Rasheed Wallace Say the NBA is Exploiting, uh, Brothas :-)

Rasheed Wallace had some strong words about the NBA in a recent interview:

But there is no ambivalence, no question about how he feels, in the strong language he uses to criticize the NBA and how it treats black players. In a league where all but one team owner and a vast majority of the decision-makers are white, a league where an estimated 80 percent of the players are black, race is always an issue just below the surface but one rarely discussed.

But discuss it, Wallace did, in terms sure to spark comment around the league.

Wallace thinks that the white establishment of the league is exploiting young black athletes to enrich itself, and he doesn’t mince words in talking about it.

“I ain’t no dumb-ass nigger out here. I’m not like a whole bunch of these young boys out here who get caught up and captivated into the league,” Wallace, 29, said. “No. I see behind the lines. I see behind the false screens. I know what this business is all about. I know the commissioner of this league makes more than three-quarters of the players in this league.

“There’s a whole lot of crunching numbers that, quote-unquote, me as an athlete and me as an NBA player should know. In my opinion, they just want to draft niggers 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-ass niggers. It’s as if we’re just going to shut up, sign for the money and do what they tell us.”

I wish the reporter had asked him to go deeper on how the players are being exploited. I know many people will think he’s being ridiculous because he’s making $17 million this year, but hey, it’s all relative. No matter how much you make you can still be a ho — just don’t expect anyone to feel sorry for you though if you’re a multi-millionaire ho. 🙂

I hope somebody does a follow-up interview so we can hear some details about the exploitation. I hope it’s deeper than just the fact that David Stern makes more than most of the players do. Surely he doesn’t think the bosses aren’t gonna take their piece of the pie. And David Stern/the owners/NBA management are the ones responsible for creating an environment where Rasheed can make his long dollars.

Here’s the whole article:

Raw ‘Sheed

Rasheed Wallace cares, just not about fans’ feelings or the NBA

12/11/03
GEOFFREY C. ARNOLD

Editor’s note: Portland Trail Blazer Rasheed Wallace sat down recently for an exclusive interview with The Oregonian’s Geoffrey C. Arnold. Wallace was direct and emphatic in his opinions and occasionally graphic in his language. Although we understand some readers will find his use of a racial epithet offensive, we chose to leave it intact in the story to convey the strength of the opinion and the manner in which he expressed it. — Dennis Peck, Sports Editor

The Portland Trail Blazers’ Rasheed Wallace knows he is the lightning rod for fans’ dissatisfaction with the team. He knows there are many who think he has underachieved, who have grown tired of his contentious relationship with officials, who think the franchise will never recover as long as he is a part of it.

He knows all this but says he doesn’t care.

“I know I’m Public Enemy No. 1. Fifty percent (of the fans) hate me and 50 percent love me no matter what I do,” Wallace told The Oregonian in an exclusive interview. “I can’t worry about that. If you’re not part of my inner circle of family, it don’t matter.”

What also doesn’t matter is the NBA itself, which has fined Wallace for transgressions ranging from the length of his shorts (too long), to technicals (he has the one-season record with 41), to refusing to talk to reporters, to a postgame run-in with an official.

Although he rarely talks to members of the media, once he does, Wallace reveals much about himself.

In a wide-ranging interview, he talked about what matters to him, his leadership, his stormy relationship with the officials and his views on being a role model.

As clear as Wallace is about his feelings about fans, officials and the league, it’s equally clear he’s a complex man. Although he can be angry about the way he’s treated by officials, he has a long record of charity work. He can be harsh in his words about the media, but when it comes to his family and friends, he’s protective and loving. He doesn’t see himself as a role model, but he understands — with the help of his wife — that others often do.

But there is no ambivalence, no question about how he feels, in the strong language he uses to criticize the NBA and how it treats black players. In a league where all but one team owner and a vast majority of the decision-makers are white, a league where an estimated 80 percent of the players are black, race is always an issue just below the surface but one rarely discussed.

But discuss it, Wallace did, in terms sure to spark comment around the league.

Wallace thinks that the white establishment of the league is exploiting young black athletes to enrich itself, and he doesn’t mince words in talking about it.

