t-mac says if he won in 2013 with spurs, it wouldn't have counted Barkley says if he won with the 90s Rockets or if Karl Malone won with the 2004 lakers, it wouln't count Now Matt Barnes saying his 2017 ring doesn't feel real??? Why former Warriors player Matt Barnes doesn't want his 2017 NBA championship ring Former Warriors forward Matt Barnes doesn't want his championship ring Matt Barnes capped his 14-year NBA career in storybook fashion. After being put on waivers by the Sacramento Kings, he was picked up by the Golden State Warriors for the stretch run and was part of the 2017 team that defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals. But Barnes doesn't consider himself an NBA champion. In fact, he never even picked up his championship ring. On his "All the Smoke" podcast last week, Barnes revealed (around the 1:09:00 mark) the ring is still sitting in the office of Golden State vice president of communications Raymond Ridder. "I came in when (Kevin Durant) went down, playing a consistent 20-25 minutes. The game KD comes back, I get hurt maybe a week before the playoffs and I’m out of it," Barnes said. "I got a free ride, I got a free ring.” Barnes averaged 5.7 points, 4.6 rebounds and 20.5 minutes per game in the 20 regular-season games he played with the Warriors that year. But it was a different story in the playoffs. "I didn’t sweat ... I didn’t get to guard LeBron (James)," he said. With Durant fully recovered, Barnes played just 61 minutes in 12 playoff games. And for that reason, he concluded: "I don't count that as a championship."
Some foolish shyt, basketball is a team sport and every cog in the wheel is important young or old The culture in the NBA is mad weird to me, players are bigger than the teams. I think this is why so many fans get lost in the allure of polarizing players rather than enjoying the sport for what it is.
I kind of understand Barkley and McGrady saying it because they were superstars. Getting a ring when past your prime probably wouldn't mean as much to them. Matt Barnes is different though. He was a role player his whole career. Just stfu and be happy you were apart of a team who won one.
The championship is destroying the culture and fun of basketball. Too many narratives surrounding the impact of winning/not winning a ring. We have GREAT players who never won a ring (team achievement) but somehow gets down graded and surpassed by players who weren’t necessarily better. Or the ol’, “ he didn’t win on his original team” and “he joined a super team” argument. Even the, “he wasn’t the leader of that team” , “he wasn’t in his prime”, or “but he wasn’t MVP”, argument. Now we have players “not counting” rings because they didn’t win them the “right way”? WTF is the right way to win a ring in a team sport competition? This ring argument is bullshyt and overblown, and rarely put in proper context.
barnes talkin like he aint know the 2017 Warriors were the heavy favorites. aint nobody force him to sign there.
the purpose of the game is to win. All of the NBA legenda of the past were expected to win rings? that's why Bill Russell was considered the goat for decades.
Doesn’t mean we downgrade players because their teams weren’t good enough, their front offices were wack, or for whatever other reasons out of their control. The “you gotta won rings” narrative is killing basketball.
why is Tmac even in this conversation? did he even play in the playoffs that year? At my man's wedding reception, I gave the toast . I said "may you stay together forever, or until Tmac wins a playoff series..................which ever one lasts longer". Joke went over well.
Honorable thing to do. Honestly, the rest of the GSW squad should come out and do the same thing. The first one was against injury ridden teams. That ain't greatness. Last 2 with KD was just cheating and even then it took a CP3 injury one year. They all have 0 respectable rings if you really look at it. Rings have become overrated because it was part of MJ's story of greatness. But these other guys ain't great like MJ was. Salute Matt Barnes.
