Jason Collins’ former Boston Celtics teammates don’t seem to care one way or the other about him being gay.
WALTHAM – Jason Collins’ former Boston Celtics teammates don’t seem to care one way or the other about him being gay.
“We needed his toughness,” said guard Jason Terry before practice Tuesday, with his team down 3-1 to the New York Knicks in a first-round series. “We’d love to have it in this series. He’s one of the toughest guys in the NBA.”
Collins used a first-person essay on Sports Illustrated to come out as the first active, openly gay professional athlete in major American team sports on Monday. Before doing so, he told some of his former colleagues with the Celtics about his plan, including both head coach Doc Rivers and small forward Paul Pierce.
“He told me he was coming out, and I told him great, good, let’s move forward,” said Rivers. “I jokingly said, ‘I wish you could have gotten me more rebounds.’ Because that’s all I care about, really, at the end of the day.”
“When he called me to tell me, and you could tell he wanted to tell me, I told him before he said it: ‘Jason, I could care less about what you’re about to tell me,’” added Rivers. “That’s how I feel. I honestly feel that way. I could care less what any of you guys do. It’s just, it’s a non-factor to me, and I know it is a factor to a lot of people, I just never understood why anyone cares about what someone else does.
"And I told Jason that. It will be a non-issue eventually, but it will not be right now. And it will be news. Maybe it should be or shouldn’t be, I don’t even know the answer to that.”
Added Pierce: “The crazy thing about it, it was something that I mentioned to Doc, it was going to happen, there was going to be a gay player in professional sports to come out. It just so happens that he was the first, and I was one of his teammates.
“I think, to each his own. It’s probably going to open the door to many more. There are so many professional athletes, so many human beings, that live a dark life that are scared to expose it because the exposure of sports and what people may think about it. I think what he did was a great thing, just to kind of open the door for younger athletes who probably now are going to have the courage to come out.”
Collins, a 12-year veteran, has built a reputation as a terrific teammate and pure professional. The prevailing opinion about him is that he’s a “pro’s pro,” somebody who would forget his team’s game plan about as easily as he’d forget his own first name.
“If there is a right guy, he would be the right guy,” said Rivers. “He’s an intellect, he’s just a great guy. I mean really, I said it when we traded him, it was hard for me to let him go because he was so good in the locker room. He said the right things, and when you’re a coach and you have a guy in your locker room that is saying the right stuff – and not playing, because usually only guys that play say the right stuff, the guys that don’t play don’t say the right stuff – and he was one of those.”
Collins is a free agent after finishing his season with the Washington Wizards. At age 34 and an end-of-the-bench player for the past few seasons, it’s not promised that he will find a team for next season. If he does, there will be challenges to face.
“I think every time he goes to a new city, someone will want to talk about it," said Rivers. "Or there may be some guy in the crowd that may want to voice his opinion. But they voice their opinions pretty well when we’re on the road anyway, it’s just white noise at the end of the day. And I’m sure when Jackie Robinson went on the road, some of the things he heard – and they all want away eventually, and this will go away as well.”
Rivers didn’t seem to expect that things will be too tough for Collins, especially in the locker room.
“I just think we’re by it, past it,” Rivers said. “Especially with players, I just think players want to play, they want to win. And that’s all really they care about. And honestly, that’s all they should care about.”
Indeed, none of Collins’ former teammates who spoke before the team’s practice Tuesday had even a single bad word to say about him.
“I thought while he was here, he was very professional,” said Pierce. “We need more guys like that, the way he carried himself, what he did off the court. In practice, he was one of the more professional players that you see. There was a time at the beginning of the year he didn’t play much, but what you saw from him was a guy who came in, got his work in, and didn’t complain about it. That’s what we need – more guys like him.”
“He’s a good friend of mine, he’s a great teammate,” said Jeff Green. “What Doc said, he’s a pro’s pro. He led by example, did what he had to do and went about his business. I’m truly, truly happy for him and I’m glad he’s happy.”
Green added: “When you have a veteran like him, who comes to work every day, he does his job, that’s all a coach can ask and that’s something that a young guy looks up to.”
Pierce and Green both expressed surprise to hear that Collins is gay.
“It never crossed my mind, but I mean, I’m not against it,” said Green. “We all are here for the same reason – and that’s to win. No matter if you’re gay or if you’re straight, it doesn’t matter to me. We play basketball, and that’s our job. What we do outside the court, that’s his business, that’s my business.”
“I’m happy for him,” said Terry. “It looks like he’s had a huge, tremendous weight lifted off of him. And that’s all you can ask, for any man or woman, is to be at peace with themselves. Then you can find that ultimate happiness, and I think that’s where he is. Being a teammate of his, I know how hard he works, I know how dedicated he is to his craft. He was a great teammate regardless of his sexual preference. It didn’t matter to me, I liked him as a guy and a teammate, and I still do.”
Added Kevin Garnett: “Just happy for him, just happy for him being able to be himself. Everybody’s personal lives are their personal lives, their personal preference are just that. We here support everything that he’s doing. I’m just happy for him that he’s able to be himself.”
Some people in the sports spotlight haven’t been so accepting. ESPN’s Chris Broussard made some controversial comments on television Monday, calling a homosexual lifestyle – along with several other acts, including premarital sex – a sin, adding that he doesn’t consider gay people Christians and that people who openly “live in unrepentant sin” are “walking in open rebellion to God and to Jesus Christ.”
“I think it’s going to spur debate and opinions,” said Rivers. “I guess Chris Broussard had a strong opinion that – I don’t mind his opinion either. I think everybody should have a right to an opinion, and just because Chris’ opinion goes against a lot of others, that doesn’t make his opinion bad either. He has a right to that opinion, he really does.
“And if we’re going to be tolerant, we have to be tolerant. We have to have tolerance with everyone. (Tim) Tebow gets more stuff for being religious – what’s wrong with that? You don’t have to agree with any of it, but if you’re tolerant you’re tolerant. If you’re not, you’re not, and that’s the bottom line.”
Green said Collins should be okay to deal with whatever comes his way.
“He’s a smart guy, he’s an intelligent guy, and I’m pretty sure whatever challenges are ahead of him, he’s going to handle it well,” said Green.
“He was an awesome teammate, he played the game hard,” he added. “He set good screens and got me open, so that’s all you can ask for.”