Kendrick Perkins controversial comments on Jokic. Update: JJ Redick goes off on Perk about racism

[Tottery]

TBF, Nash's MVPs were a mistake.

Definitely not. The Phoenix Suns had one of the worst records in the league before he arrived. Joe Johnson, Marion, Stoudemire, etc. were all there. D'antoni took over the coaching role mid way through the 03'-04 season. He was injected into that team and they achieved the best record in the NBA. He also led the league in assists.

The second MVP was also deserved. Johnson and Richardson were both traded away and Stoudemire went down early in the season. Everyone was doom and glooming that team. Yet, Nash managed to make other players better and they finished 2nd in the Western Conference. Nash led the league in assists, FT %, and had an 50/40/90 shooting average.

Either people forgot the narrative of the second MVP or they simply weren't watching at the time.

[Ugalde]

racism again!

[JD225]

Rachel Nichols got fired for making a racist statement... so should Perkins. They basically said the same thing: someone in the NBA circle only has x because of their skin colour.

[ckman]

Dirk and TMac both averaged 24,6 points in his MVP year and were tied for 10th.

Dirk played 7 more games also

[jehosafats]

Jokic is a unique player who deserves his flowers. The back-to-back MVPs were well-deserved. Although I don't know how justified 3 MVPs in a row really is when you have players like Embiid, who acquits himself more than adequately on both sides of the floor. It's almost like Embiid wasn't even considered.

We know exactly how considered Embiid was. This award is voted on, not given out. 26 people (out of 90) voted for Embiid last year. 65 people voted Jokic was the MVP. 9 people voted Giannis was the MVP.

People talk about this award like it isn't won through a voting system every year. It's not like Adam Silver decides (he doesn't even get a vote!). No one decides to give Jokic a 3-peat. If he wins this year, it will be because enough people voted for him in each individual year. It might not even be the same people.

The voting system is beside the point. It's more the perception of a third MVP in a row as a matter of course.

Embiid is balling out of his mind on defense and has even led the league in scoring, but I doubt many of the voters have considered that. Only because of this sense of MVP inevitability we have seen them resist in the past (a la Rose over Lebron in 2011).

The Joker winning again isn't exactly a curve ball. He's that guy every time on the floor. He does virtually everything for his team. But it does strike me as old hat considering how well Joel is playing right now.

[Duke4life831]

Rachel Nichols got fired for making a racist statement... so should Perkins. They basically said the same thing: someone in the NBA circle only has x because of their skin colour.

Rachel said her's behind closed doors and not for clicks and views. Perk said his on TV to get clicks and views. There is a big difference in ESPN's eyes.

[jehosafats]

Rachel said nothing racist from what I can recall. She made the mistake of speaking the truth in private and got **** for it.

[keubs]

I have a rule of thumb in moments like these. Before I get upset at an opinion a public figure holds whose sole job is to share opinions I ask myself: is this person rich for being right, or for being controversial?

Also on top of that it's a debate show. There has to be a debate, even if a clear correct answer to the question already exists, there still has to be a guy arguing for the other side.

Yep. When I was a kid I used to be baffled by this thing my dad would do all the time at the barber shop, where he'd just argue for the opposite side of every discussion no matter how dumb he sounded. And particularly with sports. At home, if Michael Jordan is GOAT then at the barber shop as soon as someone else said it first, it would become about Scotty carrying the Bulls. He lived for making that room as loud and ridiculous as possible. He didn't want to be right, he didn't want to be liked, he wanted the argument. In retrospect, I have massive respect for it.

[clyde21]

as long as people continue to watch the pure trash at ESPN they deserve every bit of the trash at ESPN.

[azcatz11]

Nichols implied Taylor was a diversity hire which is why she was canned. Nichols was queen woke so it was great she got what was deserved

[JD225]

Rachel Nichols got fired for making a racist statement... so should Perkins. They basically said the same thing: someone in the NBA circle only has x because of their skin colour.

Rachel said her's behind closed doors and not for clicks and views. Perk said his on TV to get clicks and views. There is a big difference in ESPN's eyes.

You're right unfortunately. It's a great moral ground for one of the leading networks covering the NBA to stand on.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

who cares what perk says, its his damn opinion. the only folks up in arms for the most part are white-privileged folks. get over it. minorities and people of color have a voice too.

he's damaging the cause against systemic racism this way. that's not just his opinion as a basketball "analyst", he decided to bring this one step further, making a mockery of the whole racism issue

[Clyde Frazier]

Gotta love how he cut off the top 10 in scoring thing after magic won his MVPs and got dirk wrong. I wish this wasn't the guy stanning for my Knicks lately because his anti-jokic agenda is laughable.

[Tim Kempton]

Perkins always looked like a mouth breather on the court. No surprise he'd say something like this. He won't be fired or reprimanded because society has deemed it impossible to be racist against whites.

