20 Second Timeout

Edwards and Towns Outduel Doncic and Irving as Timberwolves Avoid Being Swept

I enjoy analyzing complex basketball strategies, but--as Charles Barkley succinctly put it during TNT's Western Conference Finals game four telecast--sometimes basketball is a simple sport: if your team's stars outplay the other team's stars then your team has a great chance to win. That simple story explained what happened in the Minnesota Timberwolves' 105-100 win versus the Dallas Mavericks: Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns outplayed Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. Edwards scored a game-high 29 points on 11-25 field goal shooting, and he led the Timberwolves in both rebounds (10) and assists (nine). Towns scored a series-high 25 points on 9-13 field goal shooting, including 4-5 from three point range. Towns was far from perfect--he fouled out in just 30 minutes of playing time as he still has not cured his habit of committing stupid fouls, and he grabbed just five rebounds--but the good outweighed the bad: he shot efficiently from the field, he attacked the paint more often than he had in recent games, he was both more accurate and more judicious on this three point attempts, and he posted his highest scoring total in his last nine playoff games. Mike Conley was steady as always (14 points on 5-9 field goal shooting along with seven assists and no turnovers in 34 minutes), and Rudy Gobert scored 13 points while tying Edwards for team-high honors with 10 rebounds. 

Doncic posted his league-leading sixth triple double in the 2024 playoffs (28 points, game-high 15 rebounds, game-high 10 assists), but he shot just 7-21 from the field, had a game-worst -13 plus/minus number, and shot 1-5 from the field in the fourth quarter with the outcome up for grabs. Irving scored 16 points on 6-18 field goal shooting while dishing for four assists but amassing a team-high four turnovers. Dallas keenly felt the absence of Dereck Lively II, an active and energetic center who suffered a neck injury in game three of this series. Minnesota outrebounded Dallas 40-38 and outscored Dallas in the paint 46-36. 

Facing not just elimination but the humiliation of being swept, Minnesota stormed out to a 24-12 first quarter lead, but Dallas trimmed that margin to 27-20 by the end of the first quarter and then went ahead by three points in the second quarter before settling for a 49-49 halftime tie.

Minnesota won the third quarter 29-24 as Towns scored 10 points on 4-4 field goal shooting after scoring just five first half points. Minnesota enjoyed a fourth quarter lead in each of the first three games of this series only to fall apart down the stretch, but in this game Towns (10 points), Gobert (eight points), and Edwards (six points) dominated the final stanza. Dallas countered with balanced but inefficient fourth quarter scoring, matching Minnesota with 27 points but shooting just .435 from the field while Minnesota shot .526 from the field.

Game five will be very interesting, because the Timberwolves will show if they are satisfied just to avoid being swept, or if they are excited about the opportunity to win at home and put the pressure on the Mavericks to win game six in Dallas to avoid game seven in Minnesota. The Timberwolves are bigger and deeper than the Mavericks, but that did not matter in the first three games because of how much Doncic and Irving outplayed Edwards and Towns. The Timberwolves are capable of replicating in game five at home the effort level and efficiency that they displayed in game four on the road.

What struck me most about this game, though, is the pregame commentary about Kyrie Irving. Many media members are pushing the Kyrie Irving redemption narrative, but Barkley is one of the few media members who has the courage to speak the truth about Irving. Barkley declared that many of Irving's problems were "self inflicted," noting specifically, "You can't say antisemitic stuff." Barkley concluded that Irving deserved both the criticism he received and the suspension handed down by the Brooklyn Nets in 2022 in response to Irving's unrepentant antisemitism. It is very disappointing that Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal, and Kenny Smith--who rightly do not hesitate to speak out about a host of social issues--remained silent about Irving's antisemitism, particularly at a time when both antisemitic vitriol and antisemitic violence are at unprecedented levels. In their initial response to Irving's unrepentant antisemitism, Johnson and the TNT studio crew did better, with the exception of Smith, who has consistently been off target about this issue.

