"Weak between the ears" wasn't the term I used. Insecure, certainly. Lacking vision, obviously. However, combine this with incidents like the towel in the face to Sabonis, the ball to Ruben's groin, the myriad of technicals, the petulance of "both teams played hard," and you see a pattern that might have started with immaturity and goes well beyond it. Look, I'm not saying there aren't reasons he acted like a child when he was in his 30s. I'm not saying there were either. Neither of us knows that. What we do know is he continued to act this way throughout his career and appears to continue to act that way, and I think, no matter how big a fan of Rasheed you might be, excusing such behavior doesn't work. He might in fact act that way because growing up he had too many people that didn't tell him to stop it just because he was a good athlete.
And here's the bottom line, though. If the narrative that Wallace is a bad guy or an immature guy, you know the way he reacts to stuff sure supports the narrative. I doubt Bill Walton lost a wink of sleep over what Wallace thought about him. I bet it had no impact whatsoever on what Walton thought about Rasheed as player, either. Wallace, meanwhile, goes off and acts exactly like people would expect someone who's always been depicted as acting that way would act. At some point, you have to at least give that Rasheed Wallace is one of his own enemies. If Bill Walton and the Oregonian are holding the metaphorical gun, Rasheed's the depot handing them boxes of ammunition.
Rasheed is his own worst enemy, agreed 100%. And Rasheed knows that controversy creates interest for his podcast with Bonzi (or other things he does). Not knocking him for that, it's smart business. As for what Wallace thinks of Bill, I think it's 99% based on the time when Bill implied that Bonzi and Rasheed were bad guys for doing the same shit he did (read: he thinks bill is a hypocrite). I totally get why he says that, because on the surface it does come off as though Bill is a massive one. But Bill is also a showman and a performance act. Rasheed shouldn't take anything he says seriously (same with most of what Sheed says, tbh). That said, even spite of Bills injuries, he was at one time considered one of the best players to ever play college ball. That was never the case for Rasheed. In the long run, it's just not a good look for Sheed (or Bill).
Kind of ironic that both Rasheed and Walton got labels placed on them in Portland regarding their maturity, choices off the court, etc.
Happens to every player in every city that has a team. See Memphis or Philadelphia if you would like some examples.
Every player in every city that has a team gets labeled for their maturity and choices off the court? Thybulle, Camara, and Reath have been labeled for those things?
Young men aren't generally known for their maturity and wise choices. I'm sure every poster here is/was an exception, of course. barfo
It's called Big Game Hunting. It's when little people attack giants for their own selfish and petty interests.
Walton was bitter and went through a very tough time beyond his control. He's mostly beloved in Portland now. And Wallace is jealous of that, as far as I can tell.
Can't speak on Wallace being jealous, but it's been great to see Walton's reputation improve over the years. It feels to me that Sheed's reputation in Portland has also improved as time has passed. Clips like this one about Walton are unlikely to help Sheed's reputation though.
Sure . Certainly to this point Thybulle has been the consistent professional and from what I’ve seen very mature. Camara and Reath have been around 30 games but to this point the same. A good label is just as important as a bad one. To this point seems Scoot is a pretty mature young man as well.
I know Bill Walton a bit and he's been around a few times in my life to chat with. He's spacey at times and brilliant at times. I like the guy. I loved Sheed's game and I knew he was right about ref's throwing games long before Donaghy was exposed....later on Donaghy admitted it. Watching Shaq elbow him in the throat on his way to a dunk would end up with Sha q getting free throws I know made him bitter. I always thought Sheed had Dennis Rodman syndrome, tagged as the league's tech poster boy. Off the court I know nothing about Sheed but people both diss his pranks but praise his community work. He never bothered me much but Walton calling games early on made me want to tear my hair out. He was a very fickle analyst although I think he's been much better at college games than the NBA with a mike.
I feel like most players don't get labeled for their maturity either way, certainly nothing like Walton or Sheed did. I don't recall any discussions on this board about the personal maturity of Kent Bazemore, Plumlee, Grant, Ant, etc.
You’ve never heard consummate professional or great locker room guy or extremely hard worker or great leader? Aren’t those labels about maturity?
I don't believe those players were labeled as such, no... Was it maybe mentioned a time or two? Possibly. Very different than it being a major talking point as those labels were for Walton or Sheed.
it was between the ears but it wasn’t a weakness. he was just too cool for school. wasn’t selfish. didn’t want to be a star. and frankly, he said to a bunch of in hs, he wasn’t gonna bust his ass any harder for the white man than he already was. i think he enjoyed being that slacker-type that could kill ya at any second without effort. I genuinely believe. I genuinely believe he’s a good dude and wasn’t motivated by the fame and attention, but he enjoyed it. he was the smart kid in class that tried to play it like he good a mix of b’s, c’s, and d’s and was most comfortable in his skin that way.
I get that it's all those things. But those things hurt the team. It was a weakness, not only for him, but for the team. It doesn't matter if he wanted that. He was that. His problem with the white man caused problems with Sabonis. Which killed that team. All of those things you said. All of those reasons. They were a weakness. And they are the biggest reasons we didn't win a championship or two. He would rather lose his way than do what it took to actually win. So we lost. At least, from my perspective.
Malcom Brogdon has a label. He has never been a major talking point in the media. That is my point. Scoot is starting to build whatever teams/players/coaches/fans will think about him when his name is brought up. Bringing up a guy like Reath seems trivial at best but he indeed is also making his name and what type of player he will be "labeled" as. If he goes out and starts kicking guys in the nards and throwing elbows he will be labeled as "Dirty". If he starts falling all over the court trying to draw fouls he will be labeled as a "Flopper".
