Why put this pic up, Tatum ?
This group's propensity for hugging up with Celtic villain's is beyond my comprehension. First Kyrie, now this idiot Green, who Cedric Maxwell made clear would have been knocked out by the 80's Celtics. Both Irving and Green have shown intentional, blatant disrespect to the Celtic fans in Boston Garden and for the franchise and our tradition. In my book, this is being soft.
I remember Paul Silas talking about the 70's group and how they never helped up an opponent off the floor because they were considered to be the enemy. That is a verbatim quote and is the attitude I have seen Celtic teams play with for years.
These players live in a different world now though...back then player movement across teams, let alone across the country, was much less common. These days you have players getting traded, moving through free agency, etc. Not to mention the fact that a lot of these guys get to meet each other during AAU ball, then you have social media, email, texts...back in the 70s if you wanted to talk to another player you had to pick up the phone or physically meet them. So a lot of that tribalism and "hatred" just isn't there anymore. Because like KD, the guy that you hated (Draymond) may end up being your teammate next season. Though in that case maybe the hate didn't dissipate as much as we all thought.) So you don't want to hate them just because they play for a different team, because it can all change so quickly.
The Athletic had an article about it during the finals:
Things like AAU, player mobility and Team USA have essentially ruined rivalries between players. Most beefs, scraps and playoff series end in mutual respect, friendship and even being teammates. Remember, Kevin Durant played against the Warriors before he played for the Warriors.
The fans are the ones who carry grudges. Curry, born in Akron, Ohio, could, to this day, win an election for dog catcher in northeast Ohio while carrying roughly zero percent of the vote among women age 55 and up. (My mom may or may not have been included in exit polling for this one.) He did too much shimmying, smirking and 3-point splashing while beating the Cavaliers all those years.
Rivalries among players tend to last longer when there is actual violence — and not the face-to-face kind. It is far more likely the Warriors’ players hold a grudge against Dillon Brooks of the Grizzlies for what he did to Gary Payton II than against any Celtic for what’s transpired in these finals so far.
The 2022 finals has a little edge to it, to be sure, but we’re a long way from anything that lasts.
https://theathletic.com/3358345/2022/06/10/nba-finals-warriors-celtics-rivalry/
And specifically with the relationship between Tatum and Draymond, written just after Game 3:
BOSTON — The most hated man in Boston was, just before midnight Wednesday, having a very cordial conversation with Jayson Tatum’s mother, Brandy Cole, who had Tatum’s son, Deuce, at her side.
She did not appear to despise Draymond Green.
“We’re not talking to you!” Cole said to Green, smiling.
Then, Green demanded Deuce give him five. Deuce hesitated, so Green lifted the 4-year-old high into the air, his little head almost touching the ceiling. Then little Deuce and Green’s son, D.J., who’d sat on the podium with his father, took a picture together.
This was about 45 minutes after Celtics fans had been chanting “F— you, Draymond!” in stereo, on opposite sides of TD Garden. They alternated that chant throughout Game 3 of the NBA Finals with “Draymond sucks!”
https://theathletic.com/3356523/2022/06/09/draymond-green-game-3-warriors-celtics/
Draymond
recently had Tatum on his podcast as a guest for an hour. And they played together in Team USA. I think it's all those interactions that make it hard for someone to "hate" someone else just because of the team they play for these days. As fans we love these rivalries, because we have no stake other than cheering for a team (and because we're fanatics
). Sports is about us vs them, and the more hate the juicier and memorable the rivalry. But for players I think it gets harder when they know each other much more than they did in the past.
But as the article mentioned, if someone injures someone, and they feel it's deliberate, then it's a different story. I'm sure there's a handful of those genuine hatreds, but for the most part the competitiveness is left on the court and not carried on off it.
