DJ Wilson and Jalen Brunson finished their seasons well, and Brunson likely did not mean to flip anyone the bird
I don't want to steal too much thunder from UMHoops, so please click on the link. Some of what you'll find by clicking on the link is that Michigan commit DJ Wilson finished his season with 29 points, 10 rebounds, and four blocks in a championship game loss. Stats are only worth so much, but it's worth noting that all-everything 2015 forward Ivan Rabb had 26 points, 13 rebounds, and six blocks in the game, so Wilson more-or-less matched him.
Jalen Bruson, 2015 recruit, finished his season with 56 points in a state semifinal loss. He also likely did not mean to flip off the crowd (we had a thread about this a couple of days ago) per the photographer who took the pictures below (bigger versions of which you can find by first going to the UMHoops link):
EDIT: See LSA's post below re: the response of the relevant high school board, who initially punished Bruson and then lifted the punishment.
And I hope they rethink themselves after this. People thinking he's a thug and not a good fit in this program, when this is an incredible example of journalism gone wrong.
blame the fans who bought the narrative before waiting for the story to play out. Our rush to judgment culture is now on hyper drive with twitter etc, fueling the fire.
March 26th, 2014 at 12:50 PM ^
I personally am looking forward to meeting the last world emperor, but I get my apocalypticism from the twelfth century.
Seriously, though, I think its just an unfortunate picture that was easy to mistake. I don't think its a symptom of much more than bad timeing.
Jalen Brunson: do want
He's flipping someone off isn't it he?
...who took the pictures said:
As the junior turned away, he raised his arms in disgust and briefly gesticulated.
I photographed the entire three second long outburst (below) and I didn't feel that it was any different than a hundred other emotional reactions during the state tourney.
The extremely talented teen would go on to score a state final record 56 points, but it wasn't enough as Whitney Young led by Jahlil Okafor would advance to win the state title over Benet.
As I edited my take after the game, I noticed, that during Brunson's reaction, there were a handful of frames where only his middle fingers were extended.
Seeing the play happen through my viewfinder, I was very confident that the gesture was not intentional.
I felt the image could be misconstrued, so, I decided that it would be reckless of me to transmit the photo and take a chance that someone who didn't see the play unfold would think that Jalen Brunson was flipping off the crowd or officials.
A. It looks pretty damn intentional to me there. I want to believe it was not something that was intended, but I just don't see something like that happening accidentily. Maybe a reference to how much time lapsed between each frame will provide some better insight how briefly his middle fingers appeared extended. (Edit - 3 seconds. If it were a snake it would've bit me. Yeah, 3 seconds is long enough to give a quick, good ol' fully intentional double bird flip. I'm still not convinced, but I'm trying to believe it was an accident.)
B. If the photographer thought the photo would be miscontrued and didn't want to "transmit" it, well...then why/how did the picture end up all over the place like it did?
In terms of intent, I think people should look at the second, third, and fourth frames in the third row of photos - particularly the bigger versions on the link. If he's giving the finger, he's giving the finger to the ground at that point. That and the statement by the photographer who saw it in real time make me think that it was just an unconscious movement.
I honestly would hate to be your kid considering your continued condemnation of the kid in this and the previous thread.
How about you use that hate and do something constructive and I dont know? Fly a kit perhaps? There is nothing to see here.
I would hate to be stalked by you in real life because goddamn you are very persistent (according to your post history, your only posts over the past the past 3 days have been in response to me on this subject, that's kind of weird). Look dude, I have my opinion on what happened and what it means and have posted it in 2 seperate threads that have encouraged people to share their opinions on the topic. I think it looks like he flicked off the arena (though I'm trying to understand if that was the case or not), and based on me currently believing it was intentional, it brings into question the decision making ability of the kid. That's my opinion, which is not all an outlandish one to have, nor is it even that important, because my opinion has absolutely no bearing on the situation or his recruitment anyways.
You obviously disagree with me, and that's completely cool because that's your perogative. Great. Share your opinion in a way that will help convince me that mine is flawed, not in a way that attempts to instead just belittle mine, because the latter method gets nobody anywhere. There is zero reason for your continued over the top responses/attacks to my posts. Also, if you think any of my comments reflect any "hate" or in any way negatively reflect on me as a parent, you have a very puzzling view on life to say the least. Relax, my man, relax.
March 25th, 2014 at 11:58 PM ^
If your assertion is that Brunson did not intentionally flip the bird, you're remarkably naive. As others have already pointed out downthread, nobody's fingers assume the precise arrangement Brunson's did—middle fingers out, other fingers curled in—naturally or spontaneously. The athletic association was wrong in lifting their punishment of him.
If your assertion is that it's not an action that by itself warrants the conclusion that he's a thug displaying incipient criminality, you're right.
March 26th, 2014 at 11:39 AM ^
Speaking of flipping the bird, I thought I was the only one who caught Rich Rodriguez doing so, to Rosenberg.... when I saw it I was incredibly disappointed and almost sent a fax to the Athletic Dept.... I decided that someone internally surely saw it and maybe its better not to bring attention to it.... its out there in a video... Its been awhile but I believe its when the proceeding started, and Brandon was speaking, with Rodriguez sitting down next to him, goes to 'itch' or clear his eye, and does so with his middle finger.... I guess its a move that gives plausible deniability but if you watch it, it was clear that he was pissed, and I think he was looking at Rosenberg when he did it...
