SIMMONS: The discomfort of opening night with Terence Davis in Raptors’ lineup

Article content continued

But right now, this is being treated contrary to that activity, with the team and the league and the Players’ Association hiding being protocol and policy — rather than acting in a progressive manner.

On Tuesday, head coach, Nick Nurse, was asked if he had a problem with having Davis in the lineup against the New Orleans Pelicans in Tampa. He brushed it off rather easily, saying he had no problem.

I asked general manager Bobby Webster on Tuesday what the status of the investigation was. He told me to contact Mike Bass, whose title is listed as NBA executive vice-president of communications. He hasn’t been heard from on this situation — not even to pass on that the investigation continues.

Just why an investigation with only two parties involved from an event that took place in October is still ongoing from a league that deals with issues daily is a matter of conjecture.

And that is the historical challenge in dealing with any kind of he-said, she-said, domestic situation. There is one side to the story, there is another side to the story, and often the truth is somewhere in between.

And if it were that simple, this would have been in court already and the league and the players association would have made some kind of ruling with its collective policy regarding domestic violence. But there’s nothing simple about anything to do with domestic violence, especially when it comes to going to court.

Being not guilty does not make someone innocent in these kinds of cases. That’s important to understand here. When Davis’ lawyer says he expects the charges to be dropped, that does not change what may have happened in the first place.
Roberto Osuna was charged with domestic assault, in this case from one of the mothers of his children during his years with the Blue Jays. He was suspended for 65 games by Major League Baseball, never pitched again for the Jays, and was traded to Houston at the end of his suspension. The charges were eventually dropped. A peace bond was agreed to.