Did The Kyrie Irving Backlash Silence Nba Players On Israel ?

Since Israel began the invasion of The Gaza Strip in October, people across the world have taken to the streets to voice their objections through protest. 

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health spokesperson, about 18,000 Palestinians have been killed, over 6,600 of those being children not including the thousands of children missing under the rubble of Israeli bombs, and 49,500 wounded in Israeli attacks since October 7.

https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2023/12/4/no-end-to-suffering-of-gaza-children-as-israeli-attacks-rage-on

Protests have been in South Africa, Canada, Mexico City, Spain, London, Berlin, Paris, Ankara, Yemen, Iran, Turkey, Morocco, Tokyo, Stockholm,  Milan, and many more. 

Record breaking protests in Washington DC and New York (mostly consisting of American Jews) who are using their collective voices to say “Not In Our Name” and give calls for a permanent Ceasefire. They are boldly accusing Israel of genocide, ethnic cleansing, violations of international law, and collective punishment through signs, chants, interviews, and social media. 

in addition, an extensive plethora of celebrities have also lent their voices to standing in solidarity with Palestinian civilians who are currently being slaughtered by the thousands by Israel. Celebrities such as: 

Amanda Seales, Residente, Macklemore, Lewis Hamilton, Mark Ruffalo, John Cusack, Yasin Bey (Mos Def), Melissa Barrera, Susan Sarandon, Rowland Blanchard, Jesse Williams, Cynthia Nixon, Bonnie Wright, Kid Cudi, The Game, Jane Fonda, Renaldo, Selena Gomez, Bella Hadith, Jenna Ortega, Gabrielle Union,  The Weekend, Frank Ocean,  Michael Bennett, Jenna Ortega, Lori Harvey, Yara Shahidi, Angelina Jolie, Penelope Cruz, Cardi B just to name a few. 

But notably absent from this resistance have been NBA players. And I wanted to examine why 

I have personally received over a dozen messages from different active NBA players and even more from retired NBA players thanking me for the way I have been using my social media on this topic. I asked a few of them if I could share what they said to me as long as I omit their identity and they agreed so here are a few messages again from active NBA players, 

“E I have always respected you from a far but your willingness to properly inform the public about what’s really going on is special. I'm new to understanding this Palestinian thing ..I swear I don't know how you stay sane hearing these stories.  Their oppression is too forreal !! It’s just evil!  The woman mowed down by a tractor cause she was protesting the settlements.  The sniper fire.  The prisons.  Broooo!  How did I not know this. Keep doin what you’re doing” 

“Etan, didn’t want anything just to give you your flowers. I learn so much from reading your posts. The media intentionally keeps us misinformed and the powers that be keep us afraid to speak out. I was actually advised by my agent to stay far away from this topic unless I wanted the Kyrie treatment. Been trying to learn and unlearn as much as I can.  Hard to admit we've been hoodwinked our entire lives on Israel and if we say anything, we’re labeled anti semitic smh That’s why I respect you so much” 

“What up E, I’m not gonna hold you, but I be scared to even like your posts sometimes lol, but I read all of them and a lot of guys on my team do too. The image you posted showing how Israel has become exactly what they always hated the most was so on point. You probably don’t know but dudes respect you. Keep being you, it’s appreciated” 

So the question is, why don’t they feel comfortable voicing their opinions themselves ? 

I experienced something similar to this during the invasion of Iraq while playing for the Washington Wizards back in 2004/2005, I was very outspoken about my opposition to what was happening. 

https://www.democracynow.org/2005/9/26/nba_player_etan_thomas_slams_bush

To put it in perspective, currently if you ask anyone about the invasion of Iraq, whether they’re Republican or Democrat, just about all will agree that it wasn’t a good idea, we were sold a bill of goods, there were no weapons of mass destruction, Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11, followed by criticism of George W Bush but that wasn’t the sentiment back then when it was happening. Public figures of any kind were collectively afraid to even question the invasion let alone object to it. You had the Dixie Chicks, Dr. Cornell West, Michael Moore and maybe three more people, because the level of backlash and scrutiny was so enormous. You were labeled anti American. 

So back then, I had different players come up to me before games, after games, a few times actually during the games, send me messages or notes through a ball boy or text me and offer words of encouragement for me taking a stance against the war and now (mostly through social media) the same thing is happening again. 

I understand why the hesitation to object to the Iraq invasion happened. Then President George W Bush made the point clear you’re either with us or against us. Period. End of discussion. So it begs the question, is that the exact message the NBA sent with its punishment and backlash and treatment of Kyrie Irving after he shared the link to the documentary “From Hebrews To Negroes” and advised everyone to watch it ? It’s important to note that Kyrie also added the caveat that he didn’t agree with all of the documentary but thought everyone should still watch it. 

On my show The Collision “Where Sports And Politics Collide” I asked journalist and sportswriter Chuck Modiano who also is an American Jew and has been covering the massive record breaking protests in DC and NY  calling for a Ceasefire by mostly American Jews, if the way the NBA came down on Kyrie silenced NBA players at least on this topic and this is what he told me….

http://archive.wpfwfm.org/mp3/wpfw_231207_100000collision.mp3

“There is no doubt that it had a reverberating effect. They had a whole six steps drafted by the ADL that Kyrie had to go through to get back in the good graces of the NBA which included giving the ADL money which was just ridiculous. It was a complete shakedown and it was absurd. So of course that was going to send a message to NBA players” 

One of the main goals of my book We Matter “Athletes And Activism” 

https://www.amazon.com/We-Matter-Athletes-Activism-Sports/dp/1617755915?nodl=1&dplnkId=2241cb05-b1df-431c-b0b0-6b2f7a8e3825

was to highlight the incredible surge of athlete activism that was happening after George Floyd, Eric Garner, Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile and countless others were murdered at the hands of the police. That’s why I interviewed so many athletes from Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Bill Russell, John Carlos, Eric Reid (who was kneeling with Kaepernick the entire time), Michael Bennett, Mahmoud Abdul Rauf, Craig Hodges D Wade, Carmelo Anthony, etc to discuss the importance and the power of the athlete voice and how it reverberates throughout the entire society when an athlete does speak out. 

In my book I also interviewed NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and asked him directly if he would ever suspend a player for voicing an opinion that differs from his and he told me directly that he wouldn’t. He talked about how much he valued the athlete voice and discussed Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul Jabbar and the great athlete activists of the past. But as everyone remembers, Kyrie Irving was suspended indefinitely after sharing the video. Not directly from Adam Silver but from Brooklyn Nets Governor Joe Tsai (who coincidentally never had to answer for his support of the Uyghur genocide, but I digress) Adam Silver actually tried to vouch for Kyrie and say after meeting with him that he wasn’t in his opinion anti semitic (although the need for that was puzzling) 

But the whole entire ordeal did have an obvious effect on NBA players, at least on the topic of Israel as evidenced by the incredible current silence. 

But it didn’t silence Kyrie Irving who recently sat at a press conference during the Dallas Mavericks game against the Milwaukee Bucks with a Keffiyeh on his head as a sign of solidarity with Palestinians. Given all of the backlash that he has received on this topic, it was bold, brave, defiant, and worthy of admiration and praise. Muhammad Ali also wore a Keffiyeh in solidarity with Palestinians as did Nelson Mandela. Malcolm X, Angela Davis, Huey P Newton, SNCC, all spoke passionately about Palestine throughout their lives. Now I’m not likening Kyrie to any of them, but what I am saying is that he is following in their footsteps and his courage will stand as an example of an athlete using their voice and platform to take a stand. 

“Never be afraid to stand up for what you believe. But also, every Black Athlete cannot be Jim Brown or Kareem or Ali, you have to be who you are. But if you choose to stand up, you can’t be worried about the negative press or criticism or the people who will start to attack you on all fronts. You have to be strong enough to withstand that, ignore it, and keep your eyes on the prize.” 

Bill Russell from interview in We Matter “Athletes And Activism” 

Sent from my iPhone

The Orlando Magic Spat In The Face Of Black Players By Supporting Ron Desantis

The Orlando Magic’s decision to make a $50,000 contribution in support of the presidential bid of Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, sends a clear message to all of their Black players, employees and fans. This message is a U-turn from the one in the summer of 2020 when the entire country was in an uproar over the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, the shooting of Jacob Blake and countless other victims of police brutality. Allegedly standing in solidarity, the Magic issued this statement through CEO Alex Martins:

“We stand with our neighbors and the nation in condemning the horrific and senseless death of George Floyd. There have been far too many victims of racial bias and abuses of power, particularly in the Black community. As an organization, we remain deeply committed to providing an environment where all feel welcomed, valued and appreciated, where all are treated with dignity and respect.”

But their decision to throw their support (and money) behind the campaign of DeSantis is the antithesis is everything the Magic claimed to support less than three years ago.

Let me be clear. I am in no way, shape or form suggesting that the Magic and their owners, the DeVos family, don’t have the right to support whichever candidate they choose, just as NBA players have the right to support whichever candidate they choose. My book, We Matter: Athletes And Activism, encouraged and pushed for current athletes to continue the rich tradition of athletes using their voices and their platforms to take a stand on issues that affect our communities. 

So it would be hypocritical for me to now say that the Magic didn’t have that same right. Of course they do. However, I also have the right to point out the hypocrisy of claiming to be “deeply committed” to equality, and dedicated to rooting out “racial bias and abuses of power particularly in the Black Community”, then offering financial support to a person like DeSantis, the Republican governor who has exhibited his dedication to the very ideals the Magic claimed to oppose.

Ironically, after the summer of 2020, the Orlando Magic were also a part of the group of NBA governors which formed the Social Justice Coalition to further display their alleged commitment to actively tackling many of the issues addressed as protests were happening all over the country. The coalition’s concerns over issues such as police brutality, police accountability, voting rights, criminal justice reform, the education system, dismantling racism, bias, discrimination all remain areas that disproportionately affect Black people in particular. 

But in the state of Florida, one of the main people in direct opposition to Black people as a whole is none other than DeSantis, whose policies have made a full embrace of racism, bias and bigotry.

Here are a couple of examples:

• DeSantis backed a slew of new laws passed by the state legislature that are focused on removing what he termed as “woke indoctrination” in an effort to “empower” white parents of Florida. The laws ban the teaching of critical race theory, an intellectual movement that examines the way policies and laws perpetuate systemic racism. He also forbid teachers from teaching any material that makes white students “feel guilt” because of actions committed by white people of the past.

• He mandated Asian-American history but banned courses on systemic racism.

• He signed legislation to keep Floridians from learning about discrimination and what he called “woke indoctrination”.

• The NAACP issued a travel warning to Black people because of DeSantis’ “openly hostility” toward Black people in the state of Florida.

• DeSantis actually created a special police force under the guise of maintaining election integrity which has disproportionately targeted Black people in Democrat-leaning districts.

• DeSantis’ administration recently approved new curriculum rules through the Board Of Education requiring schools to teach that there were “upsides to being enslaved” and that slaves developed skills that “could be applied for their personal benefit.” (I can’t even wrap my mind around how any decent human being could even suggest that slavery was a benefit to the people actually enslaved. The mere thought is beyond the pale, but to enact curriculum to teach that to children is evil.)

I remember as a teenager asking my Grandmother about a book she was reading called Roots by Alex Haley and her telling me through tears stories that were passed down to her by her grandmother of the horrors of slavery. It was nowhere near the white washed version Governor DeSantis gave his approval to, it was more of an actual horror movie. Torture, rape, public floggings, castrations, lynchings, beatings,  mutilation, ripping families apart, working both men and women in the field from “can’t see in the morning until can’t see at night”, I remember her saying “they didn’t view us as human beings” 

There are no positive takeaways from Slavery or silver linings. It was literally hell on earth. 

I couldn’t imagine playing for an organization that would support the disrespectful, white washing, watering down of my ancestor’s tragic history in this country. 

It would be like asking a Jewish person to work for a Holocaust denier or someone who contributed their funds and support to a governing body who wanted to enter into school curriculum that the Holocaust never happened or that there were some benefits and it wasn’t all bad. That would be absolutely insulting right ? 

Here is the bottom line: DeSantis is running his entire campaign on racism. The goal of his slogan “Florida is where woke goes to die” is crystal clear. He is Trump 2.0. His dog whistles aren’t even discreet; they are obvious hate-filled declarations. But in addition to his words, his actual policies are patterned after white supremacy segregationists of the 1950s and 1960s. He is channeling the Jim Crow south not only in his language, which would be dangerous enough, but in his actual laws. 

So for the Orlando Magic to make a contribution to him, and in support of his whistling-Dixie, confederate, Jim Crow aspirations, they are choosing the antithesis of freedom, justice and equality. The direct opposition to “creating an environment where all feel welcomed, valued, appreciated and are all are treated with dignity and respect”. 

The Orlando Magic with their donation to Ron DeSantis made the conscious decision to support white supremacy, and it’s a spit in the face to every Black player on that Orlando Magic team.

Phil Jackson Is ExactLy Who We Thoght He Was

I remember during the NBA labor negotiations of 2005. I was on the NBA Executive Committee, the Malice in The Palace had just happened, and David Stern and the NBA were in full crises mode and wanted to instill a dress code because of the “perception” of  Black NBA players in particular and the possibility of Black players scaring white  season ticket holders and viewers away. They wanted to make us all less “threatening” to the larger white audience. 

Around that time I remember telling then executive director Billy Hunter that NBA Hall Of Fame coach Phil Jackson had made some statements that I really found offensive. As reported by the Sun, Jackson said  

“The players have been dressing in prison garb the last five or six years. All the stuff that goes on, it’s like gangster, thuggery stuff. It’s time. It’s been time to do that.”

Now, I have always worn my clothes baggy since high school. That was the style. But I took great offense to him basically saying that we all looked like thugs because of our clothes. There were even a rumor that they wanted to outlaw locs and braids. That never happened but the rumor was floating around. And Phil Jackson at that time, had no problem echoing the same sentiments I would hear on Fox News stereotyping an entire generation of young Black Men in particular. 

And It was at that point I knew exactly what Phil Jackson thought of us. 

So it came as no surprise when last week, on a podcast with iconic music producer Rick Rubin, legendary coach Phil Jackson discussed becoming disappointed and uninterested with the NBA as a whole because of what he observed during the bubble season of 2020 that included the words Black Lives Matter being painted on the floor of the court. In addition to entire teams collectively taking a knee during the National Anthem and wearing Black Lives Matter across the front of their warmups. 

This was the NBA’s response to a summer that saw George Floyd being murdered by officer Derek Chauvin and Breonna Taylor, a 26 year old Black Woman who was killed in her apartment in Louisville Kentucky when at least seven police officers served a no knock warrant , Jacob Blake being shot multiple times in the back in broad daylight in front of his children by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin and countless others. 

The entire country was in an uproar as protests and demonstrations across the country broke records numbers. People of all races, colors, nationalities, and cultures were letting their voices be heard. And  NBA players were not on the sideline but were active participants in that movement. 

However, this apparently didn’t sit too well with coach Phil Jackson (who led the Bulls to 6 titles in the 90s)  who told Rick Ruben 

“They even had slogans on the floor and on the baseline. It was trying to cater to an audience or trying to bring a certain audience to the game,” Jackson said on a recent episode of storied music producer Rick Rubin’s podcast. “They didn’t know it was turning other people off. People want to see sports as non-political. Politics stays out of the game. It doesn’t need to be there.”

“They had things on their back like ‘Justice’ and a funny thing happened like, ‘Justice’ just went to the basket and ‘Equal Opportunity’ knocked him down,” he continued. “Some of my grandkids thought it was pretty funny to play up those names; I couldn’t watch that.”

This from the person who has received an onslaught of praise for his alleged “foreword thinking” and his embrace of Eastern Philosophy, and progressive ideologies, and Zen Master, and peace and tranquillity etc etc ? 

The “things on their back” Jackson was referring to was Justice, Equal Opportunity, Vote, Peace etc, shouldn’t that be right up his alley of his alleged foreword thinking ? Does peace for all not include Black people ? 

How is it possible that someone who has made a living off of coaching Black players such as Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Shaq, Kobe Bryant and many more would be triggered by athletes expressing that their lives matter ? How could Jackson be so disgusted to the point that he can no longer watch the game as a whole even after the focus on social activism shifts from where it was back in 2020 ? 

It begs the question did Phil Jackson ever see the lives of Black athletes he coached over his career as actually being of any significance beyond the borders of an NBA court ? Or were we all just commodities to him ? Assets. Or as William Rhoden coined, 40 Million Dollar Slaves, who are not respected for their opinions, minds, or intellect and should never have the mitigated gall to actually express that they should be treated as equals to people who look like Phil Jackson ? 

What Phil Jackson calls “politics” wasn’t really political at all. 

In addition, this was disrespectful to the countless family members of victims of police brutality who incredibly value athletes using their voices and their platforms to bring awareness to their loved ones who were killed at the hands of police. 

As Emerald Garner (daughter of Eric Garner) told me in her new book Finding My Voice (which I co wrote) 

https://www.amazon.com/Finding-My-Voice-Grieving-Pushing/dp/1642598313/ref=nodl_?dplnkId=87a0b890-04f7-4f7e-9521-c8eaf9eaaaee

“All of the players on the Brooklyn Nets at the time and Kobe and all of the Lakers team supported my family after my father was choked to death by the NYPD. Back then, every time I turned on the TV, all I saw were people justifying his murder and saying why my father deserved to die. When they were putting Black Lives Matter on the front of their shirts, it wasn’t about promoting an organization, they were using their tremendous platforms to take a stand and saying that our lives mattered. That my father’s life mattered. That George Floyd’s life mattered. That Breonna Taylor’s life mattered. It meant so much to us impacted family members. I will forever be thankful to the NBA and all the athletes who stood with us for that.”

Hopefully, Phil Jackson could share more of this message with his grandchildren and they would no longer find it amusing that NBA athletes have the moral courage to bravely take a public stance against racism and police brutality and advocate on behalf of justice and equality. 

Is The Transfer Portal Getting Out Of Control ?

According to The Transfer Portal For Playing Time, The NCAA men’s basketball Transfer Portal has set a new record for the most D1 & D2 entries in the first 4 days with over 1015+ players putting their name in thus far. The quickest it has ever reached that mark. It took 6 days longer to surpass 1000 entries in 2022

The transfer portal has indeed created a period of unprecedented player movement across the NCAA.

On The Collision “Where Sports And Politics Collide” me and my co host Dave Zirin took a deep dive into this and looked at it from every possible angle. Needless to say, we are both very torn on this topic.

Dave Zirin: I heard your former coach Jim Boeheim discuss some of the things that have changed the dynamics of college basketball, he discussed NIL and the transfer portal, has it surprised you how quickly the power dynamic have shifted in college hoops ?

Etan: Interesting I was just listening to Coach Boeheim discuss this actually this morning on ESPN with Jay Williams and Keyshawn Johnson on the radio after I dropped my kids off at school and they were discussing this exact topic. So for me, as far as the transfer portal, I’m kind of torn on this topic to be honest

Dave: I am as well, very torn but please continue

Etan: So, on one hand, players now have flexibility and I think it’s important for players to have that flexibility to move to a different situation if the situation they are currently in is not the best for them. So I’m definitely all for that. And in addition, again from a players perspective, you’re no longer……how can I say this, held captive I don’t want to use that strong of a phrase and of course, this is in a basketball sense don’t take this literal please

Dave: I understand what you’re saying

Etan: Yea so just want to make that point clear, but in the past, no matter how bad the situation is for you, from a player’s perspective, you were almost forced to deal with it because of what was perceived as a repercussion or punishment for transferring would be that you had to sit out an entire year and lose that year of eligibility. And that is a lot, you have to really be unhappy in your situation to give up an entire year, so now it’s different, players now have the flexibility to leave if the situation is not good for them, and I’m all for that in theory.