“I ain’t no dumb-ass nigger out here. I’m not like a whole bunch of these young boys out here who get caught up and captivated into the league,” Wallace, 29, said. “No. I see behind the lines. I see behind the false screens. I know what this business is all about. I know the commissioner of this league makes more than three-quarters of the players in this league.

“There’s a whole lot of crunching numbers that, quote-unquote, me as an athlete and me as an NBA player should know. In my opinion, they just want to draft niggers 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-ass niggers. It’s as if we’re just going to shut up, sign for the money and do what they tell us.”

Eyes on Wallace It’s as if time stops when the 6-foot-11 Wallace, wearing khaki military fatigue pants, tan boots, a black sweater, black leather jacket and a black watchman’s knitted cap, walks through the entryway of an upscale Southwest Portland restaurant. Forks with food and glasses with beverages stop in midair as he takes a seat at the far corner of the bar, greets bartenders and orders a beer.

It’s the night after the Blazers suffered an 81-80 home loss to Washington, a game in which Wallace took six shots and finished with three points. Someone earning nearly $17 million this season should be taking more than six shots a game, critics say. Even his teammates have been frustrated: Damon Stoudamire said Wallace needs to take more shots and display more aggressiveness if the Blazers are to win.

“I’m not worried about my shots,” Wallace said. “I know if I wanted to, I could shoot the ball every time I wanted. I know I could shoot 50 times if I wanted and not get cussed out. But what good is that? What’s the result in that? A, I don’t hit more than half the shots, and B, we lose.”

Blazers coach Maurice Cheeks has consistently urged Wallace, who has the highest salary on the team and the fourth-highest in the NBA, to take an active leadership role.

Wallace says he displays leadership qualities, but on his own quiet terms, in ways others don’t always notice.

“What they want as a leader is guys out on the court pointing fingers in people’s faces,” Wallace said. “No. I do my talking out there on the floor, with the help defense and trying to shut my man down and trying to help my teammates help shut their man down. Whatever I have to do to get the win.

“I’ll say it when we’re by ourselves. When it really matters is in the locker room or at practice. That’s when the leadership comes up.”

To Wallace, part of that is exhibiting a passion to win. But sometimes that passion goes overboard, resulting in momentum-stopping technical fouls.

“That’s just the fire in me. Some of the technicals I deserved. Cussing at the officials or throwing something,” he said. “But some of them I didn’t deserve.

“I’m not scared of the NBA. I’m not scared of the NBA officials. If I feel as though myself or my teammates have been dealt a wrong hand, I’m going to let it be known. I’m not going to sit up here like most of these cats and bite my tongue. That’s not me.”

Wallace becomes particularly animated when talking about officials. He insists the referees started a feud with him, not the other way around.

“They came messing with me, in the beginning, when I was with Washington,” he said. “Why? I don’t know. It’s been an ongoing battle with them ever since.

“They can say what they want, but it doesn’t matter. It’s not like it’s going to make me go into my room and cry.”

Wallace’s technicals have dropped dramatically since his NBA-record 41 during the 2000-01 season. He has four this season. He says he isn’t doing anything different, though, and doesn’t plan to alter his style.

“I still say the same things I said before. I still do some of the same things I did before,” Wallace said. “I haven’t changed, and I’m not going to change. Why should I?”

The Blazers would love for Wallace to change how he deals with reporters. It was only after the NBA threatened to fine him during last season’s playoffs that he relented and spoke. Even then, he made sure it was done on his terms.

His response to question after question from the media?

“Both teams played hard.”

The NBA fined him $30,000.

What matters most This is Wallace’s eighth season in Portland. He is the only Blazers player who has consistently made the Portland area his year-round home. He and his wife of five years, Fatima, like the city and would prefer to stay.

“In the summertime, it’s nice. It’s not raining as much, thank goodness. With it raining eight out of the 12 months, it’s real nice and pretty in the summer,” Wallace said. “If I do stay here, I do. But if I don’t stay here, I don’t. It’s a business move.”

Wallace remains the subject of trade rumors, something he said doesn’t bother him. But he said the rumors do bother his wife, who is pregnant. The couple is expecting a daughter (they have three boys: Malik, 16, Ishmiel, 8, and Nazir, 6) in March.

