Back in the 90s a lot of bullyball superstar centers were pretty painful to watch. Mourning, Ewing, even Shaq. Not exactly beautiful basketball.
I also think that as a superstar becomes more dominant, the more people will start to hate them. The more of a threat he becomes to more fanbases than the "Oh this guy is cool to watch!" No one hated early Rocket's Harden or OKC Harden. Everyone loved that guy...but when that guy became and MVP candidate that would smack around your favorite team and kick them out of the playoffs? Then that guy becomes unwatchable...because it's hard to watch your team get dominated. The love for Luka has slowly been draining for example. Giannis used to be just some skinny athletic wing and now he's this force of nature that comes roaring down the lane that your team can't stop. It gets annoying to watch. Curry was just some fun loving 3 point shooter until he's winning rings and knocking down a near half court shot with ease and shimmying on your team with his mouth guard hanging from his mouth... So it is the sign of a true superstar to have haters. No one is over there going "Man I hate Bradley Beal!" because Beal isn't a threat to anyone. He's going to put up his points, his team is going to lose, so what is there to hate about that?
Lebron when he’s crying to the refs.. Just cuz he’s lebron they let him get away with a lot of stuff…
For me is James Harden. Even when he was in Houston I was tired of his dribble, dribble, dribble game all the time... Then he always tries to get a foul, then get to the free throw line. His flopping is annoying too. That's why I don't want the Rockets to draft Jalen Green he is another "dribble too much" player. Giannis would be my second choice as least enjoyable.
Imagine people hating on a player for knowing how to dribble. I rather have a superstar that has ball handle compared to whatever giannis does when he has the ball.
Hate is directly proportional to how much the NBA allows players to abuse the rules. Refs don't call travel on LBJ crab dribble? Hate increase. Refs don't call Harden step back? Hate increase. Giannis has more uncalled charges than any other player in league history? Hate increase. It's childish to think hate grows with popularity alone. Generally players do something that warrants it, even if they're blissfully unaware of what that is.
Yep, it's mainly to do with popularity and dominance. Which non-superstar is hated proportionally to Giannis and LBJ? No one is over there hating Lou Will even though he's done the same foul baiting stuff that star players do...also part of that hate is saying that the refs ignore the player abusing the rules. Hear a Jazz fan tell it and Hakeem did nothing but travel and the refs ignored it.
People always feel that the stars of other teams get unfair favors by the refs and by the media. A lot of Rockets fans cannot understand why Harden is almost universally hated except for his own team's fanbase. For a long time people believed that the refs GAVE him free throws whenever he drove to the basket. And yeah, the step back "travels." It's the same kind of things when we complain about how Curry takes advantage of moving screen, Giannis with charging, etc. Chris Paul was a highly hated flopper and whiner here before he became a Rocket. We defended Beverley's antic on Westbrook and other star players until he became a Clipper. Now he's hated as a dirty player who gets away with murder.
I remember when MJ came into the league (I'm old). I once had seats at the Summit right under the basket and saw MJ being told to basically take a shot every time the Bulls came down- they knew what they had. By about MJ's 3rd season, when David Stern had locked in on selling out the integrity of the game for (Nike) cash, Jordan decided to go along and started whining that he was fouled on every missed shot. And, the refs, corporate footsoldiers all, bought in- if Jordan missed the shot, you might hear a whistle at least two seconds later for a phantom foul that "must have occurred- he missed- right?" This rank corruption kept me from being able to enjoy MJ in the moment.
Agree with some of this but remember the thread title was unwatchable superstar, so someone may have thought of a lou will caliber player but didn't post it. I kind of broke that rule here with my earlier post, whereas others followed the topic . As far as popularity, there's also something to be said about players backing their popularity up with consistent game, vs someone that's been over hyped (not necessarily player's fault) or pre-hyped so the media can say they knew person x was going to blow up first.
Giannis. Without a doubt in my mind. It infuriates me he's in the NBA because of his god-given genetics. How you can be a 'two-time MVP' and lack fundamental skills that every kid playing basketball learns is just disgusting. When your go to (edit: ONLY) move is steamrolling into someone the entire game - that's pathetic. Add on to that you don't get called for offensive fouls and you don't get called for travels, both things which occur nearly ever single attacking possession to the ring. Just gross. Add onto it his sly dirty antics. And his annoying as f*ck brother on the sidelines Thanos or whatever his name is. Jumping up and down remonstrating after every single second of the game thinking he's there because of his skill and not because of the alphabet in his last name. Pathetic. Least enjoyable to watch, and also least respected.
You guys are nuts. I’d take any young true superstar right now. I’d gladly watch him 82 times a year.
