Kelly Oubre may be ruffling some feathers in his first season with the Golden State Warriors.
Retired ex-Warriors big man Andrew Bogut said this week in an episode of his “Rogue Bogues” podcast that an unnamed teammate called out Oubre over his recent comments indicating an unwillingness to come off the bench.
“Not gonna name the player, but I heard that the Warriors players didn’t take too lightly to those comments,” said Bogut. “They basically made it pretty known that Andre Iguodala, a Finals MVP, was OK with coming off the bench. ‘But we have Kelly motherf—ing Oubre who won’t?’
“That was not directed behind [Oubre’s] back,” Bogut added. “That was to his face by an unnamed player in that locker room who wasn’t too happy with those comments.”
For his part, Oubre appeared to respond to the allegation with a post to his Instagram Story on Monday. He posted a meme about “smelling cap,” which is a slang way of saying that you detect a lie.
Bogut and Iguodala both left the Warriors after the 2018-19 campaign. If Bogut’s intel is indeed correct, it would almost certainly have to be a player who was on the team during that period. Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Kevon Looney are the only holdovers from that era who are still on the Warriors. Guard Damion Lee was also with Golden State in 2018-19 but was not on any of their championship teams of years past.
Oubre, who is a full-time starter for the Warriors this season, hinted that he would not be open to coming off the bench when Thompson returns from injury. GM Bob Myers recently defended Oubre for his comments. But Oubre’s teammates on the Warriors may not be so understanding.
Chris Beard issued a statement on Twitter Monday about his move to Texas.
Beard was at Texas Tech for five seasons. He left last week to take the job at Texas and departed after his buyout price dropped.
Here is the statement:
“I wanted to wait a few days since my decision to gather my thoughts and express my appreciation for all of you,” Beard said. My time at Texas Tech has been more than I could have ever dreamed of. I can unquestionably tell you that I have put all my heart and energy into the basketball program from the first day I arrived on campus as an assistant coach to the past five years having the honor to be your Head Coach. Our program reached remarkable heights that I always knew were possible but wouldn’t have come to fruition without every one of you buying into our process.
“Attempting to thank everyone who has been a part of the incredible journey is a daunting task but I have to acknowledge that nothing that was achieved could have been done without our players and their families who put their unwavering trust in us. They are the foundation of everything that we were able to achieve and I’m forever grateful to every single one of them. Our program was supported by the Texas Tech administration who worked everyday with me to develop our vision into a reality. To Dusty Womble, words cannot express my extreme gratitude to you. You are a man I’ve learned so much from about life and hold our friendship as sacred as anything I have in my life. We built something incredibly special in Lubbock with the backing and passion of the B.O.N.E group, Air Raiders, all Tech students, alumni and everyone in the Lubbock and West Texas community. We felt the love on the court every game and from the community every day.
“I wish Red Raider Nation nothing but the best moving forward. Thank you for your unwavering support throughout the year. I am forever grateful.”
One young NBA phenom is taking some time to hit back at another.
RJ Barrett and the New York Knicks faced off against Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves last week. The Knicks lost by one point when Barrett missed a potential game-winning shot at the buzzer. After the game, Edwards spoke candidly about how happy he was to see Barrett, instead of Knicks teammate Julius Randle, taking the final shot.
“Try not to let Randle catch the ball, we’re gonna make somebody else beat us,” said Edwards. “Gladly, RJ Barrett caught it. If he would’ve made the shot, we would’ve lived with it. That’s who we want taking the shot. We don’t want anybody else taking it.”
Barrett responded to Edwards’ shade by tweeting a laughing face emoji.
The 20-year-old Knicks star spoke further on Edwards’ comments Monday.
“I thought it was funny,” said Barrett, per the New York Daily News’ Stefan Bondy. “I don’t usually tweet. I don’t know what it was about this one. I felt like this one was an OK scenario to laugh at.
