I was thinking about how Nick Young turned into a legit 3&D guy in his last year in LA and his year for Golden State, and how he will always be a meme, but ended his career as a legitimately useful role player.
Rajon Rondo’s role in the Lakers title I think is overlooked, but he was also very good for the Kings and Pels. Shot above 40% from 3 for Lakers and Pels in the playoffs. Doesn’t get talked about enough that Rondo got much better as a shooter in his late career. Obviously he was never Steph, but got reliable.
Ish Smith is a guy who if he hasn’t played on your team you don’t understand why he’s still in the league, but everywhere he goes the fans of that team really appreciate him.
For my friend back in the day it was Biyombo for the Raptors.
I’m sure there are more egregious examples of players the general NBA fanbase doesn’t appreciate but fans of the team they play for recognise play a vital part. Any examples?
Somehow I think it’s pascal siakam dude is a multi time all NBA player, but because of a bad bubble performance and a Tampa situation I find most fans value him as trash. Especially in trade offers. “We can’t include Josh green in a pascal siakam deal Pascale not that good” I’m not even a pascal fan overall but I think he’s the most disrespected all NBA level guy around
In general I like to point out the absurdity of getting mad at someone else whilst watching them doing their job.
I am going to give a shout out to Ron the pandas friend mettaworldpeace Artest, though.
Hahaha. I vividly remember his last year in LA, his comeback during Kobe’s farewell tour, him saying loudly ‘I love basketball’ during a free throw and thinking what a wholesome guy he turned into by the end. And there was a lot made of his attitude being a real positive to the young guys on the team at the time.
Unfortunately Lebron arrived and blew up the entire young core (Randle, D’Angelo, Clarkson, Ingram, Nance, Zubac) but he did win a chip so hey. But I’m a Brit and got into NBA by watching the Lakers be terrible but being excited by their young core, so Lebron trading the entire team ruined it for me. I realised as a Brit I can’t support a team, I tend to support groups of players I really enjoy. Not that you asked, just a tangent.
Any Miami Heat player that you’ve never heard of.
I was ready to die for Moe Wagner as early as last season
Beal, he was overpaid to the point where his ability as a basketball player was overlooked by fans imo.
yeah was crazy seeing people hate on someone putting up 30 ppg in that way
About to get hate here but … Grayson Allen. He’s a perfect role player. He doesn’t attempt to be a superstar, he doesn’t play hero ball. He just knows his role as a good spot-up shooter/defender and plays that role perfectly. He was important for the Bucks and important right now for the Suns.
I also know he’s hated for his dirty plays in college but in the NBA he really hasn’t been that bad.
cam thomas feel like he gets an unusual amount of hate sometimes
Unless you watch almost every Clippers game you have no clue how important Terance Mann is. He is probably the third most important piece behind PG and Kawhi.
True, though that’s probably more of an indictment of Russ and Harden than it should be. Like, with those two players, Mann should not be your third most important. The fact that he is is testament to things not working as intended
Bball Paul
Saboner
Bilal Coulibaly
Seems like some people have a negative impression of Buddy Hield but he’s always been a very solid player on the Pacers, great for the locker room and one of the best 3pt shooters of all time
I’ve always absolutely loved Buddy Buckets since his college days. And his jumpshot on 2K has always been money for me. And he just seems like a likeable guy
rn Klay and Kerr
Probably not the right time to say it, but Klay Thompson. And no, I’m not willing to go to the extreme route of dying at that hill, but I am willing to go pretty far.
The reality is for a struggling offense like the Warriors benching the one guy teams will not send help to guard Steph from is the last thing they need. Moody’s defense and both he and Podz’s offense are at least half a year behind where it needs to be to start this conversation and that’s being rather optimistic. I’m not sold at all at this narrative that Klay being benched is gonna solve enough to propel the Warriors as a true contender.
Depending on how you view “washed”, you may be right. His defense against shifty guards and finishing abilities are kind of cooked, yes. But Klay is still useful as a wing defender and is a big reason why the Warriors are able to go small. He can even handle certain big matchups. Whether you like to hear it or not a gigantic set of numbers including a significantly lower shooting volumes, higher playmaking volumes indicate that Klay is transitioning into a definitive role player phase and the Warriors aren’t losing as many games as some may lead people to believe because of Klay alone, there clearly are a lot of things within the team going south and a good number of them are unexpected. History also indicates that Klay shooting this bad is an outlier compared to how often he bounces back from said slumps.
What I’m saying is, Klay has problems but chunk of it is definitely solvable or hide-able even. 4 rings, Hall of Fame, legacy, Game 6s, and those aside, I genuinely don’t think Klay is as accountable for the team-wide early season struggles as many would believe. I’m not saying he’s not responsible for it but him being replaced isn’t some magic key to turn the season around that some fans are expecting. There are many things the Warriors need to do before even contemplating outright extreme outcomes.