Some points that I made in my November 4, 2022 article about Irving being suspended are worth repeating and emphasizing:

I know better than to try to persuade people who are willfully blind to the truth, but when thinking about who has power, what are the limits of free speech, and what is the nature of objective historical truth, it is interesting to keep in mind a few facts that I have mentioned in my previous articles about Irving:

1) Irving has more social media followers than the Jewish population of the world. Irving has over 20 million followers, while there are fewer than 15 million Jews in a world that has a population of nearly 8 billion people. When Irving boasts that he has an "army" supporting him, that is not an exaggeration. He is far from powerless both in terms of his personal, generational wealth, and in terms of the influence that he wields. If each of his followers spreads his messages to just five more people, Irving potentially reaches 100 million people every time he makes a social media post.

The Jewish people are so powerful that less than 80 years ago a third of their population was massacred in Europe while the Jewish people were unable to get immigration quotas lifted in any major Western country, including America.

2) No one has challenged Irving's free speech right to post whatever he wants to post. The First Amendment protects against government restriction of a citizen's free speech rights--but just like Irving has a right to say what he wants to say, other people have a right to respond to him, to question him, and to decide to not employ him or do business with him.

3) I have seen some people assert that the film that Irving promoted speaks the truth, and I have seen other people say some version of "everyone has a right to speak his truth." 

Regarding the first sentiment, the movie that Irving promoted asserts that the Holocaust never happened, that Jews controlled the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and that Jews worship Satan. Those statements are all demonstrably false. This would be equivalent to a white supremacist stating that slavery never happened, that Black people are responsible for harming white people on a massive scale, and that Black people worship Satan. If you support Irving's promotion of antisemitic falsehoods, then you have no standing to challenge white supremacists who state that they are not attacking Black people but rather defending white people, and you definitely need to stop talking about so-called "micro-aggressions." To be clear, I find both white supremacy and Holocaust denial to be offensive; I condemn both. I just don't want to hear about "micro-aggressions" from people who endorse "macro-aggressions" that contradict historical truth and contribute to a climate in which antisemitic violence is soaring to unprecedented levels.

Regarding the second sentiment, this notion that there is not an objective truth but that each person has his or her own "truth" is precisely what George Orwell warned about in his classic dystopian novel 1984. If words lose their objective meaning and if history can be whatever each person believes it to be then we have no shared past and no shared future because there are no longer standards for what is right, what is wrong, what is true, and what is false. There are far too many people in our society who would love to take our educational system in that direction. The Soviet Union tried it, China is doing it now, Cuba is doing it now, and we have seen--without fail--that every nation that goes down this path ends up persecuting its own people and terrorizing its neighbors.

To anyone who suggests that the above commentary does not belong in a game recap, my response is that Irving's on court revival and his off court issues are two separate matters, but too many people are acting as if Irving's willingness to be a better teammate has some connection with the abhorrent views that he promoted and refused to disavow--and as long as that confusion is being propagated and as long as even otherwise standup people like Ernie Johnson are silent I will speak loudly to confront the confusion and the silence. 

It is demonstrably true that Irving had a negative impact on team chemistry with multiple teams prior to being acquired by Dallas last season. He has not been in Dallas very long, but up to this point it appears like he has become a better teammate and--for the first time in his career--is demonstrating leadership qualities. Good for him as a basketball player--but what Irving says, does, and stands for away from the basketball court is far more important, and I will conclude by repeating the key point that I made two years ago when Irving promoted antisemitic tropes, and that I repeated in this article, because the truth about this simply cannot be stated too many times:

If you support Irving's promotion of antisemitic falsehoods, then you have no standing to challenge white supremacists who state that they are not attacking Black people but rather defending white people, and you definitely need to stop talking about so-called "micro-aggressions." 

During yesterday's pregame show, Kenny Smith made the bizarre statement that he urged Stephen A. Smith to stop criticizing Irving because they are all from the same neighborhood. Would Smith apply that same reasoning to preclude white people from criticizing racists who come from their neighborhoods? The normalization of antisemitism is frightening, and portends doom for our society, because any society that targets the weakest groups has lost its moral bearings.