Probably not intentional, as a similar situation happened to me in High School. After an intense game there was a picture of me in the paper making an arrogant action. When I looked at the tape it ended up being a single frame from a sequence of event. The snapshot was completely out-of-context but it's what the photographer chose to include to show the intensity of the game.
I know, cool story bro. Point being, It looks like he was frustrated and it was unintentional. It obviously wasn't directed at anyone in particular unless the floorboards were taunting him.
Hard to tell. It would have been better if they just posted the video.
I'm not sure if the sequence of photos do him any justice. There are about 8 or 9 frames of him with just his middle finger extended.
Yeah - it probably wasn't as blatant or forward as the Marcus Hall one (which the initial photo, by itself, makes it seem like) but he's definitely flipping the bird. It's not like that's a natural way to have your fingers where it might be misconstrued as him doing something else; he's definitely flipping someone the bird. Not that I really care that much, I'd like to see him play for UM anyway, but let's be honest about this.
I don't know, it could be a completely unconsious part of throwing his hands up in the air in frustration. To be clear, the amount of time we're talking about here is the time between his heel and the rest of his foot hitting the ground. That's what, maybe .25 seconds?
I'm inclined to agree - it seems doubtful that he'd accidentally have both middle fingers up at the same time. Much less blatant than the Marcus Hall gesture, but most likely intentional.
Not that I really care though - I'd still love to have him here.
How is the fact that he's holding up his middle-fingers not intentional? Did his fingers do something that his brain said not to do?
I think it's more accurate to say that, while he meant to give the middle-finger, it wasn't meant to be directed at the crowd. Kind of like when you're in high school and your parents yell at you and you mutter "f*** you" under your breath and they hear it (even though you didn't really want them to hear it) and they proceed to ground you for months.
March 25th, 2014 at 11:06 PM ^
Astounding that the five-man 2012 class is looking like it'll have four 1st rounders - maybe even four lottery picks.
Silliness. Subs.
levert >> GR3 now.
March 26th, 2014 at 11:42 AM ^
Prior to this past month, Id have agreed with you.. .but not now.. Glenn has turned it on... he has alot more to him than hes been consistently showing...
LeVert is a total stud, but I have to disagree... Id say they are equal in value.
but he's a high schooler. People grow up. Doesn't mean he shoud be automatically eliminated from consideration for Michigan
March 25th, 2014 at 10:43 PM ^
The fact that some people even have to be told this is so bad. Should be universal common sense.
To me it looks like it was a big FU to the "haters" out there, really. He didn't mean to do it to the crowd, per se, but he did do it. And it seems like he keeps them extended longer when his arms are to his side to make it look like he wasn't really flippin' the bird. I don't know, don't really care that much either really. He's good and I want him to go Blue.
(LINK) - some of the back and forth that the schools and Brunson himself had with the ISHA is here, if anyone is interested.
In a nutshell, although the ISHA Executive Director himself said that he thought the gesture was spontaneous but not accidental and that he believed that it did violate ISHA rules, but ISHA Board actually sided with Brunson in the end, saying that they could not determine that it was unsportsmanlike conduct. Brunson was actually initially suspended for the consolation game against Edwardsville by Hickman, the suspension only being lifted by the Board moments before that game.
I thought i remember seeing that Brunson apologized for the gesture... meaning that it was obviously intentional
In the aftermath, Brunson wrote on Twitter- "I apologize for the image that was captured in last night's game but I do not apologize for the action because I didn't do what was portrayed."
http://www.csnchicago.com/preps/jalen-brunson-apologizes-alleged-inappr…
He actually apologized for the gestures first, deleted the message, then apologized for the image. From the quotes from the IHSA guy, I think he changed things a bit to avoid any insinuation that he meant to flip the bird.
From the video you can see in that link, however, it does just appear to be a move of frustration in the moment, rather than flipping off the crowd or anything like that.
Like inadvertently dropping an f-bomb, I would say.
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jbcrossover5 I apologize for the image that was captured in last nights game but I do not apologize for the action because I didn't do what was portrayed 3/22/14, 2:54 PM |
So it was obviously NOT intentional.
He was probably getting hounded by the fans all game, hit a ridiculous and 1, and told the fans to GET ORF ME!
things happen in Chicago on a daily basis.
Jalen's dad, Rick, had the quote of the year: "If there was any indication Jalen did this, the story wouldn't have been Jalen flipped off fans, the story would have been Jalen's dad was on the court beating the hell out of him."
March 25th, 2014 at 10:58 PM ^
Is the timing right for Brunson to come here? Unless Walton takes a MONSTER leap next year (possible), he will be here for his junior season. Spike will be a senior when Jalen is a freshman. Granted some teams play two points and Beilein has gone to that look for brief periods in games, but I wonder what if the roster will make us a tough sell to JB. Hope not.
March 25th, 2014 at 11:50 PM ^