Originally posted on 05/31/2021:

Quote Originally Posted by KVB View Post
Don't need to ruin his life, but the punishment should set an example.

There's a reason this isn't a big thing in sports, because they punish right away, with small things, so it can't grow, get worse, or even become a regular thing.

Throwing something at a professional athlete in an arena, drunk or not, is a serious offense.

Serious. It's not about zero tolerance, it's about zero incidence.

Whatever punishment they give some other crook that night for some other crime probably won't be much of a deterrent in a world of pro or everyday criminals.

But for a crowd of generally rule abiding citizens, some rules must be followed.

It's more serious than many here want to make it. There's a big picture here.
If the NBA wants to somehow set an example, absolutely, go for it, whatever punishment they deem necessary they should dole out.....but the criminal justice system is not intended to make examples of people. It sets precedent, but not examples of individuals. Each case should be judged on its own merit. If they want to charge him with this and let him plea down, I'm okay with that, but if they actually follow through and want him to serve a felony sentence, he'll be able to have a jury trial in which I would be SHOCKED to see a Boston jury convict this kid. I expect him to plea to a lesser charge and then the media will castrate him from that point, making him the poster child for an inappropriate fan. I haven't heard any information from anywhere on whether he has a criminal record. What if this is his first ever offense? The punishment must fit the crime in some relative sense otherwise we start to fall onto a very slippery slope of "making examples out of people" in a legal sense.