Labels: Anthony Edwards, Charles Barkley, Dallas Mavericks, Ernie Johnson, Karl-Anthony Towns, Kenny Smith, Luka Doncic, Minnesota Timberwolves, Rudy Gobert, Shaquille O'Neal

posted by David Friedman @ 12:40 PM

10 comments

Inside the NBA Crew Discusses Giannis Antetokounmpo's Message About Failure

After the Miami Heat eliminated the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round, a reporter asked two-time NBA regular season MVP/2021 NBA Finals MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo if he considered this season to be a failure. Antetokounmpo's answer is, as TNT's Kenny Smith later put it, a masterclass or TED Talk:

You asked me the same question last year, Eric. Do you get a promotion every year? No, right? So, every year you work is a failure? Yes or no? No. Every year you work, you work toward something--toward a goal--which is to get a promotion, to be able to take care of your family, to be able to provide a house for them or take care of your parents. You work toward a goal. It's not a failure. It's steps to success. If you've never--I don't want to make it personal.

Michael Jordan played 15 years. Won six championships. The other nine years was a failure? That's what you're telling me? I'm asking you a question...Exactly, so why you ask me that question? It's the wrong question. There's no failure in sports. There's good days, bad days, some days you are able to be successful, some days you are not, some days it is your turn, some days it's not. That's what sports is about. You don't always win. Some other group is gonna win, and this year somebody else is gonna win. Simple as that. We’re gonna come back next year and try to be better, try to build good habits, try to play better--not have a 10 day stretch of playing bad basketball. Hopefully we can win a championship.

So, 50 years from 1971 to 2021 that we didn't win a championship, it was 50 years of failure? No, it was not. There were steps to it. And we were able to win one and hopefully we can win another one.

Sorry, I didn't want to make it personal, because you asked me the same question last year, and last year I wasn't in the right mind space to answer the question back--but I remember it.

TNT's Inside the NBA crew just had a heartfelt discussion about what Antetokounmpo said. Charles Barkley recalled that when he grew up in the projects of Leeds, Alabama he could have never imagined living the life that he has lived. He rightly considers himself to be a great success, and he refuses to be defined by not winning an NBA title. Barkley feels sorry for anyone who defines himself by what he did in sports, because sports is a very small part of life.

Shaquille O'Neal offered a different perspective. He said that he grew up with a military background, and based on that background he has a simple definition of success versus failure: if you accomplished the mission then you succeeded, and if you did not accomplish the mission then you failed. He emphasized that he is not criticizing or disrespecting Antetokounmpo and he added that failure is not necessarily a bad thing because often you must fail before you succeed. O'Neal said that as the number one overall pick in the NBA Draft he felt that his mission was to be the most dominant big man and to win a championship every year, so he is OK with being told that he was only successful during the four years that he won NBA titles.

Kenny Smith said that Antetokounmpo had given a TED Talk for adults in terms of how to think about their lives and put things in proper perspective. Smith suggested that O'Neal's definition of success versus failure is accurate but incomplete. Smith said that each person should ask himself if he took every necessary step that he was supposed to take. If you have taken every step that you were supposed to take, then you did not fail. You may be disappointed with the outcome, but that is not the same as failure. Smith said that after hearing Antetokounmpo's answer, he now understands why Antetokounmpo and Russell Westbrook play so hard every possession of every game: they know that they cannot control the outcome of the game, but they can control taking every step that they are supposed to take. 

By nature, my attitude is more like the one that O'Neal expressed: if you have the necessary talent to dominate, then every time you don't dominate is a failure. My second grade teacher, Miss Day, said that I put way more pressure on myself than anyone else did; I turned everything into a competition, and I was very driven to win every competition. Some of us are just hard-wired to be very intense, very driven, very competitive. Such people view anything less than dominance as abject failure. Think about Bill Russell winning two NCAA titles, an Olympic gold medal, and then capturing 11 NBA titles in 13 seasons. That does not just happen; that is a product of a laser focus on domination, and a deep inner belief that you can never win enough to be satisfied.

