ATLTimekeeper wrote:Scase wrote:ATLTimekeeper wrote:If Jokic **** the bed next year and fans ripped him, they would be terrible fans, yes.
I agree, but I never said anything about good or bad fans. Criticism can be warranted no matter who the player is, or what their achievements have been. But, defending poor performances based on draft spots is a terrible argument.
Okay, you're arguing for the right to criticize performance and the other poster was talking about criticizing/turning on a player for their poor performance. In the latter situation, I believe he was saying that his draft slot matters because there's a totality of work that we should look at. He's given more good than bad, and more than what was expected. That's where I was coming from with the Jokic comment. If he **** the bed next year you could criticize his play, but if you turned on him as a Nuggets fan I would wonder where your head was at? His underdog story is an undeniable part of his story. I don't think the poster was trying to argue that "well, he was the 41st pick, so what did you expect this year?"
I'm not saying you
can't, criticize the player. I'm saying that using their draft position when they have a whole body of work that is not congruent with a player typically at that position, no longer matters.
Eventually you have to judge them based on their overall performance. He doesn't get treated like or paid like a 27th pick. A 27th pick in the 2023 draft makes 2mil/yr. If Siakam was making 2mil a year and someone was dumping on him even in a bad year, yeah they need their heads checked. But he's not, he makes close to 40mil, so he should be held to the standard of/criticized as someone who makes that amount of money.
Draft slot matters within a couple years of drafting, once you sign a fat contract, you no longer get to use that as any sort of shield. As I already said, if you want to celebrate the accomplishments of someone at that position, have at er, it's a huge accomplishment. But, Siakam is the number 1 option on our team, the highest paid player, and the franchise player, criticism is based on that, not where he was drafted.
Totality of work is a factor, but I'm not holding him accountable vs his first year averages of 4/3/0. I'm holding him accountable for his recent body of work. He's averaged 23/8/5 over the last 4 years, while being paid handsomely for it, those are the standards, not that he was drafted at the 27th spot. It holds zero weight in the present time frame, he outperformed his draft slot, and was given the bank account to match it, he outshone expectations for his draft slot, and accordingly had expectations raised due to said bank account/responsibilities.
Draft slot no longer matters at this point.
