Jason Whitlock is at it again.
The outspoken sports personality cast his eyes north of the 49th parallel for his latest rant in which he criticized the drive of Canadian basketball players, particularly No.1 draft pick Andrew Wiggins.
“Andrew Wiggins is from Canada and Canadian athletes, among NBA Players, perhaps don’t want it as much as even some of the Europeans and certainly the American players,” said Whitlock. “I think they will move Andrew Wiggins at all costs.”
“Andrew Wiggins’ effort and intensity was inconsistent at Kansas and that may be a personality quirk he would deal with for his entire career.”
The comments were made during an appearance on Keith Olbermann’s show and after a brief discussion about Johnny Manziel, Olbermann gave Whitlock a chance to clarify his comments about Canadians.
“American born and even some of the European players have more intensity and more of a hunger for the game,” said Whitlock. “They’re not as laid back. Canada’s a laid back place which is probably a positive thing. There’s positiveness to not being so bottom line driven as we are here in America.”
The controversial comments come at a time when Canadian players have been picked first overall in the NBA Draft in back-to-back years. As recently as 2006, Steve Nash — now general manager of Canada’s senior men’s basketball team — won back-to-back MVP awards.
This isn’t the first time that Whitlock has stirred the pot in such a manner.
In 2012, Whitlock tweeted “Some lucky lady in NYC is gonna feel a couple of inches of pain tonight” after Jeremy Lin, then of the New York Knicks, scored 38 points against the Los Angeles Lakers.
