Educated Bum Blogging

Warrior fans booed owner Joe Lacob during Chris Mullin’s jersey retirement at halftime. They also chanted “We Want Monta!” Friends from the game assure me that in person, the boos sounded “ten times louder.” Chris Mullin got the booing to stop temporarily, but the boos returned once Lacob started talking again. It didn’t help when Rick Barry grabbed the mic to scold the crowd, forgetting that nobody likes him either.

There was no real reason for Lacob to even speak, except so he could brag that he bought Chris Mullin a week’s vacation. Knowing Lacob, he’d explain that Mullin couldn’t take the vacation until 2014, when the Warriors would finally have cap space to afford it. It still wasn’t as bad as when old owner Chris Cohan got booed at the All-Star Game, along with his son.

Maybe Lacob’s trades have been defensible, and maybe he really is committed to winning. But he’s greatly misread the feelings of Warrior fans, who have seen him lose Jeremy Lin for nothing, waste his amnesty provision on a futile attempt to sign DeAndre Jordan, promise a playoff appearance and then tank the season - while only three games out. But he really screwed up when he started his speech with, “Now that we got that over with.” He taunted an already-angry crowd, and he got exactly what he deserved.

The lesson for Joe Lacob is the same whether he’s discussing trades that will never happen, or playoff appearances that will never happen, or trying to interject himself into the tribute to a classic player from 15 years before his time: Stop talking so much.

(Source: nbaoffseason)