Notes from the Tony Buzbee Press Conference Regarding Joshua Primo and the Spurs

[Trill Clinton]

Has Stak5 made a statement yet?

[DPG21920]

Has Stak5 made a statement yet?

“I wasn’t going to say anything, because Pop is my guy, but Pop cut me because I spoke up about something that happened he wanted covered up. Dont believe this good guy stuff over in SA, Im the good guy and they kicked me out because of that”

[Spurs Homer]

Brian Wright needs to go ASAP - he ed up.

Dr./victim - "made clear" is lawyer speak for= she told wright what primo did - she described the crime explicitly -

Wright ed around for MONTHS after a crime was reported to him - he needs to go yesterday unless the spurs want to completely destroy the franchise from Pop on down.

The law will look at what actions/corrections were made by the franchise once the crime was reported.
Wright already dropped the ball.

Spurs franchise now knows that the victim has alerted the public on how she was a victim reporting a crime and the Spurs continued to delay delay delay any corrective action.

Next: how much worse do the spurs want to look in the eyes of the law?

Pop might also have to go - if it is true that he was advised of the crime.
- even if he wants to hide behind the "no one told me" defense -

He should also retire now as this was all under his watch.

NBA will re-route wembenyana to another team not hiding crimes.

Bad day for the once proud spurs franchise.

[MultiTroll]

Pop is your guy but you're going to go ahead and backstab him.

Go kill yourself as regards you media presents Stack.

[DPG21920]

Pop is your guy but you're going to go ahead and backstab him.

Go kill yourself as regards you media presents Stack.

It was a fake quote I made up lol

[MultiTroll]

It was a fake quote I made up lol

Good because it sounds like something that Nimrod would say.

Are he and Barnes still doing there 2 Super Poseurs show?

[Slippy]

Lets pretend Brian Wright kept the news of Primo behind the excuse its with HR.

For me the concerning part is all the moves since. Trade Dwhite. Trade Dejounte. Let Lonnie go. These are guys all played in front of Primo. Then he picks up the extra year just recently and then quickly waives him. Through RC saying best interests of the team?..

If he was the only one that was privvy to the Primo issue then it suggests he was fully backing Primo no matter what it seems.

Good way to up franchise culture.

[JeffDuncan]

It matters quite a bit. …

As you go on to say, the phrasing matters. Very true. She’d have to indicate it was important. But when she did that, Wright was obligated to see her promptly. He did not (according to the only timeline we’ve seen.)

Compare:

A team physician notifies Wright that he - or she - needs to see Wright on a serious matter about one of the players. Would Wright just sit on his hands for weeks?

A team lawyer notifies Wright, ditto. Again, would Wright just sit on his hands?

The team psychologist notifies Wright, etc., and lo and behold he does exactly that. Nothing, for a long time. Why?

If she felt assaulted, then being told "it will be dealt with" isn't really a good assurance before heading back into another meeting. …

Wright said he’d deal with it. You have to take people at their word. Should she have had some reason, at that time, to think Wright’s word was no good? What should she have known that would have told her that Wright couldn’t, or wouldn’t, follow through on what he said?

That first meeting she sought with Wright was not to inform him she felt assaulted, it was to inform him - in her professional capacity with the Spurs - that there was a serious behavioral problem with one of the players.

If the problem was just that she felt assaulted she would have called the cops. Maybe she should have.

You’re confusing then and now.

She certainly felt compelled to avoid the meeting after that, so why didn't she for this meeting? …

She was relying on Wright to do what he said. Turned out, he did not. He did not deal with it.

She is an accuser. …

You’re confusing then and now. That’s a serious mistake. No sir, she was not an “accuser.” She was a highly qualified professional retained by the Spurs to provide psychological services. She was an INSIDER at the time we’re talking about, as much of an insider as any physician or lawyer the Spurs had on retainer.

... but she was a party to the investigation, …

You are mistaken. You’re completely ignoring her status with the Spurs, and her obligations to the Spurs. And the Spurs’ obligations to her, for that matter.

I guess you don’t realize it, but what you’re asserting is that her employment as the team psychologist was just for show. If that should happen to be true it makes the Spurs look even worse.

