Montrezl Harrell

[Androslav]

Yes KG, Romani. An offensive colloquial term is gypsies (Cigani, in Croatian). Glad it was worth a read to you.

[KGs Knee]

Yes KG, Romani. An offensive colloquial term is gypsies (Cigani, in Croatian). Glad it was worth a read to you.

I thought so. My father's mother was of Romani descent. Her parents were born in Italy, and emigrated to the US from Poland post WWI pre WWII, which was very lucky for them (and me).

[Birdman]

He should be suspended..

[Tr1boy]

Harrell sounds like a racist and should be suspended

Imagine if it were the other way around, how bad that would have been. Doncic would have lost all credibility and probably been out of the league in no time

[wiley]

Harrell sounds like a racist and should be suspended

Imagine if it were the other way around, how bad that would have been. Doncic would have lost all credibility and probably been out of the league in no time

Yes imagine the opposite...it would almost be like Jackie Robinson all over again...in reverse.. Wow.

This was an error by Harrell for sure and a one game suspension would not surprise me or be wrong.  But the NBA is a mixed race club and I don't think within it there's a sinkhole of racism.  Some anger probably....but not racism.

[Ogaju]

Yes KG, Romani. An offensive colloquial term is gypsies (Cigani, in Croatian). Glad it was worth a read to you.

TP Androslav ..that write up was worth than just a read. It is very illuminating. Thanks for the input.

[blink]

As a white guy who used to play basketball with guys from all races a lot, I can say that I have been called 'white boy' by a black player one time that I can remember in a pickup game a few years ago.  It didn't bother me at all at the time, and since then I never thought of what he said as some big racial slur at me.  He was a really tall, and REALLY good player.  I blocked him out one time and then hit a few shots on him, so I just considered it him being po'd that some short old guy made few plays against him.

So from my perspective, if that was all Harrell said, man just let it go, he apologized and Luka accepted.  There are way way worse things that could have been said.  I don't think Harrell is a racist, and I certainly don't think he needs to be suspended or fined or anything.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Montrezl is lucky he never faced (and said such a thing to) Larry Bird, who likely would've made it his personal mission to make Montrezl's on-court life miserable.

[KGs Knee]

As a white guy who used to play basketball with guys from all races a lot, I can say that I have been called 'white boy' by a black player one time that I can remember in a pickup game a few years ago.  It didn't bother me at all at the time, and since then I never thought of what he said as some big racial slur at me.  He was a really tall, and REALLY good player.  I blocked him out one time and then hit a few shots on him, so I just considered it him being po'd that some short white guy made few plays against him.

So from my perspective, if that was all Harrell said, man just let it go, he apologized and Luka accepted.  There are way way worse things that could have been said.  I don't think Harrell is a racist, and I certainly don't think he needs to be suspended or fined or anything.

I can't speak on the context of how the phrase was used toward you, but it seems rather clear Harrell was using the phrase towards Doncic in a very intentionally derogatory manner. By definition, using someone's race against them in a derogatory manner is racist.

But as I said last night, it could very well have been nothing more than ignorance on Harrell's part. I'm not interested in casting him out of the league, or society.  I am interested in his actions moving forward.  If he's learned from this and it turns out to be a one time thing, then I see no reason to harp on it.

It is quite dangerous and inexcusable to dismiss this as 'no big deal', however.  I'm not going to tolerate people using that phrase anymore.  It has no place in society.  Just because some white people don't mind racial epithets being thrown their way doesn't mean the rest of us have to tolerate it.

[GreenFaith1819]

Montrezl is lucky he never faced (and said such a thing to) Larry Bird, who likely would've made it his personal mission to make Montrezl's on-court life miserable.

You know I was thinking the EXACT SAME THING.....

Larry was VICIOUS.

He would've probably pushed Trez and willingly engaged him (even fought him, knowing young Larry) and then would've proceeded to drop 50 on him - for the rest of the series.

Anyone who tangled with Bill Laimbeer gets my Seal of Approval for toughness. Him fighting with Bill probably took a year or two off his playing years sadly but Larry was vindictive and sought ANY edge he could to pump himself up.

His competitiveness was off the charts.....players like him, Kobe, KG and Mike seemed to go to another level off of trash talk.

