Thoughts on Okongwu?

[Gray Mule]

Growing!  Missed summer League, missed Pre Season.  Injured.  All this forced him to learn on the go.  We've all watched him as he has grown some more in the playoffs.  I expect him to be a little better against Bud's merry men.  

[Atlantaholic]

6 hours ago, ATLHawks3 said:

Trust me, he’ll be waaaaaaaaaayyyyyy better than a bench piece.

I'm starting to believe!

 

[High5]

Some people thought we were punting the season by not acquiring a veteran backup. I’m starting to suspect Schlenk may know what he’s doing. His defense is already so good. Can’t wait to see what he can do with a full offseason.

[HawkingAwesome]

yeah kong is special if he can get his shooting right he'll be what we though spellman was going to be

[HawkingAwesome]

also i call him kong cuz aint nobody got time for oneyeke okongwoo i can't even spell it by gah

[kg01]

27 minutes ago, HawkingAwesome said:

also i call him kong cuz aint nobody got time for oneyeke okongwoo i can't even spell it by gah

Nah, nah, nah .. don't be that guy.

His name's not hard to spell or pronounce.  You wouldn't see "Trae" and pronounce it "Trah - eee".  Put your work in and figure out Onyeka's name.  We'll give you 24 hours, homes.  Get it done or ...

[HawkingAwesome]

13 minutes ago, kg01 said:

Nah, nah, nah .. don't be that guy.

His name's not hard to spell or pronounce.  You wouldn't see "Trae" and pronounce it "Trah - eee".  Put your work in and figure out Onyeka's name.  We'll give you 24 hours, homes.  Get it done or ...

I can say it but i aint spelling it 

[kg01]

9 minutes ago, HawkingAwesome said:

I can say it but i aint spelling it 

Not good enough ..

Come back when you can spell it with your eyes closed.

[ATLHawks3]

22 minutes ago, HawkingAwesome said:

I can say it but i aint spelling it 

Call him 'Gwu.

[txsting]

7 hours ago, ATLHawks3 said:

Call him 'Gwu.

King Kong

[TheNorthCydeRises]

8 hours ago, HawkingAwesome said:

also i call him kong cuz aint nobody got time for oneyeke okongwoo i can't even spell it by gah

Gwu Tang

[TheNorthCydeRises]

17 minutes ago, txsting said:

King Kong

 

We're not calling any Black athletes "King Kong" . . in a Cancel Culture environment.  Even if he has "Kong" in his name.

 

[cam1218]

I don’t think we will see him in the summer league after he helps us win a championship this year.

[sturt]

Noticed in his post-game that Nate seemingly is going out of his way at this point to use "Big O," and he simply cannot be that oblivious. For whatever reason, Nate apparently believes that no nickname, not even that of a Hall of Famer, is sacred. For Nate, they're all reusable and portable.

To me, it would be 10x less offensive if he called him King or Kong or King Kong. The whole thing, to me--and I know I'm in the minority--just serves to perpetuate the African heritage = ape thing rather than retard it, ironically enough.

What do I mean?

The implicit "oh no, that's bordering on taboo," only provides impetus for the natural question "but why?," which in turn only plants a seed that there must actually be some logical reason for that association instead of  the taboo nature being so ridiculous that we don't even pay any mind to it... we're advanced, we're intelligent, so we hype the low-post dominance of a black big man named Okongwu no different than we would if, instead, he were a white big man named King... either way, the nickname would be justified and highly marketable.

That said.

If you can't beat 'em join 'em. Well, almost. Close enough that Nate ought to be okay with it. Surely.

So... maybe just me... but I'm going to start going with... the Big O-O.

[bleachkit]

25 minutes ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

 

We're not calling any Black athletes "King Kong" . . in a Cancel Culture environment.  Even if he has "Kong" in his name.

 

That's a shame. It's a cool nickname. It's intention is clearly not meant to be offensive in this context. 

Edited June 22, 2021 by bleachkit

[TheNorthCydeRises]

59 minutes ago, bleachkit said:

That's a shame. It's a cool nickname. It's intention is clearly not meant to be offensive in this context. 

 

This probably wasn't either . . . but you see the problem, right?

Somebody told Lebron and Giselle to pose like that on purpose . . . it's too obvious where they got the inspiration from.

I would say that Lebron and Giselle, because of their ages at the time, were oblivious to the previous image.

This was also that a Black man was on the cover of Vogue.  And this is how they have him pose?   Too suspect.

 

 

That's a PR nightmare ready to happen for the Hawks, if any sort of King Kong name started to stick for Okongwu.

Gwu Tang ( Lethal's name for him ), is so much cooler and more contemporary.

[bleachkit]

2 minutes ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

 

This probably wasn't either . . . but you see the problem, right?

Somebody told Lebron and Giselle to pose like that on purpose . . . it's too obvious where they got the inspiration from.

I would say that Lebron and Giselle, because of their ages at the time, were oblivious to the previous image.

This was also that a Black man was on the cover of Vogue.  And this is how they have him pose?   Too suspect.

 

 

That's a PR nightmare ready to happen for the Hawks, if any sort of King Kong name started to stick for Okongwu.

Gwu Tang ( Lethal's name for him ), is so much cooler and more contemporary.

A PR nightmare? That's being a little over dramatic isn't it? People should be offended by something if it's intention is meant to disrespectful and/or demeaning. But the the whole woke ideology of looking for things to be offended by, or being offended by something no matter what the context is, is dumb. That's one thing Charles Barkley is very right about. But like you said, Gwu Tang is also creative and cool nickname. Not sure about contemporary though. Wouldn't be surprised if OO does not even know who Wu-Tang is. 

[RandomFan]

Ah yes, the beyond tired trope of telling other people what they should or should not be offended by...

[RedDawg#8]

Im black. (It's important for the story)

I literally debated at the store if I could purchase this dope ass button down because it had bananas all over it.

It was too clean, perfect fit, perfect color. But I was stuck like damn, can I wear this without letting my own people down? Am I going to have to explain myself whenever I put this on?

I took a picture and sent it to handful of fellow black friends from different walks of life and asked their opinion. It was split right down the middle of "hell yes" and "hell naw" Lol

In the end, I bought it. Because I liked it. And the first moment I saw it I loved and didn't think of anything negative. And to your point @sturt I decided that the most "woke" thing I could do was do what makes me happy. Look good, feel good type energy. And the only way to destroy certain negative connotations is to exist above them altogether.

I wore that banana shirt on my family vacation and got hella compliments. That's what its all about. 

[aali34]

3 hours ago, bleachkit said:

A PR nightmare? That's being a little over dramatic isn't it? People should be offended by something if it's intention is meant to disrespectful and/or demeaning. But the the whole woke ideology of looking for things to be offended by, or being offended by something no matter what the context is, is dumb. That's one thing Charles Barkley is very right about. But like you said, Gwu Tang is also creative and cool nickname. Not sure about contemporary though. Wouldn't be surprised if OO does not even know who Wu-Tang is. 

Ehhhh... 

There's a history with associating black people with primates in a demeaning fashion. It wouldn't be a PR nightmare just for the fact that it'll never stick as a nickname because of possible racial undertones. But if you'd like an example of a PR nightmare here's one not too long ago.

https://www.pagecentertraining.psu.edu/public-relations-ethics/introduction-to-diversity-and-public-relations/lesson-2-how-to-reach-diverse-stakeholders/reaching-diverse-stakeholders-externally/

Even if the intention isn't malicious, it helps to be thoughtful.