I played D3 basketball at a school where athletics are absolutely NOT a big focus
That is to say that while I would (respectfully) say that I’m a better player than the average dude at the YMCA or local court, I’m still nowhere near the level of serious D2 or D1 players, and I’m a COMPLETE SCRUB compared to even the worst NBA player
But guess what? My teammates and I still trained hard. We played hard. We spent hours coming up with plays. We spend hours going over drills. Even for a couple of nobodies like us, we invested serious time and effort into being the best we could possibly be
So because I lived through that experience, I am MUCH LESS critical of NBA players and teams because I have a very rough idea of what their training life is like. I don’t think a lot of fans understand how hard these guys work, and if they do, they very quickly dismiss it by pointing out how much money they make.
Fair enough, they do make bank obviously, but it still takes an insane amount of work and dedication to play professional ball. And considering how hard I worked to play D3 ball on a no-name team at an academics-focused school, I have all the respect in the world for the players and how hard they work
Embiid gets HEAVILY booed at Raptor home games…
Which makes it all the more satisfying when he drops 30+ on them lol