[LakersLegacy]

Luka going to get hated in next

[JRoy]

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This has gotten out of hand. Multiple people suggesting Jokic is receiving accolades and praise because he’s white lately. He’s simply the best NBA player at this point and a lot of nights by A LOT. Is this type of narrative legitimate?

Read on Twitter

Ps apologies I’m a day or two late on this. If it’s already been discussed, please merge mods. I just saw it today

Jokic is the reigning and deserved mvp. Perkins can kick rocks.

[AleksandarN]

I think Perkins should be fired. Fair is fair. I think Part of the problem is that Jokic doesn’t deserve to win 3 in a row. Whenever Jordan and Lebron won two they found someone else to give it to Barkley, Malone, Rose, Durant. In every one of the those cases the player lead their team to at least the #1 seed in their conference, if not the whole league. So the real problem here is that Embid should have won two years ago when someone other than Giannis had to win and Embid lead Philly to the #1 seed. Jokic should be winning his second and he clearly deserves it this year.

2 years ago when Embiid played only 51 games. Tell me how he “deserved it” over jokic? Jokic played 20 more games than Embiid. Had comparative stats.

28.5 pts 10.6 rebs 2.8 asts

26.4 pts 10.8 rebs 8.3 asts

49 wins vs 47 wins while embiid missed more than 20 more games than Jokic. Tell me how Embiid deserved it over jokic? I like how there is some revisionist history going on to discredit Jokic’s mvps. This crap should stop.

[michaelm]

Seriously, seriously, seriously — get this clown off television. Stop giving him a meaningful platform. He should not have an outlet for all of his ignorant and nonsensical perspectives and takes. He’s about as inarticulate and ineloquent as they come, he sounds stupid and his points are often even stupider than that. He clearly has a limited understanding of the sport.

There’s so much to get into here as to why he’s not only wrong, but why this is a ridiculously uninformed thing to say — but it seems everyone is almost unanimously agreeing he’s an idiot so I’ll save my time.

If Perkins had any semblance of shame he wouldn’t still be broadcasting. Whatever anyone thinks of KD in general and on social media in particular he finished Perkins more effectively than he did all the players he has dunked on spectacularly over his career.

[dygaction]

Jokic is a unique player who deserves his flowers. The back-to-back MVPs were well-deserved. Although I don't know how justified 3 MVPs in a row really is when you have players like Embiid, who acquits himself more than adequately on both sides of the floor. It's almost like Embiid wasn't even considered.

We know exactly how considered Embiid was. This award is voted on, not given out. 26 people (out of 90) voted for Embiid last year. 65 people voted Jokic was the MVP. 9 people voted Giannis was the MVP.

People talk about this award like it isn't won through a voting system every year. It's not like Adam Silver decides (he doesn't even get a vote!). No one decides to give Jokic a 3-peat. If he wins this year, it will be because enough people voted for him in each individual year. It might not even be the same people.

The voting system is beside the point. It's more the perception of a third MVP in a row as a matter of course.

Embiid is balling out of his mind on defense and has even led the league in scoring, but I doubt many of the voters have considered that. Only because of this sense of MVP inevitability we have seen them resist in the past (a la Rose over Lebron in 2011).

The Joker winning again isn't exactly a curve ball. He's that guy every time on the floor. He does virtually everything for his team. But it does strike me as old hat considering how well Joel is playing right now.

Embiid has been good on those high visibility matchups but not that great throughout the year. Missed too many games, and while missing those games, 76ers went 9w-4l. His case took a hit in the past week, 1w-3l in games he played, and in the w, Harden was the better player.

[BelgradeNugget]

I think Perkins should be fired. Fair is fair. I think Part of the problem is that Jokic doesn’t deserve to win 3 in a row. Whenever Jordan and Lebron won two they found someone else to give it to Barkley, Malone, Rose, Durant. In every one of the those cases the player lead their team to at least the #1 seed in their conference, if not the whole league. So the real problem here is that Embid should have won two years ago when someone other than Giannis had to win and Embid lead Philly to the #1 seed. Jokic should be winning his second and he clearly deserves it this year.

2 years ago when Embiid played only 51 games. Tell me how he “deserved it” over jokic? Jokic played 20 more games than Embiid. Had comparative stats.

28.5 pts 10.6 rebs 2.8 asts

26.4 pts 10.8 rebs 8.3 asts

49 wins vs 47 wins while embiid missed more than 20 more games than Jokic. Tell me how Embiid deserved it over jokic? I like how there is some revisionist history going on to discredit Jokic’s mvps. This crap should stop.

It is interesting how these Embiid fans forgot how that year Utah Jazz had the best record in the league. They won 52 games, 76ers 49, Nuggets 47. Jazz had a player with great stats.

Donovan Mitchell: 26.4 pts 4.4 rebs 5.2 asts

He played in 53 games of 72, not enough obviously, but still 2 more than Embiid. So if we are using criteria these people try to use for Embiid he still wasn't 1st choice that year, Mitchell was.