I think the "Jalen may have Mamba mentality" idea is a notion that becomes more valuable over time. It's not a thing you see in a few months, it becomes evident over longer period of time if he addresses specific problems holding him back as a player today. Anyone who puts in work all year WILL get better and that's valuable but Mamba mentality is about putting in the work AND also bringing mindfulness to shaping how specifically you evolve as a player to respond to barriers you face in achieving your goals and sometimes that means facing some ugly truths about areas we are maybe a little ashamed of. When you don't have that laser focus, you are leaving your improvement to chance/fate. By that logic, James Harden got better offensively every year but he didn't have Mamba Mentality because he didn't bring focus to becoming better as a defender on every play which was specifically an area that held him back from becoming the type of leader his team needed him to become. Instead James focused on working on more of what he was already good at which again, made him a great player, but it left his success to chance hoping he wouldn't be exposed for his weaknesses at the worst possible time.
No it's because mentality is media drivel that holds no weight in real life unless you have real mental health issues like Ben Simmons. We have seen personality of all types win at different levels, for every "Mamba mentality", we have a Tim Duncan. At the end of the day, Fundamentals, Basketball IQ, Physical attributes trumps any mentality. I think Mobley is successful because he's a perfect blend of physical attributes, basketball IQ and skills. Green's "mentality" didn't make him a shaky shooter, and not NBA ready body.
So you don't think Harden, McGrady or Westbrook's games are affected at all by any mentality or personality deficiencies? Francis, Marbury, Thabeet, Bennett, etc?
I will agree Mobley's will to win is impressive; I thought he was going to be more passive especially after summer league. I'm not going as far as to say Jalen's mentality is a complete reversal. If anything, Im impressed with Jalen's mentality not getting so bogged down with his role is on the team and the weight of being the 2nd pick and not performing to others expectations and still coming out and working.
This is why Jalen's mentality is impressive to me. KPJ is (was?) getting all the reps - some of us here want to throw KPJ away so Jalen can get more shots. Jalen is still all in on KPJ at the PG and never even hinted at disfunction. People like to point to Cade's maturity but this is maturity too, IMO. Jalen is trying to carve out a place in the offense even though (IMO) the offense is giving him no favors.
Hardly anybody wants to be pissed at Garry Bird being pissed on the same play. "Is there a problem between Garry Bird and EG?"
There’s a spectrum of how people are wired but for hoops the two archetypes you are probably most worried about are guys who don’t really love basketball/don’t really have the desire to put in work and guys who have a lot of confidence but it’s misplaced relative to their skill set and/or they are much more focused on individual success to the point it’s detrimental to team success. I meant a reversal in that before the draft I had concerns Mobley might fall into the first a bit but I have pretty much zero concern about Mobley’s approach to basketball now. He seems to be wired in a pretty rare way where he wants to be great, puts in the work to do it, but for the most part just wants to help his team win (though would be great if he also has a little edge like Dream to be able to use some disrespect like Robinson getting the MVP to fuel him in the biggest situations). Jalen definitely loves basketball and seems to work really hard. I was getting worried he might have too much of the other bad archetype before he got hurt. I’m much less worried now, but it’s not zero. But beyond that, like glimmertwins noted, it’s also more that you need to get the right mix of guys together too. Kobe/Shaq couldn’t fit together long term but I think Mobley could exist with either guy. I think D-Rock is right that Chet could be our Mobley personality-wise to fit in with how our other young guys seem to be wired.
Don't like this analogy! I prefer seeing how well Wood and Sengun pare together. I don't understand the mentality of those who want to trade Wood for lesser players and lower round FRPs. I rather the know, than the unknown
Glad I'm on the bunk on the other side of the bunk house.....the far side. Sure you will be ok......just a "passing thing"