“Oh I’m very confident,” he added about his next opportunity. “I’m very confident, I can’t wait for the next one.”
Randle, an All-Star this year, is the Knicks’ leading scorer, so getting the ball out of his hands was a definite win for the Wolves. Barrett is also a fairly shaky shooter with a 42.3 field goal percentage for his career. But it is still rare for a player to so openly diss another player’s shooting ability like that.
The No. 1 overall pick Edwards has already won plenty of fans in his rookie season with how real he keeps it. But the flip side of that is that it can easily lead to beef like the one that may be brewing here between him and Barrett.
Photo: Flickr/All-Pro Reels via cc-by-sa 2.0
Texas Tech appears to have its replacement for Chris Beard.
The Red Raiders are promoting assistant coach Mark Adams to the role of head coach, according to Jon Rothstein. The announcement is expected to be made official soon.
Adams is a Texas Tech graduate and served as their Director of Basketball Operations from 2013-2015. He was an assistant under Beard at Arkansas Little Rock from 2015-2016. He then joined Beard at Texas Tech in 2016 as an assistant coach. He was promoted to the role of associate head coach prior to last season.
Adams is regarded as a defensive-minded coach who helped build the Red Raiders’ tough defenses under Beard.
Former Texas Tech star Darvin Ham will remain in his role as an assistant with the Milwaukee Bucks. He was a candidate for the Texas Tech job.
Paul Pierce posted a video response on social media after being fired by ESPN on Monday.
Pierce was fired by ESPN, days after he streamed some videos on his Instagram profile. In the videos, Pierce was seen smoking a substance that may have been marijuana. He and friends were also surrounded by what appeared to be strippers for the videos.
Shortly after the news was reported, Pierce posted a video on Twitter and Instagram showing himself laughing. He said in his tweet that “big things” were coming soon.
It’s unclear what Pierce may have planned. The 43-year-old last played in the NBA in 2017. He was hired by ESPN as a full-time analyst that September.
Pierce was often roasted on social media for being a heel on ESPN. He also had some embarrassing moments such as this one.
His Instagram following probably can’t wait for what’s next.
ESPN has parted ways with NBA analyst Paul Pierce after an inappropriate Instagram livestream on Friday night.
On Friday, Pierce streamed what appeared to be he and some friends gathering for a poker game. The group was surrounded by exotic dancers, and Pierce was seen smoking an unidentified substance. The video can be seen here, though be warned that it is graphic and contains foul language.
On Monday, multiple reports indicated that ESPN parted ways with Pierce, effective immediately.
Pierce appeared to respond to the news by posting a video of himself laughing on Twitter Monday, promising “big things”.
Pierce has been an NBA analyst with ESPN since his retirement in 2017, appearing on both “ESPN NBA Countdown” and “The Jump.”
He had become somewhat known for his bombastic and bizarre takes while appearing on the network, such as this one.
Jeff Gladney turned himself in on Monday after a warrant was issued for his arrest for alleged domestic violence.
Gladney, a 24-year-old cornerback from TCU, is accused of beating up his girlfriend on Friday over the contents he believed to be on her cell phone. He was charged with third-degree felony family violence assault and posted a $10,000 bond after his arrest. He was released from the Dallas County Jail not long after turning himself in on Monday.
Gladney was the No. 31 overall pick in last year’s draft by the Minnesota Vikings. The team issued a statement after the arrest and said the allegations were “extremely disturbing.”
“We are aware of Jeff’s arrest and are gathering additional information. We take this matter very seriously, as the reported allegations are extremely disturbing,” the team said in a statement.
The Dallas Police Department issued the following statement about the matter.
“On April 2, 2021, the victim, a 22-year-old female, and the suspect, Jeff Gladney … were involved in a verbal altercation over content in a cell phone,” the statement read. “The altercation escalated, at which time Mr. Gladney physically assaulted the victim. Mr. Gladney left the location prior to officer’s arrival. There was a warrant for assault family violence for Mr. Gladney’s arrest and he turned himself into the Dallas County Jail April 5, 2021.”
