The god of basketball really cares for me.
I sometimes can't help but think back and mutter, "Oh my God, Posey, you've had a really good time." ”
But don't think too much about it now, I earn everything I get. But I wouldn't take the three championship rings and the 1998 Goodwill Games gold medal for granted. I did work hard for them, but I also certainly walked around the streets I was on and thought about it — no matter how much sweat you put in, no matter how many talented players there are in your team — winning or losing is always written in the "opportunity" rounds that come up at the right time and in the right place.
One day you'll be unable to compete with people on the highest stage because you don't have talent, and one of the things I never understood is that people will belittle some of the great players we see because the players don't win the championship.
Dirk Nowitzki and Kevin Garnett each have a crown, but if they don't have a ring on them, will anyone think they're inferior to the other players? I don't think so, but people I know do it.
That's why I understand modern players deciding to form a super team. The stars feel they need champions to prove themselves, they're willing to get that ring in any way they need, it's a new trend.
For my part, Karl Malone was the first player in my memory to be criticized for not having a title. He played well for a long time, and I'll remind you that he's the second-highest scorer in history. He and the Jazz led by John Stockton had a few sights to win, but they only met a man named Michael Jordan.
The postman then traveled to Los Angeles, only to be beaten by the Detroit Pistons in the 2004 Finals, making him even worse.
Just because of his 0-3 record in the Finals, fans will belittle him. I have to say it again, we're talking about the second-highest scorer in history!
Charles Barkley has certainly received a lot of criticism for it, but when it comes to Malone, it really evolves to another level.
I think Malone's missed hand with the champion (and the fans' reaction to him) is the source of the "ring culture.".
20 years later, the new generation of players LeBron, Melon, KD and Giannis have seen many outstanding predecessors being simply and rudely divided because of the number of rings, which is a bit unlucky. It's true that a player's ability to win a championship is the ultimate measure of a team's success, but you can't say that a player is a loser just because they don't win a championship. Today's players seem to have believed this. Now there's a perception that players seem to be trained to believe that winning a championship is the ultimate goal, the most critical thing.
Even Durant – a talented player we see now – senses that what he did before the championship was incomplete and didn't deserve the respect. Whatever the reason, KD feels he needs a title anyway, even if that means joining a team that doesn't have him already won. You see, he did.
Instead of getting angry at KD's decision, we should ask ourselves why he feels he needs to do it in the first place.
Let me first tell you a little secret: the players are very competitive.
Players like Melon may grow up with the best players in the environment. Some players are only really challenged in college, and a player like Melon may still be the best person in college.
When players pick up basketball as children, they certainly imagine themselves as team leaders leading the team to the championship hall. No young man feels that one day he really wants to be a role player in a championship team. I bet KD didn't think that way either.
Given the choice, I'm sure Westbrook would choose to lead the Thunder to the championship rather than with LeBron and AD.
So before we criticize players who join or form super teams, it's better to stop and think for a minute or two as to why they feel like this is something they have to do. Fans and the media need to do more than admit it. Players choose as much as possible to pretend they haven't seen and heard comments that describe them, but the vast majority of people know how they are perceived among people. The pressure to win a title can put the most talented players in a dilemma.
Not everyone can do what Giannis does.
No matter what happens from now on, he can face it easily, and he still wants to win very much, and he used to be able to do it without taking shortcuts. He stayed with the Milwaukee Bucks, and then things all worked out. Many people, including me, also hope that Damien Lillard can do it, but the road is difficult.
Super teams have always been part of the NBA, and some might argue that my team in 2008 was also a super team. But at least in this year's league, we've never seen so many talented players on two teams in a single season in history.
Perhaps we have come to a historical tipping point. Alphabet Brother is happy to stay with the Bucks, he may make others think it is cool to stay in the mother team, he may make people like Lillard and Bill decide to stay with the ship and sink instead of abandoning the ship.
We may also have reached a turning point in basketball history when players began to realize the difference between winning a championship against all odds and secretly laying out a championship.
I'm not sure where we're going.
Throughout their careers, every player dreams of raising the O'Brien Cup and hearing his name being called out on the night of the award of the ring. It's an experience that players want to pursue throughout their careers.
But somehow, it seems like an entire generation of players are starting to believe that their careers are meaningless without champions.
I understand that, but I hope that won't be the case.
And to some extent, I think we have to look for reasons from ourselves.