You didn’t think LeBron James’ criticism would go over well with the talking heads he was criticizing, did you?
As NBA media seems desperate to crown Anthony Edwards as the next face of the league, James wondered whether any player should want to assume the title, citing constant negativity from the people who cover the sport.
Stephen A. Smith opened First Take with a six-minute, uninterrupted rant to fire back at James for seemingly criticizing him and his colleagues in the NBA media.
Kendrick Perkins, on the other hand, took a slightly different approach.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3YgeZZ91Ws
“I mean, well, look, Michael Jordan went through it,” Perkins said on Friday’s NBA Today. “Michael Jordan, when he was dealing with the death of his daddy, did you see all the newspaper articles that were out about him — the stories that were out? When he was playing against the New York Knicks, did you see the gambling stories that was out? We didn’t have social media, but he went through it. Kobe Bryant had his share of times that he went through it. I mean, look, I get what LeBron’s saying. My only problem with LeBron saying this is that: put an address on it.”
Well, Stephen A. thought the address on it was 1 Stephen A. Smith Dr.
“When he talks about people covering the league, we know he’s talking about people like me,” Smith said.
“Put an address on it. Don’t just leave it broad — say who you speaking to,” Perkins added. “Because it can’t be us because we highlight him every single day, even when he’s not playing. We make sure we appreciate his greatness every single day. So, if you’re talking to other people outside of the basketball world like the hockey player that works for our network [P.K. Subban], who contradicted himself throughout the whole time he was ranting about the NBA, claiming that, you know, the NBA is basically soft and all this. But he don’t watch much of the NBA, so how can you critique it?
“I think a lot of people have gotten too comfortable when it comes down to critiquing and criticizing our game — and taking it a step further than it should be. That’s the part that I think LeBron was addressing. My only problem with that statement is put an address on who you talking to.”
Perkins might want an address on those complaints, but based on LeBron’s cryptic social media response, Stephen A. had already made James’ point loud and clear with his nearly six-minute diatribe.
The irony is hard to miss.
James criticizes the media for its negativity, only to see his message buried under an avalanche of loud, defensive rants.
And if he was hoping for a more thoughtful dialogue, he seems to have received exactly what he was trying to avoid.
That’s not to say that’s the type of dialogue that Perkins provided, but his call for clarity wouldn’t have changed the end result. Even if Perkins wanted LeBron to be more specific, Smith already took it as a shot across the bow at him. And if LeBron had said the name “Stephen A. Smith” like it was Voldemort — someone he views as truly crossing the line — it’s not like the conversation we are having right now would’ve been all that different.
So, put an address on it, or don’t, but either way, the message was bound to get lost.
