Klay Thompson is confused by Jason Terry calling him a 'B-side player'
Veteran guard Jason Terry — who, ICYMI, is still in the league — made headlines last month when he specifically named two All-Stars — Golden State Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson and San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard — as “B-side performers” in the NBA. If you weren’t totally sure what the famously loquacious shooter was talking about, you’re not alone; Klay seems pretty confused by it, too.
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Here’s a brief reminder of what Terry, who this summer joined the Milwaukee Bucks to play his 18th NBA season, had to say about Thompson and Leonard during a September appearance on SiriusXM Radio:
Let’s get James Harden, move him to the side, over here in the A-side. He’s an A-side performer, right? Let’s go to the B-side. The B-side performers in the NBA. That is Kawhi Leonard and Klay Thompson. Those two right there. ‘B-sides’ means a supporting cast role, but not really a bench player. The A-side is your superstar. It is your great player. It is your guy. That is LeBron James, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Stephen Curry, these guys. Chris Paul.
While he painted both Leonard and Thompson with the same “B-side” brush, Terry — who, after spending two seasons with the Houston Rockets, might not have the fondest feelings for the Warriors squad that largely bullied Houston throughout his tenure and knocked JET out of the playoffs the last two springs — seemed to harbor more vitriol for Klay, according to J.D. Shaw of DefPen.com:
“He’s not leading s***,” Terry said of Klay Thompson. “If he doesn’t make shots, how effective is he? Go watch Klay Thompson vs. James Harden from last year and see what James did to him. Every time James got by him, you know who was there? Draymond Green or Andrew Bogut.
“Let’s see what happens this time around.”
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Terry insisted that he’s “not a Klay Thompson hater,” describing Thompson’s jumper as “pure beauty,” but justified his remarks by saying that he felt compelled to defend the honor of his former teammate.
Still, no matter how good Harden is or who Thompson plays with, it does seem curious to level the “B-side” slight at a two-time All-Star and All-NBA player who’s finished second only to teammate Stephen Curry in 3-pointers made in each of the last three seasons and landed in the top 10 in total points scored two years running, too. For his part, Thompson insisted during a Monday visit to SiriusXM that he’s not really sweating it:
I honestly don’t even know what [“B-side performer”] means. Whatever Jason wants to call me. I’ll be a B-side player on my way to compete for championships. That’s OK with me. I don’t even know what that means, man […] And Kawhi Leonard, a B-side player? The man was a Finals MVP! One of the best two-way players in the game! So I don’t get that […] I don’t know. It confuses me, though.
No shame in that, Klay. Evaluating different types of players with different strengths and weaknesses is an inherently confusing thing, and “who ya got????” debates like this tend to point less toward overall objective clarity than the respondent’s individual preferences. (Which is the way sports fandom has always worked, and will always work, and is mostly fine, except for when it’s harmful. Welcome to Ball Don’t Lie, your one-stop shop for parenthetical sports philosophy and funny Vines!)
Two years ago, when the Rockets won 56 games and made the Western Conference finals, the answer was clearly Harden, who earned a second-place finish in NBA Most Valuable Player voting and top honors on the National Basketball Players Association’s players-only MVP ballot. But a disappointing 2015-16 season in Houston, coupled with the Warriors turning in arguably the greatest regular season in history while Thompson earned a second-straight All-NBA berth (and Harden didn’t) and continued to build his case as one of the game’s best backcourt defenders, introduced some uncertainty into the proceedings. Well, for some folks who aren’t Jason Terry, at least.
Perhaps you, like Terry (and Kevin Durant, and plenty of others), believe Harden’s value as one of the most brilliant shot-creators and offense-generators on the planet isn’t properly appreciated thanks to all the harping on his defensive lapses. Maybe you, like the Washington Post’s Tim Bontemps (and plenty of others), think Thompson’s defensive work and capacity to take over games when necessary make him one of the NBA’s more underappreciated talents. Your mileage may vary on the merits of the players’ individual games and cases, and on the proper answer in the ongoing debate to crown the NBA’s best shooting guard.
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Whichever way you lean on the question at hand, a few things seem clear:
• Thompson’s going to get a buffet of open looks on which to feast as part of a Golden State offense that could wind up ranking among the best we’ve ever seen;
• Running point for offensive guru Mike D’Antoni in a revamped Rockets attack, Harden will get every chance to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that he belongs on the short list of the very best players in the world;
• However you classify the league’s players, we’re probably going to have to go down the alphabet a bit until we get to the tier Terry currently occupies. When we get there, though, I’m sure he’ll let us know. Loudly and with great vigor.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!
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