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Autograph. I don't want your autograph. That's the MPS word of the day. As in C.J. McCullum of the Portland Trailblazers who announced via Twitter, he will no longer be signing autographs because of the

Corona virus. He told everyone to wash their hands, use hand sanitizer, cough into their sleeve, and by the way, I will not be signing autographs until further notice. I have heard more excuses from players in 2018, 20 years. This is it. We've got a podium excuse. He will not sign autographs because he's afraid he will get the Corona virus. C.J. Bring your own pen. Take a minute.

After a game, sign a few autographs. Sometimes they come in the mail. You could still do it. Autograph. C.J.

Breaking news here on nothing personal in CBS Sports HQ. We are going to go live to the press conference where the nicks have named Leon Rose as their team president for going live. Three.

Two. One. Are you there? Anybody? Leon. No press conference for Leon Rose. Jim Dull and the owner of the nicks would not let Leon Rose do an introductory press conference naming him the new president of the team. We had space reserved to go live as breaking news.

And for whatever reason, the nicks are in such good shape as an organization that they felt there was no need for a press conference when they're naming the top basketball executive. They've moved on from Steve Mills. They've moved on from Mike Woodson. They've moved on from David Tisdale.

Fizzdale. Now they've got Leon Rose. Do you know what he looks like? Have you googled him? Well, you would know if by chance they'd had a press conference, but instead Leon Rose did the following for all you nick fans out there. If you're listening to nothing personal appreciate it. If you're watching, this is a two page letter by Leon Rose to New York nicks fans introducing himself.

It is a seven paragraph treat us in the seven paragraphs. He uses the word I 14 times. I I I want to take a moment to say how proud I am to oversee this franchise. I want to let you know what to expect. I've had the privilege of shaping players. He was an agent for 25 years claiming that all of a sudden that means

that he knows what it is to put a team together or run any sort of business. In my career as an agent, I experienced the intricacies of the league. No, he didn't. Just ask Prody Van Wagenen whether being an agent automatically gives you the ability to run a baseball or basketball operation. Then he went crazy and he said, for the remainder of the season, I will work tirelessly behind the scenes.

Not after just for the remainder of this season, he's going to work tirelessly. He keeps going. It's the most bizarre letter I've read in a long time. I ask for your continued patience. I promise you in return that I will be honest and forthright. I can't even look at it anymore. Here's what you do when you become president of the nicks with a franchise that has not been successful for two decades with an owner who was so involved in so metal.

Some of the people from the mail room to the assistant to the traveling secretary up to the head coach, find it impossible to succeed with Dolan around. You take it head first. You demand a press conference. You demand to take the mic and you demand to be the public face.

You demand to say that this is not about anything other than doing what's right for the Nick organization. This is about changing what we've done so badly for 20 years.

This is about telling you the Nick fans that we've been wrong. As an owner, this is Jim Dolan talking. As an owner, I have let my personal feelings and emotions get in the way that has stopped us from winning.

I have made a lot of hires in my career as owner and they haven't all worked out. This one's different. We are bringing in Leon Rose and I'm giving him the power to actually run this team.

Here he is. I want to introduce him and then I'm getting off the stage. This is Leon Rose. Your new president, the new face of the franchise, the person that you can depend on to finally get a NBA champion.

Back to New York for the first time since 1973. Now that would have been a press conference. That would have been breaking news on CBS Sports HQ. Instead, it's a dud of a letter to fans. Did it go to season ticket holders? Did it go to general fans? Non revenue producing fans? Anyway, guess how it ended. I look forward to seeing you with the garden.

I'd like to bet you a dollar and here's my dollar bet. There's zero chance you'll see Leon Rose at the garden because you won't be able to get anywhere near Leon Rose. And if you were to get near Leon Rose, there'd be security. And that's the only way you'd actually know who Leon Rose is because he'd be surrounded by security guards.

This marriage between Leon Rose and Jim Dolan is guaranteed to fail because they did not set up the rules in advance. They did not put certain checks and balances in place to make the possibility of this presidential term being different than even that of Phil Jackson or any other presidential term under the power of Jim Dolan.

So for all of us Nick fans out there, I'm sorry to say it's another two decades. Okay. You know what? It's funny and we would sit around in baseball front offices and we would think about ways that we could control the news cycle.

What can we release when when should we tweet something? When can we get our players to get behind an initiative? We would actually try to be very coordinated. We'd even try to create viral moments knowing that you can't, but there's certain videos we would shoot or certain moments that we try to manufacture and pretend that they were organic.

We've set something up and say listen, all right, we're going to film you player speaking to this disabled child and we're going to try to make this a moment.

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