The other way to look at this is to follow the old adage: “Dance with the gal you brung with you,” as well as the golf saying: “you’re not going to find your swing on the course.” So this means we likely ride PG until it just becomes insanity to keep playing him.

Paul George, on the other hand, is more…let’s just say perplexing. Dude has the talent to legitimately force his way into the MVP discussion, but for whatever reason just doesn’t have the consistency to sustain that level of play (this aspect of him actually reminds me of T-Mac). I understand that no matter how talented these guys are they’re just human, and therefore subject to the arbitrary whims of our human psyche, but my issue is that a lot of the hating on George is actually triggered by stuff he himself is responsible for. The haters are always gonna hate for no reason, but a lot of us wouldn’t be as hard on him if he would just keep other players’ names outta his mouth. Badmouthing Dame, Harden, and the Mavs’ defense isn’t a great look to begin with, but it’s a HORRIBLE look when your play can’t sign those checks your mouth is writing. Man I WISH his only problems right now were just making free throws lol.

To piggyback off of Oodypkt’s comment below re: Shamet and JaMychal encouraging George, I was wondering, in the locker rooms you’ve been in, what was the best way to get through to a struggling teammate? Would you try to console/encourage your teammates to try to shoot through a slump like this, or do you think that would just add more pressure on them/make them even more self-conscious?

I’m in no means trying to defend Paul George or anything of that nature. Rather, I’m more so trying to be relatable with his situation. I’ve been in those situations at the highest level of college basketball having troubles making freethrows late in games. It really is something that sticks with you and your confidence can deteriorate until you’re able to shake it.

The article was actually originally going to be more geared towards Landry Shamet and guys like that who have struggled to find consistency all season with minutes and confidence. But the PG stuff was so drastic I had to write more about it.

Anyways, keep em coming with the comments and feel free to ask any questions!