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Stormeo
Joined: 14 Jul 2019
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 Posted: 07/15/20 7:25 pm ::: |
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Damn though, her open letter sure has been getting clicks & mentions. She's winning the optics battle against the League, if nothing else. The '64 pills' thing is eye-opening, if that's really the case (which, if true, how is her doctor even letting her continue being a professional athlete at this point? But I digress). No matter what anyone thinks, it's become a real shame they didn't just grant her the exemption to avoid all this negative publicity. I'm not sure if anyone else in the League has a more 'high-profile' health condition that would've been a superficially obvious candidate for an exemption in times like these.
https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/29468380/mystics-elena-delle-donne-hopes-denial-medical-exemption-lyme-disease-not-based-status
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Mystics coach and general manager Mike Thibault said in a Zoom call Wednesday that Delle Donne is on the team's roster and is being paid. He said she will be paid throughout the WNBA season, even if she is only doing her rehab after back surgery -- which she underwent in January -- and doesn't get the chance to play.
Thibault seemed somewhat perplexed as to why Delle Donne gave the impression, though, that she had to choose between playing this season and getting paid. He said that is not the case. Thibault said that Delle Donne shared with the team that she had been denied the exemption. |
I'd have to agree with Thibault here. And after reading that she's still rehabbing from her back surgery earlier in the year, it seems like she can just use that alone as a valid excuse for the rest of the season to not play and still get paid (somewhat akin to Plum, Lavender, etc.). It didn't seem like she was ever more likely to play than not once the pandemic came & changed everything.
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| [Her agent] Kane, though, told ESPN that Delle Donne hadn't been entirely clear on what the parameters of her getting paid by the Mystics would be, and that she had two major concerns with the situation. |
I suppose potential miscommunication has gotten in her way as of late.
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PickledGinger
Joined: 04 Oct 2013
Posts: 1380
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| Posted: 07/15/20 7:49 pm ::: |
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| This whole situation is FUBAR.
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Randy
Joined: 08 Oct 2011
Posts: 10911
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| Posted: 07/15/20 8:32 pm ::: |
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| Stormeo wrote: |
Damn though, her open letter sure has been getting clicks & mentions. She's winning the optics battle against the League, if nothing else. The '64 pills' thing is eye-opening, if that's really the case (which, if true, how is her doctor even letting her continue being a professional athlete at this point? But I digress). No matter what anyone thinks, it's become a real shame they didn't just grant her the exemption to avoid all this negative publicity. I'm not sure if anyone else in the League has a more 'high-profile' health condition that would've been a superficially obvious candidate for an exemption in times like these.
https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/29468380/mystics-elena-delle-donne-hopes-denial-medical-exemption-lyme-disease-not-based-status
| Quote: |
Mystics coach and general manager Mike Thibault said in a Zoom call Wednesday that Delle Donne is on the team's roster and is being paid. He said she will be paid throughout the WNBA season, even if she is only doing her rehab after back surgery -- which she underwent in January -- and doesn't get the chance to play.
Thibault seemed somewhat perplexed as to why Delle Donne gave the impression, though, that she had to choose between playing this season and getting paid. He said that is not the case. Thibault said that Delle Donne shared with the team that she had been denied the exemption. |
I'd have to agree with Thibault here. And after reading that she's still rehabbing from her back surgery earlier in the year, it seems like she can just use that alone as a valid excuse for the rest of the season to not play and still get paid (somewhat akin to Plum, Lavender, etc.). It didn't seem like she was ever more likely to play than not once the pandemic came & changed everything.
| Quote: |
| [Her agent] Kane, though, told ESPN that Delle Donne hadn't been entirely clear on what the parameters of her getting paid by the Mystics would be, and that she had two major concerns with the situation. |
I suppose potential miscommunication has gotten in her way as of late. |
Elena has won. Now she's telling the Mystics the terms of their surrender..
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Richyyy
Joined: 17 Nov 2005
Posts: 24414
Location: London
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| Posted: 07/15/20 8:39 pm ::: |
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| It kinda seems like she wanted to make a big drama out of this. Which if she's a) pissed at the league for denying her, and b) committing to using her platform to raise the profile of chronic Lyme, I guess isn't really a surprise. But it did screw the league over to a much greater extent than this story needed to, and without this league - considering she barely plays anywhere else - she'd be kinda screwed. So it's a shame that it all had to play out like this, especially on one of the rare occasions where the league themselves really did pretty much everything they could to be fair and reasonable. |
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ChicagoAnnie
Joined: 04 Sep 2009
Posts: 9199
Location: St. Paul, MN
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| Posted: 07/15/20 8:40 pm ::: |
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| EDD lead PTI today. League MVP using her leverage with that letter.