[Desert Spur]

This seems weird. Exposing himself in a therapy session. It’s just odd and she kept meeting him. Even more strange.

Obviously if you’re exposing yourself you got issues so maybe she inadvertently prompted him or triggered him.

Something seems kinda fishy here.

People can deliberately draw attention themselves (and play mind games) without appearing to be acting inappropriately. This may not be the best reference, but Sharon Stone's famous scene in Basic Instinct comes to mind. Perhaps he gets some sort of gratification out of not wearing underwear with shorts and displaying his prized possession, all while trying to appear innocent.

[itzsoweezee]

Here is the timeline alleged in the complaint:

• December 2021: Primo exposes himself to Dr Cauthen
• January 2022: Dr Cauthen requests a meeting with Brian Wright and "makes clear" the purpose of the meeting [1]
• March 21, 2022: Meeting with Brian Wright takes place - Wright says he will develop a plan to deal with this and meet with Primo and his agent
• Sometime between March 21 and April 13, 2022: Dr Cauthen meets with Primo again and Primo again exposes himself [2]. Primo requests at least one other session with Cauthen but she avoids it
• April 13, 2022: Cauthen and Wright meet again. Cauthen expresses frustration that nothing has been done yet. Wright asks her for a recommendation on what should be done. She says she doesn't know, the team should figure it out. Wright tells her that Spurs legal will be in touch
• May 2022: Cauthen meets multiple times with Spurs Legal. Spurs legal tell her an investigation will take place, and that she should avoid contact with Primo [3].
• A week later (sometime in May): Cauthen requests an update and a copy of the investigation [4]. Spurs legal tells her that Primo will continue to participate in team activities and that Cauthen shouldn't feel uncomfortable because she has seen Primo repeatedly in the past [5], but since she is uncomfortable she should work from home. Cauthen felt this was an act of retaliation against her for raising the complaint [6]
• Sometime in June, 2022: Cauthen meets with Spurs Legal and HR again, who say they have spoken to Primo. As a result of that discussion, they suggested a facilitated conversation with Primo and Cauthen to shed light on why Primo is exposing himself [7]. Cauthen refuses.
• The following week, presumably June, 2022: Cauthen and Spurs Legal and HR meet again. The tell Cauthen that they are going to put a corrective process in place for these types of incidents [8]. They also tell her they have informed Coach Pop of this [9]. They inquire whether Cauthen has retained legal counsel [10] and tell her to avoid communication with Primo until further notice [11]
• June 16, 2022: Spurs hold a "Respect in the Workplace" training. Some staff members joke during the training. Cauthen feels this is not being taken seriously and there would be no accountability.
• July 2022: Cauthen meets with Spurs Legal again. She expresses frustration at the lack of action by the Spurs. They tell her not to travel with the team to Las Vegas [12]. They again ask if she has retained legal counsel.
• August 31: Cauthen's contract expires and it is not renewed [13]

My thoughts to the timeline above, matching with the footnotes:

[1] What does "Make Clear" the purpose mean? Did she say "I want to discuss concerning issues with Josh"? Or "I need to discuss that Josh has been showing me his penis"? This matters, because the degree to which she "made clear" the issue is important to Brian Wright's urgent response to a meeting request.
[2] Why did she meet with Primo again after the meeting with Wright? At who's urging did this meeting take place? The Spurs? Primo?
[3] Proper protocol here - Spurs were correct in telling her to avoid contact with Primo, though Wright probably should have told her this in the March meeting
[4] It would never be appropriate for the accuser to receive a copy of the investigation report. She should know this. Complaint doesn't make clear if investigation ever occurred (she should know, as she would have been interviewed by the party conducting the investigation)
[5] Huh? If true, totally bizarre thing for Spurs Legal to say. Maybe she remembers this incorrectly? Who knows. Weird.
[6] Spurs telling her she can work from home is an accommodation to her feeling uncomfortable, but she construed it as retaliation. Retaliation is a serious thing here... that I think is the bigger accusation than the idea of "not doing enough".
[7] If it went down this way, the Spurs would have been admitting that he exposed himself, which would make this request awkward and inappropriate. However, that may be the way the plaintiff attorney is wording it. I doubt the Spurs said "let's meet to see why he is exposing himself" but rather "we talked to Josh... why don't we all talk"?
[8] Spurs should have had this in place before. This is problematic.
[9] Actually not sure why any of this is relevant unless it is to later add Pop as a party to the suit if discovery shows that Pop was, in fact, informed
[10] This suggest Spurs are worried at this point
[11] This is appropriate
[12] This would seem appropriate considering there are issues with a player exposing himself to her. She construes this as retaliation
[13] Spurs do not renew. They have the right to not renew her contract for any reason. But, she views that as retaliation. If it was in retaliation, that is bad.

