Welcome back to BASKETBALLWEATHER. The Detroit Pistons have lost 23 straight games, as of this writing. By the time you read this they may lose 1-2-3 more. They’re on track to cruise passed the longest losing streak in NBA history. Remember this, we’ll get back to it.
But first, I loved Killers of the Flower Moon. Loved it. I don’t understand how anyone can walk out saying anything but good things. But then it happened. Someone did that. Someone who I went to see the movie with bitched it out. 🏀🥲
It got me thinking about taste. How it works? Why someone likes something versus some other thing, that kind of thing. Jeremy O. Harris said that in the 70s audiences used to fist fight over movies.
Like they’d legit go to blows over taste.
That’s so relatable to me. I’ve wanted to punch people who have disagreed with me over a particular work of art. If a friend doesn’t get it, there’s something wrong with the friend. How are they not seeing the same thing I am? Why are they talking shit ?
Some of the worst movie watching experiences I ever had were at film school when I’d walk out of the Arc Light with a bunch of pretentious film students who all were going to be the next Martin Scorsese.
Thats a lot of hypothetical Martin Scorsese’s.
But I think one of the biggest things about that time, when I look back on it, was that as well intentioned as us critics were, we were almost always missing the point.
See, because, these critiques were mostly being made by Film Students who were kinda ill equipped to be making any arguments about the films they were watching. This happened less in a classroom setting, and more when walking out of the theater, when it was a movie made by a contemporary who they might be “competing with.”
Truth be told — film students, notoriously low on confidence.
Most grow out of this phase thankfully, but not all.
Eventually you realize that part of being a person, professional or not, is kindness, and eventually you have to learn roll with that. Or you turn into a frog.
I’ve heard.
But what if you’re someone who really is stuck in that frog mode? What then? How do you turn back into a person?
This is something that i have been thinking about because someone i met recently is kinda stuck in that mode — like a piece of white paper stuck inside of an Epson printer.
I know.
Problem is that I love this person, and want to be able to tell them to get a grip. Move on. Stop being Deluzional.
They have so many gifts. So many kindnesses about them, but those are constantly getting refracted through the dark prism of their professional disappointments.
The worst thing to be in the NBA, they say, is a team who is trying their hardest to win, but is instead losing game after game. Ala the 2023 Detroit Pistons. It breaks your spirit that kind of losing, eats away at your soul. It’s one thing to be bad on purpose, like a team might be when they’re in a rebuilding phase, or like when a person is who just made a career change. But to try and win, year after year, and get nowhere? That’s demoralizing. That can kill you.
But what are you supposed to do? Never talk to this person again? Slap them?
You can’t teach a delusional person good habits, just like you can’t teach the Detroit Pistons to play good basketball, no matter how many Monty Williams you hire to coach them. Not when their design is fundamentally broken.
In basketball, the solution is relatively simple. Trade some players.
But in real life?
You might actually have to step out of your comfort zone to try and win. You might need to pivot, or try something new. It’s helpful to have some perspective on what you’re actually decent at. Jonas Valančiūnas doesn’t play point guard for a reason.
Why?
Because typically seven footers aren’t useful at the top of the key, but under the basket fighting for boards and lobs. In basketball, your skillset dictates your role on the court. Why should life be any different?
But with people it’s not that simple. As we get older our passions can become our stories and we need them to survive like we need air to breathe. The genius who has zero credits but knows more than a veteran needs to believe they are one big swing away from reaching the mountain top, otherwise what would they do?
Risk being average.