It is funny to hear O'Neal take this position on failure now, because the main thing that he and Kobe Bryant used to feud about as teammates was that Bryant did not think that O'Neal worked hard enough to be dominant; Bryant tried to destroy everybody not just in every game, but in every practice, while O'Neal may have aspired to that mentality but he did not live it in terms of work: O'Neal is not cut from the same mold as Antetokounmpo or Westbrook--or Bryant. Everyone wants to win--but few people will suffer to win. Bill Russell used to throw up before every game. Bryant played through an assortment of injuries that would sideline most current NBA players for weeks or months. People like that don't talk about how much they want to win nearly as much as they show how much they want to win through their behaviors, their habits, and their willingness to suffer to win.

As I get older, I am starting to understand that it is healthy to have a growth mindset like the one that Anteotkounmpo expressed and that such a mindset is not incompatible with being fiercely competitive. Anyone who listens to what Antetokounmpo said and concludes that Antetokounmpo is not competitive enough or does not care about winning missed the point. The key concept to grasp--as Smith noted--is that we are all responsible for taking all of the steps that we can take to get the best possible outcome. After we do that, we can accept what happened--and if we are disappointed by the outcome, then we can learn from it and do more work. Note that Antetokounmpo repeatedly mentioned the steps to the process, the building of correct habits, and doing the work so that his team can win a title next year. Of course Antetokounmpo is disappointed that the Bucks did not win the NBA title--but he does not view himself as a failure because losing is part of sports and part of life.

Antetokounmpo is remarkably mature for someone so young who is at the top of such a competitive profession. I am much older than he is, but I may not have reached that level of maturity.

In Turning Failure Into Success, I wrote, "Julius Erving endured six years of frustrating playoff setbacks before winning an NBA championship and throughout that period he stayed true to his core belief: 'I've always tried to tell myself that the work itself is the thing, that win, lose or draw, the work is really what counts. As hard as it was to make myself believe that sometimes, it was the only thing I had to cling to every year--that every game, every night, I did the best I could.'"

That is what Antetokounmpo is talking about--not accepting losing, but accepting outcomes as they happen while also learning, growing, and continuing to do everything possible to obtain better outcomes. 

Ernie Johnson and Barkley emphasized another important point: Antetokounmpo took great pains to not personally attack or insult the questioner. When Antetokounmpo said, "If you've never..." and then stopped himself, you could tell that he was about to say something about that reporter never doing something at an elite level--but then Antetokounmpo switched gears, and used Michael Jordan as an example. At the end of his answer, Antetokounmpo again emphasized that he did not want to make his answer personal. Smith noted that Antetokounmpo tried very hard to make this a teaching moment. It was beautiful to watch Antetokounmpo try to educate the reporter instead of just belittling him.

I think that Antetokounmpo provided great insight into the thought process of someone who, by virtue of hard work, intelligence, and toughness--rose from poverty to becoming the best in the world at his craft.

It will be a shame if people misunderstand or misinterpret his message.

Labels: Bill Russell, Charles Barkley, Ernie Johnson, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Inside the NBA, Julius Erving, Kenny Smith, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal

posted by David Friedman @ 2:04 AM

16 comments

"Inside the NBA" Crew Weighs in on Kyrie Irving, the Departure of Steve Nash

Kyrie Irving and Kanye West have both made antisemitic social media posts recently. It does not seem likely that the NBA will discipline Irving despite Irving being unrepentant about how his post dehumanizes Jews. In a classic--and clumsy--attempt to control the narrative and distract attention, the Brooklyn Nets parted ways with Coach Steve Nash on the first day that Irving's Nets appeared on national TV since Irving made his now infamous social media post. Nash's departure is being presented as a mutual decision, but it is not hard to imagine that the Nets preferred for TNT's pre-game show to focus on the Nets' dysfunctional play instead of the Nets' resident antisemite.