Wow, the Spurs have have some really ty lawyers. If this is true, they deserve to get sued and lose

[dbestpro]

Dr. Hillary Cauthen as a psychologist would see Primo as a patient. The public discussion of what may be deemed as a psychological issue makes it medical which is a direct violation of HIPAA. She could face charges.

[MI21]

Here is the timeline alleged in the complaint:

• December 2021: Primo exposes himself to Dr Cauthen
• January 2022: Dr Cauthen requests a meeting with Brian Wright and "makes clear" the purpose of the meeting [1]
• March 21, 2022: Meeting with Brian Wright takes place - Wright says he will develop a plan to deal with this and meet with Primo and his agent
• Sometime between March 21 and April 13, 2022: Dr Cauthen meets with Primo again and Primo again exposes himself [2]. Primo requests at least one other session with Cauthen but she avoids it
• April 13, 2022: Cauthen and Wright meet again. Cauthen expresses frustration that nothing has been done yet. Wright asks her for a recommendation on what should be done. She says she doesn't know, the team should figure it out. Wright tells her that Spurs legal will be in touch
• May 2022: Cauthen meets multiple times with Spurs Legal. Spurs legal tell her an investigation will take place, and that she should avoid contact with Primo [3].
• A week later (sometime in May): Cauthen requests an update and a copy of the investigation [4]. Spurs legal tells her that Primo will continue to participate in team activities and that Cauthen shouldn't feel uncomfortable because she has seen Primo repeatedly in the past [5], but since she is uncomfortable she should work from home. Cauthen felt this was an act of retaliation against her for raising the complaint [6]
• Sometime in June, 2022: Cauthen meets with Spurs Legal and HR again, who say they have spoken to Primo. As a result of that discussion, they suggested a facilitated conversation with Primo and Cauthen to shed light on why Primo is exposing himself [7]. Cauthen refuses.
• The following week, presumably June, 2022: Cauthen and Spurs Legal and HR meet again. The tell Cauthen that they are going to put a corrective process in place for these types of incidents [8]. They also tell her they have informed Coach Pop of this [9]. They inquire whether Cauthen has retained legal counsel [10] and tell her to avoid communication with Primo until further notice [11]
• June 16, 2022: Spurs hold a "Respect in the Workplace" training. Some staff members joke during the training. Cauthen feels this is not being taken seriously and there would be no accountability.
• July 2022: Cauthen meets with Spurs Legal again. She expresses frustration at the lack of action by the Spurs. They tell her not to travel with the team to Las Vegas [12]. They again ask if she has retained legal counsel.
• August 31: Cauthen's contract expires and it is not renewed [13]

My thoughts to the timeline above, matching with the footnotes:

[1] What does "Make Clear" the purpose mean? Did she say "I want to discuss concerning issues with Josh"? Or "I need to discuss that Josh has been showing me his penis"? This matters, because the degree to which she "made clear" the issue is important to Brian Wright's urgent response to a meeting request.
[2] Why did she meet with Primo again after the meeting with Wright? At who's urging did this meeting take place? The Spurs? Primo?
[3] Proper protocol here - Spurs were correct in telling her to avoid contact with Primo, though Wright probably should have told her this in the March meeting
[4] It would never be appropriate for the accuser to receive a copy of the investigation report. She should know this. Complaint doesn't make clear if investigation ever occurred (she should know, as she would have been interviewed by the party conducting the investigation)
[5] Huh? If true, totally bizarre thing for Spurs Legal to say. Maybe she remembers this incorrectly? Who knows. Weird.
[6] Spurs telling her she can work from home is an accommodation to her feeling uncomfortable, but she construed it as retaliation. Retaliation is a serious thing here... that I think is the bigger accusation than the idea of "not doing enough".
[7] If it went down this way, the Spurs would have been admitting that he exposed himself, which would make this request awkward and inappropriate. However, that may be the way the plaintiff attorney is wording it. I doubt the Spurs said "let's meet to see why he is exposing himself" but rather "we talked to Josh... why don't we all talk"?
[8] Spurs should have had this in place before. This is problematic.
[9] Actually not sure why any of this is relevant unless it is to later add Pop as a party to the suit if discovery shows that Pop was, in fact, informed
[10] This suggest Spurs are worried at this point
[11] This is appropriate
[12] This would seem appropriate considering there are issues with a player exposing himself to her. She construes this as retaliation
[13] Spurs do not renew. They have the right to not renew her contract for any reason. But, she views that as retaliation. If it was in retaliation, that is bad.

