Longtime Boston Celtics play-by-play announcer Mike Gorman created a bit of a media firestorm last week with his comments about former Tennessee Vols basketball star Grant Williams.
Gorman suggested that Williams, who played for the Celtics to start his career before getting traded to the Dallas Mavericks and then the Charlotte Hornets, is a bad locker room guy who is "annoying".
"He was annoying," said Gorman during an appearance on 98.5 Th Sports Hub. "He was annoying to everybody. I think, initially, everyone kind of thought 'oh isn't he kind of a wise ass, but he's cute and he's kinda funny'. And then it just kind of wore thin....he has some issues in that area that if he doesn't get rid of -- he's not good enough to have teams say, 'ok but despite that we're going to keep him because he's a great player'. He's not. He's extra. He's the eighth, ninth, tenth guy on your roster. If you're a bad locker room guy, you're not going to be the eighth or ninth guy for long because you're not going to be on the team for long."
Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum quickly shot down the idea that Williams is a bad teammate with a tweet last week.
The Charlotte Observer's Rod Boone caught up with Williams recently to discuss Gorman's unprofessional comments. The former Vol offered an incredibly classy response.
“It’s always difficult from the outside looking in," said Williams to The Observer. "I try my best to take the high road on most things. I’ve always tried to treat people with respect. Gorman was just talking in regard to what he thought he experienced and if you ask any one of my teammates across my career in this league, they’d know that I have not only been a great teammate, but a person they can rely on, a person they could talk to. That’s something that I’ve tried to pride myself on."
“So it’s tough hearing things like that because you never want to have someone attacking your character, especially as a teammate but also as a man," added Williams.
It would've been easy for Williams to get defensive and call out Gorman for his comments. But instead, he took the high road. Williams defended his character without sinking to Gorman's level.
Williams' response combined with Tatum's endorsement of the former Vol as a good teammate should finally put this silly narrative to bed.
More must-reads: