Despite the dire implications for any future freedom in Asia, Americans have been watching the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong with only a mild passing interest. So they were caught off guard when the National Basketball Association (NBA) suddenly lost a jump ball to the Chinese communists. First off, what does the NBA have to do with China? Turns out the Chinese are huge basketball fans, so China is a huge market for the NBA - who knew?
The NBA brouhaha started when Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted a picture in support of the Hong Kong protesters. That pro-democracy twe...