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chamomile1800
Joined: 28 Oct 2008
Posts: 249
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| Posted: 07/15/20 10:58 pm ::: |
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| I’m a physician and while I am sympathetic to her pain and recognize that some do battle Lyme disease chronically for years, there are available treatments and no matter what route you take 64 pills is just not warranted. If she’s taking that many pills she likely shouldn’t even play in the first place. My honest suspicion is that she is seeing a “holistic” naturopath who is trying to treat symptoms that could be vaguely explained away by “chronic Lyme” when in fact there are other issues not being addressed, and certainly taking 64 pills daily is not helping. Unfortunately while I immensely enjoy EDD as a player, her letter comes off as somewhat entitled and not quite in tune with current medicine when the medical panel has no obligation to accept her proposal.
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Stormeo
Joined: 14 Jul 2019
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| Posted: 07/16/20 12:51 am ::: |
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| chamomile1800 wrote: |
| My honest suspicion is that she is seeing a “holistic” naturopath who is trying to treat symptoms that could be vaguely explained away by “chronic Lyme” when in fact there are other issues not being addressed, and certainly taking 64 pills daily is not helping. Unfortunately while I immensely enjoy EDD as a player, her letter comes off as somewhat entitled and not quite in tune with current medicine when the medical panel has no obligation to accept her proposal. |
I agree with this as well as all that's been said on this thread about this EDD situation thus far, generally speaking. Pretty much all of us here at least acknowledge the multi-sided nature of this weird and unprecedented situation, as opposed to just taking the "Screw the League for totally screwing over EDD!" stance like many, many others are elsewhere. As much as I want to do that and 100% support her, it just doesn't feel right.
As previously established, both the League and the Union had a say in their doctors panel, so it's unfair to only go after the League here anyway. And like I said earlier, she can use the back-rehab excuse all summer to sit out and still get paid without that explicit medical exemption - I don't know if the League/the Mystics dropped the ball and didn't make that clear to her in the past few months or if she just wasn't asking the right questions. But listen, she's never going to fly to Florida to play for a period of time if she's not even comfortable with going to DC for rehab; it makes no difference to any party if she's medically exempt or not when in the end she gets her money and her salary still counts against the Mystics' cap.
So assuming she understands the panel's decision is indeed final and irreversible (and that that's 100% the case), what is she hoping to gain out of this? I get how she could find the denial of her medical-exemption application outrageous, but she didn't have to burn things down the way she's done for a decision that literally wasn't the fault of a single entity - starting a conspiracy by being openly unsure if the League did this because she's the "reigning MVP" and they're desperate to get her to play or not helps no one!! Not to mention, the sole League she plays in is never in a good position to withstand backlash, let alone misdirected backlash that she herself is directly contributing to (the Loeffler situation in Atlanta is still ongoing, after all). Unless she actually plays, none of this is going to make people that were on-the-fence about tuning in want to tune in. If it's really just about sharing her authentic battle with Lyme Disease - of which, I'm certainly not going to go so far as to accuse her of lying about taking 64 pills per day - she sure could've done it in a way that'd be a hell of a lot less damaging. Jmo.
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Michelle89
Joined: 17 Nov 2010
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| Posted: 07/16/20 3:53 am ::: |
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| Also strange that she had to sign a piece of paper beforehand that she couldnt appeal the decision. Why dont players have that right? Very strange
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PickledGinger
Joined: 04 Oct 2013
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| Posted: 07/16/20 5:27 am ::: |
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Elena Prima Donna?
or League Enforcing Trauma?
Methinks we might never really know.
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Rock Hard
Joined: 02 Aug 2010
Posts: 5437
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| Posted: 07/16/20 7:13 am ::: |
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| The Washington Mystics are going to pay EDD her entire season salary. So basically this drama should be titled Much Ado About Nothing.
