I thought it was a great article with no backhanded comments. Actually thought he went out of his way to praise Rhoads for being smart enough to see the potential in Jake.
I personally have read the article three times between last night and this morning.
It never once crossed my mind that this was in any way serving backhanded compliments. The only part of the article that I didnt really like was the "part baskeball player part ballerina", could have used a more manly descriptor.