When you dominate as much as the Golden State Warriors do, it’s inevitable that doubters and haters come along for the ride.
You just don’t necessarily expect it from former players and legends of the past.
Of course, most former players with an ego will always believe they can beat anyone from any era. Not surprisingly, former Warriors player Stephen Jackson is one of those players. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with that, but the discrediting comments made by the legendary Oscar Robertson about Stephen Curry and NBA coaches caught the attention of many around the league and has been the subject of discussion in the last couple of days.
The chatter continued on Friday when it was reported that former player Cedric Ceballos said his Phoenix Suns team would easily beat these Warriors.
Having seen all the talks, Andrew Bogot decided to chime in with a bit of sarcasm:
My under 14 team in Melbourne Australia would have beat these @warriors 109-99. Fat Jimmy would have locked down @StephenCurry30 !!!!
— Andrew Bogut (@andrewbogut) February 26, 2016
Curry and Draymond Green were delighted to see the joke and decided to play along:
Cmon man! Call fat jimmy up & tell him im looking for him https://t.co/tKKkjP16J2 — Stephen Curry (@StephenCurry30) February 26, 2016
Tell Big Jimmy you and I have illegal screens for days to allow Steph to get his shot off! https://t.co/Q9lc0IMk3a
— Draymond Green (@Money23Green) February 26, 2016
????????????RT @Money23Green: Tell Big Jimmy you and I have illegal screens for days to allow Steph to get his shot off! https://t.co/BdDwLjQYux — Andrew Bogut (@andrewbogut) February 26, 2016
In came Leandro Barbosa and Festus Ezeli, who also enjoyed the “Fat Jimmy” talk:
Fat Jimmy … Lol… Next prospect for @NBA draft 2021 …???????????? https://t.co/7alSGmEgHf
— Leandro Barbosa (@TheBlurBarbosa) February 27, 2016
???????????? Fat Jimmy ! Too bad we only have 2 plays.. We wouldn’t know how to score https://t.co/kZwD7HFM6E — Festus Ezeli (@festus) February 27, 2016
Sideline reporter Rosalyn Gold-Onwude had a pretty good summation of the stories that have been circulating:
Few things age you faster than hating on the younger generation. ????
— Rosalyn Gold-Onwude (@ROSGO21) February 26, 2016
And former Warriors player Jermaine O’Neal concluded by saying that the discrediting of such a dominant player and team is simply crazy:
I can’t believe that every day I turn on the tv people are talking about or trying to pick apart what Steph and the warriors are doing. — Jermaine O’Neal (@jermaineoneal) February 26, 2016
Yes the eras are different, yes the game isn’t as physical anymore, yes the level of overall competitive nature of teams are different.
— Jermaine O’Neal (@jermaineoneal) February 26, 2016
But to discredit what Steph is doing individually and what the Warriors are doing as a team is absolutely crazy! — Jermaine O’Neal (@jermaineoneal) February 26, 2016
Jim Park is a blogger and Tweet of the Night author of Sheridan Hoops. Follow him on twitter @SheridanBlog.