“It scares my wife more than me. So she’s worried about if I get traded — the kids, her being pregnant,” Wallace said. “I’m worried about those things, too, because it’s not easy for a pregnant woman to just move to a different city and trust doctors in that city. They have developed relationships with doctors over time, things like that.”

Wallace may not listen to many people, but he does listen to Fatima Wallace.

“I listen, depending on the situation,” Wallace said. “Nine times out of 10, yes, I do listen.”

He said she helped him realize some of his actions can have a negative effect on their family, such as when he was arrested and charged with marijuana possession in November 2002 while riding in an sport utility vehicle with Stoudamire.

Wallace says he didn’t regret the incident initially. Then he heard from his wife.

“It was embarrassing from the standpoint of my family. That’s one of the things my wife made me realize. She was like, ‘I know how you are. I know stuff like that doesn’t really affect you too much. But it affected us,’ ” Wallace said. “She meant her and my kids. That made me sit back and think about it, and she was right. A situation like that, I have to think past myself. I got a family. Got a wife. She was telling me what was happening with my kids. After I talked to her about it, I regretted the whole situation.

“Up until then, I didn’t regret it. OK, we had gotten in a little trouble. But did that make me a bad person? Does that mean I’m a bad basketball player? Does that mean that I don’t want to win? No.

“That’s what the media and others tried to make it seem like. Everybody is entitled to their opinions, but the only opinions that matter to me in this world are my wife and my kids, my mom — my immediate circle.”

Wallace doesn’t consider himself a role model and doesn’t feel he needs to constantly represent the Blazers and the NBA in public and in front of the media.

“It doesn’t have to take a Portland Trail Blazer or a professional basketball player to do good things in the community. You can work at a bank or work at a 7-Eleven. You donate your time or money to the local Boys & Girls Clubs or PAL (Police Activities League) Club. They won’t see you as a role model, but you are. I don’t know why they see a basketball player as a role model.”

Still, he knows participating in charitable events for the Blazers is part of his job as an NBA player. But once again, he prefers doing it his way. That doesn’t always include posing for pictures.

“I do it the way I want to do it. I go out in the community,” Wallace said. “It doesn’t take news cameras or reporters or big events to get involved with the community. It’s everyday stuff.

“I don’t need a TV camera to let me know on the inside that I’m doing something good.”

“Cut the Check” explained Oregonian columnist John Canzano asked Wallace this season about a rumor of him being traded to Dallas.

“I don’t give a (expletive) about no trade rumors,” Wallace said. “As long as somebody ‘CTC,’ at the end of the day I’m with them. For all you that don’t know what CTC means, that’s ‘Cut the Check.’

“I just go out there and play. Again, somebody just ‘CTC.’ ”

Immediately, Wallace’s team loyalty and dedication to winning were questioned. It sounded as if all he cared about was cashing the checks and winning was an afterthought.

“If it was true that I just cared about the money, then my whole attitude would be different. I want to win every game, and I want to go out a winner. If I retire from this league and I haven’t won at least one championship, I’ll feel like all my years in the league would be a failure,” Wallace said. “As far as the CTC goes, it’s a business and you can’t put your personal feelings before that.

“I would like to be out here, my wife likes it out here, and she’s established out here. My kids have friends out here and go to school out here. I would say we’re intertwined in the community. But if I have to go somewhere else and play, I’m not going to sit up here and boo-hoo about going. No, because at the end of the day, I will still be able to do the things necessary to take care of my family.

“That’s what the CTC means, whoever cuts that check, that’s who I have to play for.”

Wallace is well aware of his status among the fans, some who have said they will not renew their season tickets unless Wallace is traded. They see him as “Exhibit A” for everything that has gone wrong with the Blazers in the past few years. Wallace acknowledges he’s made some mistakes but says he has learned from his errors and is a better person.

“I’m definitely happy with who I am, my personality, my lifestyle,” Wallace said. “I’m definitely pleased with it. I won’t change it. Not one bit. Not for any amount of money.

“I’m going to be me. Plain and simple.”