What is the most frustrating aspect of media (and social media) coverage of the NBA?Blake Griffin: Untrue stories. I think the worst thing that's happened to sports is ‘sources say.' Sometimes it takes the credibility out of it. But it's a part of it now, and I think guys are learning how to deal with it and learning how to stay out of harm's way.
Kevin Durant: Uh, just, I think we should … you know what, I'm not even going to answer that. I'm not gonna answer that one. Along with Matty Ice [Thunder PR man Matt Tumbleson], I've got two people that I trust with my life, my agent and my manager, who's my best friend as well. I trust them with my life. So if you hear sources or anything, don't believe it if it didn't come from them. I tell them everything. We bounce ideas off each other. We collaborate on a lot of different things. They give me advice. so throughout this year, if you hear sources from anybody, it's not true, unless you hear it from Charlie Bell, Rich Kleiman or Kevin Durant.
Carmelo Anthony: Especially in the offseason, it's just a matter of everybody trying to get a story; everybody trying to get a byte. It frustrates me because I have to sit back and I have to read all this and look at all this and I don't say anything, I stay to myself in the offseason. And I always look and it's always a different topic. It's always a different story. One day it's me and Phil [Jackson], one day it's me and Fish [Derek Fisher], one day it's me and [Kristaps] Porzingis. It's always something.
DeAndre Jordan: Our lives are out in the open. We don't have a choice. Guys get drafted when they're 17-18 years old, and their lives are a show. Nobody asked for that. But at the same time, in my situation, we've all made decisions in our life where we go, ‘Did I make that decision too quick?' I'm pretty sure everybody here has gone back on a decision, but in our case, it gets blown out of proportion and it makes us look like bad people. The reality is, we're human.
John Wall: I don't know if it's frustrating. I think you may get tired of it sometimes. But it's never frustrating, because you have to look at it that you have a great opportunity to be blessed and have people that want to talk to you and do interviews with you or have you sign autographs, and that's all a blessing and amazing. I just think sometimes you just might get tired and might just want to go in. But you also have to think, for this kid, it might be the first time and the last time that they see you in person, so you try to make sacrifices. If you sign 300 pictures and then forget the last five people, they're still going to talk trash about you. So you've got to suck it up and deal with it because you know what you did and what you sacrificed.
Draymond Green: You can just tell [from] the things people will say to you on Twitter or something like that. You look at it and it's like, ‘All right, I know you wouldn't say that to my face. But yet you'll get on social media and you'll say that, where you're hidden.' And No. 2, I think some people think they're actually talking to a figure, not a person. Hey, it is what it is. Sometimes it gets frustrating. I'll say something back sometimes. But you never say something back to put yourself in a situation where you're the headline of a bunch of controversy. But yet, you say something back and show someone that you are human, and then you'll get a lot of people who back off and be like, ‘Oh, I really didn't mean that,' because they didn't think you'd respond. I mean, you'll get some [expletives] that try to continue to go on, but you know if they saw you in the streets, they would never talk to you like that.
Chris Paul: I think it is what it is. For us, we wouldn't be who we are without our fans. So that access also gives us the opportunity to connect with them and get feedback from them and let them see how they feel about certain things.
Kenneth Faried: The stuff they say to you on social media, and we can't say anything back because we're supposed to be these people that anything that happens or anything somebody says to us, we should just handle it and go on about our life. But sometimes it's hurtful. People telling you, ‘We don't want you here on our team,' or, ‘Trade this player,' or, ‘You suck.' That's tough. Last year was tough for me because people would say, ‘You don't deserve to be on the USA team. You suck. You're not even going to make the team, why are you even out there?' And I just have to take all that with a grain of salt and continue to go on about my way.
I don't pay attention, but when they comment on your stuff and you have friends who comment and you're reading a friend's comments, you see their comments, too. It's like wait, wow, you really dislike me. Or because I'm Muslim, people think it's a problem. They're like, ‘Oh, you're Muslim, you're going to hell.' Yes, I get that a lot. Or because I believe in gay rights or any rights -- gay, lesbian, transgender, straight -- it doesn't matter who you are, I believe you have the right to do whatever you want and get married in a court of law. And when the 50 states made the agreement in the [Supreme Court] that gay marriage was legal and I was so happy about it and I posted on it, everybody came at me, like, ‘You're going to hell. You're supposed to be Muslim and you don't believe in that.' It's just crazy. The most hurtful thing is somebody telling you you're going to hell, or they hope you die or they hope somebody kills you. You're like, ‘Wow, like, really? That's how you feel?' You can block those people, but other people come back with a fake page and somebody else's comments. You try to block the slander and the bad stuff, but there's only so much you can do.
8/24/2015 11:45 AM