Appreciating Greatness

I, and likely a lot of other people, have been watching the NBA Playoffs intently, which began last week. It is through watching and hearing the opinions of others that I have had a painful realization. Within society and popular culture, there seems to be a trend that seeks to bring down or demean those who have achieved success in some way, shape or form. Instead of just appreciating the great players or musicians that we’ve gotten to experience over the years, people seek and desire to endlessly compare them to one another. Instead of just appreciating the accomplishments of the great players in the game, they find ways to nitpick their successes in order to find a way to attempt to solidify their favorite plays as ‘better’ in a sense.

Even though I have been what I consider to be an avid fan of basketball specifically for over half of my life, it is only now where I can realize how toxic and just downright lame that this practice is. To put it bluntly, for as long as I can remember, I have been an avid Lebron James hater, even if I didn’t want to admit it. As his accolades and resume grew, I would constantly try to downplay his accomplishments, and at times even actively berate him in basketball conversations I‘d have at the lunch table for no solid apparent reason. I constantly sought to compare him to some of my favorite players, Kobe and Kevin Durant, and go through endless loops to try to find reasons for why they were and should be considered better in a certain regard, whether it be in ranking players who are currently in the NBA or the best players of all-time. 

Doing so has become so normalized within our culture that some might see it as weird or odd that I point it out, but recently, and through watching the NBA Playoffs, I’ve realized something. Lebron James is 36-years-old. He just came off of what some might call the most significant injury of his career, and as a result, is playing much less aggressively than the Lebron James that I remember for literally my entire life. It made me realize that even though I have almost vehemently rooted against him for upwards of 10 years, I will still be sad when he retires in the end. Lebron James has been a premier staple within basketball during every year that I’ve watched the sport. It’s only now, when I consider the prospect that he could retire in the near future, that I start to reconsider and regret the way that I’ve viewed him (on the court) during the time that he’s played. Most people consider Lebron a Top three player of all-time at the very least, some even consider him to be the greatest basketball player ever. The fact that I was unable to thoroughly appreciate one of, if not the single greatest athlete of my generation because I was too busy comparing and essentially pitting him against my favorite players honestly makes me a little sad. Even though he wasn’t and will never be necessarily my favorite player, I at least wish that over the course of the past 10 or so years I had taken the opportunity to appreciate him, and what he’s done for the game of basketball.

Although to a lesser extent, I felt similarly in regards to Steph Curry. Growing up, I was obviously an enormous Kevin Durant fan, and as a result, a big fan of the Oklahoma City Thunder. In 2016, Stephen Curry led his team to overcome a 3-1 lead to secure a trip to the NBA Finals over the Thunder. If that wasn’t devastating enough, in the subsequent summer, the Warriors successfully recruited Durant, effectively ending the chances of Durant ever winning a championship with the Thunder as I had always hoped he would. Even though my disdain for Kevin Durant eventually subsided, I still harbored somewhat of a resentment towards the Warriors dynasty as a whole. I disliked how predictable the seasons grew because of their dominance, and would always opt to watch other teams, and at times even root for them as a result. However, in the 2019 NBA Finals, Klay Thompson tore his ACL forcing him to miss the subsequent season. To make matters worse, after rehabbing for an entire season, Klay Thompson again injured himself, this time tearing his Achilles. Stephen Curry was also injured in the 2019-2020 season, and this season, the Warriors barely missed the playoffs, despite Curry putting up the best numbers of his career.

Now, Klay Thompson is 31, and Stephen Curry is 33. No one knows whether or not Thompson will be the same after his injury. Even though the Warriors made the league significantly less competitive during their dynasty, they were still one of, if not the single most electrifying teams in basketball history, who changed the way that basketball is practiced and played on a global scale. Since I was too busy hating and harboring a vendetta against them for ‘ruining the league,’ I didn’t appreciate them as much as I should have, and with the state of the Warriors now, we may never see the players who once defined the team play together at an elite level ever again.

I say all this to emphasize the importance of appreciating the people who have defined our generation in some way while we can, whether it be athletes, musicians, content creators, or even actors. It feels in pop culture like we have normalized needless and unproductive negativity towards people who have contributed greatly to some of the memories we or other people have made in the past. People are so quick to try to demean the accomplishments or talent that someone has by calling them overrated, or just harboring an irrational dislike and at times even hatred for them for no reason. Please appreciate these talents that we have gotten the privilege of experiencing in our lives. Negativity gets us absolutely nowhere, and unfortunately, nothing great can last forever. 

By Kailen Hicks