Now, from a coaching standpoint and what was Coach Boeheim’s point this morning is, how do you build a team with that reality so you have half your team leaving every year ? And I understand that issue but should players have the flexibility to leave ? I think so. I mean, coaches have the flexibility to leave anytime they get a better opportunity somewhere. I always thought, and this was way before the transfer portal was even a reality, but I thought that if your coach left, you should have the right to leave without having to sit out a year. I think that should’ve been a rule anyway.

Dave Zirin: I definitely agree with that. I mean, that definitely seems fair for so many reasons but continue

Etan: Right, but at the same time, when you look at the transfer portal now and it just opened up, and in what 3 days you have over 1,000 players who have transferred ? That’s really a lot, so that’s why I’m torn on this topic.

Dave Zirin: Whew, I too am very torn on this as well. So, on the one hand, the checkmate argument in favor of the transfer portal is exactly what you just said, coaches can leave, so why can’t players. Coaches don’t have to sit out a year, why should players. Coaches can pursue the best opportunities for themselves and for their families, why can’t the players make similar choices in that regard. That to me is the most checkmate of all checkmate arguments. But, there is another side to it and you can’t deny this other side. You know, you actually end up sometimes losing arguments, when you don’t grant that the other side has a point.

Etan: That’s very true because then you look unreasonable. It’s ok to say I agree with you here, but this is where I have a different perspective.

Dave Zirin: Right, so the thing that I really don’t like about the transfer portal is, I think there is actual value in team sports of fighting your way forward. Of being the person freshman year who had to bust their hump to start sophomore year, and if you’re that unhappy that you want to leave, I don’t mind there being a high bar for that level of unhappiness. Listen, we all know how this situation works, and we all know that young people can be a tad impulsive, so I like the idea of there being guard rails for when players make these decisions to consider ok do you really want to leave ? Is it really that bad ? Or are you just having a really bad week or month or is this something you can persevere through.

Now, that being said, and I have to point him out because he has been the most honest about it, Deion Sanders walks on to the University of Colorado, addresses his players in full view of the cameras and says something to the effect of, “Yea a third of you won’t be here next year” and it’s like, you’re talking to scholarship athletes in their teens and are basically telling them hey that class you’re taking that you really like or your girlfriend you’re thinking of possibly proposing to in a few years or that frat you just rushed, well good luck because those life plans are out the window, because I’m the new coach and I’m in charge and that doesn’t seem very fair because if you’re offered a scholarship, that should mean something

Etan: Yea but people still have to understand that it is a year to year agreement. And my wife gets tired of me using her as an example but it’s what happened, after she tore her ACL for the third time while she was playing at Syracuse, and the doctors told her if she wanted to be able to run around and play with her children when she was in her 30’s, she would have to stop playing and the coaches tried to take her scholarship away. Her and her mother actually had to get a lawyer and meet with the Athletic Director and threaten legal action and a ton of bad publicity for the University if they did that, and here’s the thing Dave, every time I tell this story, we get multiple messages from parents or players asking for advice because their University is trying to do that very same thing to them.

Dave Zirin: Wow, that’s awful

Etan: Right, terrible, so people do have to put stories like that into consideration. But it’s an example of how all of the power dynamic was always leaning to the side of the colleges and I never liked that dynamic. But again, like we said earlier, it’s a thousand players in the transfer portal right now !!!!!

So what I would say, I think they should come up with a rule that you get one transfer, so make it a good one because you only get one. You have some players you see now and this is you’re third transfer and you’re third different college and you’re just a junior ? I’m not sure if that’s good either. So that’s why I’m torn on this topic

Dave: I really like that idea, so thinking of my own child, if my son went to a University and the coach was super intense about recruiting him, and then day one on campus the coach leaves and here is my son as a freshman and he has to deal with the fact that he has to either find peace with the coach who may or may not even value him as a player. He may not be a player he wants to play and has no connection to because he never recruited him, why would he stay there ?

Etan: I agree 100%, so in my scenario, if you only get one transfer, that’s like the exception if your coach leaves, that doesn’t count against your one transfer because yes that changes everything for an athlete

Dave: Ahhhhh I like that too because the new coach could have a completely different idea of what they want to do from what you were promised when they recruited you there

Etan: I agree 1,000 percent. But that being said, I do have to be able to acknowledge, and this is what Coach Boeheim brought up today on the radio, if he was still coaching now he would be chasing players to see who is going to stay and who is going to leave and it’s a musical chairs type of thing now, you lose 4 players, you replace them with 4 new players but how can a coach actually coach players because if they don’t like anything, they just leave.

Well, I can see that both ways. So if you’re being brutally unfair to someone yes they’re probably going to leave because you can no longer hold them captive. Some coaches call it “coaching a player hard”, I don’t like that term because Bobby Knight in his mind thought that’s what he was doing when it was actually abuse, so a coach can no longer do that and hold a player captive anymore and that’s a good thing in my opinion

But now the other side and this is the part Coach Boeheim brought up, sometimes it’s simply not your turn yet. So I look at myself, my freshman year at Syracuse, it just wasn’t my turn yet. I was playing behind a more experienced, bigger, stronger and quite frankly better senior center Otis Hill who had just been to the NCAA finals the year before, so I had to be patient. And of course it was hard because I was at the bottom of the totem pole on the team. But when I came back my sophomore year, I was ready and prepared to step in as a starter, got back to back Big East defensive player of the year and things turned around for me,  but I had to wait so I know first hand that a bad situation can definitely change.

Dave Zirin: If they had the transfer portal your freshman year, would you have stayed ?

Etan: Listen, I was almost going to transfer even without them having the transfer portal how it is now (laughing) but looking back now, I’m glad I didn’t make that decision but I was very close to doing it because it was not a good environment and situation for me my freshman year.

Coach Boeheim also used the example of Hakim Warrick who his freshman year didn’t play a whole lot, but then came back his sophomore year and blocked the shot against Kansas in the championship game at the end that really won the game for Syracuse. So his point was things can change and he’s right.  So there is an argument to be made that some players are losing the lessons of perseverance, fighting through adversity, etc etc because any hint of difficulty, they transfer, but at the same time there’s the question of should they be able to have the flexibility and the choice to leave a situation they are unhappy in so that’s why this is a complex topic

Dave Zirin: Very complex indeed

Malcolm Thomas Q&A: DeMatha’s Season, ACIT Championship, Recruiting, And More

In a battle of Maryland high school powerhouses this past weekend, the DeMatha Stags dominated Bishop McNamara with an 89-58 win in the 2023 Alhambra Catholic Invitational Tournament championship game.

With an array of three-pointers by their talented trio of senior guards Jaden Winston, Mason So and Isaiah Arnold — and thunderous dunks by the sole junior in the starting lineup, Malcolm Thomas — the Stags ran away with the victory in front of a stunned crowd. Nobody had predicted this outcome by that large of a margin. 

The win marks DeMatha’s fourth straight ACIT crown and its 27th overall.

I caught up with Malcolm Thomas after the game to discuss the team’s championship win, an up-and-down season, adjusting to a new coach, his recruiting and much more. 

Etan:

So your junior season has come to a close. Your first season under the new coach Mike Jones. You all revenged regular season losses against St John’s and Bishop MacNamara and won the ACIT championship last weekend, how does it feel ?

Malcolm:

It feels good. We’ve spent all season trying to put everything together. We had a tough 2 point loss in the WCAC tournament to PVI, but we had one more tournament to go, the final four was all WCAC teams, and it feels good to end the season on a good note

Etan:

Everyone was talking about your matchup with Donnie Freeman in the semi finals. College coaches kept talking about it to me, fans were asking about it all weekend, this was the head to head matchup everyone wanted to see. It was a great overtime win, you had 18 pts to his 15, but talk to me about that game and that matchup in particular

Malcolm:

The DMV as a whole is very competitive and me and Donnie will be matching up again over the summer during AAU and will matchup again next season. I think it’s great and it’s fun to go back and forth with someone like that and for people to be excited to see the matchup. We push each other and that’s how it’s supposed to be

Etan:

There has been a lot of criticism of new coach Mike Jones in his first year. It’s been an adjustment period. I mean, this is your third coach in three years so I don’t see how anyone could expect there not to be an adjustment period, but everything came together at the end with a decisive 30 point blowout of Bishop McNamara, the entire gymnasium was shocked especially because of how well they played against Gonzaga the game before, but talk about that process of going through the ups and downs of the season and the adjustment period and how you all grew as a team

Malcolm:

One of the biggest things Coach Jones preached all year is that no matter what happens, make sure we are always growing and always learning and getting better and that’s what we did. We started off well in the beginning of the year, took a few dips as the season went on and we ended well so we were able to withstand the adversity and not crumble when things weren’t going right and that’s a credit to the leadership of our coaches.

Etan:

You have a lot of talented guys coming back, some that people may not know about, what can DeMatha fans look forward to seeing next season ?

Malcolm:

We have a lot of talent like you said. And we had a lot of seniors on this team so many of them had to take a back seat and wait and be patient, but you’re going to see next year. Coach did this thing in practice toward the end where he put underclassmen against upperclassmen , and we won our fair share of games against the seniors but yes we have a lot of talent coming back and they’re going to make a big impact next year

Etan: So, let’s talk about you a little bit and your growth this season. You won a lot of MVP’s at different tournaments the entire year, you’ve shown your ability to score, inside and out, your athleticism, you block shots with the best in the nation, you led the team in rebounds, blocks, field goal percentage, you almost led the team in scoring I believe you and J Win (Jaden Winston) were neck and neck, but what are the things you want to keep adding to your game this off season. Coach Jones said that you are “one of the most athletic players in the country”, and he emphasized not just in the DMV, but in the entire country. And he said this was something that shocked him and his coaching staff about you from day 1.

Malcolm:

Well, I want to become the best player I can in all aspects of the game both offensively and defensively. I want to extend my game further out to the perimeter, improve my ball handling, improve on being able to guard 1-5 consistently no matter the lineup, coach has utilized me in that way all season and I want to keep improving on it, especially guarding smaller faster guards on the perimeter like JQ (Jeremiah Quigly) for Bishop McNamara who is very good at what he does and that’s what I want to keep challenging myself to do

Etan:

So we’re in this new age, hybrid, position-less players era that you seem to fall under. You’re 6’8, you can play the 5 but you’re not an old school, traditional 5. You can stretch the floor at the 4, you can drive from the 3 point line and knock down the mid range at the 3, like you said you’ve guarded 2’s and point guards at times. What do you attribute that ability to ?

Malcolm:

I think me playing with guys two years older than me with the Dynamic Disciples my whole life helped my growth. I was tall, but I never played center. I was always guarding the perimeter. Also, I grew up playing soccer, until I got too tall for it so moving my feet was what I always did.

Etan: Let’s talk about recruiting, what is it that you’re looking for in a school ? Schools all make promises, and give their sales pitch as we’ve seen since recruiting has started, but what is Malcolm looking for in a school ? Also, a lot of people have assumed that you were definitely going to Syracuse, five people said that to me this weekend actually

Malcolm: I’m looking for a school that best fits me and I would fit the best in. Of course I grew up going up to Syracuse since I can remember, watching games at the Dome, seeing all the love you get when you go back there so naturally I grew up loving the school I mean, both my parents went there. But there are a lot of factors that come into play. My personal connection with the coaches, with the players, the environment, the school itself. I’m doing my homework. I’m not going to go to a school because of an NIL deal or because my parents went there. It has to be the right situation for me

Etan: It’s easy to get caught up in the flattery of recruiting. Everyone telling you how great you are because they want you to come there, but I see so many kids going to schools for the wrong reasons and they end up transferring because it’s not the best place for them which they quickly find out.

Malcolm:

Well I’m thankful that both of my parents have gone through the process and have prepared me with what to expect and what to look for and what not to be flattered by. That’s why it’s important for me to take my time and find the best situation for me. So now that regular high school season is over and AAU season is about to start, I’ll continue working on all of the things I want to improve on with my game and research schools, players who have played there and who are playing there, as these different schools reach out to me as I have been doing. It’s a process.

Etan:

It’s interesting, you mentioned that you wouldn’t go to a school because of an NIL deal, but that’s exactly what is happening in this day and age. And of course an NIL deal doesn’t mean that’s the best place for you, and I think that’s one of the reasons why you have so many kids in the transfer portal now.

Malcolm:

But also, you have to keep in mind that a lot of kids are coming from situations where they need that money right now. I’m blessed not to be in that situation, but everyone’s situation is different so I can’t knock them for it being important to them. But for me, yes NIL deals are nice, but that’s not the determining factor for me personally.

Etan:

That definitely makes sense. So last question, who is your favorite player to watch. Who is someone you would want to play like ?

Malcolm:

That’s easy Giannis, the way he attacks the rim, people move out the way when he drives to the hole. He dunks everything around the basket. Powers in and uses his length and strength. The way he has built up his body over the last few years is exactly how I’m going to build up mine. His 3 point and outside shot is improving and he is relentless on defense. He can guard anyone on the court whether they are a point guard at the top of the key, the teams leading scoring 2 guard on the perimeter, or the team’s biggest strongest big man in the paint. And he can bring the ball up the floor and initiate the offense

Etan:

Does that sound a little familiar ? (Laughing)

Malcolm:

Well, All of those are situations that Coach Jones has put me in this past season and has reiterated that he did that because he had the confidence that I can do all of that so yea that’s what I am going to keep working toward. To be able to do all of that on a Giannis level. That’s my goal

Devlin Carter (SIA Collective) details meeting with Kyrie Irving’s Team

After Nike made the decision to end their relationship with Kyrie Irving, and discontinue his signature sure, after he shared the documentary Hebrews To Negroes, many brands have reportedly reached out to Kyrie’s camp to attempt to lure him into joining them. Adidas, New Balance, and Puma to name a few. 

During a post game conference, while  discussing his shoe company free agency, the only company Kyrie Irving named in particular as in the mix as a possibility was SIA collective. In addition, he explained that he is not in a rush and wants to take his time to find the right place so that he doesn’t duplicate similar a situation as the one he had with Nike or how he referred “that other brand” 

Kyrie Irving  told reporters, 

“Number 1, I’m in no rush to make any business decisions right now….I just want to take my time. In terms of SIA Collective, great brand, great brothers, great operation team behind the scenes. But again, I am looking for a home where we can build a huge market place and I can have some ownership, and that takes time to build. I’m willing to stay patient and work with people who are willing to work with me.”

He continues to say 

“SIA collective has been a great brand to converse with but I don’t want to settle with one, I want to keep my options open, look for ownership, and enjoy the free agency for a little bit. It’s been a long time coming, and there are a lot of details that are going to come out in the future about what was actually going on and I think once my platform is created we will share that but shout out to SIA Collective and everybody who has been recruiting me during the process. I’m appreciative. I’m definitely not going to go back into a similar contract that I was in with that other brand”

Since then, many have been asking who is SIA collective and what are they about ? 

On The Rematch, I had the opportunity to sit down with the founder of SIA Collective Devlin Carter which he founded in 2019. SIA collective which stands for somewhere in america is an independent, Black-owned shoe and apparel company. 

Almost immediately after Nike dropped Kyire, Devlin Carter took to social media to make a public plead for Kyire Irving to sign with SIA Collective instead of Addidas or pumas or new balance or some of the other companies that have reached out to him after Nike dropped him. The main theme of his pitch was that he is open to offering Kyire Irving the very Ownership that he expressed is his desire. In his words, “when you have that nobody can drop you because they don’t agree with something you do or say.” 

During our interview , Devlin Carter detailed his meeting with Kyrie Irving’s entire team, and expressed why he feels SIA Collective would be the perfect fit for Kyrie Irving 

Etan: So you made the video initially after Nike decided to essentially drop Kyrie Irving making the plea for him to consider joining Sia  Collective, and the response from the video was that a lot of people in the community started tagging Kyrie in your video to try to connect you with Kyire, so walk us through what happened after that point 

Devlin Carter: Sure so after I made the video, I got a DM of Kyire’s agent Shetellia Riley Irving saying hey send me an e mail at your earliest convenience. So I sent the e mail and they responded asking when I was available for a zoom call. I responded, whenever you guys are, I’m open. Whatever y’all want (laughing) we can do it right now if you want 

Etan: (Laughing) 

Devlin Carter: So we had it scheduled for Friday. Not this Friday that just passed but the prior Friday. So we had that set up, and in between that meeting I also sent them a shoe that we’ve been working on called the Evo bounce which is a performance basketball shoe. So I sent them some images of it. I had my photo shop guy mock it up in a Brooklyn Nets design and put a number 11 on it. And she hit me right back and asked when could you get us this shoe ? So I can explained to them that right now, we were in the sole process so we’re making the sole and adding the technology to it, but I said as soon as we’re done, I’ll send you as many samples as you need. 

Etan: So they had a quick response 

Devlin Carter: Yes and I can tell by how quickly they responded that they liked the design of the shoe. That’s one thing that I don’t have any issues or concerns about is my ability to design a dope looking basketball shoe for Kyrie. 

So then from there we had the meeting on the zoom call, and it’s me, his agent Shetellia Riley Irving, Kyrie’s dad, and another gentleman who is Kyrie’s brand manager. So we’re all on the zoom and Shetellia is quarterbacking the call. And she tells the gentlemen to tell me about themselves so basically, they’re pitching me. And I’m thinking, wow I think I should be pitching myself to y’all. 

Etan: Right Right but they’re telling you about who they are 

Devlin Carter: Yea, so Kyrie’s dad, super cool, super down to earth, he’s telling me how he worked in finance and is from the Bronx. And the brand manager told me how he started with Kyire and he used to work with Nike but left Nike to work solely with Kyire, and how he helps his sister with her branding and whatnot. And Shetellia tells me how she worked at BET and launching power 105.1 and then they asked me how I started, my whole background in fashion design, then they started pitching questions 

Etan: What were some of their questions 

Devlin Carter: One of their questions were how long have I been doing this. They asked about my company and our sales and I told them that I started in 2019 and we’ve done over $40 million in sales really without any advertisement at all. I feel like spending money on advertisement doesn’t really reach your core and she liked that concept as well. 

They also asked me about technology. If I had any patents on technology and I said right now we actually do have a new foam that we’re developing and it’s just about done so we’ll be putting a patent on that but then I was just honest with them, and said listen, no matter what technology I design and I patent, China is going to steal it if they want to steal it. They steal Nike’s stuff all the time, that’s just the way it works. But I told them one thing you will not have to worry about is technology and whatever he wants his shoe to feel like and whatever he wants in there we can do it. 

Here’s the thing, these avenues and all of this stuff have never been open to us. Because an athlete has always been just an endorser. So Nike’s not going to take you to their factories and say, “Yea this is where we get our air cushion and this is this and this is that. This is such and such who runs the factory and you can e mail him at any time with any adjustments you want to make” they’re not going to want to give you that level of say in your signature shoe. They’re going to keep that gate closed to you. 

Etan: Right and that was actually a thing because Kyrie reportedly wanted a say in the design of his shoe at Nike 

Devlin Carter: Right and I told them, I can open that gate for you. My whole pitch with them at the end of the day was, I said listen, I’m not doing this for the money. I’m set for life. I own real estate, I’m good, my kids are good, I’m not doing it for that. I’m doing this for the message that it sends. This is transcending if we could make this happen. And who better to do this than a player like Kyrie ? Because at the end of the day, Kobe wanted to do something like this. He wanted to start Mamba Sports, he did not want to be signed with Nike forever because he opened his eyes and saw that there was a better way to do this. Ownership Vs being an employee. 

Etan: Interesting, I didn’t know that 

Devlin Carter: Yea, and it’s not that only Nike can do this stuff. Look at D Wade with Li-Ning, their shoes are out performing Nike’s shoes. Nike is not possess a monopoly on  superior technology or anything, technology is simply monetary, meaning anybody can get the technology if they have the money. The shoe just needs to be a good foam, you need to have a good shank plate, and a good lockdown. That’s really all a basketball shoe really needs but we can take it to that next level and add the extra cushion and add the extra foam and add the custom orthotics we have the capability to do all of that. But again, because we’ve never been privy to this information, to us it seems so foreign. 

