Big Games, Small Applause

Something happened this month.

I noticed that we do something funny in sports, especially within the NBA. We identify talented players then criticize them for their misfortune. I am all for bashing blown opportunities, but I just can’t understand the chronic misunderstanding of poor circumstances.

We can admit that people born into rough situations have a much more difficult time breaking through and reaching even average expectations, so why do we expect players drafted or placed with non-ideal organizations and teammates to prosper?

I thought about this more as I heard a recent Book of Basketball podcast. That episode was about Dirk Nowitzki. They gushed about him and his place in basketball history. It was cool to see admiration like that because I share it too. I think Dirk is somehow unappreciated historically, but I didn’t always feel that way. Before he won a championship, I didn’t properly respect Dirk at all.

In hindsight I realize how stupid that was, and how that single playoff run didn’t validate his career, even though it was a special chapter in it. Feeling like a fool for thinking that way, I wanted to make sure I never took another great player for granted again.

This season, I feel like two more of our all-time greats are being forgotten while they’re still active. The first is James Harden. The 2018 NBA MVP, has been the MVP runner-up in four of the last five years. It seems that voters don’t like his play style, and hold his playoff shortcomings against him. It’s the penalty for being great, we completely ignore the conditions that make winning and performing at a high level so difficult. His 40, 50, and 60-point forays have gone largely undiscussed in lieu of Giannis and Luka’s big statistical nights. Sooner than later, those guys will be held to the unreasonable standard that Harden has set for non-champions.

The same could be said for Carmelo Anthony in his return. The league as a whole turned their backs on him after Houston let him go. Unsourced stories were written about his personality and his failure to adjust to the current NBA game. Now he’s giving the Blazers about 16ppg on 47% from the 3-point range as a starting forward. Melo has performed so far above expectations that talk of him being washed up have completely disappeared from the media

I’m unsure exactly how we got here, but I guess it’s the trajectory for stars in any field. These guys are all-time greats. They’ve scored a ton of points and have excited fans for a long time. Like Dirk before 2011, they haven’t won championships (yet), but I think it’s time we celebrate exactly what they’re doing while they’re doing it.