PORTLAND, Ore. — The boos came down hard and authoritatively when Rasheed Wallace's name was announced, for the moment disproving yet another part of Wallace's now-infamous interview.
"I ain't worried about that," Wallace said. "That [stuff] don't affect me. I still go out there and play. Just because they're raining the boos, that don't stop me from playing."
Didn't stop him from scoring 28 points in a Trail Blazer victory over the Lakers, either.
Not that anyone bothered to read the part of the interview in Thursday's Oregonian where he said "50% of [the fans] love you, 50% hate you no matter what you do." Most people probably didn't even get to the core of Wallace's controversial statements regarding the NBA's relationship with its players because he injected race into the formula, and race still trumps everything else in this country.
Wallace said: "I ain't no dumb .... I'm not like a bunch of these young boys out here who get caught up and captivated into the league. No. I see behind the lines. I see behind the false screens. I know what the business is all about. I know the commissioner of this league makes more than three-quarters of the players in this league.
"In my opinion, they just want to draft ... who are dumb and dumber -- straight out of high school. That's why they're drafting all these high school cats, because they come into the league and they don't know no better. They don't know no better and they don't know the real business and they don't see behind the charade. They look at black athletes like we're dumb.... It's as if we're going to shut up, sign for the money and do what they tell us."
Wallace repeatedly used the racial pejorative. Blame the co-opting of that word and then the continued overuse of it in hip-hop songs by the African American community for its constant appearance in casual conversation. Wallace even used it as though it was just another noun in a lively talk about boxing with his teammates before they played the Lakers.
But blame Wallace for unfairly assigning that attitude to owners around the league without discretion. And blame him for the misguided notion that the league seeks out high school players, when Stern is the one in favor of a 20-year age minimum for the NBA while prep stars and their agents flock to the money.
Stern issued a statement in which he said, "Mr. Wallace's hateful diatribe was ignorant and offensive to all NBA players." But he left any punitive action up to the Trail Blazers and their fans. As he should.