Etan: I posted on social media that adidas and Puma and New Balance have reached out to Kyrie for potential sponsorship deals, and I posted it alongside an article I wrote for BasketballNews called Nike Employs ADL tactics as it officially drops Kyrie, and I tagged you in it, and I saw in the comments section that a lot of other people were tagging you as well, and you responded in the comment section so let me read your comment if that’s ok with you and if you could expound on this comment 

Devlin Carter: Sure 

Etan: Ok so you said, 

“If you just want an endorsement deal…..then sign with whoever will pay you the most, but as soon as you say something they don’t agree with, it’s goodbye. But if you really wanna make a change and create a movement ….ownership is the only way” 

Devlin Carter: Basically that’s saying, once you take that check, you’re just an employee. There’s no power in taking that check. These are the times where you take a chance. I’ll explain that into my own story. I was in the military, I had already done 11 years. Most people who serve in the military, once you pass 10 years, you don’t get out of the military because you only need two more transfers, then you get your retirement. But in the 11th year in the military, I was doing the custom shoes. I’m going to the post office with 10 boxes of shoes that I customized for people, making say $4,000 off of those custom shoes that I did. I’m on the line and I’m looking at the mail clerk, I’m looking dead at him and he looks miserable, and I asked myself there’s no way that when he was a kid, he told his mom, I’m going to grow up and I’m going to sell stamps for a living. No, that’s just what life brings you, curve balls, you do what you gotta do to make ends meet, and much respect to everyone who is in a position where they have to do that. I didn’t want to be someone who said to my kids you can chase your dreams, you can be whatever you want, but I didn’t do it. I didn’t chase those dreams, I stayed at a job that I really don’t want to do but it pays the bills, I’m comfortable, so I’m going to stay here. I didn’t choose that. I started SIA Collective, I have the freedom I have always wanted, and I have never struggled, in fact, I am making more money than I have ever made in my life 

Now, relating this to Kyire, you’re already set for life. What’s another 11 million a year, which is what Nike paid him last year, going to really do for you when you can easily make that and much more as an owner of your own shoe and not be muzzled.  

Ownership vs being just a worker. Without ownership, if he goes to Adidas, New Balance, Puma or whoever, it will just be the same as his Nike experience. If you say or do something they don’t like, they’ll drop you. We should encourage looking outside for answers, that’s all Kyrie was doing. The seeking of knowledge should never be punishment, but In order to really be free, ownership is the only way and Kyrie can have that with SIA Collective 

When a coach is more than a coach: Etan Thomas Remembers Louis Orr

A Statement from the Family of Louis Orr:

“On 12/15/2022, Louis Orr was called home to be with the Lord as his battle with cancer has come to an end. He was a dearly loved and devoted husband, father, grandfather, brother and friend. He will forever be missed!”

This News hit me and my wife Nichole like a ton of bricks. Coach Orr actually introduced me to Nichole our freshman year at Syracuse back in 1996. Now, Nichole had already caught my eye a few days prior, and I remember it clear as day,  Coach said to me, “Etan, I have someone I want to introduce you to. She’s a nice young lady from Cali and she plays on the women’s team. I just think you two would vibe really well” 

And we have been vibing ever since. In fact, decades later, we are married with 3 kids and just celebrated our 18th year anniversary. 

For me, coach Orr was much more than a coach. I could quote him for days but some of the best advice he gave me was when he told me….

“Basketball is not supposed to be easy. There is a reason only special people make it. They don’t quit when things get tough. They don’t point the finger at everyone else. They make adjustments and learn from every game whether they score 20 or hardly play” 

These were his words to me during my freshman year. He told me this while I was going through my “freshman blues” stage at Syracuse. Now, if you don’t know what the freshman blues are I’ll explain. It was my first time away from home, I was homesick, missed my family and friends, basketball wasn’t going the way I expected it would go, it was cold, it started snowing and just wouldn’t stop, I had what felt like a never ending cold, and I discovered that the coach that recruited me is not the same nice, smiling, joking person who sat in my living room on my recruiting trip. 

I went from being a back to back state champion at Booker T Washington High School in Tulsa Oklahoma, Blue Chip All American, #1 player in my class in Oklahoma etc etc to being at the bottom of the totem poll at Syracuse. I mean the very bottom. Couldn’t get any lower. 

I was playing behind a Senior Center Otis Hill who the previous year had gone to the NCAA championship in 96 with that special group of John Wallace, Lazarus Simms, Todd Burgan, and company, and I had a lot to learn. Looking back on it now, playing against Otis Hill in practice everyday my freshman year really showed me how hard I needed to work to be successful in the Big East. Back then, every night there was another dominant monster we would be playing against. Jahidi White at Georgetown, Jason Lawson at Villanova, Adonnal Foyal at Colgate, Danya Abrahams at Boston College, there were literally no nights off. 

But for me, in the position I was in as a freshman center, It felt like I could do no right on the court in Coach Boeheim’s eyes. In fact, it felt like I could do no right in practice. Everything was my fault. Etaaaaaaaan (Coach Boeheim voice) what are you doing, rebound the ball, run the floor, get back, get up, get over, you’re not in the right spot, what are doing !!!!! 

I remember thinking, maybe he recruited the wrong person ? Maybe he thought I was somebody else because it doesn’t seem like he likes me at all, and to be honest, I didn’t like him very much either. (I’m just being honest) 

But Coach Orr wouldn’t allow me to pout, catch an attitude, stop working hard, feel sorry for myself, give up, quit, lose my temper, flip out on Coach Boeheim (which honestly almost happened), he consistently wrapped his arm around me, encouraged me, imparted wisdom, and made me keep working. 

I remember the first time he came to me after a game where I played probably all of 2 1/2 minutes but somehow I still got fussed at as if I was the reason we lost. I remember thinking, “I did all of that wrong in 2 1/2 minutes ?” And Coach Orr must’ve seen me at the point of snapping and he came to me and whispered 

quietly in my ear, “meet me at the gym at 10pm” I remember being like, “excuse me did you say at 10 pm coach ?” But he saw I needed it. So we had an angry workout. Hard violent dunk drills. Aggressive power moves. He had one of the managers or someone he just brought to the workout to bang me with the pad and I would have to power through the contact and make my move to the basket over and over again. We were there for maybe 2 hours. So once I reached the point of exhaustion, he came over to me, sat down next to me on the floor, and said, “You feel better now” ? And honestly, I did. 

After that, his message to me was to keep working, doing extra, stay locked in, find out what coach wants and do that, and stressed that that’s the only solution, to keep working until it is apparent that it’s a lost cause but in order to get to that point, you have to make sure you are doing everything possible on your end. He told me that I wasn’t the first player on earth to not be happy with their situation on the court, but it was how I handled it and what I chose to do in order to overcome this hurdle that would set me apart. He said anybody can quit. People quit all the time. He told me that he’d been in situations where a coach didn’t have the confidence in him yet and he had to prove himself. He told me there were situations where he felt like it was literally him against the coach. But he had to make it so the coach couldn’t take him out the game even if he wanted to, and that’s exactly what I had to do. 

He also told me that things will get better and that I’ll get past this, but just don’t forget this feeling when you do have success but remain humble and hungry. Don’t ever get complacent but keep this same drive, passion, anger, tenacity, chip on your shoulder mentality even when Coach Boeheim starts singing your praises and the papers start raving about you. 

He also said that there would come a time where I am going to be encouraging someone else who is in the same situation that I was in and they don’t know how to handle it. And sure enough, that’s exactly what I did with Jesse Edwards throughout his early years at Syracuse. 

https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/ncaa-college-basketball-syracuse-orange-jesse-edwards-excited-for-upcoming-season-nba-draft-prospect-jim-boeheim

But this became me and Coach Orr’s routine. We would just have extra workouts regularly. Sometimes he would let me just vent and fuss, other times he would vent and fuss. Other times, we wouldn’t say a word. Just drill after drill after drill. Other times we would just come to the gym, sit on the floor, and just talk, and the topics varied. Sometimes we talked basketball, other times we talked everything but basketball. We talked about life. He would relate the ups and downs on the court to the ups and downs of life. He would tell stories of when he played and different things that he experienced in college and the pros. 

We started going to church together on Sundays and Coach Boeheim actually moved practice to a little later in the day on Sundays so we could keep our Sunday church routine. 

I can easily say that if it weren’t for Coach Orr, I wouldn’t have made it through Syracuse. He had become much more than just a coach. 

The thing is, he didn’t have to do any of that. 

He didn’t have to take me to church. He didn’t have to encourage me the way he did off the court, he didn’t have to teach me life lessons. That was all way beyond the call of duty for being an assistant coach. He didn’t even work with my position, he worked with the forwards. But we had a connection that would last a lifetime. That’s what makes a coach more than a coach. Anyone can draw up plays or drills or point out when you aren’t doing what you’re supposed to be doing etc etc. but a coach that takes an interest to learn a players needs, situation, mind state, temperament, understands when they need encouragement because they’re down, when they need to be fussed at because they’re messing up, holds them accountable, doesn’t crush their spirit but uplifts their spirit, it’s just special. Coach Orr wore many hats for me that extended far beyond a coach. Mentor, father figure, disciplinarian, confidant, motivator, teacher, spiritual advisor, relationship expert, psychologist, therapist, teacher and friend. Rest In Peace coach orr 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾

Nike embraces ADL tactics as they officially drop Kyrie Irving

Nike announced that they will officially cut ties with Kyrie Irving due to him sharing the link to the documentary Hebrews to Negroes which many have labeled Anti semitic. This came after 

just a few weeks of canceling his signature sneaker line. After a nearly decade-long run of success with Nike, Kyire Irving is officially a sneaker free agent.

In response, Kyrie during last night’s game against the Charlotte Hornets in which the Nets won 122-116 and Irving led all scorers (for both teams) with 33 pts and one assist shy of a double double, wore the Nike Kyrie 3 in the 'Raygun' colorway, but employed black tape to cover the Nike Swoosh logos. Additionally, he handwrote in marker the message "I AM FREE" and "Thank you God... I am" on the side of his shoe.

Irving’s agent, Shetellia Riley Irving, told The New York Times that the sides “mutually decided to part ways and we just wish Nike all the best.”

On my radio show The Collision “Where Sports And Politics Collide” my guest was Torin Walker who is the founder of Context Media Group to examine what Nike’s decision to break ties with Kyire Irving means in the larger scheme, what actually constitutes Anti Semitism, and if an ADL style punishment is the answer. This was a great discussion

Etan: What was your response to Nike dropping Kyire and Kyrie’s response to being free ? Were you surprised they did that ? 

Walker: No I wasn’t really surprised. I know once this controversy blew up that there was going to be some type of corporate response to it. I didn’t think it would go to this extreme, but at the same time, I can’t really say that I’m surprised. Whether we like it our not, sports and politics are often divisions, and anything that looks like it’s going to effect the brand bottom line is going to be delt with harshly when you’re dealing with corporations. 

But the one thing I think this really lays out is, it shows the difference between ownership and sponsorship. A lot of times, we get caught up in the idea that someone who is the face of a brand has some type of bargaining power to the level that they can make contractual decisions. So this Hebrews To Negroes controversy was so big that Nike could not ignore it. 

The other side is this, I think this is a great opportunity for Kyire and also other athletes to look at basically creating their own brand and basically having some ownership in the products they are endorsing and have their faces on. Now, the question is, will the public get on board with that. Let’s be honest, Nike has such a strong hold on the market and such strong brand loyalty and brand recognition that it’s going to be difficult for someone who is coming into the market to do that. But I’m not surprised at all that Nike did what they did. 

Etan: What role did the media have in really magnifying this issue and controversy. If I’m going back to the actual timeline of Kyire sharing the documentary, and of him saying that he wasn’t promoting anything but that he was just sharing the information, to the whole interaction with Nick Fidel, and everything that transpired after that, what role do you think the media had magnifying this issue ? 

Walker: The media had the primary role in keeping this “controversy” going as long as it did. I can see the point where the posting of the documentary may have ruffled some feathers or it made some people feel like it was an anti semitic thing, but usually when something like this happens if an athlete or celebrity does something that people take offense to. People get offended, the athlete releases a statement, there’s usually a cooling off period, and then it goes away. But for some reason, there was this drive in the media to make this thing bigger than it was. They took a two day story and made it into a month story, and I still don’t fully understand the motivation behind that. I know a lot of organizations were pushing this, and I wonder if people inside the Nike organization was pushing this as well because if I’m not mistaken, Kyrie’s contract  is coming up anyway, you can correct me on that. But I think with the media, this was just the an opportunity for them to jump on an anti semitic angle with Black people and a Black man specifically, and they can run with it. So I they saw a hot story and narrative that they could really push, and that’s why we are where we are with this situation with Nike dropping him today. So to answer your question, the media had a huge role in this. 

Etan: What do you think about Kyrie and what he did with his shoes last night and putting the tape over the logo and writing I Am Free, what was your reaction to that ? 

Walker: I was in favor of if, and I’m glad he did it that way. My question is, how long will this be sustainable ? It’s easy to create a moment, it’s easy to get people’s attention, but can you direct that attention into something that will then be tangible for you to really be “Free” and what does “freedom” look like ? Freedom looks like something different to everybody. Does this mean he is free from having to hold his tongue on issues he is concerned about ? Does this mean he is free to create his own sneaker line ? Does this mean he is free psychologically ? I would love get clarification on that. I think it was a powerful statement especially the timing, but would love to see it turn into something tangible 

Etan: You mentioned something before and that’s the question I continued to ask throughout this entire process was, what is considered “Anti-Semitic” ? I think right now, there is a wider and wider bucket of what is being casted as Anti-Semitic. I sat down with an actual Rabbi on my show The Rematch Rabbi Harry Rozenberg

https://youtu.be/0VV_Pzg4gdw

And we talked about this, and he said well I may have a different opinion than yours and feel very strongly emotionally about my different opinion, but that doesn’t mean yours it’s anti semitic. So I’m asking you, in your opinion, what exactly is Anti-Semitic ? 

Walker: Well, in my opinion, being anti semitic means you are making hateful statements about Jewish people or you are calling for their extermination which is what a lot of white supremacists and neo Nazis call for. I don’t believe that having questions about Judaism or having questions or issues as a Black man in America with the relationship between Black people and Jewish people is necessarily “Anti Semitic”. And what’s happening now is, any questioning of anything having to do with Jewish people, or the state of Israel is being seen as Anti Semitic and I don’t think that’s fair and it doesn’t make for a rational conversation. It has become this thing where even if you mention it, you are labeled as anti semitic and that shuts down any conversation. So to answer your question, my definition of anti semitism is violent hatred of any person who is Jewish, that’s my definition of it. 

Etan: Well I couldn’t agree more, I had a debate with my regular co host on The Collision “Where Sports And Politics Collide” but for my podcast the Rematch 

https://youtu.be/UGCSVkZzeyU

And we disagreed literally the entire interview. We just had a different view of everything that had occurred and this is when everything first happened. I mentioned before my debate with Harry Rozenberg and we disagreed at times, we definitely disagreed when it came to discussing Palestine and Israel, but we also agreed that everything isn’t in the “Anti Semitic” bucket. I think one of the things that happens is, when you label something as “Anti Semitic”, it’s kind of a lazy argument because it shuts down all conversation. Once you say something is Anti Semitic, then there is no conversation. But I think there are different things that can and should be discussed without the label of anti  semitic

Walker: Absolutely, and like I said earlier, when you are an African-American, your ideas on what “Anti Semitism” means, and what discrimination feels like is very different than what someone else from a different demographic may be familiar with. And this is not to say that people who are Jewish have not delt with discrimination and bigotry in Europe and America, they definitely have, but that conversation has to change a little bit when we’re talking about Black people because we have to be honest, Black people are still collectively at the bottom of the economic ladder in America. And our relationship with someone who may be a landlord or someone who is exploiting them, it may be coming from an attitude of pushing back against exploitation it doesn’t mean that it’s anti semitic, and a lot of times that gets lost in this conversation but I do think that one thing that has come out of this conversation with Kyire, and Nike, and Kanye, and Chapelle to an extent is, that these conversations are beginning to happen and they have to happen in order for any meaningful, impactful dialogue to take place. You can’t just label something as anti semitic and then shut down the conversation and punish anyone who brought it up like Nike did with Kyire  

Etan: I agree 100%, and yes Nike’s decision to drop Kyrie in the wake of him sharing the documentary Hebrews To Negroes has actually made them become part of the problem we’ve seen with the ADL. Punishment over dialogue. Labeling over discussion and understanding. 

So we’re going to go to a break and when we come back we will discuss Van Jones who took it upon himself to apologize to the Jewish community on behalf of the entire Black Community for statements made by Kanye West even though I don’t know who appointed him as spokesperson for the Black Community but before we go to break let me make this point clear, A lot of people are and have been conflating Kanye West aka Ye and Kyrie Irving but they are two COMPLETELY separate issues. One is NOT like the other and should NEVER be lumped together in any way shape or form.

Walker: I definitely agree 

How long with the media continue to troll Kyrie Irving ?

How long with the media continue to troll Kyrie Irving ? 

Kyrie Irving’s first press conference after returning from suspension was met by a barrage of reporters seemingly throwing a series of questions at him that could have potentially resulted in him being suspended again. 

https://twitter.com/etanthomas36/status/1594830463675375620?s=46&t=ioyUw605d-LEkWJx8IEWNQ

One interpretation is that the reporters were just doing their job in asking Kyrie the questions that inquiring minds would like to know. However, another interpretation is the fact that Kyrie asked (very politely) if the reporters could simply stick to questions about the actual game, and they seemingly ignored his request and continued to ask questions that could potentially get him in hot water again was an intentional attempt to set him up.

I wanted to delve deeper into this topic so I reached out to journalist Chuck Modiano, who is a senior writer for Deadspin and has also written for The New York Daily News. 

Etan: 

Does it seem like the media is now picking at Kyrie to you ? 

Modiano: Let me first say that you have been doing a great job on social media covering this. 

Etan: Oh I appreciate that 

Modiano: No problem. Well, there are definitely a couple of members who keep harping on it, but the problem is, they don’t do that to other athletes. I don’t think Jerry Jones is going to be peppered the same way. I know initially they asked him, but I doubt the questions will continue. I could be wrong, but we’ll see. But the double standard always exists with Black athletes and it always has and part of that double standard is the makeup of the press. And what the press finds noteworthy and not noteworthy to pursue. So yea it’s definitely there and will continue to be there and we have to keep calling it out 

Etan: I agree but I don’t see enough people calling it out and that’s the part that frustrates me. It seems like it’s just well accepted. And let’s take the actual content of everything that happened with Kyrie out of the discussion for a moment, but just comparing to how say Brett Farve was delt with in the media. I mean, he didn’t have to do anything ? He didn’t have to apologize or nothing ? 

Modiano: I think Brett Favre is a great recurring example. With Kyrie, it goes so far beyond the initial discussion of anti-semitism. It goes to something greater in media the Black athlete is profitable and the Black athlete’s perceived misbehavior is profitable. And we know this when a discussion should shift and it does not. So I’ll give you an example. So there was a period of time where the discussion moved from Kyrie Irving to Jeff Bezos, let’s hold Amazon accountable. He’s making all this money off Hebrews To Negroes. And let’s form a petition etc etc. And there were some famous actors joining in  the charge. Rolling Stone actually had pictures of those actors, but most publications, even if the article was focused on Jeff Bezos and Amazon, still had the cover picture of Kyrie. So I said, well, that’s not about perceived Anti-Semitism, that’s about Anti Blackness, because again the whole article was about Jeff Bezos and Amazon, so why is Kyrie on the cover of the picture ? That was an editorial choice and that’s when you have to examine the fact that Anti Blackness will get you more clicks and there is more profit in Anti Blackness. 

