Iguodala on white players: It ain't too many of ya'll that are really good

[GunnerWRX]

Iguodala talks a lot about racism but the color of the skin of others is all he sees. I say this as a Warriors fan observing closely his comments and interviews since he joined the Warriors.

And I am not even white. I am an Asian.

P.s. I don’t have a problem with his comment. I just want to say it is so Iguodala. If you tell me this quote without telling me which Warrior said it, I would’ve guessed Iguodala immediately.

[Pointgod]

God this is always so cringe with the whole “I didn’t know white guys are actually good at basketball.” It’s the NBA everyone who’s there is really good. Statistically there will be some really good white players, a lot of average ones and some below average ones. Iggy has played in the league for a long time. He’s too smart to be this ignorant.

And this will not end well.

[iLLmatic860]

Jokic and luka are not the best players in the league. Maybe Jokic is the best reg season player but thats about it. Come playoff time ill easily take Luka over Jokic tho

[Loneshot]

In terms of American white players, yeah. But these Eurobois are killing it. I think an expectation of the next Larry Bird has always loomed over pale America. He really was built like a warrior poet mentally. I think you might need that to make it. Nash too, every time I saw the guy he was bleeding. Canada is close enough.

I believe that even non-white fans want to see more great white players that are American. The white European players carry a different culture, which is why there is so much hype for non-Black American players that have potential (Lin, Herro) to lead their team. Despite America's history, I believe Americans are excited by diversity, even if it leads to conflict. We see color, but we also see culture.

[og15]

Iggy's comment would hit with more impact if he specified white Americans. Who's the best white American player since John Stockton? Kevin Love?

In reality, "white" isn't really a thing, but it's a label we have in our world and vocabulary. In the US with its own unique extremely racialized history it's still trying to escape, white was not just skin, but culture, so a lot of times, white doesn't really simply mean light skin or lower melanin, it means light skin/low melanin AND born in the US and some cultural implication. It's both a melanin count and a place of birth and culture based descriptor.

I never stay up wondering why white American or any other group American players aren't more represented in the NBA. If I was to guess, other sport options, but there's are a lot of white players in highschool and college, so it's not like they aren't playing. I don't have a numbers breakdown to give any sort of useful analysis outside of guessing.

If it was said the other way around the would be fines, possibly suspensions.

Not the first time Iggy has been controversial with his statements either.

Well, if it was said that other way around it wouldn't make any sense either.

[HotelVitale]

He’s right/it’s not that deep but I’m sure we’ll be getting some White Lives Matter activists in here to tell me that’s racist.

Yep, it's truly amazing how much division has been created. We're at the point where everyone is a victim of something now. There are even homosexuals who are fighting for the right to just be gay and not have gender reassignment surgery.

You're really gonna toss this out and leave it at that?

[nbhadja]

He’s right/it’s not that deep but I’m sure we’ll be getting some White Lives Matter activists in here to tell me that’s racist.

Yes, it is not a big deal. Though if a white player or coach said something similar about black players or coaches this story would be the talk of media for a long time. It would blow up beyond even just ESPN. Meanwhile this will get nothing but a thread on real GM. People are just tired of the double standards. I am not even white. I am a brown man, but it is what it is. I like to see everyone treated equally.

[Bulliever2020]

In other news, water is wet

[Zetsword]

Mentioned to Donte DeVincenzo, but I can't fit that all in title.

I'm not posting this with any bad intent, so please don't derail by going after each other on this thread. I'm simply posting because I found this comment interesting, and was wondering what you guys think of the actual statement (as in... is it true or not for example).

Read on Twitter

What I find more interesting is Jokic is white, and the best player in the game. As is Luka, who could go down as the LeBron of his generation eventually. Is the perception among athletes that Euro white players aren’t “white” possibly? The league seems to be becoming more global, so I imagine we will see a lot more diversity in the coming era. I could see in 10 years many more Latin, Euro, Asian players for example.

Iggy is a joker, this isn't something that needs to be overanalyzed.

[Mr Puddles]

Iggy is a joker, this isn't something that needs to be overanalyzed.

You must be new to RealGM lmao

[SlovenianDragon]

My question is why even say anything..
Why does this matter at all...
To many ppl obsessed with race.these days...

[theFireBlanket]

Watch on YouTube

Playoff Pat.

[TwitterFingers]

He tried to be funny and failed. Much ado about nothing

[RB34]

If it was said the other way around the would be fines, possibly suspensions.

Not the first time Iggy has been controversial with his statements either.

We’ve already seen this with Harrell and Luka..

[strokerace]

My question is why even say anything..
Why does this matter at all...
To many ppl obsessed with race.these days...

You can't have it both ways. If a Gordon Hayward made a general statement about darker skin players evryone and I mean everyone would be all over him. Iggy is a little slow mentally so this is no surprise. I remember a few years back he made a dumb comment about homosexuals as well. Kind of a moron.

[HotRocks34]

Iggy says questionable things. That's who he is. Here's another gem:

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/why-is-it-socially-acceptable-to-ridicule-white-people-based-on-their-skin-color

"Luka Doncic, this white boy is a problem, and it's getting to the point where I don't think he's white anymore," Iguodala said.

While Iguodala meant this as a compliment, it still came with the implication that white people are inferior when it comes to basketball — and other athletics. Iguodala was surprised at Doncic's skill level because of his white skin color and couldn't believe a white person could be so good at basketball.

Believing a particular race is inferior — isn't there a word for that?

It's good that this is Iggy's final year, I think. The league doesn't need that kind of mindset around, especially as the league grows around the world.

Sports are cyclical. In the 1990's, or certainly the 1980's, I would say that most heavyweight boxing contenders were black Americans. Of course, this was before the Iron Curtain fell.

Today, I think there is one black American in the heavyweight top 10. Deontay Wilder. Here's a list:

https://www.sportinglife.com/boxing/news/the-heavyweights-ranking-the-best-big-men-in-boxing-today/182264

Fury
Usyk
Wilder
Joshua
Joyce
Ruiz
Parker
Hrgovic
Frank Sanchez
Michael Hunter

Ok, with Hunter that is two black American heavyweights in the top 10.

A decade from now, it might be 8/10 of the top heavyweights are black Americans.

Things ebb and flow. Will there ever be another American Larry Bird? Who knows? Who cares?

The game will continue to evolve and grow. Whoever is the best, wherever they are from and whatever they look like, will do well.

[D.Brasco]

Iggy is a joker, this isn't something that needs to be overanalyzed.

You must be new to RealGM lmao

INB4 15 pages that somehow ends up morphing into vaccine conspiracies.

[TwitterFingers]

Jokic and luka are not the best players in the league. Maybe Jokic is the best reg season player but thats about it. Come playoff time ill easily take Luka over Jokic tho

Both of them are beasts in playoffs

[jasonxxx102]

It’s always amusing to see white people get offended over stuff like this

[Diop]

Y’all forget scalabrine??