Thank you for this, I really appreciate the thorough breakdown. I will avoid all further media on this and basically follow your posts, provided you keep making them,

[mystargtr34]

[scott]

As you go on to say, the phrasing matters. Very true. She’d have to indicate it was important. But when she did that, Wright was obligated to see her promptly. He did not (according to the only timeline we’ve seen.)

Compare:

A team physician notifies Wright that he - or she - needs to see Wright on a serious matter about one of the players. Would Wright just sit on his hands for weeks?

A team lawyer notifies Wright, ditto. Again, would Wright just sit on his hands?

The team psychologist notifies Wright, etc., and lo and behold he does exactly that. Nothing, for a long time. Why?




Wright said he’d deal with it. You have to take people at their word. Should she have had some reason, at that time, to think Wright’s word was no good? What should she have known that would have told her that Wright couldn’t, or wouldn’t, follow through on what he said?

That first meeting she sought with Wright was not to inform him she felt assaulted, it was to inform him - in her professional capacity with the Spurs - that there was a serious behavioral problem with one of the players.

If the problem was just that she felt assaulted she would have called the cops. Maybe she should have.

You’re confusing then and now.




She was relying on Wright to do what he said. Turned out, he did not. He did not deal with it.




You’re confusing then and now. That’s a serious mistake. No sir, she was not an “accuser.” She was a highly qualified professional retained by the Spurs to provide psychological services. She was an INSIDER at the time we’re talking about, as much of an insider as any physician or lawyer the Spurs had on retainer.




You are mistaken. You’re completely ignoring her status with the Spurs, and her obligations to the Spurs. And the Spurs’ obligations to her, for that matter.

I guess you don’t realize it, but what you’re asserting is that her employment as the team psychologist was just for show. If that should happen to be true it makes the Spurs look even worse.

1) Most of everything you just wrote is your speculation
2) Being the team psychologist, even if she wasn’t involved in the matter, still wouldn’t make her privy to the investigation report. Investigations aren’t meant to result in FBI Profiles on the suspect… they are only meant to determine whether or not something happened. There would be zero reason for the team psychologist to be informed as to the results of an investigation, especially not to an event she was a party to. Investigation reports are typically shared with as few people as possible, and usually only those who need to make a decision on disciplinary action.

[blizz]

All of you defending this kid, what are you going to say when others come out?

[MarCowMar]

These details definitely reveal some new angles to the matter.

It's possible this may not fall into the generic harassment bucket if part of what Primo was discussing in the meetings was childhood sexual abuse. If you're working with a person's mental health you sorta have to expect it could manifest in unexpected ways.

There's a bit of details on their code of ethics here. Section "10.10 Terminating Therapy" indicates she probably should have done so after that first incident if it was severe enough.

https://www.apa.org/ethics/code

Here is another therapists story that is similar.

https://societyforpsychotherapy.org/...ent-therapist/

TLDR: she presses charges.

If Primo assaulted her or even just "misbehaved" there should have been a massive shift in treatment immediately and Wright and the Spurs should have been a part of that. If they had coordinated and pressed charges it could have been a class B misdemeanor and he could have paid his dues, learned from it and moved on. (up to 180 days in county jail, and/or up to $2,000 in fines.)

https://codes.findlaw.com/tx/penal-c...ect-21-08.html

Instead, the lawyers get to fight it out for cash.