CBS in Dallas reported specific details about the case. According to CBS Dallas, Gladney and his 22-year-old girlfriend were driving in a car to an apartment complex in southeast Dallas. Gladney became upset about the woman’s text messages and allegedly demanded to see them. She threw her phone out of the car, but he stopped to get it.
The arrest affidavit reportedly accuses Gladney of grabbing the woman’s head to forcefully hold it to unlock the Face ID feature on the phone.
According to CBS, “the accuser then said Gladney began to strike her ‘… with closed fists causing pain in the side of her ribs, in the stomach and the back, and hitting her open hand across the head.'”
The affidavit says the woman claims the violence continued at the apartment complex. She alleges Gladney strangled her and dragged her across the floor by her hair.
The woman allegedly was able to “break free and get into a vehicle with unknown passengers. Detectives documented bruising on her head, ears and torso. She also reported she had scratches on her face and neck and abrasions on her knees.”
Here is CBS’ full report.
The NFL says they are investigating the incident under the league’s personal conduct policy.
Gladney started 15 games last season and had 81 tackles.
MLB’s decision to suspend Cincinnati Reds outfielder Nick Castellanos for his confrontation with the St. Louis Cardinals has made some people genuinely angry, including the player’s agent.
Scott Boras, who represents Castellanos, urged the MLBPA to look closely at the two-game suspension, citing the fact that Castellanos was not the one who initiated the physical contact that led to the benches-clearing incident.
“When there is a contact play at the plate and no physical contact thereafter — only competitive speech — and a suspension is issued, such a subjective standard does not provide players with proper notice of violative conduct,” Boras said, via Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer. “I can cite 20 incidents from the 2020 season where competitive speech was exchanged between players, without physical contact, and no suspension was issued.
“At this point, where non-physical contact occurred, I do not know if a player can determine what type of conduct amounts to a suspension.”
You can see the incident that got Castellanos suspended by clicking here.
Boras is obviously sticking up for his client through this tactic, but he has a point. Castellanos yelled in the face of Cardinals pitcher Jake Woodford, but that’s highly unlikely to get any player suspended in itself. When Yadier Molina grabbed Castellanos to stand up for his pitcher, that was when the benches cleared.
Castellanos has stated that he plans to appeal the two-game suspension.
If you are at all religious, please be sure to say a prayer for Sidney Crosby’s health and well being.
The Pittsburgh Penguins captain was absolutely brutalized by a high-stick from Patrice Bergeron after losing a faceoff following a goal on Saturday.
Take a look at this heinous act by Bergeron:
That was one of the harshest acts we’ve seen in hockey. However did Crosby survive it?
Bergeron received a four-minute double-minor for his actions.
Crosby had scored a shorthanded goal prior to the faceoff, which made it 6-5. Boston added an empty-net goal to make it 7-5 and won by that score.
Maybe the lesson learned here is any time there is the slightest bit of contact, make sure you sell it as much as possible.
H/T Yahoo
Aaron Rodgers’ first game as guest host of “Jeopardy!” ended with him being forced to relive how his NFL season ended.
Rodgers was going over answers with contestants during the “Final Jeopardy!” segment of the show, in which contestants have to write out their response to the clue. One contestant who was apparently stuck on the correct answer instead took the chance to troll the Green Bay Packers’ quarterback over Matt LaFleur’s 4th-and-goal field goal in the NFC Championship game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Rodgers even has a good response ready, making clear that it certainly wasn’t him.
LaFleur tried to justify his decision with this explanation, but it didn’t make anyone feel any better. For what it’s worth, the coach admitted that he had some regrets over that sequence, though not the one you might think.
“Jeopardy!” contestants aren’t always the biggest of sports fans. This guy clearly knew what was up, and he even got to troll Rodgers to his face.
