[no gnu taxes]

http://www.businessinsider.com/black...ulated-2012-10

The Minnesota Timberwolves go into the season with only five black players on their 15-man roster, and some people are calling it a conspiracy.From Jerry Zgoda and Dennis Brackin of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

"How did we get a roster that resembles the 1955 Lakers?" asked Tyrone Terrell, chairman of St. Paul's African American leadership council. "I think everything is a strategy. Nothing happens by happenstance."
That strategy, Terrell and others in the black community believe, is to sell tickets to the Wolves' fan base, which is overwhelmingly white.

Lou Amundson, JJ Barea, Chase Budinger, Andrei Kirilenko, Kevin Love, Nikola Pekovic, Luke Ridnour, Ricky Rubio, Alexey Shved, and Greg Stiemsma make up 2/3 of the T-Wolves roster, and they are all white.

Minnesota civil rights activist Ron Edwards thinks something is up too, and he told the paper, "It raises some real questions to me about what's really intended. I think, personally, that it was calculated. Is this an attempt to get fans back in the stands? Minnesota, after all, is a pretty white state.''

There are a few problems with this theory.

First of all, the T-Wolves sold 90.4% of their tickets last year, which ranked 14th in the league. Only two other non-playoff teams ranked in the top 15. And they did it with a majority black roster (8 out of 15 players). So they didn't have an attendance problem at all.

In addition, it's clear that the T-Wolves think there is a market inefficiency when it comes to international players. Five players on their roster are from other countries, which is double the league average (~2.5 in 2011-12). Since international players come from predominantly European countries, developing a team with an international focus is inherently going to shift the racial makeup of your roster.

It's not a race conspiracy, it's a calculated move to identify under-the-radar players that the rest of the league isn't looking at.

The theory that basketball fans are more likely to pay to watch white players than black players has been debunked by the last 30 years of NBA history. There's no chance the T-Wolves have a racist master plan in the works.

[HoulihansTX]

I would love to see a team with a whitewash starting five.

You would think something like that would happen in Utah B4 anywhere else.

[BIGDAY]

Wolves have issues

[Emily_Haines]

BASKETS is going to love this team.

[face]

lots of teams with all black starting rosters. who cares if there's a white one, they're from all over the world anyway

[Believeland]

I think its racist that 85% of NBA is black! when are they going to stop crying

[wtt0315]

Least they got white guys who think they are black. The just need to go get Jason Williams now and sign vanilla ice as coach

[konck]

BeantownJim is in full support of the TWolves

[MUHerd37]

Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are going to get to the bottom of this. Probably tell the Timberwolves to get them $500 million or they will tell the whole world that they are a bunch of racists.

[William Walters]

Blacks (such as "Tyrone Terrell, chairman of St. Paul's African American leadership council") just like to complain.

[ElCapitan]

Guess we know who bet against every game.

[Chi_archie]

when will Rubio be able to play?

[seaborneq]

They won't be on national television anymore than they were last year. if they don't win, it won't matter what color the players are.

[Big Bear]

thats absolutely riduculous... so the NBA is supposed to be majority black??? thats why i have a hard time liking the NBA. it's a bunch of niggaz playing street ball and they don't even try hard every night.

half the time they are resting up for the playoffs.

[Big Bear]

only white dudes are usually european and they don't even count. we need more white americans

[Emily_Haines]

The white players motto seems to work well for BYU why can't it work for Minnesota?

[Big Bear]

i'm jk about the NBA needing more white players. the truth is white people usually suck at basketball. And it's all about winning.

i'm white and i play baseball and i would probably be in the major leagues right now if only americans were allowed to play. But i don't hate , the bottom line is it's all about winning and the hispanic ball players make up 90% of the major leagues b/c they are just better than we are.

its true. even the black people you see in the major leagues aren't really black. They are hispanic like Big Papi.

[rosanne]

Must be a conspiracy, no doubt about that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[El Sol]

Without a doubt its intentional. I own a business, and I hire regularly. I assure you there is prejudicial hiring despite what I might tell the world. Its human nature.

[byronbb]

There is no doubt teams do this. If you are a black guy playing in Utah, guess what, behave or you're done.

[hawley]

too cold for the blacks

[Bdolan33]

surprised its taken this long

[Ghenghis Kahn]

5 white dudes that can't jump can't be the recipe for the nba championship...

[El Nino]

Yeah, Kevin Love is terrible. He's not black, guy should ride the pine. Blacks going to black.

[ACoochy]

OPIE is going to love this team.

Fixed :-)

[Popcorn Trick]

Let's get an SBR top ten reasons why The Twolves are going with more white guys...

10) Sick of sh*t being stolen out of the locker room

[Dmoneytx]

Let's get an SBR top ten reasons why The Twolves are going with more white guys...

10) Sick of sh*t being stolen out of the locker room

I won't contribute to this, but I would love to read a top 10 later tonight if people respond. Freaking hilarious!!!!!

[El Nino]

9.) With declining ticket sales. could not afford to supply cocoa butter in the locker room.

[Disko808]

lol White is Back!

[boosted1205]

Here we go again. Blacks crying racist. Blacks are racist just like any other race, maybe more. Every frickin time something about anything to do with blacks arise, they cry for someones head. Movie roles, sports, school , someone say the n word...whatever they expect to be treated better than all other race. Every time a black person becomes something newsworthy you see these high profile black activists asking for someones head.
Blacks are racists pure and simple. They want free handouts and treated better because they're black ? Fuuck... go to school and educate yourselves rather than finding ways to rip people off , steal and finding ways to beat the welfare system.

[Popcorn Trick]

Let's get an SBR top ten reasons why The Twolves are going with more white guys...

10) Sick of sh*t being stolen out of the locker room

For the record. when people cry racism and it's unwarranted ( don't know if that's the case here) I like to throw out a little bit, in jest, in their honor...Don't care to believe things of this sort to be honest.

[InTheDrink]

Without a doubt its intentional. I own a business, and I hire regularly. I assure you there is prejudicial hiring despite what I might tell the world. Its human nature.

i havent looked recently but i remember one writer commenting around like 10 years ago that the 12th man on like 95% of nba teams was a white dude

[antifoil]

the best way to boost ticket sales is to put a winning product on the court.

[Sunde91]

10 of 15 on the roster will be white, 4 of them starters

Let's win a Championship, men.

[james4512]

there best two players are white so they probably have the majority of the say, aka no selfish assclowns that ruin teams just so happens more often of the time they are black