I think on paper, Shannon and Mayer were a coup. The stats, the accomplishments, etc., it all looked great. "What a score in the portal by Daddy Brad."
In the abstract -- I know nothing, and 0440 can tell us if I'm completely wrong; and I hesitate to accuse anyone, in this case mostly Mayer, of being selfish because people are complicated --
but it sure seems like there was probably a bit of big-timing going on, a bit of arrogance, and it was most detrimental IMO to RJ's psyche.
I really think he thought that he and CH and Goode were gonna be the guys who would lead and mentor and be deferred to and have an opportunity to grow and it would be their team.
I could imagine that if Mayer wasn't fully bought in and he exibhited alpha peacock behaviour, and that RJ was back to being a "follower" (in his mind or in reality)... that can throw a young man for a loop and effect all sorts of things in his life, including his play on the court.
(I'm not sure what to make of the Skyy situation, and I realize Shannon was kinda always gonna be "the guy") but I think if we had no Mayer and a healthy Goode, we would have had a better record, higher seed, and much fewer doubts about BU in this moment.
If I could give BU truth serum, I bet he'd say he regrets adding Mayer.