Soo.. we haven't won ONE game yet. OK, its only 3 games into the season. Yes, we shouldn't hit the panic mode yet. But, look at who we've played.
Boston - aite, they're gonna be pretty good this year, but so were we (well at least to wizards fans we were) and we got embarressed. We made the Celtics look how people thought they could look. You never wants to be the team that does that.
Orlando - Oh come on. All summer we've had to deal with people saying Orlando's gonna be top 5 in the east this year, blah blah blah, rashard lewis will add so much to the team, blah blah blah, this is howard's breakout year, blah blah BLAH. And we were quick to remind them of how we were doing last year, how we led not just the division but the conference in January, how everyone will be healthy, and then we go and lose the home opener.
Indiana - Words cannot describe the feeling of watching this game. Brief Euphoria of things to come? Or painful reminder that we are no longer watching last years season?
I don't even know what the problem is. The defense actually looks a little better, Brendan Haywood is actually playing like someone who belongs in the NBA, and all our players our healthy. and we SUCK.
i'm not saying we're going to continue sucking this year, but for the first 3 games of this season, we've sucked. its not about how these other teams are good or whatever, if we cant win a game, then we suck.
we rely far too much on jumpers (both uncontested and contested), we jack up shots for no apparent reason, and we have no sense of passing the ball. If one player gets hot, give him the ball, until its someone elses turn, then you dont get the ball back at all, and once you do, youve guessed it, youre not hot no more. I don't like eddie jordan's rotation. i dont know know why blatche isnt in the game more. i dont like caron's jumper. you have about 2 more games to prove to me that its a high quality shot whenever you pull up from 18 before i start wincing whenever you touch the ball. same for you antawn. i was fooled into thinking all those shots youre taking were a continuation of you playing out of your mind (like you were in the playoffs last year), until i started really looking at your shots and decisions. now you look like a better billy king. thats not worth 16 mil a year and 20+ shots a game.
which brings me to my next rant..
PLEASE GILBERT. SHUT THE F*CK UP.
Look Gil, I love you as much as every other wiz fan out there. you're the best thing that's happened to Washington Basketball in a LOONG time. You're bigger here than Michael Jordan was, but STOP. Just because you are doesn't mean you need to act like you know it. You're running your mouth off every, and i mean every chance you get, and you're starting to sound like one of three things:
1.) your confidence has crossed that thin line into arrogance
2.) your quirkiness has crossed that thin line into arrogance
3.) a combination of 1.) and 2.).
your personality is one of the reasons you've been elevated to the status you're at rite now (i'm sure the 50+ point games and buzzer beaters had something to do with it too, but you don't see advertising geniuses breaking down nba finals mvp tony parkers door as much as they have arenas'). you're one of the most marketable players in the league because of your personality. and usually marketable means likeable rite? not necessarily.
Marketable means that people have to believe in whatever is being marketed. they don't really have to like it, they just have to believe whatever's being pushed. if you really believe it, you make yourself think that you like it. this is why people walk around stores for 30 min after theyve already picked up the item they were going to buy. they have to convince themselves that they like it enough. and you know what's probably running thru their heads as they walk aimlessly through aisles? the way the item has been marketed to them. Gil, your personality so far has made people not like you. it has made people love you.
we loved the underdog. we loved ZERO. we loved the guy that played his heart out because no one thought he could play at all.
but hold on.
people know you can play now gil. you dont get zero minutes no more, you get 40+ minutes alot. we know you can play, what we DONT know is if you can win. you can sure talk tho. you can talk about how you deserve MVP, how you're better than so and so, how you're so big and so important now. it was cool. i liked your shoes. i was proud when you got the cover of Live. i was at your birthday party last year. i got caught up in the hype.
and what worries me now is that's all it was. that that's all you are. HYPE. a marketing dream. cuz we're not winning rite now Gil. our TEAM is not winning. the same team that you disregarded last april, who were in the playoffs, by announcing you were on the cover of Live. we all shrugged it off then. 'hey at least its a piece of good news during this dismal period.' but thats not what you should've been doing. you should've been talking about your team. yes, YOUR team. this team revolves around you. but i dont want to hear how you know that. thats not what respectable, likeable players do.
have you run out of motivation? is winning not enough motivation? or do you have to prove that youre the best player in the NBA by telling people instead of showing people?
If your goal is get as much marketing dollars at possible. congratulations, you've succeeded. even more so next year when you become a free agent and other teams want to jump at the chance to make money for their organization. but the talk is getting old. Us washington fans who have genuinely loved and continue to love you dont want a marketable star. we loved you when no one else saw the light yet. we didnt care if no one else saw it, cuz we saw it. thats what made us like you in the first place.
Labels: arenas, basketball, nba, wizards