TNT played along--for one segment. The first segment of TNT's pre-game show for the Brooklyn Nets-Chicago Bulls game focused on the Nets' coaching situation. Earlier in the day, reports suggested that the Nets plan to replace Nash with Ime Udoka, who the Boston Celtics suspended for the entire 2022-23 season, but that rumor caused so much media consternation that now the Nets are claiming that they have not determined who their next coach will be; assistant coach Jacque Vaughn will serve as their interim coach.

After the TNT crew spent 11 minutes talking about how bad the Nets are as a basketball team, Ernie Johnson tossed to a break by saying that in the next segment the crew would talk about Irving. After the advertisements ran, Johnson opened the discussion by describing Irving's behavior in the past year or so as "unpredictable and unsettling"--referring to, among other things, Irving's anti-vaccination stance and his embrace of lunatic conspiracy theorist Alex Jones--before directly addressing Irving's antisemitic tweet. Johnson said simply and directly of Irving, "That is promotion," contradicting Irving's disingenuous press conference statement that when he posts something for millions of his social media followers to see he is not promoting what he posts. Johnson noted that Irving has over 20 million followers across his various social media platforms.

Shaquille O'Neal mentioned that he was one of the first athletes to frequently utilize Twitter, and he knew from the beginning, "I had to be responsible." O'Neal said of Irving, "He's not conscious" and O'Neal expressed frustration because "We [the "Inside the NBA" crew] have to answer for what this idiot has done." O'Neal said that he tries to bring people of all different backgrounds together instead of tearing them apart, but that it is obvious to him that Irving does not think that way and "does not care."

Charles Barkley summed up the issue concisely and accurately: "I think the NBA dropped the ball." Barkley insisted that the NBA should have immediately suspended Irving. Barkley noted that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is Jewish--which is not relevant, as Irving deserves to be suspended regardless of who the Commissioner is--and declared that Silver should have said, "You can't take $40 million (a rough approximation of Irving's annual NBA salary) and insult my religion." Barkley is correct that the NBA should have suspended Irving--not because Irving insulted Silver's religion, but because Irving insulted every intelligent human being and because Irving's promotion of vile antisemitism is inexcusable (Amazon.com's willingness to sell the video that Irving promoted should also be addressed, but that is not something that the NBA controls). 

Johnson pointed out that discussions are ongoing within the Nets organization and the NBA offices, so it is possible that the NBA may still discipline Irving, and Barkley was right on target when he replied, "It's too late now." Barkley added that if the NBA suspends Irving now then it looks like the NBA caved in to public pressure as opposed to taking a stance based on right and wrong.

Kenny Smith, who used to be a voice of reason, was way off target. He started off by saying that he will take Irving at face value when Irving says that he is not antisemitic. If that is how Smith thinks, then he also needs to take white supremacists at face value when they say that they are pro-white, not anti-Black. At least Smith conceded that reporter Nick Friedell has a right to question Irving about why Irving made the social media post, but that is so obvious that it should go without saying. Friedell and all journalists have a responsibility to ask pertinent questions, and there is no question more pertinent now for Irving than asking Irving why he promoted antisemitism on his Twitter feed. I am the first to note that many press conference questions are as stupid as they are irrelevant, but in this situation Friedell did his job--which makes him stand out in a room (and profession) where far too few people are willing or even capable of doing the job.

Anyone who does not understand how far off target Smith is regarding Kyrie Irving should just watch the segment and then imagine that Kyrie Irving is your least favorite politician and that Kyrie Irving tweeted about a video filled with vile, hateful stereotypes of Black people claiming that slavery never happened, that Black people worship Satan, and that Black people are responsible for the suffering of white people, who are actually the original and true Black people. In that hypothetical situation, can you picture Smith saying that he will take at face value the politician's insistence that he is not a racist?  

A person is defined by what he does, not who he claims to be. In just a few days, Irving's words and actions have told the world so much about who he really is, and by not listening carefully Smith is telling us something about who he really is. Smith has generally been a thoughtful person, so maybe he will reconsider his position.

