Kirilenko : October MVP Euroleague
- Thread starter sepanol
- Start date
I wish I had it.
Magic Spray
Well-Known Member
F AK and everything about him.
//r00t 4 Jazz
Well-Known Member
This.... of course I'm assuming "F AK" means Frickin' Awesome Kirilenko
Andrei Kirilenko's line today: 17 pts (2/3 FG, 12/13 FT), 9 rebs, 6 stls, 3 blocks, 2 assists, 1 turnover, 35 minutes, 1 win #eurodomination
From the DX Twitter. Find it impressive he did all that taking 3 shots.
From the DX Twitter. Find it impressive he did all that taking 3 shots.
green
Well-Known Member
This is what is so frustrating about AK. He had the talent to be a hall of famer. Imagine if he ended up with 25+ 5x5 games, 5+ DPOY, the all time leader in blocks, top 5 in steals, etc.
But no, he had to score 20 a game. In a lot of ways he has really hurt his career by not embracing what he is.
But no, he had to score 20 a game. In a lot of ways he has really hurt his career by not embracing what he is.
MVP
Well-Known Member
It was not about him wanting to score 20 a game. It was about AK being a vital part of the team on both ends of the floor and being involved. Sloan pushed him to option nr. 4 or even 5 on offense in 2007 - there were numerous games he was running for 7-8 minutes without attempting a shot and he was left on perimeter to chase guards instead of letting him roam in the paint near the basket where he could have shined.
Real frustrating part about AK's career is that since 2007 he was absolutely underutilized and misused by Sloan. Williams freezing him of the offense in that year did not help either.
AK was good, but c'mon, he was never close to being that good. Hakeem only got 6 5x5's, getting 25 would just be ridiculous.
Interesting side note: Jamaal Tinsley of all people actually managed to record a really impressive 5x5.
MVP
Well-Known Member
Tinsley's was in double or tripple overtime as far as I remember. AK had only 6x5 in NBA history in regulation. Hakeem had one but in overtime.
JimLes
Well-Known Member
Maybe this is the teacher in me speaking, but I never understood this attitude that what happened with AK was entirely, or even mostly, his fault. Andrei did not want to score 20 a game, which is an unnecessary straw-man since he did not come close to 20PPG even when he was the number 1 option.
For whatever reason, Andrei had issues adjusting to no longer being an important player on offense, and the reaction of the team and many of the fans was to berate him and act as if he should just suck it up. What would have been so wrong about addressing this in a positive, constructive way? Why not sit down with him and talk about his concerns? Why not do something to meliorate them? Why not acknowledge that there is nothing wrong or selfish about a player saying that he is struggling with his role within the team changing?
OK, he should have embraced his role. He didn't. So that's it? If he cannot change, we should call him selfish and weak but we should in no way actually help him change? What kind of an attitude is that? Who actually benefits from this? This isn't simply a case of everyone should have been more understanding of Andrei for Andrei's sake, this is also the case of everyone should have been more understanding of Andrei for the sake of Utah Jazz. The man was an All-Star and a beast of defense and we should just let him fall apart mentally to prove a point? What point? That an NBA player should shut up and do what he's told? That he shouldn't cry? That he shouldn't have issues with his role changing?
People are acting like actual basketball is fantasy basketball. There is a human element to basketball, and it does not go away because someone is making 15 million a year.