Perception and expectations in the modern era

[Glenn]

When I first started following sports and certainly for most of you, far more recent than that, we lived in an era where when a player was playing bad, the common comment was " he has to play his way out of it." A shooter has to "shoot his way out of it." There was some concern about the poor play but there was faith that somehow the situation would be solved.

Now we live in the 24 hour news cycle with social media and 24 hours a day news and sports media. The perception is that the whole world has sped up and we react accordingly.

If a player has 5 bad games, we moan and groan that his career is about to come to an end, he is a cancer to the team, etc., etc. We are impatient and expect what normally might take a few weeks to fix to be fixed in a few days and if it isn't, the world has come to an end.

Then there is another type of perception that has hurt Tyreke badly. The Maloofs decided that they would take a rookie and create an artificial situation. They sent the team out on a pursuit of Tyreke's 20-5-5. The idea behind this goal was that if Tyreke could achieve this, somehow that meant he could be as good as the Big O, Lebron and I don't remember who else. It wasted an important year for Tyreke and it wasted a year for the the team and it created expectations of a player who didn't have the skills of the three others.

So, now we expect Tyreke to be this franchise's next Big O and if he doesn't achieve it, it's his fault. He's not trying hard enough. He doesn't have a perfect game and that means especially his jump shot. This is all judging him against an artificially created year. I don't know where Reke's ceiling is but I'm sure it is far lower than the Big O's but we have this memory of his rookie season and somehow think that is what he should achieve year after year. In reality he just might not be as good as the Big O or Lebron. Who is? But now he gets a ration of crap from the fans because he is letting them down.

Now let us say a player is having a bad time of it. How much time do we give him? Historically there are stories after stories of basketball players who didn't shine until they had been in the season several years. Steve Nash is the easiest to remember as he is still playing but there have been many if not most others.

Is Fredette a failure because his first year was awful? Was TRob a bad pick because he hasn't done anything marvelous? Etc. Some people would say "yes."

Then there are the slumps. Is Cousins a cancer to the team because his year started badly? I guess the same could be said for Tyreke. He still didn't have that jumper that would propel him into the Big O and Lebron category. Etc. Now that we have waited a few games, what does yesterday's game prove to is? Is Cousins back and does Reke have his jumper? I don't know but wait and see the reaction if Cousins has another bad day soon and Reke has another bad day with his jump shot.

We need patience as #1) players not only need years to find themselves in the NBA and with the early entry of everybody, they may need longer. #2) players still come out of slumps. I don't know if Cuz is out of his early season funk but I am hoping so. 1/2 of yesterday's game did not prove that Tyreke had lost his jump shot again.

What do veterans have that is so valuable? Experience. You cannot rush the acquisition of experience. Just because an athlete shows great promise does not mean his experience will accelerate. Let's at least wait until they are 25 and that may be too early to truly call a player a vet.

Let's have patience as the athletes have not changed all that much over the decades.

What has changed is our perception and hence, our expectations.

 

[bajaden]

When I first started following sports and certainly for most of you, far more recent than that, we lived in an era where when a player was playing bad, the common comment was " he has to play his way out of it." A shooter has to "shoot his way out of it." There was some concern about the poor play but there was faith that somehow the situation would be solved.

Now we live in the 24 hour news cycle with social media and 24 hours a day news and sports media. The perception is that the whole world has sped up and we react accordingly.

If a player has 5 bad games, we moan and groan that his career is about to come to an end, he is a cancer to the team, etc., etc. We are impatient and expect what normally might take a few weeks to fix to be fixed in a few days and if it isn't, the world has come to an end.

Then there is another type of perception that has hurt Tyreke badly. The Maloofs decided that they would take a rookie and create an artificial situation. They sent the team out on a pursuit of Tyreke's 20-5-5. The idea behind this goal was that if Tyreke could achieve this, somehow that meant he could be as good as the Big O, Lebron and I don't remember who else. It wasted an important year for Tyreke and it wasted a year for the the team and it created expectations of a player who didn't have the skills of the three others.

