Karalis: On media noise, COVID battles, and the play-in tournament for Celtics

We live in a world that’s more connected than ever, which means it’s almost impossible for athletes to avoid seeing any criticism of their games. And in this social media age, where anonymity blocks accountability, some of the criticism can be pretty harsh. 

For example, Ohio State’s E.J. Liddell missed a free throw that opened the door for an Oral Roberts upset last month, which unleashed a profane flood of threatening comments on his social media outlets.

Add to that the current media climate where the loudest, most obnoxious voices tend to be the ones who stand out and it’s easy to see how even the thickest skin can get itchy when exposed to it all. 

And so it was under that umbrella that Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum got together to re-center themselves and their Boston Celtics teammates, and block out the noise. 

“Sometimes the way things are going, how much pressure we get from you guys in the media kind of makes us less open to talk, or more upset about things that aren’t that big of a deal in hindsight,” Brown said after last night’s win over New York. “Things could be worse. I think we still have a chance to make a run, and we still have a chance to do everything that we said we wanted to do. Sometimes one game tends to carry over, and today we didn’t let that happen.”

The relationship between the media and athletes has always been somewhat uneasy. On one side are the athletes who have supreme gifts and who work incredibly hard to be one of the very few to reach these heights. It’s impossible for non-NBA players to fully understand the rigors of the job. Physical and mental preparation, outside obligations, internal pressures from self, family, or friends, and the external expectations of perfection at all times take their toll.

“I think a lot of people, including fans, media, and just everybody forget that we’re humans,” Marcus Smart recently said. “We’ve got a lot going on other than basketball, and then we have to come here, clear our minds from our individual life, and come give that energy to a group of guys here, and play. So it’s a lot. It’s a lot.”

All of this is true, and it’s vitally important to understand that even though these are people who do sometimes superhuman things for our entertainment, they are still human beings. 

The media’s side of this relationship is a bit more difficult, because players may not fully understand who or what the media is. They are exposed to everything from aggregation accounts on Twitter, to beat writers (like me), to radio and television opinion-makers. We are all, in one way or another, media. And we all have our own jobs and motivations. 

Some people just want fame and clicks. Some create controversy where there is none under the guise of “embracing debate.” It’s performance art packaged as sports opinion. 

“I hope that those guys aren't being impacted by things that people are saying or media heads that are paid to give an opinion,” Danny Ainge said on his Thursday radio appearance on Toucher and Rich. “Hopefully, they're just talking it through, they don't pay too much attention to all of the noise out there, which one of them said and that's a good thing.”

It’s hard not to sometimes. Even if they themselves avoid it, there’s always someone on social media tagging their accounts every time something controversial comes up. Add to the mix people like me, who not only report straightforward facts, but also mix in analysis and opinion, and the pile of criticism gets to be pretty big. 

My personal goal is to be fair, and under normal circumstances, I’m around any player who wants to voice an objection to an opinion. The media is there to hold players accountable, but that accountability should work both ways. There’s no reason a player can't tell me I’m wrong. 

And perhaps that’s the last layer to the noise conversation that exacerbates the issue. COVID-19 has pushed us all into our corners and our only method of communication is through occasional Zoom calls. Casual conversations between the media and the players aren’t happening, nor are one-on-one interviews. Face-to-face interactions are simply better than virtual ones. 

But no matter what, there is one simple fact articulated by Jayson Tatum, who said “the outside noise, that's always going to be there." Even under better circumstances with more normalcy, there will always be loud, obnoxious voices out there. It’s up to the players to decide how they’ll deal with them. 

Sometimes they’ll get under people’s skin. They’re human. That will happen. Sometimes it will be an added motivation. Sometimes they’ll just ignore it altogether. They’ll figure it out along the way.

“It’s just growing pains. The better you get in your career, the more challenging obstacles you have,” Tristan Thompson said. “For us, for me and Kemba (Walker), it's on us to help them be the best they can be. And what I bring to the table is that I've played with greatness, so I know what it takes. And I just try to give them my input on what I see. And it's all about us. If it was easy, there'd be a lot of more superstars in this league.”

THOMPSON’S COVID BATTLE 

Thompson missed nearly a month, 13 games, with COVID-19, adding to the long list of absences the Boston Celtics have faced. 