[Donoghus]

Larry's also someone who once said the following:

"The one thing that always bothered me when I played in the NBA was I really got irritated when they put a white guy on me," Bird said. "I still don't understand why. A white guy would come out (and) I would always ask him: 'What, do you have a problem with your coach? Did your coach do this to you?' And he'd go, 'No,' and I'd say, 'Come on, you got a white guy coming out here to guard me; you got no chance.' ... For some reason, that always bothered me when I was playing against a white guy.

"As far as playing, I didn't care who guarded me -- red, yellow, black," Bird added. "I just didn't want a white guy guarding me. Because it's disrespect to my game."

Not sure how that would fly now.

[GreenFaith1819]

Larry's also someone who once said the following:

"The one thing that always bothered me when I played in the NBA was I really got irritated when they put a white guy on me," Bird said. "I still don't understand why. A white guy would come out (and) I would always ask him: 'What, do you have a problem with your coach? Did your coach do this to you?' And he'd go, 'No,' and I'd say, 'Come on, you got a white guy coming out here to guard me; you got no chance.' ... For some reason, that always bothered me when I was playing against a white guy.

"As far as playing, I didn't care who guarded me -- red, yellow, black," Bird added. "I just didn't want a white guy guarding me. Because it's disrespect to my game."

Not sure how that would fly now.

A lot of stuff from then wouldn't fly now......

Admittedly we've become a more politically-correct nation....while I think this is GOOD it makes me wonder about the old days.

I think if things like George Floyd didn't happen we'd be better off as a society....but this stuff just creates more and more tension.....thus more and more restrictions.

[blink]

As a white guy who used to play basketball with guys from all races a lot, I can say that I have been called 'white boy' by a black player one time that I can remember in a pickup game a few years ago.  It didn't bother me at all at the time, and since then I never thought of what he said as some big racial slur at me.  He was a really tall, and REALLY good player.  I blocked him out one time and then hit a few shots on him, so I just considered it him being po'd that some short white guy made few plays against him.

So from my perspective, if that was all Harrell said, man just let it go, he apologized and Luka accepted.  There are way way worse things that could have been said.  I don't think Harrell is a racist, and I certainly don't think he needs to be suspended or fined or anything.

I can't speak on the context of how the phrase was used toward you, but it seems rather clear Harrell was using the phrase towards Doncic in a very intentionally derogatory manner. By definition, using someone's race against them in a derogatory manner is racist.

But as I said last night, it could very well have been nothing more than ignorance on Harrell's part. I'm not interested in casting him out of the league, or society.  I am interested in his actions moving forward.  If he's learned from this and it turns out to be a one time thing, then I see no reason to harp on it.

It is quite dangerous and inexcusable to dismiss this as 'no big deal', however.  I'm not going to tolerate people using that phrase anymore.  It has no place in society.  Just because some white people don't mind racial epithets being thrown their way doesn't mean the rest of us have to tolerate it.

I guess what I was trying to say is that I don't see it as a 'racial epithet', and that we all don't see things the same way.  I guess that proved my point.  To each his own.

[Neurotic Guy]

Yes KG, Romani. An offensive colloquial term is gypsies (Cigani, in Croatian). Glad it was worth a read to you.

I thought so. My father's mother was of Romani descent. Her parents were born in Italy, and emigrated to the US from Poland post WWI pre WWII, which was very lucky for them (and me).

An interesting example of how racial/ethnic stereotyping can seep unnoticed into our lives is the use of the term "gyp" (pronounced 'jip') that most of us have used to mean ripped off "you gypped me".  Most of us don't realize this comes from "Gypsy" and is obviously a stereotype and derogatory.

I didn't realize till I just saw Androslav's post above that Gypsy itself is offensive.

[Big333223]

My question is: Is anyone actually offended by the term "White boy"? I'm White and I've been called it and I have never found it offensive. Did Doncic care? I haven't heard anything from him. So I'm curious if any White people actually find it hurtful because all I'm seeing is the "if it was the other way around" argument claiming a racial slur directed at Harrell would've been comparable.

But if no one is actually offended by the term and folks who want Harrell punished are just reacting to a perceived double standard then what you're saying is that something inoffensive (White boy) is the same as something offensive (a theoretical slur directed at Harrell, which is left vague because no one wants to defend a specific slur, probably).

That's the difference. If two terms are about race but one is not offensive to the target and the other is offensive to the target, then they are not that same thing. Context matters.