Ernie Johnson gently brought the segment back on track by passionately saying of our society "We've lost our way" and emphasizing that anyone who posts to social media--particularly a person who has as many followers as Irving--should first think, "If I put this out there, who am I going to hurt?" Johnson then cut to a clip from his podcast with Barkley when they had a conversation with Rabbi Erer Sherman. Rabbi Sherman said that the answer here is to communicate, and he invited Irving to come to his congregation, meet his family, and increase his understanding. Rabbi Sherman opined that the way out of our society's troubles will be through sport, because sport and religion "intersect in a deep way." It is true that historically sports have brought people from different backgrounds together, but I am not sure that it will be so easy to mend the deep fissures tearing apart our society. 

During the game telecast, Reggie Miller said, "The players have dropped the ball on this one...Right is right and wrong is wrong. If you are going to call out owners, then you have to call out players as well." I have made that same point repeatedly: if NBA players are going to declare that they are more than just athletes and that they are social justice warriors then they have to accept the full weight of that responsibility, and they have to be willing to speak out about players who say or do hateful things.

The Nets announced that Irving will not speak to the media today, and he will not speak to the media for the foreseeable future. I can understand why the Nets prefer that Irving shut his mouth, but putting him under wraps so that he can keep scoring points is not the right way to go. Irving should take responsibility for what he posted and for the tremendous influence that he has. Also, league policy requires players to be available to the media on game day. It is not clear what, if anything, the suddenly silent and apparently impotent NBA office will do about this violation of league policy.

If this is not the Nets trying to protect Irving from himself but rather Irving using the team to shield himself from scrutiny then shame on him for being so cowardly. Irving claims that he has an "army" supporting him--and the scary thing is that may be true. If Irving feels so powerful, righteous, and smart, then he should not be afraid to listen to questions without interrupting and then to answer those questions. Dictators control the press, but freethinking leaders are not afraid to be questioned and challenged. 

Earlier today, after Nets General Manager Sean Marks was asked why the team had not fined or suspended Irving, Marks stated that the Nets are communicating with the Anti-Defamation League regarding the Irving situation. That is weak. If Irving is willing to be educated about history, then the ADL and other groups can play a role, but it is not up to the ADL to punish Irving or set workplace policies for the NBA.

The NBA, its teams, its coaches, and its players are not shy about expressing their opinions about a host of political, economic, and social issues, so their silence about Irving sends a loud and clear message: the NBA does not care about antisemitism.

Labels: antisemitism, Brooklyn Nets, Charles Barkley, Ernie Johnson, Inside the NBA, Kenny Smith, Kyrie Irving, NBA, Shaquille O'Neal, Steve Nash

posted by David Friedman @ 9:56 PM

2 comments

"Inside the NBA" Should Have Discussed DeSean Jackson's Comments and the Farrakhan Issue

It was great to see the original "Inside the NBA" crew tonight. "Inside the NBA" is probably the greatest sports studio show ever, providing a deft combination of intelligence and humor while covering a broad range of topics beyond who won and who lost. "Inside the NBA" has a long track record of thoughtfully discussing a wide variety of issues.

The high standard long set by "Inside the NBA" is why I am disappointed that tonight's episode ignored recent pro-Louis Farrakhan statements made by several high profile people, including Ice Cube, DeSean Jackson and Stephen Jackson.

Ice Cube has been a guest on "Inside the NBA" and he collaborated with Kenny Smith for a Kobe Bryant tribute aired by TNT. DeSean Jackson is an NFL player, but "Inside the NBA" discussed at length comments recently made by NFL player Drew Brees. Stephen Jackson is an NBA champion and a prominent sports media personality.

Ice Cube tweeted, "The Honorable Louis Farrakhan continues to warn America to this very second and he's labeled one of your 'evil names' and you turn your ears off. Why is the truth so offensive that you can't stand to hear it?"

