(5/2/2023)
Written by John Raley
Throughout all of sports, there are superstars at every level. There are big-name prospects in the NBA and MLB that are oftentimes still in high school, and in the professional leagues themselves, there are those whose skill and achievements lift them higher than the rest. However, being a player of this caliber comes with a price. Those at the top of the mountain receive the most criticism. For years it has been the job of the media to critique these high-level players while hardly ever mentioning rotation players and struggling teams. Now I don’t blame them. ESPN’s job is to get viewers every day watching their programs like First Take and SportsCenter, and in order to do that, they have to cater to the majority, which is the teams that are succeeding at the time.
Over the past 3 to 4 years, there seems to be a trend throughout sports where superstar athletes are held to a lower standard than they previously were. Take the recent events involving Giannis Antetokounmpo. Giannis is one of the best basketball players in the world and has already accomplished more in the last 4 years than most NBA players achieve in their entire lives. He is an NBA champion, Finals MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and 2-time MVP. This season he led the Milwaukee Bucks to the 1 seed in the eastern conference and looked poised to make another run at the title. The only thing that stood in their way was the Miami Heat. They become the 5th team in NBA history to defeat a 1 seed as an 8 seed.
In other words, this was a historic collapse from Milwaukee and their leader Giannis. The Heat was led by Jimmy Butler, who averaged 37.6 ppg during the series and gave Milwaukee the gentleman sweep in 5 games (4-1). Butler did this against a team with Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jrue Holiday, and Brook Lopez, who many consider all to be top 10 if not top 5 defenders in all of basketball. Yes, Giannis missed two games, but Milwaukee was able to win one of those. Milwaukee went 0-3 in games Giannis played in during the series. After being eliminated from the playoffs, Giannis addressed the media as all superstars do in his post-game press conference. When asked if he considered this season a failure this was his response: “Not a failure” followed by “There's no failure in sports, only good days and bad days”. Giannis also brought up the career of Michael Jordan, saying, “Michael Jordan played 15 years, won 6 championships. Were the other 9 years a failure?” I don’t love this argument made by Giannis because the years that Michael Jordan did not win championships were early in his career when he had to face powerhouses like the Detroit Pistons and Boston Celtics every year in the postseason. He also lacked the strong supporting cast that Giannis has now. Remember, this was before Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman were in Chicago. In none of these years was Jordan ever a 1 seed losing to an 8 seed. Here is the post-game interview for Giannis: Giannis Antetokounmpo postgame interview addresses whether this Bucks season was failure
With all due respect, I have to disagree. There are absolutely failures in sports. Failed experiments like the Brooklyn Nets trio of James Harden, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Durant, failed seasons like I’m sure the New England Patriots felt after falling short of a perfect season after losing to Eli Manning’s Giants in Super Bowl XLII, and failure to progress exhibited by franchises like the Oakland A’s. Sports come with failure. With every victor there is a loser, that's just how it works. After hearing Giannis’s thoughts and comments I expected there to be heavy backlash in the media the following day, but I was shocked to see otherwise.
Individuals like Jay Williams on ESPN referred to the season as not a failure, but rather a “disappointment,” and this is exactly the type of treatment I am referring to. The Inside the NBA crew on TNT made up of Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, and Ernie Johnson even commented on the passion presented by Giannis during his speech rather than focusing on the statement made. Listen, I applaud Giannis for how hard he plays the game night in and night out and honestly I wish more NBA players would see how hard he plays and let it motivate them to not miss games, but the question at hand was not about how passionate Giannis is. The question is “Was this season a failure for the Milwaukee Bucks?” to which I have to say it was.
Look back at the career of LeBron James. When LeBron lost his first finals nobody blamed him. He led a Cavaliers squad filled with nobodies to a Finals against the superstar Spurs at only 22 years old. After he left Cleveland to go to Miami he was crucified for that decision in the media. People hated him for leaving his hometown for a big market. Then when he lost to the Dallas Mavericks in 2011 after forming the Heatles in Miami with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh he was crucified AGAIN in the media, and this time it was rightfully so. Miami was a huge favorite to win that series and was the better team, they failed to get the job done and nobody took it easy on him because of it. LeBron was then given harsh treatment by the media for continually losing to the Golden State Warriors Dynasty. Golden State was a team loaded with Hall of Fame Talent and to be fair Cleveland had a stacked roster as well until star players like Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love would suffer injuries deep in the postseason. For reference, this is an actual graphic used to promote a Finals game during this run:
Yes, that is Kyle Korver, Tristan Thompson, and LeBron James lined up against Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, and Klay Thompson. Throughout his career he has been criticized possibly more than any other basketball player for his shortcomings, and if it were him in Giannis’s shoes during that press conference and he had said those things, I 100% believe he would have been met with tough media scrutiny and backlash rather than atta boys and “I love his passion”.
My point is that it seems there is a shift occurring in sports media where athletes are not being held to the same standard they once were. I personally do not like this new direction and this mentality of there being no failures in sports. The goal every year for teams like the Milwaukee Bucks should be to win a championship and falling short in the fashion they did this year should, without a doubt, be considered a failure. Again, I am not knocking Giannis as a player. He has already proven that he is a dominant player in the NBA and if he retired today he would have a Hall of Fame resume. I’m just saying that if superstar athletes want to be compared to GOATs of their game like LeBron and Jordan, they need to be prepared for the scrutiny that comes with it and the media needs to treat them the same way they treated superstars of the past.