Cowology wrote:Dre has always gotten too much hate. People put top 3 expectations on a guy we drafted 9th overall. Can you imagine asking the 9th pick in this draft to go be the face & foundation of your franchise? Minimum All-Star, but MVP level preferred. It's crazy talk.
I think it's obvious by now that I am in the group of guys you are talking about.
But I don't have any sort of top 3 expectations for the guy. I just have a good memory of all of the frustration I had watching a player game after game make the same obvious/boneheaded mistakes and costing his team chances at winning ball games. It's nothing close to All-star expectations. It's about not being a detriment to his team. And there is a huge amount of area in between those two outcomes.
I never hear anyone say "Dre should be leading his team to victories" or "Dre should be the dominant defender we know that he's capable of". Instead I hear them say "I really wish Dre would have ever learned to play within his limitations as a basketball player". I hear (and definitely say) "I really wish Dre would just listen and do the small teachable things that would make a big difference in how he contributes to a team".
Both Cleveland and L.A. were happy to see this guy go. Especially for the latter -- When Dre is getting paid $800K by the Lakers -- that it's pretty telling.
I strongly encourage folks with happy memories of Dre to go back and search the forum posts here when he was on the Pistons. It's amazing how clouded people's memories become as the years go by.