Etan: That’s interesting, now that you say that, I definitely noticed that as well. And to your point, there are a lot of Black media that participate in that as well. Right now there are a lot of people trying to give Jerry Jones a pass. I just saw Stephen A Smith and Jason Whitlock both defending him today. I actually tweeted about it

https://twitter.com/etanthomas36/status/1596296501747228674?s=46&t=ioyUw605d-LEkWJx8IEWNQ

Modiano: It’s completely ridiculous. And listen, I am someone who has marched with former Nazis who are now against Nazis and are now on the Anti Racism side and it’s their life mission to flip other Nazis. So I am someone who believes to the greatest extent that reform is possible. But let’s take Jerry Jones here, and put aside the fact that probably 95% of white people in Arkansas in 1957 more than likely shared a certain belief about Black People, I think we can safely say that. But not everyone joined a mob to terrorize Black students. So there is a difference between racist thoughts and racist actions. And it’s important to remember that in 1957 the Brown Vs Board Of Education was put into law, and the only way you could keep that law was through mob action and Jerry Jones was a part of that. So if you’re going to tell me he’s changed, I need to see it. I see his comments about Kaepernick, I see the fact that he has never had a Black coach, I see him donating half a million to Gov Abbott’s campaign. This doesn’t sound like he has changed too much since 1957. 

Etan: And the same with Brett Favre. I haven’t seen anything with him to make amends after this $77 million Mississippi state welfare fund scandal. Any evidence that he has changed. They say it’s always something with Kyrie, well, it’s always something with Brett Favre right ? 

Modiano: Oh don’t get me started on Brett. He has a long ugly history and I’m not just talking about outwardly supporting Donald Trump at the height of his racism and Charlottesville and Jan 6th, or the inappropriate messages and nude pictures he sent to New York Jets game day host Miss Sterger, but yes there is definitely enough history for there to be a much more upheaval of outrage from the media. So we have to ask, why is the Brett Favre scandal not given the same attention and scrutiny as Kyrie ? The answer could be simply that Brett Favre is not going to produce the amount of clicks that Kyrie will. But then you have to ask, why is Kyrie going to produce more clicks ? Because Brett is retired and Kyrie is an active player ? I don’t think that’s it. I think it’s because of Anti Blackness. We have a white customer service base that likes to see Black athletes being denigrated and will use Black media talking heads, like the ones you named before, to do the actual denigrating. That’s the bottom line. So some will say no it’s the antisemitism that is a much bigger issue, well if that were the case, all forms of perceived antisemitism would garner the same reaction that Kyrie did, and it doesn’t 

Etan: And to your point, let me read this tweet from Shaun King that read, 

“So we now know that Donald Trump just had dinner with one of the most explicit bigots and Holocaust-deniers in the world right now, Nick Fuentes. I need to see if Trump and the people who support him get the Kyrie Irving treatment now. I seriously doubt it.

Now they can’t say that Kyrie has more power and influence than Trump, so will there be a big outrage about Trump ? 

Modiano: We already know the answer to that. Of course there won’t and Nick Fuentes is a proud white supremacist and racist. He is an actual Holocaust denier and has spewed actual anti semetic rhetoric out of his mouth. And Trump has himself said a lot of perceived I’ll say antisemitic statements. So in comparing the reaction of that to Kyrie, you’re right it’s not the same outrage. 

A few years ago I wrote an article with the New York Daily News asking, why are we not critiquing white athletes. So whether it’s Tom Brady with the Trump hat in his locker or Brett Fabre posing in a picture with him on the gold course, where were those same reporters who pressed Kyrie then ? Where were the pointed questions that we are seeing repeatedly with Kyrie. So if we are going to have a media that is critiquing athletes the way they are with Kyrie, ok that’s fine, let’s do it with the white athletes too. 

Etan: So, how can Kyrie navigate through this because it seems like the media is going to continue to press him on topics where, they’re almost trying to play GOTCHA with him. He has to meet with the media, or he’ll get fined. So should he just keep repeating the phrase can you please only ask me basketball questions ? Or do the Marshawn Lynch, I’m just here so I won’t get fined ? 

Modiano: I’ll tell you what, I thought he turned the Thanksgiving question on its head pretty nicely. I thought it was brilliant how he navigated that. He ended positively, he wished everyone a happy holiday, and he did it with a smile, but he also made the point clear, I’m not personally celebrating Thanksgiving, and I think that’s great because it now brings the much larger discussion that is not going on about the actual history of Thanksgiving and the treatment of Indigenous People of this country, so I thought he navigated that question brilliantly. 

Etan: But do you think the media was again trying to pick at him yet again ? And I tweeted about this and it got a very strong response 

https://twitter.com/etanthomas36/status/1595784312359624707?s=46&t=ioyUw605d-LEkWJx8IEWNQ

But honestly, anyone who has been even remotely following the NBA knows about Kyrie Irving’s connection to his Native American heritage. When I saw that, I was like are they just trolling Kyrie now ? They could’ve asked any other player on the team that, but that ask him in particular ? I just don’t think they would’ve asked Deni Avdija (Wizards forward who identifies as Jewish) if he would like to wish everyone out there a Merry Christmas, I just personally don’t think they would. 

Modiano: So I’m leaning toward what you’re saying. I don’t know who the particular reporter was, I don’t know the history, and we have to look at media collectively, not just this one person 

Etan: Oh yea it wasn’t particular to Meghan Triplet the Nets new sideline reporter, I wasn’t saying that, I was just using this one instance as yet another example, not her in particular.  

Modiano: Right, but I think collectively, it’s no question the media has a double standard with Kyrie. It’s abundantly clear. So I’ll say it like this, I can’t say definitively that’s it’s a racial double standard, but I will say that it’s worthy of an investigation of a possibly racial double standard. And it’s not just Kyrie, there has been a racial double standard historically with Black athletes for decades. 

Etan: So let me ask you this, people like Shaq and Charles Barkley were very direct with their critique of Kyrie. I actually tweeted about this as well. 

https://twitter.com/etanthomas36/status/1595022874901090311?s=46&t=DudNOqBBO4hPI-A58FFLUg

Modiano: I’m telling you, you’ve been on it on social media. And your interviews have been great too. Different perspectives. You even got a Rabbi. I haven’t seen anyone go to the length to actually sit down with a Rabbi and discuss this 

Etan: (Laughing) well there’s been a lot to cover, but it seems like people like Charles Barkley and those of his ilk are just not willing to move past it. He brought it up again last night. Saying he was disappointed that more NBA players didn’t come out and speak against him. I’m just like, he has apologized, served his suspension, went through the entire ridiculous 6 step criteria they laid out for him, met with Adam Silver, met with Joe Tsai, they all gave him the stamp of approval that he is not antisemitic (although he never said anything out of his mouth that was antisemitic) but he went through all of those steps, why how long will it be before the media as a collective whole like you said earlier, stops trolling him ? 

Modiano: My response to the many problematic things that come out of Charles Barkley’s mouth is, why he he being uplifted as this voice of Black America or something ? I remember a few years ago CNN did this series called Race In America, led by Charles Barkley, what qualified him to lead that series ? 

Etan: They could’ve gotten Craig Hodges, Mahmoud Abdul Rauf, Kaepernick, John Carlos, Tommie Smith, if they wanted contemporary athletes they could’ve gotten Lebron, Eric Reid, Jaylen Brown, the Olympian Gwen Berry, Swin Cash there are so many combinations of athlete activists they could’ve gotten. And I interviewed most of them in my book We Matter “Athletes And Activism”  

https://www.amazon.com/We-Matter-Athletes-Activism-Sports/dp/1617755915/ref=nodl_?dplnkId=66c9a448-2d15-42b5-ad8b-555bf1229604

Modiano: Right, but they didn’t want any of them, they wanted Charles Barkley. Why ? The same reason he was on CNN being the Spokesperson of Black America, which I believe you tweeted about too 

Etan: Yes I did actually. 

https://twitter.com/etanthomas36/status/1594710024969912322?s=46&t=DudNOqBBO4hPI-A58FFLUg

Modiano: I told you (laughing) you’ve been on it. But why Charles Barkley ? Because they know what his position will be on the topic so it doesn’t matter that he doesn’t have a rich history of social justice like all the athletes you mentioned before and interviewed in your book. They like the positions he takes so that will Trump his actual qualifications, same with Herschel Walker. But just think about it, they don’t do that with white athletes, they don’t turn them into the spokespersons for white America on race relations. Anybody know where Larry Bird stands on anything ? Kevin McHale ? Dirk ? Jerry West ? Chris Mullin ? We have to question these networks who continue to put the mic in Charles Barkley’s face but at the same time, we know the answer. It’s because he is saying what they want to hear a Black person say. Anti Black is Anti Black whether it’s on Fox News, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingrahm, Jason Whitlock, or Charles Barkley 

Etan: So basically, a lot of people in the media are pawns like Kyrie said…..you don’t have to answer that. Like you said, we already know the answer 

Emerald Garner hopes Kyrie Irving backlash doesn’t silence athletes

Emerald Garner, daughter of Eric Garner who was murdered by NYPD officer Daniel Panteleo had a lot to say regarding the backlash Kyrie Irving is collectively receiving. 

Let’s do a quick recap of events that have occurred regarding Kyrie. 

Kyrie shares a link for the documentary “From Hebrews To Negroes” without context, which caused a firestorm as many viewed this as an endorsement of the film. 

At his initial press conference he expressed his reasoning for sharing the doc: 

“When I post, it’s does not mean that I support everything that’s being said or everything that’s being done. Or I’m campaigning for anything. I post things for my people and my community” 

He also said: 

“I’m not a divisive person when it comes to religion. I embrace all walks of life. You see it on all my platforms. I talk to all races, all cultures, all religions. And my response would be, it’s not about educating yourself on what anti-Semitism is. It’s really about where the root words come from and understanding that this is an African heritage that is also belonging to the people.

Africa is in it, whether we want to dismiss it or not. So the claims of anti-Semitism, who are the original chosen people of God? And we go into these religious conversations and it’s a big no-no, I don’t live my way like that. I grew up in a melting pot, and I say a melting pot of all races. White, black, red, yellow, Jewish, Christian, Muslim. You see the way I live my life now, I’m not here to be divisive”

This was all prior to his spat with Nick Fidel. 

This was met by a firestorm of criticism, condemnation and accusations of Kyrie being anti Semitic, endorsing and promoting anti semitic propaganda (which he clearly said he wasn’t doing) and ultimately being labeled as anti semitic. 

He sent a lengthy apology on Instagram to the entire Jewish community and deleted the tweet, but was still suspended for a minimum of 5 games, labeled “unfit to be associated with the Brooklyn Nets” by Nets Governor Joe Tsai, and given six steps to be completed before he would be allowed to return. 

My personal interpretation of this was that Joe Tsai and the Brooklyn Nets were now looking to emasculate Kyrie Irving and dehumanize him. They want to make him say Toby. That his name is no longer Kunta Kente, but that it is in fact now Toby. Say what we believe is right. Meet with our rabbis, donate to our Anti defamation league that outlines the terms of what exactly is anti us, denounce any other belief, now prove to me that you have truly accepted that your name is Toby or else we’re going to tie you to this tree in front of everyone and literally beat you into submission to send a clear message to everyone what will happen if anyone dares to say or do anything like this again. And just so we’re clear, yes that is the exact tactic used on my ancestors during slavery that Joe Tsai and the Brooklyn Nets are using now on Kyrie Irving, He already apologized to the entire Jewish community and deleted the tweet. The situation should be over now. 

I caught up with Emerald Garner (daughter of Eric Garner) who I just co wrote her book Finding My Voice, to see what her reaction was and if she had the same fear that I had, that this had the potential of silencing athletes again who have grown comfortable with using their voices and their platforms to speak out on crucial issues that face us today whether police violence and brutality, racism, injustice, and other social issues 

https://www.amazon.com/Finding-My-Voice-Grieving-Pushing/dp/1642598313/ref=nodl_?dplnkId=163ffcc0-f0f3-4ecf-b8fa-907636f54c3f

Me: Do you think the backlash Kyrie Irving is currently receiving has the potential of silencing athletes ? 

Emerald: I hope not. Listen, I don’t know anything about the film, and don’t support anti semitism in any form or fashion, but I didn’t actually hear Kyrie say anything anti semitic. And correct me if I’m wrong but he didn’t produce the documentary did he ? They’re acting like it’s his film 

Me: No he didn’t produce it, but to be fair, he did share it without context, but he also cleared up his reasoning for sharing it in his initial press conference. Said he was just sharing it for the information and wasn’t  endorsing or promoting the film. Said he didn’t even agree with all of it 

Emerald: So, he apologized and deleted it right ? 

Etan: Yes he did 

Emerald: But he still has to go through all of these hoops before he gets to play again ? 

Etan: Yes the six steps he has to take are: 1-He has toapologize and condemn the film Hebrews To Negroes (which is now a number 1 best seller on Amazon), 

2-Make a $500,000 donation to anti-hate causes

3-Complete sensitivity training

4-Complete anti-Semitism training 

5-Meet with the Anti Defamation League and Jewish leaders of their choosing 

6-Meet with team Governor Joe Tsai to “demonstrate an understanding of the situation.”

Emerald: Wow that’s really a lot. So let me say it like this, officer Daniel Panteleo murdered my father in broad daylight on video and he didn’t have to do anything before he returned to active duty. I wrote about it in my book how traumatizing it was to actually see him laughing and joking with other cops on the street like nothing happened. He didn’t have to do anything. He didn’t even have to apologize to the family of the man he murdered. But they’re gonna make Kyrie do all this before he can play basketball ? 

Etan: Wow, that’s a great point 

Emerald: Listen Kyrie and Lebron and all the players on the Brooklyn Nets at the time and Kobe and all of the Lakers team all supported me at a time where every time I turned on the TV, I saw people justifying why they believed my father deserved to die. 

Etan: Yea, a lot of people were quiet then but athletes weren’t. There started a new boom of athletes using their voices and their platforms. That’s why I wrote my book We Matter “Athletes And Activism” 

https://www.amazon.com/We-Matter-Athletes-Activism-Sports/dp/1617755915/ref=nodl_?dplnkId=3aa7746c-b367-4e3f-b314-48164e0e4144

and interviewed so many athletes as well as impacted family members to encourage the next generation of athletes to continue to use their voices and show the impact it has. My fear now is that after this, athletes may start being quiet again or even advised to be quiet again in fear of the Kyrie irving treatment. 

Emerald: And that would be tragic. You have done an amazing job promoting that concept and yes there is great power in their voices. When I turned on the TV and saw all of the NBA players wearing I Can’t Breathe shirts…..I’m getting emotional right now 

Etan: I’m sorry, I don’t want to trigger you 

Emerald: No it’s ok. You know I always get emotional when we talk, and we talked about this in my book, but when I saw them wearing those shirts, it made me feel seen. That someone actually cared about what happened to my father. It didn’t feel like anyone cared. The police definitely didn’t show any remorse. They all stood around and watched as Officer Panteleo choked my father to death, then they all supported Panteleo, not one of them condemned anything. So many people supported Panteleo like they always do when the police murder someone. But it was Kyrie and NBA players who supported me, and my father loved basketball. He loved every New York team that existed. Even sports he wasn’t even that into. If they were New York, he supported them. He would’ve been so proud how they all supported him. I can see his big smile now. I can’t tell you how much I miss seeing that big smile of his  

Etan: It’s so important that people know this, and understand this. I’ve gone on multiple programs recently saying that silencing athletes that you disagree with isn’t the answer, but to have actual dialogue is. And I really believe that. 

Emerald: Listen, we have done enough speaking engagements for me to fully understand and be a supporter of dialogue. Of course it’s important. And not lectures but actually listening to because correct me if I’m wrong, but I didn’t hear Kyrie say anything bad or anti anything. He said I love everyone, I respect all religions, it’s like they’re trying to make him believe things that he didn’t say he believed. At least that’s how I see it 

Etan: I definitely agree. I didn’t hear him actually say anything anti semitic.  I’m just worried about the effect it will have on athletes moving forward. When I was playing, I had so many people warn me to be careful (including David Stern). I had other people who literally said you don’t want to get done like Craig Hodges or Mahmoud Abdul Rauf. I heard Shannon Sharpe initially say that on air on his show Skip And Shannon Undisputed about Kyrie. I see people putting that notion out there 

Emerald: Well, that would be tragic if athletes did shut up and dribble. I’mma be honest, I didn’t realize the impact y’all have until I started working with you and talking to other impacted families who had athletes stand up for them. How Russell Westbrook spoke up for Terence Crutcher, how Stephen Jackson spoke up for George Floyd, how Lebron speaks up for a lot of families, how the whole Milwaukee Bucks spoke up for Jacob Blake. How the whole NBA spoke up for Breonna Taylor and I can go on and on and on. It’s important. Take it from me, it means everything 

DeMatha Sierra Canyon Game Ends Prematurely After Crowd Disturbance

The DeMatha Stags were leading by almost double digits in the 4th quarter, but Sierra Canyon was mounting a comeback and chipping away at the lead. 

The electrified crowd was enthusiastically cheering on the hometown DeMatha Stags. It felt like an NBA playoff atmosphere. 

Senior point guard Jaden Winston led a very balanced DeMatha attack with 10 points, but his real impact was felt on the defensive end where he continuously harassed the Sierra Canyon backcourt the entire night, making them visibly uncomfortable which led to them at times struggling to get into their offensive sets and contributed to Bronny James being held to 11 points on just two FG’s 

Ashton Hardaway who led Sierra Canyon with 14 had a very impressive night scoring in a variety of ways. Fast break dunks, offensive put backs. Down the stretch he displayed great footwork with a mid post move to a turnaround fade that brought oooohs and aaaahs from the DeMatha heavy crowd. 

Unfortunately, a crowd disturbance caused the game to be cancelled with less than two mins to go in the fourth quarter. (DeMatha was leading 52-51 at the time the game was called) 

Following the game, the President Of Pargon Marketing, Rashid Ghazi, issued the following statement through social media 

Given the incident in the stands tonight during the CBC vs. Stags game at Wise High School we have cancelled Sunday’s event. We are making the decision out of the utmost of caution to ensure player and fan safety. Refunds will be available via Go Fan 

I spoke to a group of teenagers girls outside of the Wise high school gymnasium who were witnesses to what happened including my daughter Imani Thomas who told me 

“I was walking by the concession line when I just saw everyone start running. They were jumping down from the bleachers and stampeding toward the exit. I have never seen anything like this before. People were so scared they looked like they were running for their lives. So I started running too. Not like I was going to ask anyone what happened or what was going on. I saw running so I ran.” 

Another teenager added, 

“They should’ve had this at a bigger place, like where the Mystics play in Southeast. That’s a big arena so you wouldn’t have had to have people all in the aisles and packed around the balcony. That was just a bad set up. Someone could’ve really gotten hurt.” 

Another teenage girl passionately chimed in with, 

“This was all Sierra Canyon’s fault. They were so busy trying to protect Bronny, they caused all of this themselves. Nothing even happened. There was no fight, not even any punches were thrown. It was some young boys running off at the mouth at each other.” 

Imani’s schoolmate added, 

“Hey they gotta protect Lebron’s son. They can’t be having him out here risking it all.” 

Which another girl responded with 

“Yea but them being all scary for no reason caused all this and it wasn’t even that serious. Nobody would’ve reacted if they didn’t see them start running for their lives off the court. That wasn’t even necessary. They were scared scared (laughing) ain’t nobody gonna do nothing to Bronny. I wanted to see them finish the game and send them back to Cali with an L” 

Imani chimed back in with, 

“There were just way too many people in there in the first place. Wasn’t that a health code violation or fire marshall issue or something ?” 

