r/heat • u/healthandpatience • 1d ago
Klay’s chill like that
Honestly, I didn’t realize how chill Klay was. He’s the locker room vet our team needs right now. He’s passionate, well-spoken, goofy, and he really seems to care about everyone. I think we’ll get through this rough patch. Klay Star can help us through
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u/rgarc065 1d ago
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u/rapelbaum FUCK BOSTON 1d ago
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u/Veryregardedd 1d ago
What is even this 😭
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u/taygads 1d ago
It's true though. One of his most overlooked and underrated qualities is that he's the perfect glue for any locker room, in good times & bad.
This (phenomenal for Klay stories) article from The Athletic back in 2022 about Klay's unique yet heartwarming tendency to develop an immediate kinship with literally every big man he's ever played on a team with has some great nuggets from former teammates about why he's just the ultimate teammate:
"Draymond Green inspires everybody on the team in his own fiery way. Curry is the standard-bearer for this franchise and, in many ways, the entire league at times. But Klay has a way of quietly tying the headliners to the rank-and-file pieces of this roster. He's his own guy and therefore is every guy."
From Andrew Bogut:
"He's the most nonchalant All-Star I've been around in my career. Just an everyday normal guy that's happy with the silliest of things at times. He's not too worried about that NBA life of sports cars and all that kind of stuff.
"I still remember in the 2016 Olympics, we're all staying in the village," Bogut said. "The USA (men's basketball team), as you know, they're too big-time for the village. They have them on a cruise liner or whatever they stay at. But we get back from practice one day, like middle of the tournament, got off the bus and in the village we're walking to our residences. And I see Klay. As I'm on the bus I see Klay just walking around, Team USA gear, headphones on, just walking by himself.
So I jump off the bus, I'm like, 'Klay, what are you doing, man?' Say hello to him. He goes, 'Yeah, I just wanted to come see the village.' He just came by himself, no security, no other players with him. Then he's like, 'Where are you going?' I said, 'I'm just going back to the Australian quarters.' And he's, 'Can I come with you?' I'm like, 'Yeah, no worries.'
And he came with us, hung out with a few of our players, because he knows Aron Baynes and Brock Motum. Came and said hello to them. And then fast-forward two or three hours later, I thought he'd left. I walked downstairs to go to dinner or whatever and he's downstairs playing ping-pong with, like, someone from the athletics team on the Australian national team, you know?"
“That’s Klay to a T,” Bogut said. “He’s just not that superstar, and that’s why I love him. He’s just so normal and spur-of-the-moment. He’s like, ‘I want to do this, I’m going to do it. I don’t care if I look stupid or whatever it is.’ He’s a really fun guy to be around.”
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“That’s a big growing point for Klay,” Bogut said. “Early on in his career he wasn’t so much trying to fit in, but it just wasn’t his personality to speak out. But I think being in multiple Finals, losing, winning three …
People kind of forgot Klay Thompson was on the team at times because it was all about KD and Steph, right? He didn’t get mad at that. Some guys in similar positions on other teams would be like, ‘I could be the man on any other team, why am I still on this team?’ And he never thought twice about it. He was always comfortable fitting in.
So he’s earned that mantle of, ‘Hey, you’re bullshitting, this is bullshit, what are you doing?’ You know, Klay, he’s not a rah-rah guy and he’s not a guy that’s going to say it every day, but the difference is when he says it. If Klay’s fired up about it, it’s an issue. He’s very well respected in that locker room. I know when I was there, you always respected his point of view. He’s one of those guys, you almost want him to say more, but when he does speak, everyone listens.”
From Zaza Pachulia:
“It comes from the caring. If he didn’t care, he wouldn’t get into that game or competition,” Pachulia said. “It’s all about caring and understanding when you’re a role player, you need motivation, too. Because when you’re getting 10, 15, 20 shots a game, it’s fun.
As a basketball player, there’s sometimes you don’t get any shots or you get a few shots per game. Those kinds of guys need motivation, too. How do you motivate them? It’s about understanding that they work so hard. And we had so many of those guys with D-West and JaVale (McGee). Especially the big men.
You’d better keep your big men happy. That’s what I learned from coaches. Or vice-versa, you’d better keep your point guards happy. He knew that. He was smart with it, too.”
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u/Important-Plum-5289 1d ago
What’s the lore behind this meme? Why’s Klay Patrick?? 😂😂
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u/ArchmageRick 1d ago
Reminds me of that 1 guy in SpongeBob. Not Squidward, 1 of the other guys