Williams on Melo: "I could care less"

[BarneyGumble]

I love this guy. He does not play the popularity contest game like Lebron/Melo/CP3 do. He doesnt leave when the going gets tough. He is focused and committed...

When asked about Melo's desire to leave Denver he replied:

"I really don't care," Williams said. "I could care less. It's kind of like the LeBron [James] thing this summer. It gets annoying. It gets old and it's not going to affect me -- what I do here."

As long as the Jazz are committed to getting Deron legit pieces like they did this summer, I think he will stay. I dont see him as the guy who bolts to team up with other stars. He is of the breed of player that tries to beat his foes, like MJ and Kobe are, not join up with them.

Full article here:
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/blogs/jazznotes/50380425-62/story.csp

[MeestR]

"I really don't care," Williams said. "I could care less."

so which is it?
does he have some care that he could have less of? or does he not have any care at all?

[StocktonShorts]

"I really don't care," Williams said. "I could care less."

so which is it?
does he have some care that he could have less of? or does he not have any care at all?

It's good to know there are other grammar pedants out there besides me. This phrase has always bugged me.

The sentiments behind it in this case don't bug me not at all. I love how surly Deron can be when asked about something like this.

[MeestR]

to be honest, i had to google pedant to know what you were talking about. i dont think i really am one. i was just a little confused.

that is all.

[Xanthis]

I am sure he meant "I couldn't care less." Many people seem to get that phrase all screwed up.

[d-will8]

People seem to forget that Kobe was ragging on his teammates and asking for a trade just three years ago. His approach wasn't very dissimilar to Melo's or CP3's. You could put MJ and Duncan in the "tries to beat his foes, but not join them" category, but Kobe doesn't really belong there. It's kind of irritating that, thanks to the Gasol trade and some revisionist history, everyone's acting like LeBron's a coward and Kobe's some super competitor/winner who's above the idea of leaving his own team for a better one. It's just as ridiculous as Magic, who refused to play for the Bulls and spent basically his whole career playing with Kareem and Worthy, saying he'd never consider doing what LeBron did.

[BarneyGumble]

People seem to forget that Kobe was ragging on his teammates and asking for a trade just three years ago. His approach wasn't very dissimilar to Melo's or CP3's. You could put MJ and Duncan in the "tries to beat his foes, but not join them" category, but Kobe doesn't really belong there. It's kind of irritating that, thanks to the Gasol trade and some revisionist history, everyone's acting like LeBron's a coward and Kobe's some super competitor/winner who's above the idea of leaving his own team for a better one. It's just as ridiculous as Magic, who refused to play for the Bulls and spent basically his whole career playing with Kareem and Worthy, saying he'd never consider doing what LeBron did.

I disagree. Kobe had nothing and complained, got something, won championships. Malone did this too. He was always asking for a better center.

Denver put a team around Melo that made it to the WCF and he is bailing on them one calendar year later.

The Cavs put a team around Lebron that got to the Finals once and won the regular season twice. And he bailed on them.

Thats the difference between competitors and people who give up.

[mjvile]

This is a quote from me from the Heat page on the thread of Dwight said he thinks Durant is better the LBJ. He has the same view that you are talking about. When Kobe was thinking about leaving he had zero talent on the team unlike what LBJ had when he left the Cavs.

You can sit there and tell me Lebron didn't have talent on the Cavilers? Lebron left Cleavland to a team that has a established leader. Wade is the leader of the Heat and that's that. He went to a team with a leader cause he couldn't handle the pressure by himself and that's what changes the dynamics about Lebrons legacy.

[BarneyGumble]

This is a quote from me from the Heat page on the thread of Dwight said he thinks Durant is better the LBJ. He has the same view that you are talking about. When Kobe was thinking about leaving he had zero talent on the team unlike what LBJ had when he left the Cavs.

You can sit there and tell me Lebron didn't have talent on the Cavilers? Lebron left Cleavland to a team that has a established leader. Wade is the leader of the Heat and that's that. He went to a team with a leader cause he couldn't handle the pressure by himself and that's what changes the dynamics about Lebrons legacy.

Very true. Although I dont agree with how Kobe ran a leader and established player out of town, you cant compare him to Lebron who copped out to take the easy route to a ring....

[countrybama24]

I am sure he meant "I couldn't care less." Many people seem to get that phrase all screwed up.

Class is boring. There is no other reason I should be posting this. Apparently the trick is "don't be logical."

In these cases people have tried to apply logic, and it has failed them. Attempts to be logical about I could care less also fail. Taken literally, if one could care less, then one must care at least a little, which is obviously the opposite of what is meant. It is so clearly logical nonsense that to condemn it for being so (as some commentators have done) misses the point. The intent is obviously sarcastic — the speaker is really saying, “As if there was something in the world that I care less about”.

However, this doesn’t explain how it came about in the first place. Something caused the negative to vanish even while the original form of the expression was still very much in vogue and available for comparison. Stephen Pinker, in The Language Instinct, points out that the pattern of intonation in the two versions is very different.

