# Jason Williams/Geoff Calkins locker room altercation



## GNG

Apparently, according to 560AM, Jason Williams nearly came to blows with Geoff Calkins of The Commercial Appeal after Game 4 tonight.

Williams took exception to the article Calkins wrote earlier today, saying Williams was happy about losing and that basketball was secondary to him. Williams claimed he was misquoted and Calkins, who has a history of negative bias against JWill, grossly misinterpreted the quote.

So Calkins apparently came into the Grizz locker room to get an interview with Mike Miller, and JWill went on a tirade, telling Miller not to give him any quotes and that Calkins would misquote him. Security came between the two, and Jason took Calkins' pen out of his hand and broke it. Miller advised Calkins to leave the room, and Jason was later escorted from the building.

I'd be pretty mad if someone obviously and maliciously misinterpreted me like Calkins did Williams. Is there a single good Memphis sportswriter? Calkins and Tillery are pretty crappy, and the 560 guys like Chris Vernon aren't much better.

Anyway, I wonder how management takes this and how it affects Williams' getting traded this offseason.


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## talula

I grew tired of Jason Williams fairly early this season. I think it would be better for both sides if he was traded.


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## Carbo04

Williams is a great PG. Memphis just runs a terrible offense that doesn't suit his talents at all.


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## HogsFan1188

Calkins had is coming.


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## talula

It seems like Calkins did use Jason's words out of context.

Even when reading the article, I didn't take Jason's comments as meaning that he was happy about losing. Anyway, why shouldn't his family be more important to him than basketball ?

Bad article all around. But that doesn't really excuse Jason's behavior.


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## UKfan4Life

I've never been able to stand the Commercial Appeal writers even before the arrival of the Grizzlies. I wince when I read some of their articles about the Grizzlies, but some aren't so bad.

Still, it was easy to tell in that article that Calkins was just out to get JWill since it was the last game of the season coming up. JWill has played a great series, but Calkins has to taint him in some way. Anything to get attention, huh Geoff?

I think we need to trade off JWill and Earl in a package for a better upgrade at the PG position and have Burks back him up.

But back to my original point; Geoff Calkins is a douchebag.


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## GNG

talula said:


> It seems like Calkins did use Jason's words out of context.
> 
> Even when reading the article, I didn't take Jason's comments as he being happy about losing. Anyway, why shouldn't his family be more important to him than basketball ?
> 
> Bad article all around.


I think his family _should_ come first and _his job_ be secondary. 

I think that's a pretty silly thing to condemn a guy for, especially when you very intentionally misinterpret his quote.

And I don't often support Jason Williams. It's like the Memphis papers are trying to find anything and everything to fault Memphis for another disappointing playoff sweep. Calkins tends to go overboard anyway when it comes to Williams - very few Memphis sportswriters are truly objective - and he comes off as a pretty big jerk, to me, anyway.


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## UKfan4Life

Clawkwork said:


> I think his family _should_ come first and _his job_ be secondary.
> 
> I think that's a pretty silly thing to condemn a guy for, especially when you very intentionally misinterpret his quote.


Exactly.

"WOAH! You think your family is more important than basketball!? What kind of NBA player are you!?"


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## GNG

Clawkwork said:


> I think his family _should_ come first and _his job_ be secondary.
> 
> I think that's a pretty silly thing to condemn a guy for, especially when you very intentionally misinterpret his quote.
> 
> And I don't often support Jason Williams. It's like the Memphis papers are trying to find anything and everything to fault Memphis for another disappointing playoff sweep. Calkins tends to go overboard anyway when it comes to Williams - very few Memphis sportswriters are truly objective - and he comes off as a pretty big jerk, to me, anyway.


That said, JWill needs to conduct himself better in the locker room. Coming off a season-ending loss might be a good excuse, but this isn't the only tirade he's gone on behind the scenes in the past month. Being tempermental isn't going to help you in the long run, although he has gotten a raw deal as far as playing time at the end of the year and in the playoffs and now the media finding the stupidest things to fault you on.


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## talula

Just saw it on ESPNEWS. Didn't look _that_ bad.


