So here it is, almost a year later, and Phil Jackson is looking pretty smart right about now. He called Sacramento fans "semi-civilized."
He must have known something.
With the playoffs again approaching, irate Kings fans are leaping out of their seats because the NBA fined Jason Williams $15,000 for uttering obscene (he admits as much) and allegedly racist, ethnic and homophobic slurs (depending on whom you believe) during a recent Kings-Warriors game in Oakland.
Amazing. Unbelievable.
Downright scary.
The city that protested so loudly when the provocative Lakers coach spewed venom during last year's postseason, the same fans who became apoplectic when Chris Webber characterized Sacramento as "boring" in a recent magazine article, are lining up solidly behind the volatile Kings' point guard.
On talk shows. In letters to The Bee. In e-mail messages to me. By an overwhelming margin, Williams, who has a history of berating fans even when unprovoked, is portrayed as the victim, a troubled young man being picked over by journalists, NBA officials, even members of Kings management.
In other words, a community that prides itself on its diversity -- the city is 16 percent Latino, 14 percent African American and 14 percent Asian American -- is justifying the Feb. 28 outburst because Jason: (a) was surely baited, (b) is too young (25) to know better, or (c) was unfairly targeted by the media.
Rubbish, all of it.
If anything, the league barely slapped his palms. A $15,000 fine? The equivalent of a traffic ticket. Yet NBA officials say they were precluded from exacting a more severe punishment because their internal investigation produced conflicting accounts.
Well, let me tell you something about the extent of that investigation:
The two security guards seated near the visitors' bench verified the published accounts of Bobby Shoker, Duke Tsai, Earl Butler and Michael Ching, who was so offended he complained to the league. According to the men, they were teasing Williams about being benched and playing poorly, never once called the Kings star a "skinhead" or "racist" as he alleged.
Williams, who remains mum on the matter, is said to have responded with a series of offensive remarks and epithets, among other things, calling the Bay Area residents "slant-eyed (expletive) ..." and adding, "I will shoot all you Asian (expletive) ..."
Additionally, while league officials subsequently spoke with Kings reserve Jabari Smith, who engaged in his own verbal battle with the men and denied that his teammate made the offensive statements, they failed to contact Shoker, Tsai, Butler, or any of the others who voiced their displeasure to Bay Area media.
"That's what I'm really upset about," said Tsai, a property manager in San Francisco. "Everybody's accusing us of baiting Jason, and nobody (in the league) talked to us. They should have talked to the two security guards and the six of us if they wanted the truth. No way we would call Jason a 'skinhead' or say anything like that. When I heard that's what he was saying, I thought: 'Oh, my God. If we had said that, he would have had every right to say the things he said to us.' "
Shoker, who like Ching is a certified public accountant, suggests that Williams "just snapped. We were getting on him, saying like, 'Jason, you're not playing well tonight.' The weird thing is, we're Kings fans. I lived in Sacramento for three years. I just hope this doesn't reflect on the city or the Kings, because it's all Jason."
A Warriors season-ticket holder of Japanese descent, Ching remains particularly perturbed. He says he won't rest until he receives an apology, partly because his mother was held in an internment camp during World War II. "It's a very sensitive issue with me," he said, "and the saddest part is, Jason doesn't even seem remorseful."
Sad, too, is that this is yet another incident tarnishing the image of a league that is generally regarded as the pro sports model for racial tolerance, opportunity and community. Within the past week alone, the NBA surprisingly failed to punish Jason Kidd for his spousal battery charge, and two of its announcers (Danny Ainge and John Thompson) have taken well-deserved heat for dissecting Hedo Turkoglu's physical appearance during a recent telecast.
So where to from here?
Never mind the fine. This problem isn't going away. Until Jason finds a more constructive outlet for his anger, his career isn't going anywhere, either.
As for Sacramento fans, well, let's hear it.
Or was Phil right after all?
