Yesterday, Michael Carter-Williams published a piece on Derek Jeter's website The Players' Tribune called "Don't Talk to Me About Tanking." In the piece, the 76ers point guard talked at length about the toll that losing takes on an NBA player and revealed that he turns to The Ellen DeGeneres Show to help him cope with it. And on several different occasions within the piece, MCW also called out ESPN reporter Stephen A. Smith for showing up at a 76ers game last spring when Philadelphia was on the verge of setting an NBA record by losing their 27th straight game. He believes that the idea of the Sixers "tanking" is something the media created and wants reporters like SAS to stop insinuating that the Sixers players are losing games on purpose.
"The media creates this narrative and repeats it over and over," he wrote. "That's how Stephen A. Smith ends up in our locker room with a big smile on his face."
MCW also wrote that he wasn't "picking on" SAS and that he knows "he's playing a character." But last night, the ESPN First Take personality got wind of what MCW had written about him and responded to him in a series of tweets. Here's what he had to say:
MCW hasn't responded to SAS yet. And we doubt he'll have much to say anytime soon in light of the 53-point loss that the Sixers suffered last night at the hands of the Mavericks. But we'll be sure to let you know if he has anything to say about Stephen A.'s most recent comments.
In the meantime, go and give MCW's Players' Tribune piece another read over here. There's some good stuff in it that shouldn't be overshadowed by his SAS comments.
2.
[via Reddit]
