Trash-talk Toronto Raptors: The ESPN rankings got it wrong
Richard Jefferson: “Knicks? No, I’ll retire. That’s why I retired, they were the one team that offered me a job.”
Usually in this column, I like to make up what people were thinking and put it into words for the heading. But, for clarification purposes, Richard Jefferson actually said that on-air during a New York Knicks versus Brooklyn Nets game.
How about that for a collective jaw drop, slap-in-the-face retort?
Of course, this made headlines immediately, which put the longstanding clowns of the league, the New York Knicks, in an awkward position.
The Knicks were undoubtedly in a losing position: If they responded then the masses would laugh at the pettiness or if they didn’t then they basically would succumb to the notion that they are the unanimous bottom-feeder of the league.
They chose to respond without any hatred seeping through:
For clarification purposes, it is not true that the New York Knicks offered Richard Jefferson a contract in either the summer of 2018 or 2019.
— NY_KnicksPR (@NY_KnicksPR) November 25, 2019
Of course, it backfired because, well, it’s the Knicks. But also because it would have backfired regardless of their response. Be that as it may, it didn’t let others from jumping in on the fun — even the woeful Cleveland Cavaliers:
For clarification purposes, it is true that Richard Jefferson became a Champion of Cleveland in the summer of 2016. 🏆 pic.twitter.com/w2MoTGnUb8
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) November 25, 2019
A rare W for the Knicks. 😂 pic.twitter.com/qnu91ZqYuD
— theScore (@theScore) November 25, 2019
It doesn’t matter whether Jefferson was telling the truth or not, the fact remains that this former player — who was most certainly washed up when he retired — got to intentionally throw shade on-air while the NEW YORK KNICKS WERE ACTUALLY PLAYING A GAME.
They are absolutely the laughingstock of the league, the butt of every joke, and foolish to believe that anything is going to change under their (mis)management. And, you know what? I feel bad for them. Not just bad, but bad. I feel bad for the players, I feel bad for the fans, I feel bad for the coaches, and, man, I might even feel bad for James Dolan, who has orchestrated this catastrophe. I would never want a two-decade mistake of mine to be so thoroughly criticized over the years while I am attempting to fix it.
Fred VanVleet is the Raptors point guard of the future. dark. Next
That must suck.
Yet, here they are at the bottom — with no hope for the future, 47 power forwards, and one giant diss from an on-air personality — still trying to right the ship that’s sunk deeper than the Titanic.