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root_thing
Joined: 28 Apr 2007
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| Posted: 07/16/20 7:41 am ::: |
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| EDD is a Vice President of the WNBAPA and a member of the Executive Committee. Didn't she help negotiate this agreement? She also should have been involved in nominating and approving the doctors. There are two things in this story that puzzle me. One is in her favor: the panel not talking to her doctors seems like an obvious thing they should have done. However, Elena not fully understanding her options in this situation makes her look bad. If you're an executive officer of the union, representing all of the other players, then you'd better understand the agreements. That's why you're there.
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CourtsideTix
Joined: 19 Nov 2004
Posts: 4565
Location: Washington, DC
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| Posted: 07/16/20 8:38 am ::: |
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| Michelle89 wrote: |
| Also strange that she had to sign a piece of paper beforehand that she couldnt appeal the decision. Why dont players have that right? Very strange |
Because that's the process both sides agreed to.
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PUmatty
Joined: 10 Nov 2004
Posts: 16393
Location: Chicago
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| Posted: 07/16/20 9:22 am ::: |
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| CourtsideTix wrote: |
| Michelle89 wrote: |
| Also strange that she had to sign a piece of paper beforehand that she couldnt appeal the decision. Why dont players have that right? Very strange |
Because that's the process both sides agreed to. |
But DelleDonne clearly thinks the negotiated and agreed-upon process shouldn't apply to her.
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myrtle
Joined: 02 May 2008
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| Posted: 07/16/20 10:00 am ::: |
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| so...if this were Maya Moore speaking up, would you feel the same way about it? I mean seriously. We've just been going thru a (hopefully) change in culture which is about speaking up and demanding your rights. What others perceive as their rights and what you perceive as their rights may not of course be the same thing. Still, truthfully, if this were Maya Moore, would you feel the same way about it?
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WNBA 09
Joined: 26 Jun 2009
Posts: 12647
Location: Dallas , Texas
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| Posted: 07/16/20 10:02 am ::: |
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| PUmatty wrote: |
| CourtsideTix wrote: |
| Michelle89 wrote: |
| Also strange that she had to sign a piece of paper beforehand that she couldnt appeal the decision. Why dont players have that right? Very strange |
Because that's the process both sides agreed to. |
But DelleDonne clearly thinks the negotiated and agreed-upon process shouldn't apply to her. |
Maybe she's taking GWH to the furthest extent .....
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PUmatty
Joined: 10 Nov 2004
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| Posted: 07/16/20 10:24 am ::: |
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| myrtle wrote: |
| so...if this were Maya Moore speaking up, would you feel the same way about it? I mean seriously. We've just been going thru a (hopefully) change in culture which is about speaking up and demanding your rights. What others perceive as their rights and what you perceive as their rights may not of course be the same thing. Still, truthfully, if this were Maya Moore, would you feel the same way about it? |
Absolutely.
The union negotiated and jointly agreed on the process. This isn't the big bad league targeting DelleDonne. This is a player being part of a system in which she has say and then not wanting to follow collective bargaining. If players won't follow the collective bargaining agreements, why would the league? It sets terrible precedent.
If the process doesn't apply to DelleDonne, who else doesn't it apply to. Why should she get special treatment? Why should there even be a process?
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Silky Johnson
Joined: 29 Sep 2014
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| Posted: 07/16/20 10:31 am ::: |
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| myrtle wrote: |
| so...if this were Maya Moore speaking up, would you feel the same way about it? I mean seriously. We've just been going thru a (hopefully) change in culture which is about speaking up and demanding your rights. What others perceive as their rights and what you perceive as their rights may not of course be the same thing. Still, truthfully, if this were Maya Moore, would you feel the same way about it? |
The way you have framed this question makes me feel like it's fair to ask whether you would feel the same way about this, if this were Blake Dietrick? Because the fact that Delle Donne is getting an exception that wouldn't even be considered for a player of lesser stature is kind of the actual point of the backlash.
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pilight
Joined: 23 Sep 2004
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| Posted: 07/16/20 10:48 am ::: |
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| Silky Johnson wrote: |
| Because the fact that Delle Donne is getting an exception that wouldn't even be considered for a player of lesser stature is kind of the actual point of the backlash. |
EDD isn't getting an exception
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Shades
Joined: 10 Jul 2006
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| Posted: 07/16/20 11:25 am ::: |
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| The Mystics are making an “exception” for their franchise player by putting her on their active roster whether she shows up or not.