DeSean Jackson tweeted with approval a quote that he (incorrectly) attributed to Adolf Hitler stating that Jews "will blackmail America" and Jackson also tweeted his support for Louis Farrakhan.

Stephen Jackson reacted to DeSean Jackson's tweet by repeating the classic antisemitic trope that Jews run all of the banks: "You know who the Rothschilds are? They own all the banks...I haven't said one thing that's untrue yet." Stephen Jackson also said, "I'm a fan of Minister Farrakhan because nobody loves Black people more than him. He hasn't told me to hate somebody one time. He's teaching me how to be a leader. Just because you don't like him, doesn't mean I'm gonna not like him."

It never should be acceptable to promote hatred, and one would hope that in today's climate any kind of hatred would be deemed unacceptable. Perhaps you are not familiar with Louis Farrakhan; perhaps you agree with Chuck D, the front man for Public Enemy--unquestionably one of the greatest rap groups ever--who once sang, "The follower of Farrakhan/Don't tell me that you understand/Until you hear the man."
The SPLC article about Farrakhan is worth reading in full. Here is an excerpt:

Farrakhan’s antisemitism has earned him some strange allies. Former Klan and White Aryan Resistance leader Tom Metzger was so impressed with Farrakhan's anti-Semitic bombast that he donated $100 to NOI after attending a Farrakhan rally in Los Angeles in September 1985. Given that white supremacists share NOI’s belief in separation of the races, a month later, Metzger and 200 other white supremacists from the United States and Canada gathered on a farm about 50 miles west of Detroit, where they pledged their support for the Nation of Islam.

Antisemitism is only one of Farrakhan's many prejudices. Over the years, his comments have consistently been rabidly anti-gay. "God don't like men coming to men with lust in their hearts like you should go to a female," he told a Kansas City crowd in 1996. "If you think that the kingdom of God is going to be filled up with that kind of degenerate crap, you're out of your damn mind."

"Inside the NBA" is watched by millions of people, and the "Inside the NBA" crew is highly respected and influential. They missed a golden opportunity to educate their audience about these issues. Ray Allen would have been a perfect guest. Allen has discussed how moving it was for him to visit the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. Speaking of the Holocaust Museum, New England Patriots' receiver Julian Edelman provided a heartfelt response to DeSean Jackson: "How about we go to DC and I take you to the Holocaust Museum. And you take me to the Museum of African American history and culture...And we have those uncomfortable conversations." It would have sent a wonderful and positive message if "Inside the NBA" had spoken truth to power, and had asked Allen to give his thoughts about Edelman's statement.

I have often criticized Mike Wilbon for his basketball analysis, but I will give him credit for addressing directly and unequivocally the comments made by Stephen Jackson. On "Pardon the Interruption" Wilbon declared, "This is not tolerable...It undermines everything Stephen Jackson said so eloquently on behalf of Black Lives Matter. He has no credibility now. He has undermined his own previous good work with this garbage. And it's garbage. I know Stephen Jackson. I like him. If I was sitting with him now--I have worked with him--I would say, 'Stephen, stop! You're wrong. You're not speaking any truth. You're going to have to become more familiar with the truth via history. Let's read some. We'll read it together. This is insane. You are ruining weeks of actually trying to appeal to people on one level and then bringing your own bigotry and prejudice in at a time when no one can afford to say that, to have that, to entertain it.'"

Wilbon is right. It is a shame that Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O'Neal did not step up and deliver a similar message. For that matter, where are NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell?

Louis Farrakhan has spent decades making it very clear who he is and what he believes. The time has past for the sports figures, celebrities, politicians, and public figures who have invoked his name to make it clear who they are and what they believe.

Labels: Charles Barkley, DeSean Jackson, Ernie Johnson, Ice Cube, Inside the NBA, Julian Edelman, Kenny Smith, Louis Farrakhan, Mike Wilbon, Ray Allen, Shaquille O'Neal, Stephen Jackson

posted by David Friedman @ 11:56 PM

6 comments