{"id":87704,"date":"2024-07-28T10:31:54","date_gmt":"2024-07-28T14:31:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=87704"},"modified":"2024-07-28T10:31:54","modified_gmt":"2024-07-28T14:31:54","slug":"paris-olympics-jaylen-brown-fires-back-grant-hill-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/28\/paris-olympics-jaylen-brown-fires-back-grant-hill-controversy\/","title":{"rendered":"Jaylen Brown Fires Back At Grant Hill Amid Olympics Controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Boston Celtics swingman <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/brownja02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jaylen Brown<\/a> really wasn\u2019t a fan of USA Basketball director Grant Hill passing him over for a spot on Team USA after Los Angeles Clippers forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/leonaka01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kawhi Leonard<\/a> bowed out of the Paris Olympics.<\/p>\n<p>On Sunday morning, the 2024 NBA Finals MVP expressed disappointment with comments Hill recently made on The Dan Patrick Show.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI spoke to (Brown\u2019s) agent,\u201d Hill reveals. \u201c&#8230;Before or after things went out on Twitter.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI think this idea that there&#8217;s a conspiracy there &#8211; I always love a good conspiracy theory, but it was really truly a basketball decision and these are tough decisions&#8230;\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Grant Hill on the Dan Patrick Show Full Interview | 7\/26\/24\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/11jvxelKEZA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been a (vice president of the National Basketball Player Association) since I was 21 years old,\u201d Brown writes in response.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">grant hill calling me a conspiracy theorist is disappointing I\u2019ve been a VP since I was 21 years old I have a great understanding<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Jaylen Brown (@FCHWPO) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FCHWPO\/status\/1817547834578600253?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 28, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have a great understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Jaylen Brown Fires Back At Grant Hill Amid Olympics Controversy<\/h2>\n<p>Brown has been vocal about his belief that Nike influences Team USA\u2019s roster decisions. Nike is a key sponsor of USA Basketball, and half of Team USA\u2019s roster has signed an endorsement deal with them. With that being said, Brown not only isn\u2019t a Nike athlete, he\u2019s been critical of them on a public platform.<\/p>\n<p>When Nike cut ties with Dallas Mavericks guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/i\/irvinky01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kyrie Irving<\/a> for <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/05\/19\/kyrie-irving-opens-up-struggles-led-mavs\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">posting antisemitic content<\/a> on Twitter, Brown responded with \u201csince when did Nike care about ethics?\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Since when did Nike care about ethics? <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/f8t2eY994v\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/f8t2eY994v<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Jaylen Brown (@FCHWPO) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FCHWPO\/status\/1590809442656088064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 10, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>To Brown\u2019s point, Nike hasn\u2019t exactly been the paragon of morality. For decades, they\u2019ve been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lemonde.fr\/en\/summer-reads\/article\/2022\/07\/23\/the-nike-saga-winning-at-all-costs_5991163_183.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">accused of running sweatshops<\/a>. In 2018, they were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/08\/10\/business\/nike-discrimination-class-action-lawsuit.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">sued for gender discrimination<\/a> and sexual harassment.<\/p>\n<p>Despite a progressive image, Nike founder Phil Knight is a registered Republican who has made a fair share of party donations. This last fact may not be evidence of him being an unethical person. Nonetheless, at this time, the Republican Party has touted itself as a threat to American democracy.<\/p>\n<p>All of that being said, it\u2019s definitely possible that Brown got on Nike\u2019s bad side with his critique. Due to Nike\u2019s status as a USA Basketball partner, this could have affected whether he was selected for Team USA.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also possible that Hill just didn\u2019t want Brown on the team.<\/p>\n<p>Frankly, it\u2019s the second time the 51-year-old chose another player over him. As myriad superstars revealed their commitment to Team USA for the Paris Olympics, the roster spot occupied by Leonard was <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/16\/2024-paris-olympics-options-team-usa-final-roster-spot\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">the only one unfilled<\/a>. Even then, Celtics guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/whitede01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Derrick White<\/a> was considered the favorite for the final spot. However, they chose Leonard, a two-time NBA champion, two-time NBA Finals MVP, and two-time Defensive Player of the Year.<\/p>\n<p>White\u2019s rise in popularity <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/16\/paris-olympics-final-team-usa-basketball-member-revealed\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">couldn\u2019t overshadow <em>his<\/em> resume<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>Curious, Very Curious<\/h3>\n<p>It does seem strange though.<\/p>\n<p>Though Team USA went 5-0 in their pre-Olympic exhibitions, it wasn\u2019t easy or pretty. White played sparingly. Even more interesting were the weaknesses Team USA displayed. They struggled to defend the perimeter, the offense went through lulls, and they didn\u2019t play with consistent energy or effort.<\/p>\n<p>These are all areas in which Brown excels.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, the idea that he doesn\u2019t fit the roster holds less weight than ever. That\u2019s without considering the fact that Brown was never asked if he would accept a reduced role with Team USA. This despite him playing on a stacked Celtics roster featuring four starters with at least one All-Star selection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Boston Celtics swingman Jaylen Brown really wasn\u2019t a fan of USA Basketball director Grant Hill passing him over for a spot on Team USA after Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard bowed out of the Paris Olympics. On Sunday morning, the 2024 NBA Finals MVP expressed disappointment with comments Hill recently made on The Dan [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":87707,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[60,1608,5,62,3],"tags":[1090,2122,450,168,1052,2081],"class_list":["post-87704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-olympics","category-basketball","category-celtics","category-nba","category-news","tag-derrick-white","tag-grant-hill","tag-jaylen-brown","tag-kawhi-leonard","tag-olympics","tag-team-usa"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}