They were all absolutely correct in their assessments. 

From where I was standing in the overly crowded balcony they were referring to, I could see everything and what I saw was two young kids who couldn’t have been any older than 6th or 7th grade start arguing with each other over to my right. Then, I looked to my left and saw security rushing over toward them and everyone started to look up into the stands to see what was going on. Then I looked back onto the court and I saw Sierra Canyon literally running for their lives off of the court. Which followed what could only be described as complete panic and pandemonium. But as the teenager pointed out, this was 100% prompted by Sierra Canyon’s sprint off the court. 

It’s a shame because it was an amazing display of basketball being played by both teams filled with high lights. 

A three pointer from freshman phenom Ashton Meeks after Jaden Winston makes the defender almost do the splits 

https://twitter.com/capitolhoops/status/1586567933886701568?s=46&t=dspFtoqTaQJXGcR-QCZM3Q 

A rebound put back, and one plus the foul by Malcolm Thomas brought the crowd to its feet 

https://twitter.com/capitolhoops/status/1586570558401138688?s=46&t=dspFtoqTaQJXGcR-QCZM3Q

A pull up 3 pointer by Bronny James 

https://twitter.com/capitolhoops/status/1586545569480179712?s=46&t=dspFtoqTaQJXGcR-QCZM3Q

But the play that brought the house down was made by DeMatha’s Chris McElveen. It’s a play that will be talked about in the DMV for quite sometime. A fast break dunk over Bronny James that almost caused the game to be paused in itself 

https://twitter.com/capitolhoops/status/1586535252784095232?s=46&t=dspFtoqTaQJXGcR-QCZM3Q

Regardless of the unfortunate ending, this was a great display of basketball played in Prince George’s County Saturday night. Yes adjustments will have to be made the next time as suggested by the group of very astute and keenly aware teenage girls. But overall, the crowd definitely got their money’s worth. Even if it was a hiked up $15 a pop for a pre season scrimmage game. 

Is It Ethical For The Media (TMZ) To Pay For Leaked Footage

Is it ethical for the media (TMZ) to pay for leaked footage ? 

According to Front Office Sports, TMZ paid an estimated $120,000. for the leaked footage of the incident with Draymond Green and Jordan Poole.

https://frontofficesports.com/draymond-green-jordan-poole-fight-video/?fbclid=IwAR06DN4uNMRkH-dmcZ5KKm4FRXQVxiyw_yT7hl6mGwMiMUykbqM9l3VJ2Mc

The Golden State Warriors have announced that they have launched an investigation to see which one of their employees were responsible for the leak. 

https://www.si.com/nba/2022/10/07/warriors-investigate-jordan-poole-draymond-green-fight-video-leaked-tmz

On Facebook I posted this screenshot that included my response to a tweet from Lethal Shooter 

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02UKeEzgNUhxZAtQVX32BRgJaQi9fUoF8yyehwZecVnFhMazKcMxagHoMtJNzBk16l&id=100003621989018

And me and David Aldridge had a back in forth over my characterization of the media. In the comment section he wrote, 

“Just curious: what evidence do you have that "media" pay teams and/or team employees for information?” 

Which I replied 

“I did lump in TMZ and supermarket tabloid media into the big bucket of media. But they are the media and every media outlet picked up their story on Draymond but to answer your qst, my eyes are the evidence that they have paid team employees etc for info. I first saw that my two years in the league with MJ. It happens quite a bit as it happened here” 

To which he replied 

“ I can't and won't go back and forth with you on this, but by definition, no one in the "media" as I define that term-and, I think I have some standing here-pays for information. This is part of the problem, when entities like TMZ, Fox News, etc., are just called "media" and people think everyone in my profession does what they do. That's the same BS you'd call out if someone made some blanket statement like "NBA players are bad fathers" – which SI did back in the day, and for which SI was rightly, and roundly, criticized.” 

To which I replied 

“I would have to respectfully disagree. TMZ, Supermarket Tabloids etc are in fact a part of the media whether you wanna claim them or not. I get why you don’t but they still are. Now,  I didn’t say all media I didn’t say most media I said many times the media and that statement is 100% accurate because they (TMZ and those of their ilk) do this all the time. Respectfully, All media isn’t good media. But it is interesting that I haven’t heard any good media condemning TMZ either.” 

I have the utmost respect for David Aldridge, his body of work, his ethics, and him as a person. I actually interviewed him for my Fatherhood Book back in 2013 

https://a.co/d/3oYaKAD

I had a great debate with him and Marc Spears of ESPN on the Old Media Vs New Media debate. 

https://youtu.be/ix8XD_4t3R0

But on this topic we have differing perspectives. Our Facebook exchange prompted me to reach out to two more men in the media who I have a great deal of respect for to further delve into this topic. Howard Bryant of ESPN and Michael Lee of the Washington Post 

Howard Bryant: 

Etan: Do you think it’s ethical for TMZ, supermarket tabloids etc as members of the media to pay an employee for pictures or video or leaked footage etc in your opinion 

Bryant: So let’s break this down. The word “media” covers a lot of ground. In the current world of social media, podcasts, of athletes executive producing documentaries, etc, media and journalism are not always the same thing. So to address your specific question, is it ethical to pay for material. Well, in traditional journalism, the answer is no. However, is it a practice that is a common practice ? Sure. When Jackie Robinson retired in 1956 he sold his story to Life Magazine for $5,000. Is it ethical for someone to pay for a leaked tape of a racist owner taking about Magic Johnson ? Is it ethical for someone to take a tape of something that doesn’t belong to them which I think is really the question so if you have a tape of the Golden State Warriors practice which is not yours even though they say possession is 9/10ths of the law, to go and take that info and profit off of it. So let’s break down the second piece of this. 

Etan: Well, before you go there, I think everyone will agree on that part as far as the employee of the warriors selling the info to TMZ, but I’m not quite asking about from the employee’s standpoint, but more from the media outlet standpoint 

Bryant: So from the media outlet standpoint, yes it’s news. And it depends on your polices and that’s the difference between what we would call “reputable” media and “tabloid” media. The tabloid media have always paid for information. If you go back and look at the British tabloids, that’s all they do, that’s why they call them “poporazzi” If you can snap me a picture of X athlete, I got $20 for you. If you can snap me a picture of X athlete and his family, I got $50 for you. If you can snap me a picture of X athlete and his mistress, I got $1,000 for you. They have been doing this forever. But for traditional, reputable, journalism, the answer was always no. We don’t do that period. 

Etan: So you’re saying there is absolutely no crossover of this practice into the reputable journalism 

Bryant: Well, what we are seeing now especially in the age of documentary, everyone wants to get paid to talk. So the money piece of the journalism is becoming a greater and greater piece of the reputable journalism and this disreputable piece has become even bigger because the celebrity side of it is becoming more and more important. 

So if you’re TMZ right now, is it reputable ? Probably not. But on the other hand, as these other sides become more and more powerful, would TMZ be doing the people somewhat of a service ? However they obtained their information ? Is it important for the public to know what happened ? Absolutely 

Etan: So you’re saying the ends justify the means 

Bryant: I don’t know, I’m saying that is the quandary. Do you feel it’s valuable journalism ? Does the public need to know that Donald Trump said what he said on the Access Hollywood tape ? Is that piece of information valuable to the public ? Sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes it’s no. Is it important for us to hear what Donald Sterling said ? That was the smoking gun that led to him being forced to sell the team. It literally changed the history of the NBA. So was it valuable ? Yes. Would I have paid for it ? No I wouldn’t, but was it important ? Sometimes that trash journalism that people have decried for a long time actually produces valuable information. 

The question is, how do we sit with that practice. Which i believe is your question. We would like to think that we take the improper obtaining of the information and we do proper things with it ? Or do we just sink deeper into the gutter ? 

Etan: Right. So the question then becomes. When does all of those involved become part of this improper or disreputable equation ? And how can you separate TMZ and those of that ilk from the traditional, reputable media, if the traditional media is complacent and find the value in what is produced from the disreputable media ? Does that make sense what I’m saying 

Bryant: Makes perfect sense. And that again is the quandary. But let me answer the first part then we’ll get to the 2nd part of your question. It’s tough to just say the media, the media, the media. It drives me crazy when athletes say that, because I’m like y’all are talking about yourselves too 

Etan: Of course, but and this is what so many are pushing for the police to do with the so called “bad apples” although I don’t agree with that theory it’s more of a bad system but that’s a whole nother discusion, but who better to criticize and hold the entire entity of the media accountable than someone from within ?  I’m a part of the media now. 

Bryant: Are you a journalist ? 

Etan: Yes I am 

Bryant: Then the standards have to apply to you as well right ? 

Etan: Definitely, but I also feel that I am in the position where I can criticize from both sides having been a player and seeing a lot of what I don’t like in the media and becoming a part of it, attempting to do things differently and having the journalistic integrity to call out what I see as going against reputable media. So if I see someone like a TMZ and I say I have seen the media do this too often…..

Bryant: I hear you but I would still make a distinction between Tabloid journalism and our reputable journalism because we don’t all operate the same way 

Etan: And I get that, but I will say that after TMZ did obtain this info, every media outlet whether reputable or not did report from that information thus becoming part of the equation. So if you are not condemning the practice then the only possible conclusion or connection is that you are complicit, excusing, and/or in support of it right ? 

Bryant: I hear you but it’s what you do with the information and how you use it. If you see the information of Ray Rice slugging his girlfriend in an elevator, that information that you obtained from TMZ or whoever, you then apply ethical journalistic standards to following the rest of that information. Your issue, is more of the process of tabloid journalism and not of the media as a whole in and of itself, and I get that, but we have to ask ourselves, is this information important for the public to have, and in many times it is. Not always, but many times it is, and I think that’s the difference. Was it in the public’s interest to know the details of what was in the Pentagon papers ? 100% yes. Is it in the public interest to know what Ime Udoka is doing in his private life ? Not really. I don’t think so. So there’s a thin line. If the people in power are lying to you, the entire dynamic changes. Whether those people are an NBA organization, an administration in the White House, the police, a company, a business, it does change things. So yea it depends. 

Etan: Are you at all surprised that you don’t hear some of the reputable media outlets or journalists condemning the TMZ’s of the world or the supermarket tabloids that pay for stories and leaked footage and pictures etc ? 

Bryant: No, not at all. But everyone has to understand, this has been going on for 100 years. So I think what it comes down to, that the instructions have decided, and we went through this in journalism school, that there are different layers to doing this job, and we’re going to let the public decide who you trust. 

But that’s why this job requires ethics. That’s why this job is really, really important and shouldn’t be taken lightly. The media has the goal of obtaining the truth so you can allow the people who are sitting at home or listening to your podcast or reading your books to give them the chance to understand and make the discussions for themselves. And the other piece of this that we know is the institutions always lie to the people. So sometimes these things provide the counter. It’s not my practice but I can’t lie and say I don’t see the value in some instances of the practice. 

Etan: Hmmmmmmm 

Bryant: But I do get your point. But let me add this, an even bigger problem is when the reputable guys like us, think that we’re better than everyone else and when we fall down then it provides the opportunity for anyone to say well they’re all the same. When you have a reputable outlet trading access for information or the practice of withholding information from the public so someone can make money off of a book, and you hold all that information across a presidential election, and you know what I’m talking about, that gives us more of a bad name than the TMZ’s and supermarket press although I understand your overall point. But an argument could me made that that’s also unethical and putting yourself ahead of the public. So that’s why it’s up to us to make sure that we are walking the walk. 

Etan: That makes sense 

Bryant: Listen Etan, i’ve known you for a long time and have read your work for a long time and I appreciate the fact that you are trying to hold the media accountable because the fact of the matter is,  if we reputable media start doing unethical things like the tabloid media, then it is all the same and your point holds. So yes, I appreciate you in this space. 

Etan: Well, I appreciate you too and that’s why I wanted to reach out to you for this discussion. Very good breakdown, I appreciate you taking the time sir 

Bryant: Anytime Etan. This was a great discussion 

Disgraced Robert Sarver Blames Everyone But Himself

Disgraced Phoenix Suns Governor Robert Sarver is taking no responsibility for the predicament he currently finds himself in of selling the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury. Instead, he seems to be pointing the finger at the public for judging him and not allowing him the opportunity to make amends for his actions. 

In a released statement 

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/statement-from-robert-sarver-301629996.html

Robert Sarver made the announcement that he will be reluctantly selling his portion of the franchise while simultaneously making sure he made the point clear that this was against his wishes and that he didn’t believe any of this was fair to him. 

Let’s be clear, this isn’t a real punishment. Robert Sarver is cashing out and stands to make around 2 billion dollars when he sells the franchise. But that’s doesn’t appear to be the point for him. Sarver has somehow transformed himself into the victim in the situation. 

On my show The Collision “Where Sports And Politics Collide” with Dave Zirin, we asked our guest David Dennis Jr. who is a Senior Writer for AndScape and can frequently be seen on ESPN’s Around The Horn to discuss Robert Sarver’s unapologetic departure and his possible plans in the near future. 

https://archive.wpfwfm.org/mp3/wpfw_220922_100000collision.mp3

Etan Thomas: 
David. I want to read a tweet of yours. I want you just to go a little bit more in depth. In this tweet, I saw the segment on Around the Horn and I thought it was great. That's the reason why I reached out to you, but your tweet said, " Pardon My cynicism here, but Sarver already seems to be planning out his cancel culture tour that is going to make him richer than he was before. And we've seen all of this before." Go into a little more detail about what you meant.

David Dennis Jr: 

Yeah. So, he took an excruciating long what five days to decide to give up the team. And Sarver has already greased the wheels to start his cancel culture tour, which we've seen so many celebrities do after they're called out for racism, misogyny, sexual misconduct, etc. Instead of owning up to it, they say well, I was canceled by this woke mob, basically code language that says these Black folks, these women etc are out of control and they cost me my career and they go on a Fox News tour pushing that false narrative.  And Sarver's comments that he made about why he's selling the team were all about that. It was about the fact that he wasn't given a chance to do right, it was the fact that he was basically saying cancel culture without saying that phrase.

David Dennis Jr: 
And this is a pathway that so many other people have taken that he now seems ready to take himself. He can write a book about how he was wronged by these NBA players. He can go on Fox News and the Newsmaxes of the world as a business consultant and talk about this. He can jgo on a worldwide tour, basically talking about how he was the affronted person, because of the fact that he was not allowed to clear himself of all of the racism and misogyny that he was accused of and we've seen this so many times and there's so much money to be made in it. Now as far as the penalty ? There’s really no penalty for being a terrible person. I mean, he's already going to sell the team for two billion dollars and he has a financial forward-thinking thing that he's already looking forward to.

Dave Zirin: 
What were your thoughts, David, about the way that Adam Silver handled all of this? Initially,  Adam Silver was widely criticized for how he handled this. And then a school of thought has emerged that said maybe Silver played it correctly because he allowed public opinion to push Sarver out. I frankly wonder if that gives Silver too much credit, but I would love to hear your thoughts.

David Dennis Jr: 
Yeah. I mean there's one thing that this country loves to do, it loves to give white men the benefit of the doubt, especially when it comes to racial reckoning, right? There's always some idea that there is some great master plan. I don't see the master plan. I see a guy who was being paid by the owners to speak out on behalf of the owners. And that's what he did. The other 30 white men billionaires did not see enough of a problem with what Sarver did to kick him out the league. Adam Silver got that memo. And he went out there and was the voice box for those people. If the NBA really felt like Sarver did something or felt like they could say something strong about Sarver, the statement that they put out, the investigation would not have said that there is no racial or sexist animus in his actions of saying the N word or insulting women.

David Dennis Jr: 
It was here's the information, but also, we're going to defend him at the same time. Adam Silver, probably deep down in his hope of hopes, thought that this wasn't going to happen so that he would get let off the hook and that the NBA would look good in the long run. But the problem with that is he ends up putting the onus on Black folks, Black players, Black fans, to protest but whatever happened to white folks, just going out and doing what's right just because it's the right thing to do, which we did not see from the other owners.

Etan Thomas: 

It's interesting. We had Sports Illustrated writer, Howard Beck on last week

https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/howard-beck-explains-differences-in-donald-sterling-robert-sarver-cases-

and he made some good points, I asked him the difference between this situation and the Donald Sterling situation and why they were handled differently. I thought a precedent had t been set and this one didn't follow that. But he made some good points. He said some of the differences being number one, there was no smoking gun, no actual audio of Sarver saying this that could be repeatedly played throughout the media. The timing of everything, there wasn't the player uproar or the national media uproar, like it was with Sterling. And he talked about even the press conference, the amount of media that was there paled in comparison to that of Sterling. Do you think those are all relevant factors as to why Adam Silver and the governors were reluctant to give Sarver the Sterling treatment? Or do you think those are irrelevant factors?

David Dennis Jr: 

I do think that those are factors. I think here's the biggest factor is that Donald Sterling happened in what, 2013, 2014? And since then, these white billionaires have learned that if you are in fact caught on tape saying terrible things about people, you can still become the President of the United States. And so, you've learned that there are more people who actually side with you for these things than they thought before, there was a time when Donald Sterling did this, that people thought, oh, this is going to be universally panned as wrong.

David Dennis Jr: 
But now we live in a society where people believe that what Robert Sarver did was not wrong and he has more backers than they originally thought. And billionaires are more likely to stick to their guns because they see that we have a country in which racism and misogyny is more accepted than they once thought it was. If you could be on the Supreme Court or President of the United States or continue to own your companies, then why the hell do I even have to listen to a bunch of Black players, a bunch of Black fans, who are just upset, I'm still the one with power. So I think that is the biggest change. It's not the change in the players or the league. It's a society as a whole, that is more accepting in this country of racism. And despite all the cancel culture stuff that they're talking about.

Dave Zirin: 
But do you think, David, that there's also been a polarization? I mean, since Donald Sterling, obviously the great societal difference since then has been the growth and expansion through 2020 of the Black Lives Matter movement, the largest demonstrations in the history of the United States. I mean, it makes me wonder if the climate has also produced an environment where if we were coming up on the season, players would not have put up with this either. And I think that might have created a much greater conflict than what we're currently seeing.

David Dennis Jr: 
Oh yeah. I mean, I agree in saying that there's racism, but I think that they feel like they have more backers behind what Sarver's doing than they once thought before. So, it is a different sort of environment and players were going to be more vocal and do all those things. But there was also probably enough of what the owners believed that they can put up with than they probably could before. There's more of an appetite for being okay upsetting Black people, I think, than before. And then that's why we end up with this sort of head on collision.

Etan Thomas: 
You referenced Robert Sarver's statement. I want to read a little bit of so people know exactly what we're talking about. Sarver said in his statement: 

"Words that I deeply regret now overshadow nearly two decades of building organizations that brought people together and strengthened the Phoenix area through the unifying power of professional men's and women's basketball." And he said, "As a man of faith, I believe in atonement and the path to forgiveness, I expected that the commissioner's one year suspension will provide the time for me to focus, make amends and remove my personal controversy from the teams that I, and so many fans love. But in our current unforgiving climate, it has become painfully clear that this is no longer possible, that whatever good I have done or could still do is outweighed by what I have said in the past and for those reasons, I am in the process of seeking buyers for the Suns and Mercury." 

So, as you said, he doesn't sound very apologetic. He really sounded like he's going to not go away quietly, but we might see him on that Fox News, Right Wing, Tucker Carlson tour talking about how he was done wrong and unjustly forced to sell his team.

David Dennis Jr: 
Yes that's exactly what he is doing. And another thing, he said he wanted a year to atone for this. He had a year; the investigative report came out a year ago. So, these things were already out and he had a year to fix this and make this right. And we don't even know if those are words he regrets because Robert Sarver's the only person who says that when he said the N word, he was repeating it from somebody else. So, we don't even know if he's telling the truth about the origin of why he was saying those words in the first place, because I do find it hard to believe that he heard another black person say n words in the back white people in the front. And he just decided to repeat that. So, he had all the time to atone and do all that stuff. This just feels like a defense that he's going to use as fuel for his, whatever campaign that he's going to run going forward.