[Desert Spur]

We talk about 9 visits that exposure happened, but we do not know the situation or the pressure she was under to tolerate the behavior to keep her job. She did say that she valued the job and it was a great opportunity for her. Maybe that allowed her to give Primo multiple opportunities to change. It's not a slam dunk that she tolerated it happening 9 times so she has no room to complain. And if she did complain and then they retaliated by cutting her time and not re-signing her to a new contract, then that is a can of worms too.

Was wondering if the '9 times' included multiple exposures in a single meeting.

[Vince Carter's ankle]

I remember making a post about how we could turn into the Sacramento Kings and it wouldn’t take very long for it to happen. Pop leaves and we have no replacement. We have no good assistant coaches anymore. No star player. Our ownership is bad and my biggest argument was Wright just isn’t a good GM. I got a lot of push back here. BUT

Its not looking good for our organization and we are looking more and more like we are heading in a downward spiral. Wright has to go. His acknowledgment of Primos concerns is the easiest thing to fact check. There’s zero chance Buzbee includes that in his lawsuit if he couldn’t verify a meeting with his client. Wright knew. Period. Hopefully him gone and a couple million dollars solves the issue and we just nip it in the bud. Seriously don’t let Brian Wright be the reason why this is dragged on and putting our franchise more and more into the mud. Just drop him and pay her off

So that's great.
Kings have had five top-5 draft picks since 2010, and as you know, a high pick is a guarantee of a successful future.
We need to act in the same spirit.

[mo7888]

All of you defending this kid, what are you going to say when others come out?

I think you're conflating Defense with simply recognizing that with the verified information we have right now it's he said/she said. There nothing wrong with being slow to judgment and waiting on more facts. If more women turn up and corroborate the behavior it will certainly be more damning.

[spurs10]

This is false.

Yeah that lawyer doing this work pro-bono and her wanting no compensation sounds ridiculous. That are going for the throat and millions I'm thinking.

[MannyIsGod]

All of you defending this kid, what are you going to say when others come out?

"all of you"

Who's defended Primo?

[KobesAchilles]

So that's great.
Kings have had five top-5 draft picks since 2010, and as you know, a high pick is a guarantee of a successful future.
We need to act in the same spirit.

I’m not saying we should be the Kings. I was saying that we weren’t far off from being like the Kings. Replace a legendary coach with a bad one. Replace a legendary GM with a bad one. Replace a legendary owner with 2 bad ones. Replace top assistant coaches with bad ones. These things add up to bad organizational structure and leads to us turning into the Kings

[MannyIsGod]

Here is the timeline alleged in the complaint:

• December 2021: Primo exposes himself to Dr Cauthen
• January 2022: Dr Cauthen requests a meeting with Brian Wright and "makes clear" the purpose of the meeting [1]
• March 21, 2022: Meeting with Brian Wright takes place - Wright says he will develop a plan to deal with this and meet with Primo and his agent
• Sometime between March 21 and April 13, 2022: Dr Cauthen meets with Primo again and Primo again exposes himself [2]. Primo requests at least one other session with Cauthen but she avoids it
• April 13, 2022: Cauthen and Wright meet again. Cauthen expresses frustration that nothing has been done yet. Wright asks her for a recommendation on what should be done. She says she doesn't know, the team should figure it out. Wright tells her that Spurs legal will be in touch
• May 2022: Cauthen meets multiple times with Spurs Legal. Spurs legal tell her an investigation will take place, and that she should avoid contact with Primo [3].
• A week later (sometime in May): Cauthen requests an update and a copy of the investigation [4]. Spurs legal tells her that Primo will continue to participate in team activities and that Cauthen shouldn't feel uncomfortable because she has seen Primo repeatedly in the past [5], but since she is uncomfortable she should work from home. Cauthen felt this was an act of retaliation against her for raising the complaint [6]
• Sometime in June, 2022: Cauthen meets with Spurs Legal and HR again, who say they have spoken to Primo. As a result of that discussion, they suggested a facilitated conversation with Primo and Cauthen to shed light on why Primo is exposing himself [7]. Cauthen refuses.
• The following week, presumably June, 2022: Cauthen and Spurs Legal and HR meet again. The tell Cauthen that they are going to put a corrective process in place for these types of incidents [8]. They also tell her they have informed Coach Pop of this [9]. They inquire whether Cauthen has retained legal counsel [10] and tell her to avoid communication with Primo until further notice [11]
• June 16, 2022: Spurs hold a "Respect in the Workplace" training. Some staff members joke during the training. Cauthen feels this is not being taken seriously and there would be no accountability.
• July 2022: Cauthen meets with Spurs Legal again. She expresses frustration at the lack of action by the Spurs. They tell her not to travel with the team to Las Vegas [12]. They again ask if she has retained legal counsel.
• August 31: Cauthen's contract expires and it is not renewed [13]

