The recent remarks made by Lakers forward Metta World Peace towards head coach Mike Brown have received a lot of attention over the past week. World Peace was unhappy with the amount of playing time he was receiving, and mentioned that Mike Brown didn’t understand that his contributions to the games aren’t always statistical.
Brown responded with a tongue-in-cheek comment about World Peace’s stats, and how low he is rated on Synergy’s sports statistics website.
Since then, World Peace and Brown have both stated that the controversy is overblown, and that they’re simply looking to win some basketball games. When discussing the situation with the L.A. Times, Brown said that he understood World Peace’s frustration, and that he doesn’t feel like the comments were out of line.
“I don’t feel like he overreacted,” Brown said. “I don’t take anything personal. Like I said, I went back and we talked about it and I thought I was real with him and real with whoever else asked me about it.”
It is an encouraging sign to see Brown downplay the situation instead of possibly trying to ignite more frustration and hostility. Quieting any potential locker room storm before it starts is generally the best approach to take in these scenarios.
Brown went on to say that World Peace would start in Friday night’s game against the Phoenix Suns.