“Thugs” does not sound like the guy we know. “Slugs” sounds exactly like the guy we know. But, of course, who knows?
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Gonna be hard to get respect from your players after that. I do believe he is a good person. But even good people can say pretty crappy things, whether they mean it or not.
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Yeah this is bad - he’s done at the end of the year I’m afraid.
big fat zero % chance.
Fwiw, the Cavs subreddit seems to be mostly giving him the benefit of the doubt.
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How does it not make it 100% better?
You’re telling me someone (who talks to a group of people every single day) can’t misspeak? There’s literally no one that could meet that standard.
I highly doubt he meant to say “thugs.” He’s a smart guy who would understand that’s potentially inflammatory. And I have never seen him do or say anything that would suggest he would use that type of word intentionally.
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I don’t understand - it’s a crazy excuse for him to say, “I meant to say another word which rhymes with the word I actually said?”
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The word choice of “slug” is incredibly strange (even though I believe JB would say it). This story sounds like a joke meme post.
In context, it makes sense that he was intending “slugs.” Knowing JB as we do, it would also be out of character to call his players thugs. Finally, I have no issue with him saying that “you’re no longer playing like a bunch of slugs.” None. That’s ridiculous. As for their record, it’s a result of a weak roster, one of the worst in the league. Steve Kerr has only 10 wins so far at GS. He no longer has the players.
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It seems to me if you believe he would say it, and you otherwise believe he’s a person of good character, then he deserves the benefit of the doubt.
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As Reegs said, it really could not possibly matter less what you, he, or I think. The NBA circles are gonna eat this up. The narrative has already been somewhat anti-Beilein not only with that Athletic article and recent videos of Cavs players giving up on basketball for the year, but with stuff before he’d even coached a game about how he won’t be able to connect with the players. This is just piling on and it happens to be with a locker room that allegedly already can’t stand him. It really doesn’t matter if he’s a “nice guy.” NBA players don’t generally gravitate to that personality.
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We’ll see.
They’re a rebuilding team. Love and Thompson will likely be gone soon. Gansey is in the front office and was responsible for bringing JB in. I doubt they’re going to fire him after one year, especially since everyone understood this is a very young team. It’s not like a bunch of 20 and 21 year old first and second year guys are going to have the clout with the front office that a LeBron would.
Not to mention, JB’s track record is that his system doesn’t really kick in until year two. I’m sure their front office understands that, too.
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Since beilein is not really a guy whose going connect with players, he needs his type of guys. It was clear that the Cavs didn’t get this and that it was headed for the crapper as soon as the Cavs drafted Kevin porter. He had the most character concerns in the draft, that’s exact opposite type of player you want beilein handling.
I totally buy that he meant to say slugs. I don’t get ‘no excuse for that.’ I mean, meant to say slugs IS the excuse, then people decide if they buy it.
Thugs is a loaded term, though. Has anyone who’s been following closely really seen that he’s lost the team, or is Cleveland making long-term progress? If everyone in the room had already had it, then that might be the straw. If a lot of the guys continue to believe. . . The one story I saw suggested team members had expressed willingness to set the thing aside.
I will wait to call this John’s end until more of the evidence is in.
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It’s been a really horrid past 6 months or so for the Beilein family. Really sad to witness.
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I am very confused by a few of the comments here. I am in my late 40’s. I will say that the word “thug” has zero racial connotation to me. Zero. The suggestion it has a necessary racial negative connotation is ridiculous from my perspective and experience. I will also say using the word “slug” is a normal way to describe players who are playing “sluggishly”. (Did we not just get done discussing how the Cavs players were playing with insanely low energy?)
I also realize different people have different perspectives.We need to be sensitive to those different perspectives. Nothing wrong with talking about different perspectives that are received in a hurtful way. On the other hand, there is something wrong with not being sensitive to JB—assuming there were bad intentions or assuming his explanation was not sincere.
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I think context is also important. He was talking about how hard they play. I think if you were to use the word thug you would not be referencing effort. Maybe if they were doing things traditionally considered “thuggish” it might make sense that he was just back tracking. However, if effort was the issue you may use the word slug. Thug makes no sense in context, though I do believe that there is a racial under tone to that word.
It’s also funny to me that it didn’t come out until after he tried to explain it. You’d think if it was an issue it would’ve come out before he tried to clarify. How can anyone have zero leeway to misspeak? What a world.
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Good, bad, or otherwise, it is perception, and common perception is that “thug” carries racist undertones. I don’t want to debate people’s choices of certain words, for they may well mean different things to different people, but when you are in a high-profile profession and the term “thug” is used in 2020, you will be called into question. Whether society decides to forgive, or whether it’s even important to that person to be forgiven, I would say are case-by-case.
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Thug definitely has a racial connotation. That shouldn’t be up for debate. Beilein admitted that it was obvious and he understood the racial connotation.
If you were in the meeting, it would be pretty easy to tell what he meant. I suspect that will be the deciding factor in what happens next and how the team reacts.
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Yeah, I hear thug I think violent. Which would make no sense with what he was saying.
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