My thoughts to the timeline above, matching with the footnotes:

[1] What does "Make Clear" the purpose mean? Did she say "I want to discuss concerning issues with Josh"? Or "I need to discuss that Josh has been showing me his penis"? This matters, because the degree to which she "made clear" the issue is important to Brian Wright's urgent response to a meeting request.
[2] Why did she meet with Primo again after the meeting with Wright? At who's urging did this meeting take place? The Spurs? Primo?
[3] Proper protocol here - Spurs were correct in telling her to avoid contact with Primo, though Wright probably should have told her this in the March meeting
[4] It would never be appropriate for the accuser to receive a copy of the investigation report. She should know this. Complaint doesn't make clear if investigation ever occurred (she should know, as she would have been interviewed by the party conducting the investigation)
[5] Huh? If true, totally bizarre thing for Spurs Legal to say. Maybe she remembers this incorrectly? Who knows. Weird.
[6] Spurs telling her she can work from home is an accommodation to her feeling uncomfortable, but she construed it as retaliation. Retaliation is a serious thing here... that I think is the bigger accusation than the idea of "not doing enough".
[7] If it went down this way, the Spurs would have been admitting that he exposed himself, which would make this request awkward and inappropriate. However, that may be the way the plaintiff attorney is wording it. I doubt the Spurs said "let's meet to see why he is exposing himself" but rather "we talked to Josh... why don't we all talk"?
[8] Spurs should have had this in place before. This is problematic.
[9] Actually not sure why any of this is relevant unless it is to later add Pop as a party to the suit if discovery shows that Pop was, in fact, informed
[10] This suggest Spurs are worried at this point
[11] This is appropriate
[12] This would seem appropriate considering there are issues with a player exposing himself to her. She construes this as retaliation
[13] Spurs do not renew. They have the right to not renew her contract for any reason. But, she views that as retaliation. If it was in retaliation, that is bad.

Made clear is doing a lot of work here. She must have copies of those emails and I agree fully what she said really matter
Honestly, the idea that a "respect in the workplace training" was the right response after an alleged sexual assault is odd to me. That to me, and honestly the wording earlier in the timeline, screams that this was much more subtle. That doesn't mean Primo wasn't doing intentionally, and in fact might be even worse in some ways, but it definitely doesn't strike me like a Louis CK type of situation.

[Maddog]

OK
My three cents worth FWIW

I have a lot of issues with the timeline put out by Buzbee and am very bothered by a healthcare provider suing and filling criminal charges against a former patient (even more so when it's what you are treating him for- now if he locked you in a room or prevented you from leaving maybe...). Also hiring an overt publicity seeking sleazy lawyer (my own bias here)

That said, I suspect the Spurs are in trouble here and maybe specifically Brian Wright. I don't think there was anything malicious, but from what we are seeing it fits a pattern of organizations handling these things poorly. And unfortunately, most organizations don't handle these things well.

Not believing or downplaying the initial complaints (Check). Especially when the accused is someone you think highly of and or the organization is very invested in (check).
Having to scramble when additional incidents from other individuals come forward (check).


Time will tell.
Also a question that has come to mind- why where the Spurs promoting a 19 year old undergoing therapy as a potential long term piece of the franchise?
I don't quite buy the they thought of him as a potential franchise player- but they sure seemed to think of him as a long term piece and if not directly at least indirectly put him out as a face of the franchise.

[BacktoBasics]

All of you defending this kid, what are you going to say when others come out?

I don’t see anyone defending him but clearly there are inconsistencies and reasons to question the actions or lack of by both the doctor and the team.