Etan Thomas: 
But let me jump right in with that. But even with that, people leave out the part about Earl Watson telling him, wait a minute, you can't say that word. It means something different when you say it. And then him ignoring, I guess what Earl Watson said, or you’re beneath me, you can't tell me what I can't say. Why can't I say the N word two, if Draymond Green could say it, why can't I say it ? So he kept saying the N word over and over the actual word. And it's just interesting hearing a lot of people who happen to be white, not understand how that's not acceptable in any way shape or form. When you're specifically told that what you were saying is offensive. You know what I mean? I don't understand how so many people don't make that connection.

David Smith Jr: 
I think that connection is very clear. I just think they don't care. And that's exactly what Sarver said to Earl Watson. That he doesn't care. And I think that's going to be part of his next thing is why. Can't you see him doing a N word documentary about why can't white people say this word and Black people can, this is a tale as old as time. Every time a white person gets called out for saying the N word. We all ask the question of why can't white people say it. And I just want to know why do white people want to say it so badly? It just feels like if I'm in a conversation with somebody and they say, hey, that's offensive. A decent human being just says, okay, my bad, I apologize. That’s just how human interaction works. But this has literally tormented white folks for decades that they cannot say this one word.

Dave Zirin: 
It's really staggering. I mean, I have teenage children who understand why you don't say that word in any context. And yet these supposedly masters of the universe, emphasis on the word masters in their own mind, can't get it through their own heads about what is, or is not offensive. And it's because as you said, they're leaning in that direction in the first place and they resent the fact they can't do what their great grandfathers were able to do, I think they say to themselves, why am I denied what previous generations of my white forefathers were able to do and that in and of itself offends them.

David Smith Jr: 
Yeah. I mean, and if we want to talk about a very long history, there's a long history of white men having trouble with the word no. When it comes to a lot of things. And part of becoming a white billionaire quite frankly, is not taking no for an answer no matter who it harms. And that comes to a head in these situations and that’s exactly what we saw with Robert Sarver 

Lebron James wasn’t wrong, Boston has a long history and present with racism

Lebron James has once again caused a stir throughout the sports world. I’m not talking about his 42 point performance at The Drew League, or the rumors of him being in favor of a reunion with Kyrie Irving with the Los Angeles Lakers, this was as a result the apparent outrage he caused for the fan base in Boston. During the most recent episode of HBO’s The Shop, Lebron James answered the question of, “Why do you hate Boston?” James responded with 

“Because they’re racist as %¥£& 

Upon hearing news of Lebron’s statement, many didn’t exactly consider this “Breaking News”, as Boston has historically had a rich history of being exactly what Lebron James described. However, there were a large amount of Boston fans who took to social media to take exception to Lebron’s generalization of the entire city. But was he wrong ? 

You don’t exactly have to get Dr. Emmett Brown and his time machine and the Delorian with the 1.21 jiggawatts to go back in time to the 60’s when Bill Russell described his racist encounters with Boston fans. Plenty of professional athletes from every sport have made public their recent racist encounters in Boston. 

Former Boston Celtic Dee Brown his rookie year was physically snatched out of his car and ordered to lay on the ground with a gun pointed at him by Boston police while driving in a white neighborhood. The police later claimed that he “resembled a suspect”  

https://apnews.com/article/a34620ecfa0605c35908d7f1b858b427

This falls right in line with recent data collected from the Boston Police Department that unveiled 

Seventy percent of people stopped by Boston Police officers through the department’s “Field Interrogation and Observation” program throughout were Black — even though Black residents comprise less than one quarter of the city’s population.

https://www.wgbh.org/news/local-news/2020/06/12/black-people-made-up-70-percent-of-boston-police-stops-department-data-show

Montreal defenceman P.K. Subban, was vocal about racist tweets and comments social media from Boston fans following his winning goal in the 4-3 double-overtime playoff win over Boston in the playoffs. This wasn’t a case of fans simply being upset their team lost, this was racial epithets being specifically targeted against a Black player. 

https://thehockeynews.com/news/habs-bruins-denounce-fans-who-made-racist-comments-towards-subban-on-social-media

Baltimore Orioles outfielder Adam Jones told reporters that he had racial epithets hurled at him for an entire game by Boston fans. 

“A disrespectful fan threw a bag of peanuts at me,” Jones said, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. “I was called the N-word a handful of times tonight.”

“It’s unfortunate that people need to resort to those type of epithets to degrade another human being,” Jones added. “I’m trying to make a living for myself and for my family.”

https://www.si.com/mlb/2017/05/02/orioles-adam-jones-red-sox-fans-racist-taunts

Former Boston Celtic and current point guard for the Brooklyn Nets Kyrie Irving was vocal about various encounters he has had with the fans of Boston. Irving didn’t give any specific examples to reporters, but rather imported fans at TD Gardens to keep it “strictly basketball” 

Celtics guard Marcus Smart seemingly supported Irving’s comments. Back in Oct. 2020, he penned an article for The Player’s Tribune, detailing an encounter with a white woman in Boston. Smart told the story of a time he attempted to be a Good Samaritan and tell a white woman, who was actually wearing a Celtics jersey, to be careful walking in the street as she was in the direct line of oncoming traffic, but instead of thanking him, the woman turned around and hurled a racial epithet directly at him. 

“I’ve heard a couple of them,” Smart said ahead of Game 3 in 2021, according to Jay King of The Athletic. “It’s kind of sad and sickening because even though it’s an opposing team, we have guys on your home team that you’re saying these racial slurs and you’re expecting us to go out there and play for you.”

So to those who were unaware, yes racism is definitely alive and thriving in the city of Boston, but is it fair to label the entire city of Boston as racist ? 

I interviewed the Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell in my book We Matter “Athletes And Activism” and this is what he told me, 

“Well, one thing you have to always remember is that the majority of the country are decent folks. The majority of white people are decent folks. And I was always very careful not to stereotype people based on the actions of a few, or a little more than a few, as was the case in Boston…… A lot of the stuff that went on, I knew they were individual acts and not a reflection of everybody in Boston. I see many people today who who really believe that Black folks are responsible for all of the actions of other Black folks, and that’s just ridiculous. And it’s just as crazy for me to think that all white people were responsible for the ones that treated me and my family so poorly, broke into my house, and destroyed my property for no reason at all…… but just because I said that I don’t put all white people in the same boat doesn’t mean I don’t still recognize that too many white people looked at me as less than, and no matter what they thought, I wasn’t about to allow them to treat me as less than”

Powerful words by a giant in NBA history and one of the great athlete activists the game has ever seen. 

Celtics guard Jaylen Brown also addressed Kyrie Irving’s comments, but also brought light to the fact that racism extends far beyond the borders of athletics in Boston. During Jaylen Brown’s media availability prior to Boston’s Game 3 win over Brooklyn, he spoke about systemic racism in the city of Boston and to Bill Russell’s point that every Boston fan isn’t racist….

“I don’t think we should have to put up with that, and I don’t think that’s Ok…..

“I think that racism should be addressed, and systemic racism should be addressed in the city of Boston and also the United States……The constructs of racism in our school system, inequality in education, lack of opportunity, lack of affordable housing, lack of affordable health care, tokenism, the list goes on. 

“I know that every Celtics fan in our arena is not a racist. We have people of all walks of life, ethnicities, colors, that are die-hard Celtics fans. So I think painting every Celtics fan as a racist would be unfair. However, Boston, we’ve got a lot of work to do, no question.”

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/31529162/boston-celtics-jaylen-brown-spotlights-systematic-racism-says-bigger-basketball

So in conclusion, yes Boston has a very long history and present when it comes to racism, but it’s not everybody. Hopefully the non racist white people of Boston will be inspired to prove Lebron wrong and will become filled with the moral courage and feel obligated to no longer remain silent in the face of being surrounded by prevalent racism both systemically and on the personal level such as Boston fans yelling racial epithets at players. Hopefully, the non racist white people of Boston will become agents of change, equality, justice and unity. As Angela Davis said, 

“In a racist society, it’s not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist” 

David Aldridge, Marc Spears, & Etan Thomas debate Kyrie Irving demonization by the media

David Aldridge, Marc Spears, & Etan Thomas debate Kyrie Irving demonization by the media 

Nobody had been more vocal over the past few years about Kyrie Irving than Stephen A Smith. Here are a few quotes from him 

“Kyrie Irving is saying basketball is not a priority to me…..Kyrie Irving until you want to play, you should retire. Forfeit every penny you make, retire, and go do what you wanna do in regard to these issues that are clearly most important to you” 

https://youtu.be/z81VQBtWnYU

“We are witnessing one of the most delusional athletes in American history. He’s lost…What it comes down to Kyrie is you don’t want to show up to work. You wanna do what you wanna do, when you wanna do it, how you wanna do it, and then you have your hand out for somebody else’s money. 

https://youtu.be/cxJDlNsXYZI

These takes which have been repeatedly expressed by Stephen A Smith and those of his ilk for the past few years have sparked a national wide demonization of Kyrie Irving. 

I sat down with two media giants that I have a great deal of respect for David Aldridge and Marc Spears of ESPN for a debate about the ongoing rift with NBA players and media, the contrast between the old media and new media, what the role of the media should be, and what real effects talking heads like Stephen A Smith, Skip Bayless, Nick Wright, and those of their ilk have on the entire basketball world. Although we disagreed for the majority of the discussion, this was a healthy debate with different perspectives presented. This is the way discussions/debates should be. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix8XD_4t3R0

Etan: I’ll agree with both of you that the majority of the media, whatever bucket you want to include everyone in, do not conduct themselves like Stephen A Smith, or Skip Bayless or Nick Wright or those of that ilk. But they are the loudest voices. And those are the voices that you hear everyday. And those loud voices drive not only the masses of sports fans, but it also impacts the way that journalists write their articles 

Marc Spears: Let me stop you right quick. You mentioned that other news outlet earlier (Fox News) they present their misinformation as facts whereas (Nick) Wright and (Stephen A) Smith, they’re just speaking on sports and giving their opinion 

Etan: But they are presenting their opinions as though they are facts. Honestly, Stephen A Smith has the same power over the masses that Tucker Carlson has over the Right. They’ll say all the time that Tucker Carlson is not a real journalist, he’s not a real member of the media, but he still has the same media power over the minds of the masses 

Marc Spears: Stephen A doesn’t conjur racism 

Etan: I’m not talking about the topic, I’m talking about the level of power and influence. 

Aldridge: Etan for the sake of the discussion,  I’ll accept your comparison. If the argument is these people are on TV everyday therefore, they have a lot of power, therefore, their opinions carry weight. But I will come back to again, with who ? (Laughing) who do they carry all of this weight with ? 

Etan: With the entire sports world 

Aldridge: But Etan, I would have to disagree with you because it’s not the entire sports world because the entire sports world would include team owners, team general managers, head coaches, players. And nobody has gotten more bad criticism as of late than Kyrie. Let’s use Kyrie Irving as an example. Kyrie just opted in for 37 million dollars and guess what ? When he’s a free agent next year, somebody else is going to give him a big contract. Might be Brooklyn, might not be. But somebody is going to give Kyrie some more paper to play 

Etan: You don’t think the narrative that has been repeated by those like Stephen A Smith and those of that ilk has hurt the entire image of Kyrie ? Going from this past year, let’s examine why he was sitting out. During the pandemic and he didn’t want to take the vaccine. He was uncomfortable with the vaccine which a large portion of the country was as well. I had a different conclusion than he had, but I respect his conclusion. Everybody was ok with it until …… he started missing games. Then it was like wait a minute now, we can’t have this. Then you had Stephen A Smith saying oh he doesn’t want to play, oh he doesn’t respect the game and that started creating a narrative where the entire pendulum started to shift completely on Kyrie 

Aldridge: Do you believe Etan, if I say I can agree with you on Stephen A Smith voicing his opinion, do you think nobody on the Brooklyn Nets had the same opinion ? Do you think the Brooklyn Nets were saying to themselves yea we would love for Kyrie to play but we respect his position on the vaccine ? 

Etan: But nobody on the Brooklyn Nets were carrying the narrative publicly that he was abandoning his team. So once you have a Stephen A Smith who says that repeatedly, then you have journalists who start repeating what Stephen A Smith said, in their articles. Then you have an entire narrative that permeates throughout the entire country. 

Aldridge: Etan, I will humbly submit to you that there were a lot of people within the Brooklyn organization who had the exact same position 

Etan: I’m not talking about that, I’m saying they weren’t saying it publicly 

Aldridge: Their focus was they needed Kyrie to win, they were trying to win championships 

Etan: Of course 

Aldridge: Ok so that’s my point, they didn’t want to say it publicly but that didn’t mean they didn’t have the opinion. The inference is that only journalists had this opinion no a lot of people had this opinion. They said it yes, but that doesn’t mean that other people didn’t have the same opinion 

Marc Spears: A lot of people had the same opinion, I just think Stephen A was just probably loudest with it 

Aldridge: So if lots of people had the same opinion….

Etan: I think you’re still discounting the power of the pen whether it’s the power of the pen or the microphone that Stephen A Smith and those of that ilk have. There is power in it, so when you repeat something over and over again there is power in it 

Aldridge: Ok there’s power in it, I’m saying the impact of the power I believe is far less, and look we all love sports, we all make our living in sports, all of us love writing, talking, thinking about sports, we’re all fans of sports. But, it’s not the same I don’t believe the power of say the political media. The political press to shape agendas, where a legacy media like the New York Times has an outsized influence on the way the rest of the political press covers things, because people still read the New York Times everyday. That’s way different than I would suggest, any talking head on one of the sports debate shows. Do they have influence ? Yes. Do they have some ephemeral type of power and influence over a certain segment of the population? I would agree. I would again say what is the impact of that power on a player ? I would say does it help shape perception of a player ? Yes it does. I would agree with you. It does help shape perception of a player 

Etan: But you don’t think the perception of a player has any impact on a GM, or a President, or a Team, that’s what you’re telling me ? 

Aldridge: I would ask you, if you were talking about, who has the worst reputation in pro basketball right now ? I don’t have an answer I’m asking you ? Who do you think has, based on the “media’s” shaping of their perception ? Who has the worst reputation right now ? Kyrie ? Maybe it’s Kyrie. Let’s say for the sake of the discussion it’s Kyrie Irving because of people have killing him because of the vaccine and a lot of other things, let’s just say Kyrie has the worst reputation right now in the NBA. He’s going to be a free agent next year. I defy you to tell me that he’s not going to get paid next year, regardless of this perception of him. If you’re gonna tell me that Kyrie is going to have to take the minimum next year, I would tell you that you are incorrect. Kyrie will not be playing for the minimum

Etan: Thats fair enough, but if you tell me that if he was an unrestricted free agent this year and the narrative that has been created around him wouldn’t have impacted what teams sign him for, I would have to respectfully disagree 

Marc Spears: If he can play he can play and will get paid period 

Aldridge: Talent wins out Etan you know that 

Etan: But listen, Stephen A Smith has been drumming only sign him for a year, one year contract, don’t sign him long term, teams beware, etc etc so you’re gonna tell me that if Kyrie was an unrestricted free agent after hearing this constantly from people like Stephen A Smith, that teams would not be a little more hesitant to sign him for a long term deal than they would for a year which Stephen A Smith has been repeating over and over and over again ? That’s what you’re telling me ? It would have no effect whatsoever? 

Aldridge: At some point Etan, the player has to have some responsibility. Yes it’s the vaccine this time, and I’m not questioning his motivation or reasoning, but let’s be honest, he took off games the year before. He just took games off. Now maybe he needed to, I’m not saying he’s wrong to do it. I’m just saying in the middle of the season, he said I need to take a few games off. Ok that’s fine, but there is impact with that Etan. 

Etan: But you do understand the double edged sword here when you have an NBA who is embracing mental health in certain aspects 

Aldridge: I’m not saying he was wrong to do it 

Etan: But this is what I’m saying, there’s a narrative that is created by the media. If the narrative created was that Kyrie was a champion for mental health, and why it’s so important to take care of your mental health to continue the longevity of your …… if that whole narrative was pushed that way, then the entire perception would’ve been different if the games that he took off because he said he needed a break 

Aldridge: But it works both ways Etan. When Kyrie said that we shouldn’t go to the bubble, I think a lot of people in the media applauded him for that. A lot of journalists applauded him for thinking about something other than basketball. He was saying we should use this platform that we have in the wake of George Floyd, maybe we should use that for something else other than playing games. Now, I’m not saying that everyone agreed with that, but a lot of people in “the media” as you put it, applauded him 

Etan: But also a lot of people in the media and I actually wrote about this, 

https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-rumors-boycott-stephen-a-smith-espn-etan-thomas-protest-kyrie-irving-avery-bradley-dwight-howard-charles-barkley

but a lot of media talking heads called Kyrie dumb, said it was the stupidest thing they ever heard. And this is exactly what the player’s issue is when they say new media/old media. It’s the specific language that is used in order to critique someone 

College Coaches Danny Manning and Nolan Smith discuss transfer portal

Once upon a time, (actually not too long ago) a college athlete transferring from school to school was an anomaly, mostly due to the fact that said player would have to sit out a year before joining his new team, a penalty put in place to deter it from happening. Those days are over as a new system has been put in place which has resulted in over 1,000 names currently being in the transfer portal. 

This has created much discussion and debate on if this is in fact a good system to have for college basketball.

There can be many determining factors for a student-athlete having the desire to leave a University.  For instance, they could be being mistreated by a coach, something that happens far more often than many are aware of. Maybe the athlete and their families simply believe their son or daughter’s talents would be better utilized elsewhere, maybe they are homesick and want to go to a college closer to home and they need that familial support for their mental well being. Or if their coach leaves for greener pastures and their commitment, comfortability and connection was with that coach who will no longer be there. 

Another rising phenomenon is if the player is at a smaller school and has a successful season or a big tournament run and has the opportunity to transfer to a bigger school. Case in point, St Peter’s Doug Edert. His school had an amazing March Madness run, had the entire country rooting for them as underdogs, they made it to the elite eight (the first No. 15 seed to do so) and his coach Shaheen Holloway leaves to take a job with his alma mater Seton Hall. Why shouldn’t he be able to leave to a bigger school with a bigger opportunity and platform ? 

This has been a very controversial topic from the moment it was implemented. Some hold the position that players should have the freedom to easily transfer schools in order to find the best fit for them (just like coaches do) While others believe that athletes be required to “honor their commitment” to school and retain the negative consequences of the past ie sitting out a year or losing a year of eligibility in order to deter this from becoming the widespread situation that is currently is. 

I sat down with college coaches Nolan Smith former assistant coach for Duke now assistant for Louisville, and Danny Manning former interim head coach for Maryland, current associate head coach Louisville, to see what their thoughts are on this topic.

Etan Thomas: What are your overall thoughts on the transfer portal ? 

Nolan Smith: My initial thoughts were that if a coach can leave a kid after they’ve recruited that kid and promised him and his family that he will be their coach for the duration of his college experience, why shouldn’t the players be able to. But now, obviously you’re seeing kids at different colleges and universities, and they’re not sticking around for a long time, and you’re wondering why isn’t this kid staying. So a few things here, A. kids together with their parents, need to start making better decisions about the schools they’re choosing. We’re dealing with a lot of transfers here now, and we’re seeing that a lot of kids are coming in beaten down mentally and emotionally. So if that’s leading to the transfer, I have no issue with a player removing himself or herself from an unhealthy situation. But, I will also say, they need to do a better job of doing their homework first. Don’t rush decisions. If you ask the questions that need to be asked and really do your homework on a lot of these coaches, you will know which coaches you need to stay away from no matter how much they wine and dine you while they’re recruiting you. 