There’s a close link between the stress pattern of I could care less and the kind that appears in certain sarcastic or self-deprecatory phrases that are associated with the Yiddish heritage and (especially) New York Jewish speech. Perhaps the best known is I should be so lucky!, in which the real sense is often “I have no hope of being so lucky”, a closely similar stress pattern with the same sarcastic inversion of meaning. There’s no evidence to suggest that I could care less came directly from Yiddish, but the similarity is suggestive. There are other American expressions that have a similar sarcastic inversion of apparent sense, such as Tell me about it!, which usually means “Don’t tell me about it, because I know all about it already”. These may come from similar sources.

So it’s actually a very interesting linguistic development. But it is still regarded as slangy, and also has some social class stigma attached. And because it is hard to be sarcastic in writing, it loses its force when put on paper and just ends up looking stupid. In such cases, the older form, while still rather colloquial, at least will communicate your meaning — at least to those who really could care less.

[d-will8]

So, Kobe's a competitor because he complained, demanded a trade and indirectly gave his team the ultimatum that, if they didn't get better, he'd continue to want to leave? And LeBron's not because he played like a superhuman and led an extremely mediocre team to the finals and then, after falling to teams that were much, much more balanced than his the next few years despite playing at an absurdly high level (aside from those last two games vs. Boston), realized that his team simply wasn't constructed to win a championship and decided to go to a place where he'd have a better chance?

I understand the argument that LeBron left a more accomplished team than Kobe wanted to be traded from, but it's not like the talent surrounding LeBron in Cleveland was really all that great. I mean, seriously, the best player he's ever played with is either Mo Williams or Antawn Jamison and neither of those guys really ever stepped up for him in the playoffs. That team was what is was almost solely because LeBron was such a freak (personally, I'd argue that they would have been significantly worse with Kobe, but that's just me.) Durant's amazing, but comparing a guy who's done virtually nothing in the playoffs to a guy who's had some of the most incredible postseason performances in recent memory seems a little bit premature.

I agree that going to Heat makes it look like LeBron couldn't handle the pressure of doing it by himself, but doesn't the fact that Kobe needed Gasol not only to win championships, but to advance in the playoffs at all, mean that he couldn't either?
.

[d-will8]

I know I sound like a huge LeBron apologist, but I'm really not; I hate his narcissism and lack of humility as much as anybody and was initially quite turned off by his decision to go to Miami. Upon seeing the extremity with which other people reacted though, my view of the whole thing started to change. I just think the hate is getting way out of control and proportion. My rants aren't directed at you so much as they are at the generally hyperbolic fury directed towards LeBron's decision.

[HammerDunk]

Love the quote from Deron and Dwight as well. It's good to see some of the superstars in this league are actually tough and want to win things the hard, but much more rewarding way. I could see DWill putting down major roots in Utah. I hope it's not just my homerdome.

As much as I hate Kobe's guts, he will always have one up on Bron because he is a Laker for life. That alone demands major respect and is probably the only thing I like about Kobe, other than his unwillingness to quit. Shaq looks like a fool going from possible contender to possible contender, kind of like Malone's last season. Lebron looks no different to me, just weak and self serving.

I also really liked what AK had to say about the prospect of being traded. He said something to the effect of wanting to always play for the Jazz and that he is super loyal. I hope we can resign him for really cheap.

[Ern III]

... further American butchery of the English language. Williams could not care less. Thanks also, countrybama24.

The same people, with basketball acumen enough to dismiss Kirilenko for Diaw as a realistic proposition (unlike ESPN but like Deron), also realise Melo is not a franchise player. To that extent it matters little whether he stays in Denver.

[Sloanfeld]

Guys like D-Will, Dwight, and Kobe know that was a pussy move by LeBron, even if Kobe says otherwise. There's no doubt they have the same opinion as Jordan, Bird, and Magic.

[Foye]

I love this guy. He does not play the popularity contest game like Lebron/Melo/CP3 do. He doesnt leave when the going gets tough. He is focused and committed...

When asked about Melo's desire to leave Denver he replied:

"I really don't care," Williams said. "I could care less. It's kind of like the LeBron [James] thing this summer. It gets annoying. It gets old and it's not going to affect me -- what I do here."

As long as the Jazz are committed to getting Deron legit pieces like they did this summer, I think he will stay. I dont see him as the guy who bolts to team up with other stars. He is of the breed of player that tries to beat his foes, like MJ and Kobe are, not join up with them.

Full article here:
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/blogs/jazznotes/50380425-62/story.csp

I love those guys who try everything to win with THEIR team. TD, Dirk, DWill, PP and KG.
Those guys are the heart and soul of the game.

[StockBroome]

The way I see it is that Lebron at least gave it all he had in Cleveland and then left when he was a free agent. He didn't complain and request a trade like CP3 and Melo. He didn't ask for a trade when he entered the league because he didn't want to play for Cleveland like Kobe did. The others complained and was a little bit**es. Kobe not only did this from the beginning of him entering the league when he said he would not play for the Hornets forcing a trade but then he does it when he is in LA requesting a trade. This in my opinion shows me more about Kobe, CP3 and Melo then just leaving when you are a free agent. I think that Lebron should have done it differently but by no means is he worse then the others.

[gojazzmjsucks]

Dwill always has quick answers in interviews.You can tell he goes for the leader that people dont like. He has said in the past thats what he wants to be. He plays the part well. I personally like it.