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## GNG

> The clock ran out, the buzzer sounded, and Shane Battier leaned down to untie his shoes.
> 
> He does this at the end of every season, when the shoes aren't much use to him anymore.
> 
> Battier tossed one shoe into the crowd on one side of the court.
> 
> He tossed the other shoe into the crowd on the other side of the court.
> 
> He walked off, in stocking feet, and into a future that will have a very different look.
> 
> "I'd be shocked if our lineup looks like it does this year," he said. "We had a good run, four years."
> 
> The Phoenix Suns defeated the Grizzlies on Sunday night, sweeping them out of the playoffs, 123-115.
> 
> It wasn't just the end to a season, really. It was the end of this team, this collection of players that forged a bond with the city that didn't exist before.
> 
> Earl Watson said he thought about how fast it all went by, how many people he'd like to thank.
> 
> To his right, Stromile Swift took off his Grizzlies jersey for what could be the last time.
> 
> Bonzi Wells never made it to the goodbye party. He was asked to stay away.
> 
> Jason Williams was escorted out of the locker room after -- how to say this? -- taking a pen out of my hand.
> 
> He didn't like a column I wrote. He asked where I live.
> 
> But you know what?
> 
> If Williams is part of the changes, I'll miss covering the guy. Miss the basketball genius, the brilliant sleight of hand.
> 
> "We're going to have a different identity," said Battier. "That's just the way it goes."
> 
> Well, yeah.
> 
> But people are still learning that down here.
> 
> As far as Memphis fans know, Williams has always been a Grizzly. Same with Swift. Same with Battier. Same with Gasol. Same with Lorenzen Wright.





> Can you imagine the Grizzlies without the Stro Show? Without J-Will? Without Bonz ... oh, scratch that.
> 
> A day after Mike Fratello said the media had created a rift between Wells and the staff out of thin air, the coach announced Wells wouldn't be participating in the final game.
> 
> "Bonzi and I decided that in the interests of the team, he would not be on the bench tonight," Fratello said.
> 
> So not only did the media invent a rift between a player and a coach, they made the player disappear!
> 
> Wells was still in evidence, however, on the persons of Williams and Swift.
> 
> They both wore Wells's No. 6 armband.
> 
> Solidarity between gazillionaires.


Here's the rest...

Calkins...what a punk. He definitely chickened out.

And the thing about Bonzi and the media sounded way too familiar to the Portland days. I'm glad he'll be gone before that relationship can degenerate into constant potshots. I hate when the media acts all self-righteous.



> So not only did the media invent a rift between a player and a coach, they made the player disappear!


Oh, the sarcasm. Like the media's so innocent in the whole situation. Screw you.

I also can't stand the eleven-word paragraphs that are staples in a Calkins article. They work really well for effect when used every once in awhile. Calkins starts a new paragraph every time he types a period. So amateurish.


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## grizzhoops

talula said:


> It seems like Calkins did use Jason's words out of context.
> 
> Even when reading the article, I didn't take Jason's comments as meaning that he was happy about losing. Anyway, why shouldn't his family be more important to him than basketball ?
> 
> Bad article all around. But that doesn't really excuse Jason's behavior.



Talula, you are always right on target.


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## grizzhoops

Can someone in Memphis contact Calkin's wife or call in on a radio show to see how she feels about her husband criticizing a player for putting his family first. That’s assuming he’s married. If he isn’t, maybe we understand the reason why.

With conservative movement that has always been welcome in Memphis and is currently sweeping the nation, Calkin should be characterized as unpatriotic and put in the same position that he put JWill. I’m saying this as a person that thinks JWill is magic as a ballhandler and passer but lacks the mental toughness and leadership required to win playoff games and should be traded.

He was a champion, however, for his comment to Calkin’s, should get credit for putting his family first, but should have used the media to convey his dissatisfaction with the misintereptation of his comments instead of aggression to let the court of popular opinion correct the situation over time.


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## MemphisX

I don't care about reality. You can't say basketball is secondary when you are getting your tails kicked and you have generally played the entire year like you really didn't care.

Imagine the furor that would erupt if the Lakers were down 3-0 and Kobe said it didn't matter because he had his family and hoops was secondary. He would get roasted.


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## ChristopherJ

UKfan4Life said:


> Exactly.
> 
> "WOAH! You think your family is more important than basketball!? What kind of NBA player are you!?"


The point was he was happy that they were *losing*, because that meant he could go see his family. When your a supposed competitor in the NBA that type of attitude is pretty weak. Although there is nothing wrong with missing your family you would hope that Willaims would still be upset with being down 3-0 regardless.

Of course this is based on how accurate the context of the quote was...


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## mavsmania41

Trying to be hip brother dont you hate a white boy trying to be black ?


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## mavsmania41

Arnt Williams and Randy Moss pretty good freinds what you expect. His character is allways had issues got kicked out of Florida playing for Billy Donovan.