So, now we expect Tyreke to be this franchise's next Big O and if he doesn't achieve it, it's his fault. He's not trying hard enough. He doesn't have a perfect game and that means especially his jump shot. This is all judging him against an artificially created year. I don't know where Reke's ceiling is but I'm sure it is far lower than the Big O's but we have this memory of his rookie season and somehow think that is what he should achieve year after year. In reality he just might not be as good as the Big O or Lebron. Who is? But now he gets a ration of crap from the fans because he is letting them down.

Now let us say a player is having a bad time of it. How much time do we give him? Historically there are stories after stories of basketball players who didn't shine until they had been in the season several years. Steve Nash is the easiest to remember as he is still playing but there have been many if not most others.

Is Fredette a failure because his first year was awful? Was TRob a bad pick because he hasn't done anything marvelous? Etc. Some people would say "yes."

Then there are the slumps. Is Cousins a cancer to the team because his year started badly? I guess the same could be said for Tyreke. He still didn't have that jumper that would propel him into the Big O and Lebron category. Etc. Now that we have waited a few games, what does yesterday's game prove to is? Is Cousins back and does Reke have his jumper? I don't know but wait and see the reaction if Cousins has another bad day soon and Reke has another bad day with his jump shot.

We need patience as #1) players not only need years to find themselves in the NBA and with the early entry of everybody, they may need longer. #2) players still come out of slumps. I don't know if Cuz is out of his early season funk but I am hoping so. 1/2 of yesterday's game did not prove that Tyreke had lost his jump shot again.

What do veterans have that is so valuable? Experience. You cannot rush the acquisition of experience. Just because an athlete shows great promise does not mean his experience will accelerate. Let's at least wait until they are 25 and that may be too early to truly call a player a vet.

Let's have patience as the athletes have not changed all that much over the decades.

What has changed is our perception and hence, our expectations.

Well in my case, you'd be preaching to the choir. No one has stressed being patient more than I. However, I certainly understand those that are losing their patience with this team. Were in a completely different inviorment than when the Kings first arrived, and quickly became a very bad team. Most of us then were just happy to have a major anything in town. I seriously doubt most even cared that much that we were losing. It was just exciting to see big time players on a big time stage in sacramento. Hell, we gave standing ovations to the opposing teams players.

Many of the fans back then weren't even basketball fans when they started attending the games. My then girlfriend didn't know a tinkers damm about basketball, but she jumped up and cheered with the best of them. Today, we suffer from most fans being very knowledgable about the game, and being used to winning. I've said many times, we live in a disposable society. Use it once, and then throw it away. Or use it until it misfunctions, and instead of fixing it, into the trashcan with it and get a new one. I think that attitude carries over to some extent to players. If they don't perform properly for a period of time, they're considered broke, and they need to be replaced.

Its called instant gratification! It is what it is, and as I said, I do understand that attitude, and to be honest, its very hard at times not to get caught up in it. I do think patience is required, so as not to make stupid or rash decisions. However, I don't think patience should prevent you from acknowledging that you have a problem that needs to be fixed. In other words, paralysis by too much analysis. You shouldn't let one bad move prevent you from making another move. In other words, don't let admitting a mistake prevent you from fixing that mistake. Because I think there's some of that going on. Anyone can make a mistake, but only the stupid are willing to ride that horse into battle instead of correcting it.

So guess I'm saying that I agree with you to a large extent, while understanding that one's patience can only be tried so far. When you consider that quite a few fans bought airline tickets to LA, rented a motel room for the night, paid 50 plus dollars for a ticket to the Clipper game, only to be rewarded with what bordered on mental cruelity, I would have a hard time telling them to be patient. Despite being rewarded with my presence, I doubt the trip was worth the price.

