The NBA Draft is bullshit and every player is undervalued.
I hated it when you’d see a player make it into the news and all of the sudden he rises in draft spots, without showing what he’s got, going through drills or hitting the weight room for conditioning reports.
Sports are alway gonna suck for that. They stop being people to most people, and just turn into brands. Different brands are more popular here or there and that’s all it is. When you stop looking at at a team as a bunch of heavy marketed brands, you can take a step back, treat ‘em like players and kick them out of the playoffs, Dwight.
People act like, saying a person’s name a lot will make them a great player. No. Being a great player makes you a great player. All these All-Stars aren’t all just the loudest names out there, even though some of them are. They worked to get where they are. Some were lucky enough to look the part, or have a name with a ring to it, that people wanna help get a ring on it.
That’s why it’s such an issue when the ‘brand’ gets mislabeled and tarnished. That’s why people didn’t know what to do with Ron Artest and were saying, ‘Hey, kid, maybe you should just leave.’ He decided to work on himself and condition his mind for the game, cuz his body could always do it.
Now he’s off to the bigger brand.
Ricky Rubio could’ve gotten drafted #2, but rightfully didn’t. Dude got hype on meltdown, because he almost led the Spanish national team to beating the ‘Redeem Team’ at the Olympics. That’s, because when 12 of the biggest brands of every kind in the league, who all work with different kinds of teams. Life gets harder than just pickin a real ‘Dream’ team of all guys who can work well together.
I mean, a position ain’t a purpose. Not all point guards work right for even most teams, because people aren’t born into that ‘pure’ or ‘natural’ fit for definitions old pros made up 40 years ago. Spain almost beat us, because they all came from same place. They played a similar kind of basketball.
In America, there is no similar kind of basketball. Some of the flyovers act the same, most of the cities don’t, especially New York and LA. A team is about finding what fits and making it work.
But bringing it all the way back. Maybe that’s just how skill gets over on people. Those people who fake it, til they make it can’t be doing too much wrong if it works (at least til a year after the draft). Maybe that’s where hacks come from. It’s all about branding and not about real skill, because if Kleenex got half as good tomorrow, don’t think sales are fittin’ to drop much.
It’s why rich kids worlds are oysters and respect is overrated. Sports balance it out in a way. I mean, the brand lands in a big market and affords more brands, until you end up with the Lakers, but hey, the Knicks are big market too. Nah it comes down to skill against skill, with a lotta superstitious brand loyalty thrown around til people halfways forget a real contest is happening, not a fun story of who’s more popular.
People forget they ain’t called q-tips. They’re cotton swabs. Sometimes some of ‘em like the skill and the effort, but they ALWAYS respect the brand … at least until the next loudest one comes along … LeBron.
[But at least in sports, unlike rap, skill is on almost everyone’s resume.]
