Vincent Goodwill Blasts Hamilton
Detroit News Pistons's beat writer Vincent Goodwill blasts Richard Hamilton in the most scathing remarks I've seen on the subject yet.
I'm in complete agreement, but why did it take the press so long to say some of these things when it was obvious what was going on months ago?
about 1 year ago
Big Z in Orlando
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Whatever, Rip Hamilton needs to feed his family. You’re jeopardizing that right by making him take less money.
by Biz Markie Moon on Feb 28, 2011 5:01 PM EST reply actions
He appears to be uncontrollable, with no rhyme or reason. The only reason he’s still here is to spite the organization that made him the highest-paid player in its history, when he’s nowhere near the best player.
It’s not far-fetched to think he only wants a buyout from the Pistons, so it can cripple them salary-cap wise after he leaves. Not only is he delusional enough to think a team in the process of being sold can buy out the remainder of his contract, but he can’t see that he’s not an elite player anymore.
His anger is unexplainable from this vantage point. Why should he be? If money is most important to him, then he had a chance to revitalize his career and recoup the lost $6 million over the next two years. All while being in places of his choosing.
Rip has a contract
Rip’s playing hardball. He’s under contract, doesn’t want to give up money he’s owed under the contract, and is willing to be disruptive as long as there are no consequences to his pay. If he was as insubordinate as is being reported he could have been suspended for a number of games without pay. That didn’t happen.
Joe Dumars made a mess of his own roster and now it’s somehow incumbent on Rip Hamilton to give back $6M to help him sort it out? Is that money going to go anywhere but in Karen Davidson or Tom Gores pocket? No. Rip is behaving like a poor sport and acting the fool but he’s making smart business moves.
What Rip doesn't realize is that the more attention this gets nationally, the stronger the bargaining position of the owners will be once a revised CBA is under negotiation
This is quite possibly one of the most perfect examples of why the owners want a revised CBA. A team is being hamstrung by a disgruntled player for 5% of the total net worth of the team. In a business where most teams seem to be losing money, having 5% of your total net worth being a sunk cost because of personnel issues and no way to resolve them is a pretty good reason to insist on either
A) shorter contracts
B) lower salaries
C) contracts evolving into NFL-like contracts where money is guaranteed but a lot of the salary is dished out based on performance and the team can shed contracts without as much long-term risk associated or
D) All of the above
At some point, you’d think the Players’ Association would step in and tell Rip he’s not just hurting the Pistons but he’s potentially hurting every single player in the league with his bullshit antics.
Jonas Jerebko once killed a charging female rhinoceros in heat protecting its young with nothing more than a hook shot.
These section
is what really struck me.
If it’s true Rip isn’t just an asshole, he’s a belligerent hater of the organization we all love and is, in fact, one evil dude.
by Big Z in Orlando on Feb 28, 2011 6:12 PM EST up reply actions
Maybe so
But this is a beat writer. He’s with the team constantly. Would he feel so free to speculate like this if he wasn’t fairly sure it was pretty darn accurate?
Plus, the Detroit News and FREEP beat writers have been pretty neutral on this whole situation since the season began. Maybe they were just waiting for something so idiotic they could really spill the beans without it looking like they had some personal agenda, or that it was just so much speculation.
I tend to think that the perspective provided is pretty close to reality. Evidence doesn’t suggest Rip is driven by any rational though process that I can determine. That only leaves the irrational.
by Big Z in Orlando on Feb 28, 2011 6:16 PM EST up reply actions
He would have been free. Out of Detroit, not in Cleveland and probably in Chicago, playing for a contender that has a real chance to go to the NBA Finals.
“It’s a mystery,” when he was asked how it came to this and surely he knew why.
But he doesn’t take accountability. That’s a word Hamilton has no use for and perhaps won’t, until he goes somewhere else and sees the same issues following him. Then again, he’ll probably blame that coach, too.
It’s not a coincidence this so-called “mutiny” happened the day after the trade deadline, when the attention would’ve been on why Hamilton didn’t take his “get out of jail free” card.
