Yes, I asked for questions and you definitely had questions. Honestly, I wasn’t sure what people would be interested in regarding NBA players on social media. But the readers came through, so I will reward them with answers. The variety of the things people wished to know about was interesting to say the least.
Tweet me @NBAPlayrTweets if you want answers to other questions.
“Did the 76ers waiving Javale McGee after a week prevent us from witnessing the golden age of NBA teammate interaction on Twitter, between JaVale and Joel Embiid?” – Trevor Magnotti
It’s true that McGee has a history of interesting tweets. Heck, they wrote a BuzzFeed article about it three years ago. Then, just last summer, Embiid’s Twitter practices merited a piece on Deadspin. Heck, they came up in my podcast with Josh Criswell (the link works better on his site).
While the two might have had some notable online interactions as teammates, the reality is I haven’t seen anything that stood out from either of them in the two months since I launched this blog. Perhaps they decided they needed to act more like mature adults and less like people who make their own rules about social media. Besides, if I’m McGee, I’d be more concerned with trying to attract another team than making headlines for Twitter practices. He already missed his chance with the Celtics, so that has to be fresh in his mind.
“To what extent does Twitter make athletes less reliant on the media to get their perspective out to the public?” – Ryan Piers
That’s really what this blog has been all about. Players no longer need to have mics and cameras in their faces to let everyone know how they feel about certain things. Their main messages still come out through traditional media, but social media gives us perspective into these athletes like never before.
The timing of when players can express themselves has certainly changed. When Isaiah Thomas had to miss this past Wednesday’s game, he let Celtics fans know of his condition not long before the opening tip. The day before, Jabari Brown decided to express excitement of signing with the Lakers shortly after the move was announced. Last week, Wesley Matthews waited until after his head was clear to talk about his season-ending injury.
Just as importantly, we really get a sense of the platforms NBA players often support. Greg Stiemsma suffers from depression, so he’ll often open up about mental health awareness. Recently, players who didn’t get to appear in the main TV spot for the #LeanInTogether campaign tweeted out pictures of themselves showing how much they care about women’s rights. In my interview with Dustin Hawes, he talked about how Damian Lillard often promotes his anti-bullying platform on social media.
So Twitter has definitely changed how NBA players handle their thoughts in more ways than one. It can be a little difficult to keep track of, but you can definitely sense it all. Until something better comes along, this is how many of them will choose to get their words out.
“If you could have any NBA player follow you, who would it be and why?” – Luis Medina
Wow. That’s like asking to choose between my children (those I don’t have). I would love to have any NBA player follow me because it would show one of the top basketball players in the world was interested in what I had to say. That’s a honor anyone should take pride in.
I suppose if I had to pick one, it would be Pau Gasol. The way he consistently addresses his fans in English and Spanish before and after every game makes it difficult not to wish he would notice you. Only a handful of NBA players on Twitter are really that personal. Many others either don’t tweet as often or simply use their handles to promote giveaways, appearances, charity events, etc.
Of course, after Donald Sloan personally addressed my comments about his love for syrup sandwiches, I kind of wish he would have followed me back as a courtesy. But most of his tweets simply contain the phrase “I’m up.” Strangely, as of Friday afternoon, it’s been three days since he responded and that’s the last truly original tweet he sent.
“What’s your take on the Iman Shumpert/Empire thing?” – Lucas Mitzel
This is a very bizarre story that has broken over the past few days. It appears the Cavalier is very similar to a character in the new Fox hit “Empire”. One character’s flat top, music career and girlfriend’s first name are all similar to those of Shumpert’s. Despite earlier reports that Shumpert was upset about his life being copied, he soon clarified that he did not feel that was happening and there were no hard feelings.
What people need to understand is that some media outlets will find anything to give them a story, which often results in interpreting facts in their own way. That’s what leads to interview subjects like Shumpert having to let everyone know there really is no story. And whether he’s learning this again or for the first time, these things happen when you’re a public figure.
This is the social media age, meaning information gets spread quicker than ever before. Pretty soon, a story takes on a life of its own and if something false is reported, it’s up to the person involved to put the fire out. But even when that’s done, people will continue to watch everyone involved closely because they just can’t resist something that may be scandalous or controversial.
NBA Player Tweets 