Etan: I definitely agree with that. Some of these coaches present a false image of themselves and their program during recruiting and the kid gets there and they see they were lied to, but like you said, that’s where you have to do your homework. Ask around, research. Ask the non starters on the team how the coach treats them, ask former players like really research 

Nolan Smith: Exactly, you have to do your research before. But also let me say this, sometimes, parents and players don’t have patience. They want everything to happen immediately and it doesn’t always work like that. You know, sometimes there is a process. Some players come in with a preconceived notion that they should be one and done, or two and done, and things don’t always work out according to your plan. Sometimes you gotta be patient and your time will come. 

Etan: Did y’all have a lot of transfers at Duke while you were there ? I’m trying to remember, because we had a lot at Syracuse. And all for different reasons but a lot of turnover happening all over 

Nolan Smith: We brought in a couple. We loss two kids who were playing a good amount of minutes their freshman year. It worked out for one of them, the other is basically playing the same amount of minutes he was playing with us and same position. But yea, we were losing guys just like every other program, 2-3 a year I would say 

Etan: Do you think it’s getting almost like AAU where guys just leave situations regularly and do you think that’s good for the game as a whole ? 

Nolan Smith: It’s definitely becoming a fad. You see starters transferring. Or you factor in NIL deals and a kid may be in a mid major averaging 20, and he could stay there and the next year maybe average 25 and improve every aspect of his game, but he can transfer to a bigger market an ACC, or Big 10 school and has the opportunity to get a bigger NIL deal in a bigger market and I understand that as well. Not everyone will be turning pro so capitalizing on their earning potential is their ceiling so you have to factor that in as well 

Etan: That’s a great point. Does it make it difficult to build your program when there is so much turnover.

Nolan Smith: It’s extremely difficult. Ok so at Duke, we were planning on recruiting four, but then you have to factor in the two transfers so how you’re recruiting six. So you have to either go out and get a grad transfer or the portal,  so now you’re bringing in six new guys to the team, so that’s in essence starting over. I think lot of teams are going straight transfer portal. We saw in the tournament against Arkansas and Texas Tech, we’re playing some old veteran grad transfer led teams. They were really good and really old. But I’m sure there was a lot of team building things they had to do with a whole new team. 

Etan: Do you think that hurts the overall college game or do you think that helps it ? 

Nolan: I think overall I would say yes because teams are rebuilding every year it’s essentially AAU. And as a fan of the game, you’re not getting to know the players and see them grow and really root for them because you’re gonna have a whole new group of players the next season. Now, let me be clear, I am an advocate for athletes and them having the freedom and flexibility to move as they do choose. But, there are some aspects from a coaching standpoint and from a fan standpoint that does make it problematic 

Etan: I definitely understand that, and at the same time like you opened up with, it allows a player not to feel trapped so to speak where they’re with a coach who isn’t who the player thought he was when he recruited him and they’re not trapped there 

Nolan Smith: Definitely 100%. With all the problems and issues and concerns, it always comes back down to that. If these head coaches are not treating these young men and young women right, they need to have the freedom to leave. So much goes on that people have no idea about, of coaching abusing their power, literally tormenting players both mentally and emotionally, or playing mind games with them, holding their scholarship over their head or playing time over their head, so now, they can’t do that because a player has the option to leave without penalty or repercussion and they can no longer have that power over them so at the end of the day, it always comes back down to that. 

Etan Thonas: Do you think the transfer portal is getting out of hand ? There are over 1,000 players currently in it 

Danny Manning: Regardless of what anyone thinks about the transfer portal, the fact is it’s here. And we have to now navigate with this being the new reality. It’s a part of college sports and it’s going to be here whether people complain about it or not. I’m a fan of the portal, there are a lot of things that do go into it. Of course you have to do your research, and see why a guy is transferring, you definitely don’t want to recruit any problem players, but sometimes, things just simply didn’t work out in their previous situation and they are looking for a better fit, a better opportunity. And there is something to be said about having the ability from a coaching standpoint to bring in a player who has some college experience who can help out your team immediately. I do think there are more people in the portal than there are scholarships available, but that’s a whole nother issue. 

Etan: Yes that definitely is a problem. How does the portal help or hurt the recruiting process ? 

Danny Manning: Well, again from a coaches perspective, it helps. Let me give you an example. Back in the day, the recruiting process could drag on and on but now with the portal, it widens the pool so it would be in the player’s best interest not to drag his process out because that position has a higher potential of being filled. Of course the top top high school athletes may be in a different situation, but for the majority of the high school players, they can’t let it drag out and enjoy the recruiting process and waste a lot of coaches time when they aren’t really interested in that particular school. So now the pressure is turned up quite a bit on that player making his decision because the pool has widened with the addition of the transfer portal. 

Etan: So from the standpoint of you recruiting other players, you like it. But what about from the standpoint of you retaining your players and your roster ? It seems like a lot of guys are leaving who are rotation players, starters even. Has that become problematic ? 

Danny Manning:  Yes that’s definitely problematic, but that’s part of what we’re dealing with in this new reality of the transfer portal. There are players who are in pretty good roles and pretty good situations who feel that they want to be in better roles and better situations. And they have a right to exhaust those avenues. The days of putting together a college team, with the mindset of when we were in school, of bringing in this high school player and this young player is going to develop and get better over time, that’s almost out the window. We’re putting together teams now like a professional organization on a year to year basis. 

Etan: And you don’t see it going backwards ? Initially, I thought it was more that the NCAA decided to allow players the freedom to transfer without having to sit out because of covid, at least that’s what I thought. But you keep referring to it as the “new reality” or “new normal” so you think it’s here to stay ? 

Danny Manning: I do, I don’t think they can backtrack at this point once they’ve given it to them. They opened Pandora’s box now, so that’s why I keep referring to it as the new reality because college basketball as we once new it where a player transferring was an aberration is no more. It’s going to be the norm moving forward. 

Etan: In your opinion, does the transfer portal make it harder for high school players due to the fact that like you said in your beginning statement, colleges now have the opportunity to recruit an experienced player now. So does the portal hurt high school players ? 

Danny Manning: Definitely. For that reason alone. You’re a college coach and sometimes you want someone who has already been through the rigors of college, who understands the academic piece, and understands navigating all of the other responsibilities that you have to handle as a college athlete. A lot of times, it takes Freshman awhile to adjust to that process. They’re away from home, they get homesick, Freshman blues, but just overall adjusting to life on your own and handling your business. So the level of maturity is typically already there with a transfer player because they’ve already been through it. My advice to a high school kid who is being recruited and they feel like this college is a good fit for them, my advice to them is jump on your offer and claim it right away, because that portal changes the game. I know with social media high school players like to post and tweet that they received an offer from this school and that school and let the process drag out, well, with the transfer portal, you’re going to see high school players lose offers they once had and a coach is going to call them and say that scholarship is no longer available because we decided to sign a player from the transfer portal because you were dragging your feet to make a decision. High School players need to understand that this is a business, and they need to treat it as such, and with the transfer portal, they’re actually at a disadvantage and that’s just the reality of this new norm 

WNBA players changed US politics in Georgia. NBA stars can do the same in Texas

Last year for Martin Luther King Jr Day, I interviewed a group of WNBA players along with Eric Garner’s daughter, Emerald. We spoke about their campaign to unseat Republican Kelly Loeffler, who had been part of the leadership group of the Atlanta Dream, from the US Senate. With the players’ help, the outside candidate Raphael Warnock beat Loeffler giving Democrats control of the Senate.

That election in Georgia was an excellent example of how athletes can cause real change. But, as we mark MLK Day on Monday, there are plenty of signs the struggle is far from over. We’ve just passed the first anniversary of the 6 January riots, when a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol. The subsequent investigation into the riots was a chance to address the extremism that is poisoning US society. But Republicans have attempted to block the inquiry, while politicians and the rightwing media who fanned the flames have not been held accountable.

We have also just watched the sentencing of the three white men who murdered a young Black man, Ahmaud Arbery, in cold blood while he was out jogging. And while justice was eventually served, we should remember that prosecutors failed to act until two months after the killing, when video of the murder was leaked, touching off international outcry.

It’s fair to say that America still has a long way to go until it is a safe and just place for all.

How the WNBA helped the Democrats take control of the US Senate

WNBA players caused real change last year in Georgia and their NBA peers made an impact after the murder of George Floyd in the summer of 2020. John Wall, Bradley Beal, Russell Westbrook, Jaylen Brown, Enes Kanter and the Ball brothers were among the dozens of NBA players who attended and spoke at Black Lives Matter marches. Carmelo Anthony, Dwayne Wade and Chris Paul founded the NBA Social Change Fund, which aims to support critical issues in the Black community.

But now it’s time to take it a step further. And the NBA could and should use the WNBA as a blueprint to follow. I have even identified a place where they could make an important impact: Texas. Lee Merritt, who served as one of the lawyers for the Arbery family, is running for attorney general in the second-most populous state in the United States. He would be the most powerful legal figure in a state where battles over racial justice, policing, immigration and voting rights are being fought every day.

In my new book, Police Brutality And White Supremacy: The Fight Against American Traditions, I interviewed politicians, athletes, activists and educators as well as victims (and their family members) of police brutality. Many of these people said fighting for laws to be changed is a vital part of changing the status quo. And while many have grown understandably tired of the voting process, local elections stand as one of the best methods to take a serious step in the right direction of justice.

And there is no doubt Merritt is committed to justice. “The reason I am moving into the political spectrum is … that we still exist in the deadliest police culture in the modern world. Other countries have done it better. Other countries that we compare ourselves with. We’re in last place in terms of policing our communities without resorting to violence,” he told me on my podcast, The Rematch.

“We need a better policy, and we’ve talked about it long enough. Now that we know the truth, let’s stop turning a blind eye to it and pursue policies that will actually lead to long term systemic change. And I believe that means having constitutional attorneys like myself assume the role of attorney general. And not only myself but Letitia James in New York, Keith Ellison in Minnesota, Kwame Raoul in Illinois.”

He also acknowledged the tremendous role the NBA could play in achieving real change.

“Members of the NBA have the opportunity, they have the position to really have an impact on how we pursue policy not only in the state of Texas but throughout the country and the voices of the NBA are critically important to that,” he said.

“We’re asking for the NBA, and everyone else with a platform to join us in this movement because we can really change this country for the better.”

He has a great point. Last year, WNBA players showed the power of athletes’ voices. Imagine what prominent Texas NBA players, executives and coaches such as Mark Cuban, Jason Kidd, Gregg Popovich, Tim Hardaway Jr and Luka Doncic (or indeed NFL players like Dallas Cowboys stars Ezekiel Elliott and Dak Prescott) could do if they endorsed Merritt?

Slogans on jerseys calling for justice are all well and good. But if NBA players could make a difference in the election for a role as important as Texas attorney general, it would be huge a boost in the fight for justice in the United States.

Lee Merritt: The NBA could impact public policy and elections

Civil Rights attorney Lee Merritt discusses the power and influence the NBA has, and can continue to have — if the NBA continues using its platform, voices and resources to fight for justice. 

Lee Merritt is one of the attorneys for Ahmaud Arbery’s family — a 25-year-old black man who was murdered while on a run near Brunswick, in Glynn County, Georgia. A verdict of life imprisonment was just announced in the case, in which three men were convicted of murdering Arbery. While Lee Merritt is definitely relieved about the verdict, we discuss the long road ahead to achieve justice and equality for all. Merritt is running for attorney general in Texas and I would love to see the NBA duplicate what the WNBA did, when they threw their support behind Raphael Warnock, an Atlanta-area pastor who was running as a Democrat at the time for (and would eventually win) one of Georgia’s seats in the U.S. Senate. 

This was a great discussion.

Etan Thomas: So this time last year, I interviewed a group of WNBA players, [including] Renee Montgomery and Elizabeth Williams, who both played for the Atlanta Dream at the time, [as well as] Tierra Ruffin-Pratt, Angel McCoughtry — and Eric Garner's daughter, Emerald. And we discussed what the WNBA did to galvanize support for Raphael Warnock, and ultimately get him in office and Kelly Loeffler out of office. And it was really amazing. Because for one, Raphael Warnock was polling at 9% before the WNBA got involved. And he won — in Georgia, of all places. 

So I want to see how we can galvanize the NBA to duplicate that with you, as you're running for attorney general in the state of Texas. So that's why I reached out to you to have this interview with you. I've been following you for a long time and I'm a big fan of the work that you do. And so, I'm going to send this interview to the NBA, to the NBA Social Change Fund.

Which, for those that aren't familiar, it was birthed out of the Bubble season. After the NBA players went on strike, after Jacob Blake was shot multiple times in broad daylight, in front of his children. The NBA Social Change Fund was formed by Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade, and is aimed to support critical issues in the black community.

So that's why after speaking to Allisa Charles-Findley, who is Botham Jean's sister — and I actually interviewed her for my new book, “Police Brutality and White Supremacy: The Fight Against American Traditions.”

She was one of the people I interviewed, along with Atatiana Jefferson's family, who I know that you work with as well — so we came up with the idea of conducting this interview with you, to try to galvanize that support from the NBA. Some people are like, "Alright, you usually do basketball stuff. Why are you interviewing a politician right now?" But that's the reason why. So thank you for taking this time.

Lee Merritt: "Sure, I really appreciate that. During most of my career, I've enjoyed the support of the National Basketball Association. I can recall in 2017, a young man named Jordan Edwards was slain in Balch Springs, Texas. 

"It was in the middle of the NBA playoffs — and Steve Kerr, who had suffered family tragedy as well, identified with that family, reached out, invited them to the playoff games [and] got his brothers to take their mind off of it for a bit.

"I actually used to coach basketball myself. I was a coach down at South Atlanta High School. I coached Derrick Favors, I coached against Cousins and Walls* when they were high school students. And I enjoy a relationship with them today, continuing to give back to the community of Atlanta.

"And yeah, the names that you mentioned that you work with, Chris Paul has supported the work and the families I represent. Dwyane Wade and his wife, Gabrielle Union, [have] been major, major supporters over the course of my career.

"And, just as I transition away from representing one family at a time and start talking about representing larger groups of people and going towards policies, I certainly think the NBA can play a major role — in not only the success of the campaign, but championing some of those issues that we're fighting for on a case-by-case basis, and taking it to one of the biggest states in the country and really impacting national policy."

Etan: So, let me ask you to review some of the cases that you've worked with before, and the people that you've represented. We could start off with Ahmaud Arbery.

Merritt: "Sure. I came to represent the Ahmaud Arbery family before the video was released of his brutal slaying in South Georgia. Many [...] will recall that he was a South Georgia jogger. On February 23, 2020, he was targeted by three white men who have now been each convicted of murder, and are facing life sentences in the state of Georgia, as well as federal hate crime charges.

"I've also represented... Unfortunately, the list of families that I've represented is quite extensive. I represent over 67 families who have suffered misuse of force, that lost a loved one, as a result of the deadliest police culture in the world. Some of the names that your viewers may have heard of.

"You mentioned [...] Atatiana Jefferson. 

"Of course, that case is ongoing. Botham Jean, who was an accountant eating a bowl of ice cream in his own apartment complex. 

"Jemel Roberson was a security guard in Chicago. Had just stopped a mass shooting, and was shot in the back by a police officer who must have mistook him for a gunman. 

"Sean Monterrosa in California.

"But the bulk of my work has been in Texas. I represent Damian Daniels, a veteran shot to death in his home. 

"Pamela Turner in the Houston area. 

"And like I said, we could probably spend the rest of this podcast going through the list of names."

Etan: Wow! So now you're running for attorney general in Texas. And for those that don't know, what exactly are the responsibilities of an attorney general?

Merritt: "The attorney general of Texas, and an attorney general in any state, is the legal voice for the people. They're supposed to serve as the spokesperson for what justice is in a municipality. And so we've seen it, in cases like Breonna Taylor, where we had a really bad attorney general interfere with accountability in that case, in the form of Daniel Cameron. We've seen the opposite end of that spectrum with Keith Ellison and the work that he's done in Minnesota. Prosecuting the officers responsible for the death of George Floyd and, most recently, Daunte Wright.

"But even beyond the criminal justice aspect, the attorney general’s office, particularly in the state of Texas, impacts virtually every aspect of Texas life. So property taxes, school protection. And we've heard a lot recently in the news about the CRT [Critical Race Theory] scam, where they're trying to erase entire portions of our history in the name of not getting anyone upset.

"From the border crisis, to really economic empowerment in our schools. There's so many businesses that are attempting to get off the ground, but don't have access to the kind of governmental loans and support that our white counterparts do.

"All of those things run through the attorney general's office. It's a very, very influential office. More or less the second-in-command in the state of Texas."

Etan: Now, Ken Paxton, [is] who you would be running against, and who is the current attorney general — and has been since 2015. I want to talk about the stark differences between the two of you, because it's really night and day.

But I want to start off with this, because the Jan. 6 insurrection [anniversary] is upon us. And you know, I'm looking at him, looking at the footage, and I see him at a rally right before the insurrection, almost like leading the charge. Explain to me, let's start off with there, about the stark differences between you and Ken Paxton.

Merritt: "Well, there is a clear contrast. You know, Texas was in the national news because of [its] unique voter suppression laws. They passed some laws that would make it more difficult for the black and brown people in the state, people with disabilities and marginalized communities to vote.

"It was so upsetting that certain members of the Texas legislature left the state and went to DC — refused to participate in that session in order to fight for voting rights. Now, I was present with them. I thought that was a fight worth standing with people for, providing both legal advice and strategies, working with the labor community and others to take on voting issues in Texas.

"By contrast, the last sort of infamous trip of the attorney general, the current attorney general, to our nation's capital was on Jan. 6. And we don't know exactly what he did there, because he has not participated in an ongoing investigation in terms of his potential criminal liability for helping to incite a riot.

"But he was very publicly on camera, encouraging the soon-to-be riders and insurrectionists that the election was stolen, that they had a responsibility to fight. And he invoked the name of Texas when he did it. He said, "You all should fight, because Texans fight." And he laid out that he had fought to overturn the results of the free and fair election. And yeah, that's our top legal position in the state, advocating for the overthrow of our government."

---------------

We then went on to discuss particular differences between him and Ken Paxton such as his position on education, police reform, border, gun training before owning a gun, and we cleared up the misconceptions on CRT, being anti-police vs. anti-police brutality, Second Amendment rights, etc.

----------————————————————

Etan: So let's go to the NBA, and how important it is for the NBA to continue to promote, to continue to use their platforms, to be able to — I mean, this is the thing. It's important to do that part. But now we have to take it a step further.

And I think the NBA has been doing a great job of promoting, raising awareness. You saw it all especially during the Bubble season, after the entire country was promoting and demonstrating and protesting what happened with George Floyd, what happened with Breonna Taylor [and] Ahmaud Arbery.

You saw John Wall and Bradley Beal here in D.C. leading protests. You saw all the Ball brothers, you saw Russell Westbrook in L.A. You saw Jaylen Brown and Enes Kanter Freedom too, in Boston — of course everything that LeBron was always doing.

But now it's like, it needs to be a step further, like the next step. And I think that you, with what you are trying to implement in Texas as the attorney general, is that next step. Because you have to be able to have someone in place that's on the right side of wanting to be able to create something that functions properly. So just talk about that, how this is like the next step that should happen. Along with [...] raising awareness and protesting and everything like that.

Merritt: "Yeah. I can recall, we were in the middle of the NBA playoffs when Jacob Blake was repeatedly shot in his back by a Milwaukee police officer. And I was watching the game, and Chris Paul had just gone off, sort of a historic performance.

"And they interviewed him right after the game. And they said, 'You know, Chris, you were playing...' I think he was playing his old team, the Houston Rockets. He was with the Oklahoma City Thunder [...], where Derrick Favors is currently.