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Silky Johnson
Joined: 29 Sep 2014
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| Posted: 07/16/20 11:41 am ::: |
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| pilight wrote: |
| Silky Johnson wrote: |
| Because the fact that Delle Donne is getting an exception that wouldn't even be considered for a player of lesser stature is kind of the actual point of the backlash. |
EDD isn't getting an exception |
What part of Delle Donne getting her full salary under a circumstance that her union collectively bargained she shouldn't be eligible to get it doesn't sound like an exception, to you?
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SpaceJunkie
Joined: 10 Sep 2012
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| Posted: 07/16/20 11:47 am ::: |
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| Silky Johnson wrote: |
| pilight wrote: |
| Silky Johnson wrote: |
| Because the fact that Delle Donne is getting an exception that wouldn't even be considered for a player of lesser stature is kind of the actual point of the backlash. |
EDD isn't getting an exception |
What part of Delle Donne getting her full salary under a circumstance that her union collectively bargained she shouldn't be eligible to get it doesn't sound like an exception, to you? |
There's no rule that says a player has to be suspended without pay if they are injured, away from the team, etc, is there? If not, I'm fine if the Mystics (not forced by the WNBA) want to coddle their superstar by paying her (she'd count against the cap either way?).
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Richyyy
Joined: 17 Nov 2005
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| Posted: 07/16/20 12:00 pm ::: |
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| Silky Johnson wrote: |
| pilight wrote: |
| Silky Johnson wrote: |
| Because the fact that Delle Donne is getting an exception that wouldn't even be considered for a player of lesser stature is kind of the actual point of the backlash. |
EDD isn't getting an exception |
What part of Delle Donne getting her full salary under a circumstance that her union collectively bargained she shouldn't be eligible to get it doesn't sound like an exception, to you? |
It's pretty common practice in this league when stars get injured. As mentioned earlier, Seattle did the same thing with Bird last season. Atlanta essentially did it with McCoughtry. Connecticut did it at least once with Chiney Ogwumike.
It would be fascinating to have seen what would've happened if this Delle Donne scenario had played out with a random unknown player, though. Would anyone have given a shit if Kennedy Burke took 64 pills a day and had her medical exemption denied? |
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ClayK
Joined: 11 Oct 2005
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| Posted: 07/16/20 12:10 pm ::: |
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| Richyyy wrote: |
| Silky Johnson wrote: |
| pilight wrote: |
| Silky Johnson wrote: |
| Because the fact that Delle Donne is getting an exception that wouldn't even be considered for a player of lesser stature is kind of the actual point of the backlash. |
EDD isn't getting an exception |
What part of Delle Donne getting her full salary under a circumstance that her union collectively bargained she shouldn't be eligible to get it doesn't sound like an exception, to you? |
It's pretty common practice in this league when stars get injured. As mentioned earlier, Seattle did the same thing with Bird last season. Atlanta essentially did it with McCoughtry. Connecticut did it at least once with Chiney Ogwumike.
It would be fascinating to have seen what would've happened if this Delle Donne scenario had played out with a random unknown player, though. Would anyone have given a shit if Kennedy Burke took 64 pills a day and had her medical exemption denied? |
Exactly ... and unless you believe any publicity is good publicity, the WNBA leadership should have stepped in and made this whole issue go away.
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greg5222
Joined: 03 May 2006
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| Posted: 07/16/20 12:31 pm ::: |
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We are in a damn pandemic. There should not be sports UNTIL the scientist and medical field figure this stuff out. These players are practically going to risk their health and possibly their lives. I know they have to make a living but.......
I pray for their safety and their lives. BTW congrats to my home girl Kara Lawson. I might even root for ugh! DOOK. Just the women BB team though.
PEACE & LOVE GO MYSTICS!!!!!
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toad455
Joined: 16 Nov 2005
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| Posted: 07/16/20 12:48 pm ::: |
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| greg5222 wrote: |
We are in a damn pandemic. There should not be sports UNTIL the scientist and medical field figure this stuff out. These players are practically going to risk their health and possibly their lives. I know they have to make a living but.......
I pray for their safety and their lives. BTW congrats to my home girl Kara Lawson. I might even root for ugh! DOOK. Just the women BB team though.
PEACE & LOVE GO MYSTICS!!!!! |
Some (probably most) players need the paycheck. And if we wait for science and our government to figure this is, it may be quite some time. It's also a business, and to cancel the season would have major impacts which could take years to recover from.
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