WARRIORS PRACTICE FACILITY, OAKLAND, CA — The Golden State Warriors, at least Andrew Bogut and Klay Thompson (and Marreese Speights, read on), feel that certain recent comments from members of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Houston Rockets, and Los Angeles Clippers have been disrespectful about the Warriors winning the 2015 NBA championship.
“I actually got my ring fitted for my middle finger,” Bogut told Bob Fitzgerald and Rod Brooks on the Fitz & Brooks Show on KNBR yesterday.
When asked about how the Warriors’ accomplishments have been discounted by the “worldview”, as Fitzgerald put it, Bogut replied, “I just don’t understand that. We respect all previous champs. We’ll respect all future champs.”
Thompson began his media scrum at the Warriors practice facility yesterday with a similar thread.
When asked about the Portland Trail Blazers rising up to play well in the last preseason game two nights ago, Thompson told reporters, “When we would ever face the champs, we would respect them. It’s a huge game every time. They would come to town, so now it’s really unique for us to be in that position, especially so quickly in our careers. It’s really cool. We gotta embrace it. We gotta realize we got the biggest bulls-eye in the NBA.”
Later in the interview, Thompson lashed back at the Clippers’ head coach Doc Rivers for his comments saying the Warriors had been “lucky”.
“They don’t wanna respect us, so be it,” Bogut added. “We got a ring. We did all the hard work. We know what it takes. We don’t need anymore motivation, but if they wanna throw some at us we’ll definitely put our eyeball on it and be aware of that.
“I guess it’s one thing taking it from a team that’s won a championship. Taking those kind of criticisms, to not even having won a championship, that’s kind of dead air.”
Speights revealed on Twitter that he had heard Bogut’s interview.
“Lmao dead air,” Speights tweeted, tagging Bogut.
“67 lucky”, he tweeted shortly thereafter, referencing the Warriors’ historic win total from last year.
Perhaps Bogut and Thompson referenced respecting previous champions coincidentally, or perhaps the two conferred or at least heard what each other said. Speights certainly has.
Whatever the case may be, “we respected previous champions” is likely to be the narrative the Warriors will take henceforth, should there be any other publicized comments that diminish last season’s achievements.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
