Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / Feb. 25, 2021, edition 1 / Page 9
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Timothy Ramsey Sports Columnist Double standard in sports There is an obvi ous double standard in sports that is rarely spo ken about. It seems when a player wants to leave a team for any reason, there is major blowback from the team, analysts, and especially the fans. But when a team wants to re lease or trade a player, it’s just part of the business. That double standard has been a part of sports for as long as I’ve been a fan. Free agency and large contracts have con tributed to movement of players across all leagues. I am not sure why more players have not spoken out about this, but I was elated to see Golden State Warriors’ forward, Dray- mond Green, speak about it during a press confer ence last week. Green has never been one to hold his tongue on any subject. He called out NBA teams for their treatment of players after the Cleveland Cavaliers chose to bench Andre Drummond as they find a place to trade the All-Star center. “I would like to talk about something that’s really bothering me, and it’s the treatment of players in this league,” he said in his postgame press conference. “To watch Andre Drummond, before the game sit on the sidelines, then go to the back and to come out in street clothes because a team is going to trade him, it’s (expletive).” Green continued to speak candidly about his feelings on the topic and expressed his displeasure with the double standard he sees throughout the NBA. It was reported the Detroit Pistons were seeking a trade or buy- out for forward Blake Griffin and would not plan to play him until the team figures out what to do. The Cavs plan to do something similar with Drummond as well. “Because when James Harden asked for a trade and essentially dogged it ... no one’s going to fight back that James was dogging it his last days in Houston,” said Green. “But he was castrated for wanting to go to a differ ent team and everybody destroyed that man, and yet a team can come out and say, ‘Oh, we want to trade a guy,’ and then that guy has to go sit and if he doesn’t stay professional, then he’s a cancer and he’s not good in some one’s locker room, and he’s the issue.” I understand profes sional sports is a busi ness; however, why is it OK for a team to want to move a player, but when it’s the player who initi ates the parting of ways, it becomes headline news in a negative way. “At some point, as players, we need to be treated with the same re spect and have the same rights that the team can See Sports on B3 Photos by Alphonso Abbott Jr. BY TIMOTHY RAMSEY THE CHRONICLE It has been a tough season for the North Forsyth and Carver High Schools JV basketball teams. The teams faced one another last week in one of the final games of the JV season. With the end of the season quickly approaching, any momentum heading into the offseason would bode well for both teams. The Vikings had already defeated the Yellowjackets earlier in the season by the score of 44-34. In the second matchup, once again North Forsyth came out victorious over Carver in a low scoring affair, 39-32. Parkland senior scores 1,000th point BY TIMOTHY RAMSEY THE CHRONICLE Parkland combo guard, Minnie Griffin, has ex celled in her second stint with the Mustangs. Grif fin recently eclipsed the 1,000-point mark in her career at Parkland by av eraging 31 points per game this season. Griffin initially came to Parkland her sophomore year from the state ofFlori- da. Her family moved back to Florida for her junior year but made their way back to Winston-Salem for her senior campaign. She made it to show case not only her tremen dous talent, but to also show that she has grown as a player on and off the court. Griffin has been nearly unstoppable on the court this season, only scoring under 20 points on one occasion. Hitting the 1,000-point mark was a big accomplishment for her, she said. “I felt like I deserved it and I felt like it was Black girl magic and something that I worked hard for,” said Griffin. Griffin says there were many factors that went into her becoming the player she has been this season. She feels she is a different player this season, com pared to her first season with the Mustangs as a sophomore. “I have grown better submitted photo Minnie Griffin stands with Parkland girls head coach Ken Leak after game where she scored her 1,000th point as a Mustang. by keeping my emotions in check, because it was kind of bad my sophomore year,” she said. “I have grown my leadership skills by helping my teammates grow as I have, and I have grown more physically.” There was a lot of an ticipation for this season for Griffin, because of the hard work she put in dur ing offseason. She knew she would perform well, but did not expect to put up the lofty numbers she has all season. “I didn’t expect to re ally drop as many points as I did this season,” she said. “With only playing 12 games, I really didn’t expect to score the way I did.” According to Park- land girls’ head basketball coach, Ken Leak, adding Griffin for this season was a welcome addition after losing last season’s leading scorer, Tatiyana Cannon, to graduation. “I was ecstatic, be cause we knew her very first practice her sopho more year that she was a great player,” Leak said about Griffin. Leak was not the only person happy about Griffin returning to Winston-Sa lem. Griffin said she was very happy to return to the Mustangs to have Leak and his staff coach her, along with playing against the elite competition in the Triad. “I was very excited to come back my senior year, because when I went to Florida, I felt like Parkland was like my second fam ily to me,” she said. “With the team from last year in Florida, I didn’t have a bond with them like I had with my teammates at Parkland. I was more dedi cated to Parkland than I was to my team in Florida, even though it’s my home state. “The competition in North Carolina is a lot harder than Florida. When I first came here, the girls were a lot stronger and competitive and that made me step my game up and try to match their level.” Griffin saved some of her best games against the best competition. She never backed down against being guarded by the op ponent’s best defender and routinely played well against players headed to college on Division I scholarships. “Basically, what made me step up my game is that Parkland has been the bottom of the barrel for so long, it was time for me to come take over and do my thing,” she said. “I expect ed to play well because in the offseason I woke up at six in the morning to take my runs and on the court practicing with my coach es. I also watched film to improve my skills, so I was prepared to ball out.” Griffin is almost a lock to make the All-Confer ence team and is in con sideration for Player of the Year in the Piedmont Triad Conference. To be consid ered for player of the year is an honor, but to win it would mean the world to Griffin, she said. “It would say a lot about the work and dedi cation I have put into my growth in basketball and if I receive the award, it shows I earned and de served it,” she said about being considered for play er of the year. “I have re ally put in the hard work and I feel like I have done my job to get it, but we will see.” Griffin looks at Leak like a second father, she said. He stayed in contact See Minnie on B3
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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