A pet peeve of mine is discussions about any kind of outcome without validity tied to it. Relating that to Basketball, as the post season has developed along with the continuous inflammatory situations with non-basketball related things with police and black people, how can we begin to think of what’s to come? Remember that all these players are people and in times of crisis, we’re wired to crave certain things when the world around us doesn’t make sense. To be emotionally and mentally alone without your family, especially if you have children must be difficult. These men and women have a lot of free time to think and figure out what they want for these costs in the future, and what makes the decision to play in these isolated conditions. With the news about D. Mitchell and signing a max extension with UTA, and with the Bucks floundering, there’s a world where Antetokounmpo is in TOR and Siakam is left feeling like DeMar DeRozan on the Bucks. A coach Giannis could trust since he won’t question the coaches decisions in game and he developed that trust and respect for Bud. I would say for those reasons that how he expressed himself at the end of the loss against the Butler-led Heat should be troubling.
He seemed to express a feeling of helplessness because the problem is the supporting cast he’s been raising haven’t recognized how much he’s been burdening. In the most recent game he had 3 assists so he didn’t pass well is maybe something you’d think but it couldn’t be further from the truth. Every moment is a playoff game matters, there’s a weight to it and even if it results in a worse loss, if Giannis is passing the ball when three collapse, you need to shoot and with confidence. Even if every shoot is missed, your teammate needs to see that so he can continue to face the wall in front of him. It’s not to say you MUST shoot, but there was too much second guessing and scared passing away from the moment. How’s you’re super star going to feel when he’s going all out, his teammates can’t support him. That’s going to factor into how happy he feels about his team when they face serious contention. If that’s a reality, wouldn’t it make Fred VanVleet more of an complement to help Giannis play with some more space and the ability to punish the way defenses play a “wall” against him. In this world, if FVV not a free agent for NY any longer to pursue, how can you empower your current players?
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