The former Duke Blue Devil shares his thoughts.
by Jonathan Santiago / @itsJONsantiago
The Michigan Fab 5 documentary has caused response from all parts of basketball world, in particular Duke alums. Bobby Hurley took to the airwaves on the Dan Patrick Show the day after the movie aired. Grant Hill reacted to the movie in a classy written piece for the New York Times on Wednesday.
Elton Brand never played against the Fab 5 in a Duke uniform. But as a former Blue Devil, the Sixers power forward has an opinion on the misperception of his alma-meter.
“A lot of inner city kids felt like that,” Brand said of the comments made by Jalen Rose in the film. “So I wasn’t mad at him or anything like that.
“He was ignorant at the time absolutely,” Brand continued. “But like I said a lot of people from the inner city, you know black youth, they felt like that.”
Brand has not yet watched the documentary. But he did read Hill’s reaction piece for the Times and enjoyed it.
“You know everything that he was talking about was very pertinent,” he said of Hill. “It’s current…You shouldn’t feel a certain way because you have two parents or (you’re) affluent…that’s ridiculous.”
Brand on March Madness and Duke’s Chances
On the NCAA Tournament. Does the former Blue Devil watch?
EB: Yeah, when I can. I was watching UNC versus LIU, Long Island Unversity (yesterday). I try to watch Duke as much as I can absolutely.
Does he think Duke is the favorite to repeat with Kyrie Irving back from injury?
EB: I think so. (Irving was) leading scorer (yesterday) with 14 points off the bench. A little rust, but they’re the champs until somebody dethrones them.
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What sell-outs.
@jukai clearly you’ve forgotten what jj reddick was like way back in the day. Or christian laettner….trust me grant hill is a warrior and I got love for him…and Elton brand’s ok. But everyone else….not so much. And props to Elton brand for realizing that a lot of people felt the way jalen did. Apparently grant hill lives in a bubble.
And what in the world did JJ Reddick do? Just about everything I’ve ever read suggests JJ Reddick was a well-mannered kid but everyone choose to gave him crap because he was a talented white shooting guard from Duke.
And from this exchange, Hill apparently loves in a bubble.
The bottom line I’m getting from everyone is, IF YOU’RE BLACK AND HAVE MONEY YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED. Cause they’re sellouts.
The first part is good,second part is incredible. It might appear on itunes soon
I saw it on youtube under “Fab 5 espn”
@The Black Rick Kamla: -HE CALLED HIM AN UNCLE TOM-
Look up the meaning of the word you clearly know nothing about. I’ve SEEN the documentary, bro. That’s why I’m so damn angry. Some of them lived very sad lives. But the comment was asinine. And I’m only angry because Rose has refused to refute his statement. And people are all saying “well a lot of young kids think that, it’s fine” but if Grant Hill had said at 17 “those Fab 5 guys are punks and thugs, they should be embarrassed” I bet no one would say “oh well, he was just 17!” He’d be crucified.
@X you sound mad bitter boy. #salty as hell.
Stereotyping goes both ways son… it’s similar to prejudice and assuming things about people before you get to know them… It’s trite but if you AssUme you make an Ass of U and me. LMAO @RobStewart We all know that the Fab5′s comments were made when they were 17 years old. Trouble is that in the documentary, they were still reminiscing on how they felt as teenagers and didn’t clarify if they feel differently today. Even though I did agree with common perception in the 80s and into the 90s like the Fab5, I grew up realizing the world is a lot bigger than just what people in my hood thought. RealTalk: Duke chooses middle-class, Cosby-esque black students because they’re the ones that had some education, decent SAT scores, and GPAs to get accepted into the school. Duke is still a private school so they can keep their own standards. Stanford, UNC-Chapel Hill, Maryland-College Park, Harvard, Michigan-Ann Arbor, etc. all have their own acceptance standards too. Look at the players Duke has recruited over the years: Sean Dockery, Carlos Boozer, Dahntay Jones, Jay Williams, Elton Brand, Daniel Ewing, Lance Thomas, Johnny Dawkins, Quinn Cook, Chris Duhon, Austin Rivers, Michael Gbinije, Sheldon Williams (if I could have a wife like Candace Parker I’d have gone to Duke too.. shiii..) Nolan Smith… you get my point. They all hustled and played ball with a dream.
This is less about race than about jealousy and opportunity. Black on black hate and violence is slowing us down when we were meant to subdue to the Earth and all that is in it. You can’t fault these brothuhs and call them all sell-outs. They’re just trying to do right by their own families’ dreams and sacrifice.
It’s another way for the Man to keep division between underprivileged, inner-city, black youth and black families that make it out of hood but remember how far they’ve had to travel. I’m actually a big fan of the Fab5 and just seeing the documentary reminded me of balling and hanging with my boys repping hip-hop culture on the court and on the streets.
Jalen Rose has already come along way from when he was a young teenager trying to make a name for himself cuz his pro father wasn’t around much. HE’s a father now and making good $$$$ at ESPN. Would people dare call him an Uncle Tom?
that’s the irony man and I think each of the Fabulous 5 need to clarify how they may feel today. Too many times, we accuse one another of selling-out and being ashamed of our Black-American heritage. The documentary still speaks to me but I hate hypocrisy and stereotypes. Stereotypes are based on patterns and there’s occasionally some truth but they can not be applied in every situation.
I had to learn this the hard way but I’m going to stand by it cuz people do surprise you at times.
What’s great is that the Fab 5 documentary has stirred up things that have been in the black communities’ subconscious for many years now and we need to talk this thing out.
If someone were to call me a sellout / “Uncle Tom” for trying to do the best I can and do right by my family, I would look them straight in the face and ask them to say it again.
As a fan of hip-hop culture and the Fab 5 I respect how honest they were about their feelings and sharing it in a documentary. I was definitely a minority while studying at Duke but I was one of so many. I had Pakistani, Carribean, African, Brazilian, Australian, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Canadian, Japanese, Egyptian, Greek, Korean, etc. classmates.
Did we all have egos and think we’re the best? sure but who doesn’t when you’re a teenager? I’m sure Jalen Rose, Jimmy King, Ray Jackson, Chris Webber, and Juwan Howard each thought they were the best in their position. Was Duke’s Carlos Boozer a sellout because he was half-latino/half black American who played for Duke? He was recruited from Alaska people. Oh… so he sold out all the entire latino and black communities in Alaska? SMH. Jalen Rose needs to read up on the history of minorities at Duke. I would never call another minority representative an “Uncle Tom”
I respected Jalen Rose as a student-athlete, basketball player, i respect him as a Father figure to his children, and as a brother in our Lord Jesu Cristo el hijo de Dios but unless Jalen Rose clarifies how he and the Fab 5 feel today about “sellouts” I can not respect them as public figures who are influencing young people today. Orgullo Mi gente… Nuestro Orgullo
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