“I said at the beginning of the year to our team, we have to all be on our toes. We all have to be ready to hit curveballs,” Brad Stevens said on a radio appearance earlier this week. “I think I should have said, you know, take gut punches, because it's been like, one after another from the health and safety protocols for our team.”

Thompson and Romeo Langford are now out of the protocol, but now Evan Fournier is in. Langford struggled with symptoms, including the loss of his senses of taste and smell. His bout with COVID delayed his return from offseason wrist surgery by 13 games. Thompson’s fight was equally bad. 

“I had a bit of all the symptoms. At least I kept my taste and smell so I can enjoy my food but, yeah, that shit was no joke,” Thompson said after his return to the lineup against the New York Knicks. “So, definitely going to get the vaccine when I'm eligible to get it. That shit's no joke for me, so I wasn't one of the lucky ones to have no symptoms. I was in a 12 round battle with that guy Joker, but, you know, I won. I'm here now.”

Jayson Tatum’s fight with the virus extended beyond his return to the floor, sapping his ability to breathe normally from time to time. That raises the question of some of the long-term implications of contracting COVID-19, but it seems Tatum’s getting closer to normal. Time will tell if Thompson’s recovery goes more smoothly. 

“I think for me the biggest thing was the wind and just being out there with the feel of a five-on-five setting with your teammates. Just get enough feel again,” he said. “Nothing compares to going five-on-five with the first unit guys. So for me it was, it was getting my legs under me and just getting my wind.”

With so many Celtics having not only contracted the virus but also missing extended time with symptomatic cases, the team is hoping those who haven’t gone through it will get the vaccine when it’s available. 

“We've been trying to get something set up, we've even gone to other states,” Ainge said on the radio. “As of last week there are a few players of our 17 that are not certain. I don't know how strong of a no they are, but we'll try to encourage everybody to do it, but it's their choice.”

As of right now, no team has lost more games to players in the Health and Safety Protocols than the Celtics. 

BRING THE PAIN

Marcus Smart continues to take a pounding on the floor. He’s hit the deck more than a few times recently, and he’s maybe been a little slow to get up from time to time.

“I’m actually fine at the moment. It takes a little bit just because the teams are doing everything they can to make sure they put a body on me,” Smart said. “Some of those screens and some of those hits will be illegal and it’s just what it is. I’m used to it. I embrace the contact, so even though I’m getting up slow, I’m alright. Come right back down the next day, next play and keep it going.”

MATTER OF INTERPRETATION

The NBA competition committee is reportedly considering a couple of changes for next season. 

One is potentially giving coaches either a second challenge should they successfully challenge a call, or give them their timeout back. Right now even successful challenges result in the loss of a timeout. 

The other is changing the interpretation of fouls committed on the perimeter when players jump forward or sideways into a defender. There has been controversy over calls where players draw fouls with what many call unnatural jumps one way or the other specifically to initiate the contact. Jaylen Brown is on board. 

“I don’t know what that something is but definitely something needs to change,” he recently said. “I think there’s certain guys who have been able to just expose that and take advantage of it. I think something needs to be changed, for sure.”

A PLAY-IN TEAM?

As of right now, the Boston Celtics are the 7th seed, which would put them into the league’s new play-in tournament. This means they’d face the 8th seed, currently the Knicks, with the winner getting the 7th seed for the playoffs. 

The loser of that game would face the winner of the 9th vs. 10th seed game, currently Indiana vs. Chicago. The winner of that game would become the 8th seed. The losers of both of those games would be in the lottery. 

“You are what you are at the end of the year,” Stevens said. “Somebody is going to finish in that group, and when they do they're going to have to get ready to perform, and if you do it well then you can be in the real tournament.”

The idea is to prevent outright tanking by making more teams playoff-eligible. If the Celtics, for example, were to just decide to blatantly tank, they’d have to fall to the 11th seed, which is 5.5 games away. That would take a collapse so epic that the league would certainly get involved to prevent it.

And so the better plan for Boston is to try to climb out of that spot. They’re currently one game out of the 4th seed. 

“It's a little bit unique in a 72-game season but I understand the desire to do it,” Stevens said. “We hope, just like New York hopes, just like every other team in this mix of teams hopes, that you're able to find your way above that. But, if not, you play the games you're assigned to play.”