"And they said, 'Tell us about this performance against your old team. You had a chance to really show them that you still got it.' And he said, 'Yeah, I don't really care about that. That's cool. And that's what I'm paid to do. But a law enforcement officer in my community has just shot someone in their back several times. He was unarmed and nonviolent. Let's talk about that.'

"I think it's on the players to stand up like Chris Paul did, and like you said, like people have done, in a systemic way across the National Basketball Association — where the pundits and the media might tell you, 'Could you just shut up and dribble.' We've heard that refrain before.

"It's important for the players to say, "No, actually I won't. This is my community. What's going on in our community, it's urgent. It's a crisis. It's not something that we want to put off for a later conversation or for the offseason. But where it happens, I'm going to stand up to it. And I will get involved in elections. And I will use my resources and time and attention to shine a light on these issues that must be addressed."

Etan: You know, it's interesting. In my book, “We Matter: Athletes and Activism” I interviewed Jahvaris Fulton, who is Trayvon Martin's brother. And in the interview, he told me how — and when he said this, it kind of threw me,  because I didn't expect him to say it — he said that if it weren't for NBA players and celebrities and everybody like that, talking about his brother, he didn't think that anybody would know his name. And I was like, "Wow, that's kind of strong. Why do you say that?"

So then he explained to me how, when Trayvon Martin was first killed, his family was trying to get the local news people to cover it and they didn't want to cover it. They said, "Okay, another young black man was killed. That's not newsworthy."

And I was like, "That's what they told you?" He said, "Yeah," he was like, "We don't have no evidence. We don't have no video of it. Just your word saying that he [was] killed, that's not newsworthy." And he gave a shout-out to Roland Martin and some of the black news people, who were covering it. But he said, "But no local news people wanted to cover it."

So then he said, "But then, LeBron James started talking about it. And Dwyane Wade started talking about it. And then the entire Miami Heat team posed in the hoodies." So then he said, "So then you had everybody like, 'Okay, what is this that LeBron James is discussing? And why is Dwyane Wade feeling so passionate about this, and talking about his kids, and about this case?' Then everybody started to gravitate towards it and cover it and everything like that."

But he said [...] before, they couldn't get anybody to cover it. And that's just... It's unfortunate that it is that way, because people should have a regard for human life anyway, without an athlete having to speak about it. However, the athlete speaking about it is what drew the attention — and that just shows where athletes have to continue to do that, continue to use your voice and your platform to be able to speak to these causes.

And also to take it a step further by having laws being changed, and people who are in positions to fight for laws being changed, like [you are]. You know what I mean? And running for attorney general — [who] are in positions to actually implement some things so these things don't just continue to keep happening.

Merritt: "Yeah. I can remember in 2016, we saw two high-profile officer-involved shootings back-to-back, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. It was the same weekend, and it was almost like a dark cloud being hanged over impacted communities. And if you and I saw each other on the street, we would make eye contact and say, 'You know, man, this is becoming too much.'

"Dallas had a protest — I was living in Dallas at the time. And they had a protest downtown, where we marched and we discussed what happened, and started to talk about organizing police reform. And at the end of that protest, a vigilante named Micah Xavier Johnson, targeted law enforcement officers and shot five police officers and a couple of civilians as well. And you could imagine the national outcry about Black Lives Matter, and how they put law enforcement lives at risk.

"And everyone began to ignore the fact that people were there for protesting peacefully about police violence — that was back-to-back and overwhelming. And while it was a tragedy for our entire community that law enforcement officers were targeted by Mr. Johnson, there was also an ongoing crisis in our community, that was the reason that all those people had gathered and made targets of themselves.

"And it was Dwyane Wade. LeBron was still, I think, in 2016, with the Miami Heat. So it was Wade and LeBron who came forward at the ESPY Awards that weekend and re-centered the conversation. And said, 'That's terrible what happened in Dallas, and we back the blue. We stand for the law enforcement officers.'

“But understand that our community is also under attack. And it's two sides of the same coin. We don't tolerate violence directed at law enforcement officers. And we cannot continue to tolerate violence directed at our community.

And it saved the national conversation so that we could get back to what had brought us all there in the first place. And so, yeah, members of the NBA have the opportunity, in [the] state of Texas, but [also] throughout the country, the voices of the NBA are critically important to that."

Orange alumni react to Syracuse-Georgetown game

Saturday afternoon, I had a great time at the Syracuse-Georgetown men's basketball game. It was great to see all the alumni in the house from both schools. I took pictures with Rony Seikaly, Dikembe Mutumbo, Patrick Ewing and Louis Orr, who was my assistant coach at Syracuse.

The Syracuse fans all showed love. (We have the best fans in college basketball by the way.) This rivalry has so much history, and although Georgetown unfortunately came out with the win, I had an overall wonderful time watching the game.

I reached out to some Syracuse alumni — Lazarus Sims, Arinze Onuaku, Ryan Blackwell and Preston Shumpert — to get reactions after the two-game, old-Big East matchups against Villanova and Georgetown. It still pains me that we are no longer in the Big East, and yes, I am still holding out hope that, one day, we will return to the conference we belong.

Here is what all four Orange alum had to say on the team.

Lazarus Sims 

Etan Thomas: How do you think we played against Villanova and Georgetown? 

Lazarus Sims: "They were both great games, but we didn’t have a consistent true point guard on the floor who put everyone in the right position. I’ll go back to when they won the championship in '03. Many people will say it was 'Melo [Anthony], it was Gerry [McNamara] — but really if you go back and watch the tournament, when they played their best, it was Billy Edelin who was the key. He put Gerry in his right position, the 2. In contrast to this team, against Villanova and Georgetown, when they put Symir [Torrence] in — who is a pass first point guard — it puts your shooters and your scorers in the right position. It puts Buddy [Boeheim] at the 3. It puts Joe Girard at the 2, and allows them to do what they do best. What we’re doing is forcing the 2-guard into [being] a point guard, so the flow isn’t there. It lasts for awhile, but it’s not sustainable."

Etan: I couldn’t agree more, and I like Symir. It’s crazy, I was watching [Seton Hall guard and 'Cuse transfer] Kadary Richmond play against Rutgers. And the way he was running the team, [he] put everyone in their positions first, then it opened it up for him especially in the first half.... then the second half, he focused on putting everyone in their positions. He should be in a Syracuse uniform. But I see him how I see Symir in [that] we need what he brings to the team and he needs to play more. What do you think? 

Sims: "Definitely, and you have to let him play through certain mistakes like you do with Joe [Girard]. We need what he does. The offense flows better with a Symir-type of point guard running the team. That’s no knock on Girard, it’s just not playing him to his strength."

Etan: Symir should be playing more, the same way Kadary should’ve been playing more last year.

Sims: You’ll get no argument from me. 

Etan: I saw the press conference after the Georgetown game, and Coach [Jim] Boeheim was saying the guys are worn down and they’re tired. And I’m thinking 'Well, you got guys on the bench ready to go.' The starters don’t have to play ironman minutes.

Sims: "You saw with Symir, he got in [the game] at Georgetown. [He] made one mistake, and you didn’t see him anymore for the rest of the game. It’s hard to play like that. But we need what he brings, so we need to let him play through mistakes like we do the starters. I mean, let’s be honest, sometimes Girard struggles to get the ball up the floor because that’s not his strength. Well, we have someone on the bench whose strength that is, just like we did last year with Kadary. We gotta play guys to their strengths."

Arinze Onuaku 

Arinze Onuaku: "It’s totally different from when we were there because obviously, our responsibility was solely the paint area, so it’s odd seeing Jesse Edwards run from corner-to-corner. I know they switched the defense to the 1-3-1 [zone] at times and we know it’s the bottom man’s job to run corner-to-corner, but to have Jesse be that person, it does take him out of rebounding position."

Etan Thomas: And that’s the part that I question. I can see [that] if we had Quincy Guerrier still, but it’s seems like quite a bit to ask of the Boeheims to be the ones to crash the boards, but that’s our strategy. And we’ve been getting beaten pretty badly on the offensive rebounds, which is one of the reasons why I’m not the biggest fan of that strategy.

Onuaku: "Yeah, for sure and [Jesse] is exerting a lot of energy sprinting from corner-to-corner, three-point line to three-point line. That’s a lot to ask of the big man."

Etan: Now, I would like to see him get the ball more, and I feel he has earned the right to get the ball more with the way he has been converting. I want them to play inside-out, and that may be a lot to ask, but the entire half shouldn’t go by and he only gets the ball two times. That’s ridiculous.

Onuaku: "I agree. Any good team has to have balance, and he has been doing a much better job of finishing as well. I think it may take guys a little more time to trust him. He started off slow last year, and this year, so that trust factor from the guards is a factor. But as he continues to improve, I would expect that trust factor to increase."

Etan: But my problem with the trust issue is, they can jack up three-pointers and they can brick 90% of them and nobody loses trust in them. The big men get two or maybe three opportunities, and if you don’t convert or catch their pass, they don’t trust you?

Onuaku: "Yeah, the game is always gonna be unbalanced for big men. Jesse is going to have to speak up more, and as he produces more, they will have no choice but to give him the ball."

Etan: Yeah, that’s the story of being a big man. It was like that when I played and when you played. But that drag screen he does in early offense situation and [when] he rolls, I think that’s an easy high pass to him and he finishes. They just do that a few times every half. 

Onuaku: "I agree, and he has shown that he can catch it off the run and he does a great job of keeping the ball high and he has been scoring. So you’re right — they should definitely utilize him much more. And shout out to Frank Anselem, who came in and really attacked the rim and provided a spark off the bench. He’s someone we’re definitely going to need him down the stretch."

Ryan Blackwell 

Etan Thomas: You watched both the Villanova game and the Georgetown game. What was your assessment? 

Ryan Blackwell: "The Villanova game, we were right with them the first half. We were making shots, being aggressive, playing defense. Then the second half, it seemed like we just ran out of gas. Same thing with Georgetown; we were up [by] 10 at half, and we let them back in it. We’re gonna have to shoot lights out to win games. I know Buddy was struggling a little, but if he’s off and we’re gonna rely on Jimmy Boeheim to post-up or go 1-on-1 or Joe Girard to go 1-on-1, it’s gonna be tough. And if we’re not gonna get much from the bench... I mean, the first half against Georgetown we got good production, but [in] the second half, for whatever reason, the production just wasn’t there. Coach felt more comfortable going with his starters. And we faltered at the end, and that was unfortunate because it was a very winnable game."

Etan: I heard Coach Boeheim at the press conference say that the guys looked tired and worn down, but then I’m looking at the bench and they look pretty fresh to me. So I’m thinking, well coach, there’s a remedy for that. If the guys are tired and their shots [are] not falling, [they're] not closing out on defense, not getting back in transition, not rebounding, whatever — you have people on your bench who can help.

Blackwell: "You and I both know, coach relies heavily on his starters and that’s never going to change. And we know Benny Williams is extremely talented, but for whatever reason, he’s not getting the minutes. Yes, he’s young and he’s a rookie, and with coach, he has a formula that he has always stuck to. But yeah, it’s gonna be a real struggle for our starters to carry the full load."

Etan: I’m at the Georgetown game — you can see it better in person — and I saw Georgetown literally wearing our guys down. And then, utilizing their bench and getting fresh legs in there to wear our guys down even more. Aminu Mohammed, who is just a freshman, was a holy terror against us. And he would get a break, then come back in fresh and terrorize us some more. I mean, you can’t be surprised if guys are tired if they are playing ironman minutes, right? 

Blackwell: "Yeah, it’s tough. And yes, Buddy has improved so much, but he is being asked to do so much and carry the load offensively. And you’re right, it’s gonna wear on them as we get into the season. And you’re right, Georgetown was getting in our shorts and wearing us down. I can’t disagree with anything you said. And I worry about when we get into conference play, because it’s not going to get any easier for us at all. And it’s tough to knock down shots when you’re worn down, no matter how great of a shooter you are, and we have great shooters. But yeah, you’re right — hard to shoot threes when you’re worn down. We may need to look to incorporate some other options and alternatives to go along with that."

Preston Shumpert 

Etan Thomas: The secret’s out now with Buddy. Everyone knows he can shoot, and teams are devising schemes to make sure he doesn’t get open shots. What would be your advice to him, as the elite shooter you were, as to how he can get open and get his shot off?

Preston Shumpert: "It’s so different once you’re on the other team’s scouting report. It’s great that he had the success he had last season, but now, like you said, teams are going to try to come up with a game plan to stop you from doing what you do best, which in Buddy’s case, is knocking down shots. He’s been doing a good job of moving without the ball; he just has to do more of it. Be a little more creative on getting open and what he does once he catches the ball."

Etan: You said move without the ball, so let’s talk specifics. Do you mean off screens? Running the baseline?

Shumpert: "I think it’s a combination of both. He’s getting pin-down screens and curls. I just think he needs to stay consistent with it and know he’s going to be hounded and [that] guys are gonna be on him, because he’s an elite shooter. But at the same time, if he comes off a screen and two guys jump him, it’s the point guard’s job to find the open man. Once you start taking advantage of those situations, then you will be more open. But he’s gonna have to fade, curl, post up — he’s gonna have to do a lot of different things to get his shot off, and that’s really a compliment to him because of how good of a shooter he is. On every scouting report, I’m sure it says, 'No open shots for him.'"

Etan: That’s definitely true. What is the best way to come out of a slump? With shooters, you’re going to go through times where the ball just doesn’t go in the hole. What would your advice be to Buddy or Cole [Swider] when they are not shooting well? 

Shumpert: "My favorite quote is, 'Shoot when you’re making it, and shoot when you’re missing it.' You've gotta continue to be aggressive and have confidence in your shot. Now, your shot selection is definitely important, but if it’s a wide open shot, and that’s your shot, fire that 'thang up. That’s what you do. If you’re a shooter, you've gotta shoot the ball. Shoot 'til you make it, shoot 'til you miss. That’s a shooter’s mentality. No conscience."

Etan: One thing that you started to develop through your years was the one-dribble, two-dribble pull-ups because they were playing you so tight for the three-point shot, and Buddy has been doing good with that. Do you think he should keep doing that more especially if the outside shot isn’t falling? 

Shumpert: "Definitely, that’s what I meant by being a little more creative and taking what they’re giving you. Like you said, guys are gonna be pressing up on you and running out on you. They’re not going to let you get a free look. So that’s when you go to the pump fake, one-dribble, two-dribble pull-up. But another thing — which I’m sure you’re gonna like this — throw it up to the big [man] or give him that little pocket pass, when they hedge on him or after he sets the pick a little more often, and let the big [man] hammer a few down and get all riled up like you used to. It will open you up more. And the more you involve the big man, the better your screens will be. The big man will have you wide open if you treat him right. I learned that myself when we played together. Keep the big man happy, and he’ll rebound better, block shots better and work harder to get you open, and will roll harder which will ultimately help everyone."

Etan: That should be on the wall in every locker room (laughs).

Fox News and the right will praise unvaccinated NBA players … then use them

In an open letter to Jonathan Isaac, I warn him about how certain sections of America will co-opt him for their own ends

Dear Jonathan,

Let me first say that I have a tremendous amount of respect for you, and not just because, as a former NBA player myself, I appreciate the hard work and skill it takes to succeed in the league.

My admiration for you extends off the court too. I’ve watched videos of you preaching and, as a fellow Christian, I was blown away. You are eloquent, your delivery is exquisite, you appear humble, knowledgeable, and I can see your passion and sincerity. To be so young and walking in your purpose is commendable.

You also possess courage to stand up for your convictions. Although I completely disagree with your perception, I respect that you had the fortitude to take the unpopular stance and oppose your peers. That came about when you decided not to wear a Black Lives Matter shirt alongside your Orlando Magic teammates, who took a knee during the national anthem following the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. You said you have a different interpretation of what the message meant.

Given that my book We Matter explored the subject of athletes and activism, I was invited on to numerous shows in order to criticize your choice, but I always declined. It would be hypocritical of me to encourage players to stand up for what they believe in and then bash them for doing so when their opinions happen to differ from mine. I can disagree with you without attempting to discredit or silence you, but that’s not what most networks are interested in.

Which brings me to the current topic of the Covid-19 vaccine and NBA players. There is already considerable misrepresentation on the topic before we even discuss your specific case. There has been widespread condemnation over the league’s record on vaccinations because of a few high-profile holdouts such as yourself, Kyrie Irving, Bradley Beal and Michael Porter Jr. There has even been ridicule of LeBron (who has been vaccinated) but is unwilling to chastise players who have not.

But around 95% of NBA players have had at least one dose of the vaccine, which means that on average, only one player per team is unvaccinated. That is a much higher rate of vaccination than those in similar age groups to NBA players: 64.7% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 have had at least one dose and 67.9% of those between 25 and 39.

Meanwhile, vaccination rates among the majority of police departments across the country remain relatively low. The New York and Los Angeles Police Departments, who have many, many more interactions with the public than NBA players are far lower. As of last Wednesday, the NYPD’s vaccination rate was 68% and the LAPD’s was 65%. And yet, based on the media outrage, you would believe that two dozen or so unvaccinated NBA players are a bigger danger to America than the thousands of police officers who encounter the public on a day to day basis, often maskless, and have yet to get the shot. It is hypocritical to hold athletes to a higher standard than we do law enforcement. But this is the age we are living in.

Currently, I see you being misrepresented by some in the media and I agree with you when you said that “true journalism is dying”. An article in Rolling Stone implied you turned against vaccines after “watching Donald Trump’s press conferences” something that you have said is untrue. Mischaracterizing athletes for the sole purpose of using that fabrication to then discredit them is a tactic parts of the media use far too often.

You – and some other vaccine hesitant players – have clearly stated that you are not against vaccinations. More importantly you have not discouraged others to get them. Instead, you’ve articulated that you are personally “uncomfortable with getting the vaccine at this time”. While we hold different opinions on the vaccine, I’m not going to demean, ridicule or purposely misrepresent you because of them. If I did that, I would be as bad as the hypocritical right-wing media, Donald Trump and his followers who purposely misrepresented Colin Kaepernick’s reasons for taking a knee during the national anthem (for the record, I’m not comparing you to Colin Kaepernick, but the misrepresentation of your stance does seem to have a striking similarity.)

The same people who once told all athletes to “shut up and dribble” are now praising you for expressing your hesitancy in taking the vaccine, and are attempting to co-opt your uncertainty to promote their agenda – a push against vaccine mandates – which was the sole reason Fox News invited you to appear.

Getting the support of Fox News, Trump supporters and Texas senator Ted Cruz of all people should ring alarm bells. Cruz has castigated NBA players for his entire career for speaking out, but he now tweets that “he stands” with players like yourself who are unvaccinated. He even called LeBron “courageous” for saying vaccination is a personal choice, which is laughable given Cruz’s history of antagonism with him. Cruz clearly believes LeBron is only “courageous” when he agrees with him. That’s the epitome of hypocrisy.

And just as Cruz now embraces LeBron, and Donald Trump Jr praises Kyrie, the same crowd who shouted from the mountaintops that athletes should “stick to sports” are now wrapping their arms around you and holding you up as one of the “good ones”.

They would love to make you into the next Herschel Walker, someone who repeats the Fox News talking points and gets invited to speak at the Republican National Convention. Or reward you like a Jason Whitlock, Sage Steele or Stacey Dash, with pats on the head in return for being the Black face who agrees with them. Someone they can point at to prove they are not racist.

And make no mistake: they will compliment you on how well you speak, and proclaim what a great example you are for your community. But as soon as you stray from their script, you will be cast away quicker than Donald Trump discarded Omarosa.

I’m not telling you what to believe. I don’t feel you’re “uneducated”. The purpose of this letter is to warn you to be very leery of those who are currently applauding you. Pay close attention to how they really feel about our people and our community. They may cloak their agendas in Christianity and scripture but let’s be clear, their religion is white supremacy – and that’s far from anything remotely Christlike.

Sincerely,

Etan Thomas