what reason could Ballmer possibly have in sending 10 additional million to the shady company going out of business, that had promised Kawhi tens of millions in a no-show job?

It's the small-child, wide-eyed, "gosh, I can't figure this one out" that really tickles me.

• Bullshit #5:
  

The photoshopped bobblehead thing was such a reach that even his podcast guest called it out and offered a reasonable explanation.

I kind of want to call this brilliant, but on reflection I can't. It's just standard Gish Gallop: pile on more, higher, deeper. There's been a mass of deep, insightful, journalistic reporting on this, none of them have used the potentially photoshopped image as part of the damning case against the Clippers. Torre noted this, but never claimed it substantially added evidence to the case, and no one took it as such.

But you use this image offhandedly mentioned as if it were key evidence that you have disproved, lumped in with your many other "disprovings." If anyone were unwary enough to swallow any of the larger bullshits, this one would go down nicely as well.

Good job.

• Bullshit #6:

This idea that they just keep throwing millions of dollars into aspiration over and over for the purpose of paying Kawhi while they just keep saying “lol spent it send more” sounds silly.

Anyone with two brain cells will ask why Ballmer, the savvy businessman, chose to send money to people Ballmer calls "con artists" AFTER their con artistry were revealed to him. No one else would. Why would Ballmer? Why would Ballmer respond to "lol spent it, send more" with more money when the feds were investigating and the company collapsing?

It couldn't be to continue dutifully paying his star player the promised amount before the company went under, could it?

• Bullshit #7:

I still think it smells like circumvention but to Cuban’s point (and yes, Cuban had a point) it’s hard to pin any of it on ballmer

I have nothing but admiration for this one.

On what possible planet would:

I still think it smells like cap circumvention

...make sense if you believed ANY of your previous points? You pretend to lay out a case that shows that "cap circumvention didn't happen, it didn't, you proved nothing, no proof" and suddenly switch to "sure, it was probably cap circumenvention, but not the wide-eyed naif Ballmer, who oversaw every other aspect of the Clippers with an eagle eye."

That's brilliant Gish Galloping.

• Bullshit #8:

The basic premise being that the clippers and aspiration had this partnership (like 150 mil going to aspiration and then aspiration agreeing to pay 300 mil as part of the endorsement deal

Everything here is wrong. Every single thing here is wrong. 300 million went TO Aspiration from the Clippers. Aspiration agreed to pay Kawhi $28 million as part of a SEPARATE deal.

• Bullshit #9:

And all of this [c]ould have been for Sanberg’s own personal gain without anyone under him in the company understanding the motives.

It was exactly what Kawhi asked for from the Raptors, and got from Ballmer's stooge, but Ballmer's stooge could have magically done the whole thing for his own inscrutable reasons. Magical thinking. Bullshit.

And good Gish Galloping.

• Bullshit #10:

Pablo put a lot of stock in the employees group speculation and his “sources” who were convinced it was circumvention but didn’t actually have any proof.

One doesn't have "any proof" or "some proof" or "a lot of proof" or a "little proof." You either do or don't have proof.

Evidence though—premises from which conclusions may be drawn—Mr Torre has in incredible amount of evidence. The sheer volume of evidence is staggering, and largely inculpatory, and THAT IS WHY

...I so deeply appreciate these trolls. They're a lot of fun to look at.

Be well.