SupremeHustle wrote:LogitechBucks wrote:I actually don't think it is unfair to say he had some part in the fiasco that took place in the Toronto series. That long self-promoting letter became a real distraction. It was all over the local and national media. Even during the National TV broadcasts the commentators were saying how much better the Bucks would be doing if Parker was there. If I was on the team and hustled my butt off only to take a backseat to a Diva, it could very well affect my focus and hustle. Then when we lost the series, everyone was saying if only Jabari was playing we would have won. This, after he had nothing to do with why the team was in the playoffs in the first place.coolhandluke121 wrote:
Really good post and thanks for a good overview of the Jabari era, which I hope will come to a merciful end soon. The most important part of this post is just that they would be fools to pay him a lot. It's much too risky. They're better off saving that salary slot to add an MLE player every year. As long as they don't go into the lux tax, they can use the full MLE, and as long as they have Giannis, some of the best MLE players will at least consider Milwaukee.
I agree that it's a little unfair to imply that his letter affected the Toronto series. I do have issues with the letter but that's not one of them. It's correct to point out why the letter was kind of inappropriate, but I doubt it affected the Bucks. It did leave me wondering about his agent's role, and I was really disappointed with the way he acted like he's still so important to the team and a leader. Did it not register at all that they were arguably better without him? Is it too much to ask for him to at least ONCE acknowledge that he needs to improve on defense? He did interject himself unnecessarily. I wish we had a more detailed account of what happened in that team meeting where all the vets shot him down for speaking up, but there's evidence (albeit circumstantial) of a MAJOR disconnect between what Jabari's actually place is on the team and what he thinks it is. Asking for a max deal in his situation doesn't help. He won't improve on defense if he's so delusional about his impact that he doesn't think he needs to. Just because he has a more likable persona than Big Dog doesn't mean he's any better on the court.
Where were you during all those debates? We could have used you. I had forgotten all about the Lillard debates very early on. Wow. What a miserable thing to think about at this hour. Other trade debates you forgot to mention include Porter/Gortat, Hood/Exum, Hood/Favors, the 2017 or 2018 BK pick, the Jaylen Brown pick, Jokic, Conley, and Cousins. They were almost all hated here, and there was a poll where something like 80% of people said they wouldn't trade Jabari unless they got a top 10-15 player in return. It was a really bad time to be here if you didn't have a thick pair of homer glasses to wear at all times.
I would have no problem if he tweeted and one or two sentence post encouraging his teammates, but instead he wrote life story and became the story. This selfish act took away from how amazing and hard the Bucks played to earn a playoff spot. I do believe it was a distraction and did cause a lack of focus and hustle. After this letter the Bucks looked like a completely different team. You can't tell me players were not talking about it among themselves.
tl:dr Bucks blew a 2-1 lead because Jabari wrote a letter.
If he has such strong mental powers that he can decide the fate of a playoff series simply by writing a letter, he's worth the max even if he doesn't play.