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## Jwill55gRizZ

BaronMcGrady said:


> Williams is a great PG. Memphis just runs a terrible offense that doesn't suit his talents at all.


thats the truth man.. HE is the only player outside of Pau and DJones to have a good series.. Fratello needs to take some blame for this series loss.. Every time Jason started going off on Steve Nash for like 8 straight points Earl Watson would come in and the lead would dicipate or their comeback would stop (might be a conincidence, though im not sure).


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## GNG

KidCanada said:


> The point was he was happy that they were *losing*, because that meant he could go see his family.


That's not at all what he meant, although that's what the reporter-with-a-vendetta wrote.

This is why that kind of journalism is dangerous. People actually believe it.


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## Adam

It seemed every game of this series, at least at the early stages of each game, J-Will was too much for Nash. I started thinking to myself: if J-Will was on the Suns he would be an MVP favorite just like Nash. He seems to be quicker, more athletic, and just as good a passer/ballhandler. But then Fratello would try to slow down the game and play a half court offense which was horrible, J-Will would get frustrated, Fratello would bring in Watson and game over. This seemed to be the same case for each game. If I was you guys I'd be calling for Fratello's head. He has never seemed to be much of a coach to me and I don't understand how any basketball player could respect him. His comments as an analyst on TNT always demonstrated a lack of basketball knowledge to me and he just continued to prove my opinions of him right this year with the Grizz.


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## ChristopherJ

Rawse said:


> That's not at all what he meant, although that's what the reporter-with-a-vendetta wrote.
> 
> This is why that kind of journalism is dangerous. People actually believe it.


I said that was the point of the article, not the player(obviously). And I don't believe it, if you care to read my whole post I said *if* the context of the article was accurate.

I guess that wasn't clear :whoknows:


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## UKfan4Life

KidCanada said:


> The point was he was happy that they were *losing*, because that meant he could go see his family. When your a supposed competitor in the NBA that type of attitude is pretty weak. Although there is nothing wrong with missing your family you would hope that Willaims would still be upset with being down 3-0 regardless.
> 
> Of course this is based on how accurate the context of the quote was...


We have already established Geoff Calkins took JWill's quotes way out of context and probably butchered them. He had an agenda with this article; it's not hard to tell.

Anyway, if JWill was happy with losing, why was he playing so well vs the Suns? If he wanted to lose, why not just play like **** and try and throw every game?

Trust me, sports writers for the CA suck...and Geoff Calkins is a douche.


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## GNG

UKfan4Life said:


> We have already established Geoff Calkins took JWill's quotes way out of context and probably butchered them. He had an agenda with this article; it's not hard to tell.
> 
> Anyway, if JWill was happy with losing, why was he playing so well vs the Suns? If he wanted to lose, why not just play like **** and try and throw every game?
> 
> Trust me, sports writers for the CA suck...and Geoff Calkins is a douche.


If he averaged 16 ppg and however many assists for the season, I wouldn't care if basketball was secondary to him.


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## HogsFan1188

Is there a site where I can see the video of the whole thing?


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## UKfan4Life

HogsFan1188 said:


> Is there a site where I can see the video of the whole thing?


Uh...I doubt someone happened to have a video camera on hand at the time.


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## HogsFan1188

UKfan4Life said:


> Uh...I doubt someone happened to have a video camera on hand at the time.


I just saw it on ESPN.


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## HogsFan1188

It was pretty funny actually. Jwill was pullin his best "angry black guy" inpression. :biggrin:


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## Jwill55gRizZ

adam said:


> It seemed every game of this series, at least at the early stages of each game, J-Will was too much for Nash. I started thinking to myself: if J-Will was on the Suns he would be an MVP favorite just like Nash. He seems to be quicker, more athletic, and just as good a passer/ballhandler. But then Fratello would try to slow down the game and play a half court offense which was horrible, J-Will would get frustrated, Fratello would bring in Watson and game over. This seemed to be the same case for each game. If I was you guys I'd be calling for Fratello's head. He has never seemed to be much of a coach to me and I don't understand how any basketball player could respect him. His comments as an analyst on TNT always demonstrated a lack of basketball knowledge to me and he just continued to prove my opinions of him right this year with the Grizz.


truth.. exactly what i was saying.. rep 4 u


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## GNG

Link to the video


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## DaUnbreakableKinG

Rawse said:


> Link to the video


Thanks for the link.

I don't see anything wrong in Jwill saying that this is second to him. It should be. Family is always first. If family is not first on your list theres something wrong with you. 

:twocents:


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