<blockqoute><hr>Easy, There you go. Now you understand why I insisted this thread was about Mobley, not Rigaudeau.<hr></blockquote> The Thread Author appears to be laughing at the smack. And the article is about scouting Rigaudeau, because the questions were. I acknowledged it as classless, anyhow? Many times. Here's some pigeonholing. By nature, one of my BBall interests is accurate scouting and dispelling exaggeration. I have no interest in judging players off the court anymore than I follow celebrity gossip of any kind. Smack can work on the court, but is pretty useless off the court, except for vicarious fan entertainment (as in, "I can't believe he said that...too funny"...or all the stuff Muhammed Ali said). But I don't have much interest in following it or analyzing. If it's funny it funny, if not, it's dumb. It doesn't bother me. Classless acts that bother me are in-fighting on the team and cheap shots on the court. I despise that and am very vocal about it. ALA, lots of laughs. The stereotype in the states says that Americans have no fundamentals compared to Euros. The can't pass, shoot, dribble. That is a popular sentiment and the pros likely have heard that (especally after the WCs). So, whether Mobley meant it or not, he used American player in a bad stereotype, by saying "they could have gotten an American to do that [no dribble/missed shots]." you don't see the irony? The journalist didn't either.
So this was actually Cat's attempt to make a joke about the media's take on the discrepancy of fundamentals between the contemporary American and European basketball milieus? Nah. He was just doing what he does best -- shooting. In this case, shooting off his mouth and shooting himself in the foot in the process.
Actually, what this boils down to is that a couple of the Rox r not media savvy and come off as punk-ass at best or dumb-ass at worst. Avery Johnson needs to open up a summer camp to school budding NBA stars in the intricacies of dealing with the media. WildArkieBoy
?Avery Johnson?!?! Look, I'm sure there are many people on this board that have things in anger or in haste that they didn't mean or wish they could have taken back, and these are people that don't even have to deal with the pressures of facing the media after a thorough ass-raping like the Rox suffered the other night. He said what he said. Its over and done with. Let this thread die.
topfive, I agree. I don't think he meant to say it that way; that is what the word "irony" means....you know, an outcome/meaning counter to the intended one. When I read the quote I first gaffawed at the word "garbage" in vicarious fan approval ... yeah buddy, I can that Maverick "steal" can't dribble or shoot like Kukoc did out of the gate; you tell 'em. But, that's not nice to laugh. And grown men shouldn't call sports players garbage on a Fan BBS, much less a professional player into a mike. The second thing I thought was, does Mobley realize he said they could have gotten an American who couldn't dribble or shoot. hehe. For a split second, I'm thinking...was that a joke. Then like you.... nah The third thing I thought was, did Nachbar just politely call him a washed up old man. LOL! Mobes was pissed like ROXTXIA said, annoyed with a question about some 1-8 bench guy's debut in a 19pt blowout, and shot off his mouth. ROXTXIA, So, where the hell is this publicity agent Mobley is paying. LOL!
Yeah...I thought it was funny...kind of like: Nashty Hair Nitwitz(HeyP's favorite) Finleast Rigawho? But, the funniest would have to be: Houston Rockets-2 Dallas Mavericks-0 (I assume you know what I'm talking about)
Now you're trying to read Cuttino's mind. Let's take the situation at face value. The reporter asked Cuttino what he thought of the latest Euro to arrive in Dallas (as I stated before, the situation practically begged for a comparison of Euro vs American). Cuttino replied something like "He's garbage." And then went on to explain why he thought Rigadeau was garbage (he can't dribble...etc). Furthermore he continued and said something like "We have Americans who can play like that." So he basicly said some of our guys play like garbage too. How was that xenophobic? He simply told the reporter that garbage was garbage and that it didn't really matter where the garbage came from. In no way was he stereotyping European basketball. On the contrary, he was asked specifically about Rigadeau and he responded specifically about Rigadeau. He never said anything like "Europeans can't play" ... which would indeed be stereotyping and quite offensive to Euros. If you're trying to read anything beyond what he said, then I'd have to say you're being a bit over-sensitive about this.
WIGMAN, What you said is all good except for the fact that this guy is hyped to be one of the best players in Europe. If he was a no name guy, your interpretation would probably true. But if he's a no name guy, Mobley wouldn't have been asked to comment on him in the first place. So by calling him (a supposedly Euro star) garbage and then pointing out that there are plenty of American players who can do that, it can only mean: "European stars are no better than American scrubs." If Mobley wanted only to diss Rigaudeau and not Euro players in general, he should have said something like, "A lot of people are saying that he's one of the best from Europe. Well, he surely didn't play like it tonight."
So you're saying this Rigadeau fella should be treated differently because he was a star in another league? Lots of overhyped players come into the NBA from all over the place. In the eyes of NBA ballers, what they did elsewhere means absolutely nothing (in fact, who heard of this Rigadeau guy before this past week or so?). Mobley treated the question as he should have. Rigadeau's no different than any other overhyped player that (to Mobley) looks like garbage out there. When Mobley said that there are Americans playing like garbage too, he was clearly saying the garbage comes from BOTH SIDES of the Atlantic. Dude, you're really stretching to come up with this accusation of xenophobia.
Why is it that the lesser players are often found with foot in their mouth? You won't catch MJ or Bird making such asinine statement. I wonder what Cat thinks of his own 5 for 20 performance tonight. Does he think that a Euro-trash will ever be able to play at this high level? WTF is the world coming to. We got idiot pranksters everywhere now.
Easy, Here's an example for you to ponder: I'm 5'7". I dominate in the Lilliputian Basketball League. I then decide to test the NBA. The sportswriters hype me up as the greatest Lilliputian Basketball player of all time. When I get to the NBA, reality hits me hard as I find I can't dominate in a league of giants. They interview Cuttino Mobley. Mobley calls me garbage and says I can't shoot (cuz they block my shots), and I'm not strong enough to take the physical beating. He says there's a lot of short American ballers that suck like that too. Now is he being xenophobic or is he saying "Look, dude. Forget about all this hype. The guy ain't no different than any other short American baller." Short people, whether they come from America or Lilliput (even if they were stars there) are gonna have problems in the NBA. Just like garbage players are gonna have problems in the NBA whether they're from America or Europe (even if they were stars there).
I just want to make this clear. I'm not defending Mobley calling Rigadeau garbage .... he was out of line for that (since Mobley can play like garbage sometimes too). Though I'll agree with anyone who thinks Mobley's comments were stupid, I can not call it xenophobia, however.
If Mobley was the man who should be listened, the Rockets would start Lamar Odom and Kelvin Cato now. After all he is a ordinary second-round pick. Only thing that separates him from others is that he is getting 10 shots per game more than he should, but that is Rudy's fault. I watched few Rockets games lately (Lakers, Mavericks, Spurs) and he is only visible when he has the ball in his hands, even than he is not productive in most of the games. I wish to see what that 10 more shots going to Yao would do. Now THAT would be a playoff team, not this one.
rigadeau can beat mobley in a one-on-one game. Mobley is a really dumb basketball player, like Francis. That's why the rockets keep losing.
Uhh.........NOT REALLY. What are you talking about? They may playing dumb basketball, but MOBLEY VS. A FRENCH GUY? Mobley would beat him badly one on one. Anyways...the Cat said the Pistons are boring. And they made them play boring. It altered their offense.
WHY IS HE?!?! Because somebody probably asked him about the Trash. He was probably very mad. He just answers their questions. He's not going to say, "I don't care."
