They sent out a hardcover media book with a video presentation inside: <iframe src="https://vine.co/v/OlJdIeJ2l0J/embed/simple" width="600" height="600" frameborder="0"></iframe><script src="https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js"></script> Marc Spears and Zach Lowe were not impressed. <blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-version="4" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:8px;"> <div style=" background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:50% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;"> <div style=" background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAAGFBMVEUiIiI9PT0eHh4gIB4hIBkcHBwcHBwcHBydr+JQAAAACHRSTlMABA4YHyQsM5jtaMwAAADfSURBVDjL7ZVBEgMhCAQBAf//42xcNbpAqakcM0ftUmFAAIBE81IqBJdS3lS6zs3bIpB9WED3YYXFPmHRfT8sgyrCP1x8uEUxLMzNWElFOYCV6mHWWwMzdPEKHlhLw7NWJqkHc4uIZphavDzA2JPzUDsBZziNae2S6owH8xPmX8G7zzgKEOPUoYHvGz1TBCxMkd3kwNVbU0gKHkx+iZILf77IofhrY1nYFnB/lQPb79drWOyJVa/DAvg9B/rLB4cC+Nqgdz/TvBbBnr6GBReqn/nRmDgaQEej7WhonozjF+Y2I/fZou/qAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;"></div></div> <p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> <a href="https://instagram.com/p/1BWQ6GBaGJ/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_top">Rockets send out media video book of James Harden for NBA MVP. Warriors plan to let Stephen Curry's game speak for itself.</a></p> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A video posted by Spears (@spearsmarcj) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2015-04-03T17:24:42+00:00">Apr 3, 2015 at 10:24am PDT</time></p></div></blockquote> <script async defer src="//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/ZachLowe_NBA">@ZachLowe_NBA</a> why RU bothered by an entertainment biz being open about promoting their players? seems U would appreciate the candid approach</p>— Daryl Morey (@dmorey) <a href="https://twitter.com/dmorey/status/584053923276689408">April 3, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/dmorey">@dmorey</a> I just think it's a waste that serves no real purpose. It's not some huge deal I'm angry about.</p>— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/ZachLowe_NBA/status/584055053264297985">April 3, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/dmorey">@dmorey</a> Like, what am I supposed to do with the giant Chandler Parsons Trivial Pursuit box/game from last season?</p>— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/ZachLowe_NBA/status/584055207346249730">April 3, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/ZachLowe_NBA">@ZachLowe_NBA</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/kevinarnovitz">@kevinarnovitz</a> our stuff is very useful <a href="https://t.co/R9TC9cc8JN">https://t.co/R9TC9cc8JN</a></p>— Daryl Morey (@dmorey) <a href="https://twitter.com/dmorey/status/584100487965896707">April 3, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Let me go pull that Steve Kerr quote. “If Daryl Morey wants to run his own one man campaign for James Harden he can do that. We’re focused on other stuff.”
In before Morey should be fired for promoting his players. In before this shameless promotion just lost Harden the MVP. In before What's Zach Lowe's *****ing problem?
Zach Lowe is an asshat. Kirk Goldsberry surpassed him a long time ago as the best Grantland NBA writer.
LOL @ Morey's response to Arnovitz. I gotta agree with Lowe though, this is pretty dumb. The campaign style of promotion is not the way I would personally run my organization.
This is the one thing Morey does that I think is just dumb. Zach Lowe is right. This accomplishes nothing.
This. A quick glance at the stuff and I thought "this is pathetic" but when I really saw all the nifty stats I thought "damn, I'm a Rockets fan and even I had no clue Beard was this elite in so many stats". I can only imagine how eye-opening this could be to the typical NBA media person who doesn't actually know the game or its players. It may not sway a single vote but it certainly might educate them which is never a bad thing.
Zach Lowe is 100% correct, this kind of stuff is as laughable as the Cuban's presentation to convince Dwight to join the Mavs.
I don't understand how giving out stuff that tells the people how good our players are is dumb. It easy for a player to let their game speak for itself when they aren't being ignored.
I think James is the winner but I feel this promoting brings a negative energy. It seems to just piss off the media and makes curry look better...
Actually, the thing nobody seems to be acknowledging is the fact that, far from 'letting Curry's game speak for itself', the Warriors are letting the MEDIA speak for him. The sports media has been all over Curry's jock all season, so GS doesn't HAVE to do any promotion of Curry. I'm sure that, if it was the other way around, and the media had been tongue-bathing Harden all season, GS would not be hesitating to send out similar promotional material. But these tiny brains in the media don't even seem to notice what they themselves have been doing.