 

[Kingster]

When I first started following sports and certainly for most of you, far more recent than that, we lived in an era where when a player was playing bad, the common comment was " he has to play his way out of it." A shooter has to "shoot his way out of it." There was some concern about the poor play but there was faith that somehow the situation would be solved.

Now we live in the 24 hour news cycle with social media and 24 hours a day news and sports media. The perception is that the whole world has sped up and we react accordingly.

If a player has 5 bad games, we moan and groan that his career is about to come to an end, he is a cancer to the team, etc., etc. We are impatient and expect what normally might take a few weeks to fix to be fixed in a few days and if it isn't, the world has come to an end.

Then there is another type of perception that has hurt Tyreke badly. The Maloofs decided that they would take a rookie and create an artificial situation. They sent the team out on a pursuit of Tyreke's 20-5-5. The idea behind this goal was that if Tyreke could achieve this, somehow that meant he could be as good as the Big O, Lebron and I don't remember who else. It wasted an important year for Tyreke and it wasted a year for the the team and it created expectations of a player who didn't have the skills of the three others.

So, now we expect Tyreke to be this franchise's next Big O and if he doesn't achieve it, it's his fault. He's not trying hard enough. He doesn't have a perfect game and that means especially his jump shot. This is all judging him against an artificially created year. I don't know where Reke's ceiling is but I'm sure it is far lower than the Big O's but we have this memory of his rookie season and somehow think that is what he should achieve year after year. In reality he just might not be as good as the Big O or Lebron. Who is? But now he gets a ration of crap from the fans because he is letting them down.

Now let us say a player is having a bad time of it. How much time do we give him? Historically there are stories after stories of basketball players who didn't shine until they had been in the season several years. Steve Nash is the easiest to remember as he is still playing but there have been many if not most others.

Is Fredette a failure because his first year was awful? Was TRob a bad pick because he hasn't done anything marvelous? Etc. Some people would say "yes."

Then there are the slumps. Is Cousins a cancer to the team because his year started badly? I guess the same could be said for Tyreke. He still didn't have that jumper that would propel him into the Big O and Lebron category. Etc. Now that we have waited a few games, what does yesterday's game prove to is? Is Cousins back and does Reke have his jumper? I don't know but wait and see the reaction if Cousins has another bad day soon and Reke has another bad day with his jump shot.

We need patience as #1) players not only need years to find themselves in the NBA and with the early entry of everybody, they may need longer. #2) players still come out of slumps. I don't know if Cuz is out of his early season funk but I am hoping so. 1/2 of yesterday's game did not prove that Tyreke had lost his jump shot again.

What do veterans have that is so valuable? Experience. You cannot rush the acquisition of experience. Just because an athlete shows great promise does not mean his experience will accelerate. Let's at least wait until they are 25 and that may be too early to truly call a player a vet.

Let's have patience as the athletes have not changed all that much over the decades.

What has changed is our perception and hence, our expectations.

Everything you say is true, except you're completely ignoring the other side of the coin. Many athletes nowadays are extremely pampered, some of them as early as junior high. They are constantly fed how great they are because of the competition of recruiting in high school, college, and the Nike/Adidas leagues. And then when they get in the NBA they don't realize how much work they have to do to compete adequately in the NBA, nor how much they may need to modify their game in order to make a contribution to the team. Some have the maturity to know what the deal is from Day 1. Others just think it's everybody else that is the problem - coaches, teamates, or even refs. Also, your seem to be assuming that it's a level maturity field for everybody. It isn't. You've got guys like IT that are mature beyond their age and then Cousins who give new meaning to diaper dandy

 

[SacTownKid]

In this case bad picks are bad because you shouldn't draft players in the top 7 and 5 of the draft to find your 3rd or 4th PG and 4th big in the rotation. At least not unless they are raw and have huge upside. Either clear a spot or move them before they tank their value. GM's forget about rookies who don't play.