I'm not someone who's ever been a fan of screaming we should have kept Podz, but posting how he's struggling doesn't feel great either.
It's the NBA. Even if you say it's just summer league, the competition has improved. Stuff like this is bound to happen. It's just the nature of the game
There are a couple of energies in play here.
First, he’s a human being. Humans are forever and always unpredictable. No one knows what anybody is going to do from day to day. And in sports, that reality is in full public view and with the always heavy ruthless hand of Global scrutiny.
Second, he’s a young person. He is not a fully-developed player. He is learning and growing. He does not yet know what potential he has or what is true ceiling is. Nor do his coaches or anyone else.
Third, in Life – many people are inherently impatient. They want immediate results. Those who drafted him (and the team's fans) would love for him to be the Next Big Thing right away if he could. That’s not realistic. No one can take a small size sample and forecast a guys entire career with that. Time answers all questions. All one can hope is that any player gets sufficient time in game action to show what he or she is capable of and not have a possible great career shut down because they were not allowed a decent chance to show what they have.
We know that Podz did not show enough to the Illini coaches for them to reward him with more floor time. We also know how Podz moved on and blossomed as a player. And that’s the lesson here. Maybe he’ll be a great player or maybe he won’t. But he already has a history of being sold short and then breaking that ceiling and reaching higher. And he also proved that he needs to be in the right environment for him.
It’s a matter of talent and heart and being in the right place at the right time. And any player is going nowhere if they don’t have enough of those essentials.
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