Nobody else should be left off the hook, everyone should be held responsible, but Hamilton looks like an integral part of what occurred Friday.
He wants to go, that much is obvious.
He’s dragging everyone down to his level of unprofessionalism and petulance, in the attempt to embarrass a franchise that made him a household name.
He appears to be uncontrollable, with no rhyme or reason. The only reason he’s still here is to spite the organization
It’s not far-fetched to think he only wants a buyout from the Pistons, so it can cripple them salary-cap wise after he leaves. Not only is he delusional enough to think a team in the process of being sold can buy out the remainder of his contract, but he can’t see that he’s not an elite player anymore.
His anger
This parts are solely build arround speculation.
Maybe he has good reason to believe what he is writing, maybe he has a personal agenda against Rip, but a given fact is that he want’s people to read his articles.
And not many things are better in getting peoples interst than drama (example: mutiny).
This is the problem with most, if not all, sports reporters. They are far too fast on the drama train.
I would be ok with that article, if the word opinion would be standing over it. But it’s headed with analysis. And an analysis should be based on facts. If you base an analysis on things that might be true, you get a speculation.
HEY!
by HEY! on Mar 1, 2011 6:35 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs
I’d call it speculation if a local columnist who rarely attends game said this (or worse yet, a national columnist who NEVER attends games), but coming from a beat reporter who’s around this team for hours every single day? Whose opinion is educated by candid off-the-record conversations by players and staff? His words carry weight.
It would be interesting to know
how Goodwill and Rip interact in the next few days. If they are really spending hours a day in the same vicinity, I"d imagine some tension.
My blogs: pakagankarachi.livejournal.com (dormant)
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by MrHappyMushroom on Feb 28, 2011 7:24 PM EST up reply actions
yawn . . .
I will say the article is a good cut/paste/wordsmithing effort regarding the recent It’s-All-Rip-Hamilton’s-Fault hoopla
by curlyfries on Feb 28, 2011 7:28 PM EST reply actions 2 recs
In fact, new reports are saying that Jud Beuchler turned all the clocks back.
To frame the so-called-mutiny players. Purple Dave Bing Dishwasher.
What about the obvious typo?
and DaJuan Summers is fighting for his future in this league
Clearly that should read “DaJuan Summers is fighting to be the future of this league.”
It's gonna take a lot of fireworks to clean this place up.
I believe this is all true. Maybe it’s just because I need an outlet for my frustration, but I think the source is pretty good.
Rip should have taken the buyout. Clearly, the money is more important to him than actually ending his career successfully as a player and professional. At least his children will have Christmas presents this year.
I'm a tad skeptical about parts of this
Rip said no to a trade to Chicago — a better team, an arguably legit contender, where he would have gotten minutes — just for a few extra bucks and because he actively wanted to damage the Pistons? I’ve been doing labor and employment stuff for a couple of decades, and I’ve seen greedy, not-well-intentioned people, but I’ve never seen anyone stay in a completely crappy job when they had an easy option to take a much better job, even if much better job involved foregoing some cash in the short term.
I also think that, when things are bad, sports fans generally want to focus all their hatred on one or two guys, because who wants to hate the whole team/organization? So JOD has been portrayed as the problem for his mistakes, AI and Curry (deservedly so, although AI is more dislikeable as a person), Tayshaun (our leading scorer!) was the guy recently, and now it’s Rip. That’s not to say Rip has covered himself with glory. Even if you are skeptical about parts of this as I am, he hasn’t acquitted himself well to put it mildly. But I’m not ready to call him actively EVIL.
Rip is more quasi-evil. Or perhaps the margarine of evil. Maybe the Diet Coke of evil. Just one calorie, not evil enough.
"You’d be surprised what you can accomplish if you’re not concerned with making sense!"- PS
by bugman222 on Mar 1, 2011 6:37 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs



















