DenverSooner
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I really question whether these gifted players possess the heart to be great defensive players. I don't mean this as an insult. These are two guys that will probably be in the NBA. They clearly hvae more talent than many, many past Sooner players.
However, they also badly lack an intangible that many past players had. Look at a guy like Jonnie Gilbert or Renzi Stone. Those guys were never going to be star players. They were never going to make the NBA and they likely knew it. However, they practiced and played to win rather than to look cool. If winning meant blocking out, setting picks, rebounding and never shooting the ball, they would do it, they would do it well and they would do it to win. Obviously, it would be insane to ask Tiny or TMG to play like that, OU needs their offense. However, I truly don't believe Tiny or TMG could do it. They are McD AA, they have always been better thany everyone else and they just didn't have to work as hard as a guy like Jonnie Gilbert or Renzi Stone. I don't think it is in them.
TMG also does not appear to have that same desire to win that guys like AJ, Quannas White and Tim Heskett showed. Clearly TMG is the best player. Again, he likely plays in the NBA because he is stronger, better ball handler, better shooter, better passer, quicker, better vertical, etc. Yet he can't play defense as well as Tim Heskett. He doesn't have that hard nosed attitude of Quannas White (or Tim). He looks cool puts up nice numbers and probably walks into the NBA (maybe even early). I just don't see him valuing the ball like Quannas, refusing to lose a game like Quannas and most importantly not making sloppy plays that help your opponent. Quannas would not do that. I bet on playground he could do anything, but in a game he didn't need to do fancy stuff, Quannas needed to win so he did.
Honestly, I see Tiny and TMG as bench players in the NBA. They will make lots of money, always be talented but the real players will start and finish the games. The guys that are born with same ability as Tiny and TMG but also have the heart of Jordon or Kobe. You would never see Kobe or Jordan give an opponent an easy look (they might get beat but they did not give someone an easy look). Heck Kobe took his friend and teammate out in the Olympics (he told he would and on the court he did it) with hard fouls.
Don't take this wrong, I am a big fan of Tiny and TMG. I look forward to watching every OU game of theirs. I just think as fans (not the coaches) we may need to accept these guys just don't have that killer instinct. It just isn't in them. So they will always be gifted, they will make the NBA but they will be second string players. Honestly, there is nothing wrong with that. I had neither the drive nor ability to be a great athlete (even at a high school level). That doesn't make me a bad guy. Tiny and TMG are not bad guys.
Perhaps they will read this and prove me wrong. I hope so but I just feel like we need to honest in our assessment of these guys and understand that even though they are two of the most talented guys to ever play at OU it is entirely possible and perhaps probable at this point that they don't have the intangible quality of guys like Renzi Stone, Jonnie Gilbert, Tim Heskett and Quannas White.
Not everyone is capable of bringing it for 35 seconds on every possession and to every single practice. Not everyone has a refusal to lose. Some people are just gifted athletically and content with personal achievements because truly committing means risking being emotionally hurt if you are not the next Jordan. So I am not writing these guys off. I am just recognizing they are human and flawed like everyone else and I accept them the way God made them. But it is a shame that a guy like Heskett did not have the talent of a guy like TMG or a guy like Renzi did not have the talent of Tiny. Because those two guys would have been NBA All-stars if they were given the gifts of Tiny and TMG. They would have been the guy that the coach had to have on the floor at the end of the game. They would be the guys the coach puts on the bench in the few occassions they have foul trouble to save them for the final few minutes because at crunch time no one would be better.
However, they also badly lack an intangible that many past players had. Look at a guy like Jonnie Gilbert or Renzi Stone. Those guys were never going to be star players. They were never going to make the NBA and they likely knew it. However, they practiced and played to win rather than to look cool. If winning meant blocking out, setting picks, rebounding and never shooting the ball, they would do it, they would do it well and they would do it to win. Obviously, it would be insane to ask Tiny or TMG to play like that, OU needs their offense. However, I truly don't believe Tiny or TMG could do it. They are McD AA, they have always been better thany everyone else and they just didn't have to work as hard as a guy like Jonnie Gilbert or Renzi Stone. I don't think it is in them.
TMG also does not appear to have that same desire to win that guys like AJ, Quannas White and Tim Heskett showed. Clearly TMG is the best player. Again, he likely plays in the NBA because he is stronger, better ball handler, better shooter, better passer, quicker, better vertical, etc. Yet he can't play defense as well as Tim Heskett. He doesn't have that hard nosed attitude of Quannas White (or Tim). He looks cool puts up nice numbers and probably walks into the NBA (maybe even early). I just don't see him valuing the ball like Quannas, refusing to lose a game like Quannas and most importantly not making sloppy plays that help your opponent. Quannas would not do that. I bet on playground he could do anything, but in a game he didn't need to do fancy stuff, Quannas needed to win so he did.
Honestly, I see Tiny and TMG as bench players in the NBA. They will make lots of money, always be talented but the real players will start and finish the games. The guys that are born with same ability as Tiny and TMG but also have the heart of Jordon or Kobe. You would never see Kobe or Jordan give an opponent an easy look (they might get beat but they did not give someone an easy look). Heck Kobe took his friend and teammate out in the Olympics (he told he would and on the court he did it) with hard fouls.
Don't take this wrong, I am a big fan of Tiny and TMG. I look forward to watching every OU game of theirs. I just think as fans (not the coaches) we may need to accept these guys just don't have that killer instinct. It just isn't in them. So they will always be gifted, they will make the NBA but they will be second string players. Honestly, there is nothing wrong with that. I had neither the drive nor ability to be a great athlete (even at a high school level). That doesn't make me a bad guy. Tiny and TMG are not bad guys.
Perhaps they will read this and prove me wrong. I hope so but I just feel like we need to honest in our assessment of these guys and understand that even though they are two of the most talented guys to ever play at OU it is entirely possible and perhaps probable at this point that they don't have the intangible quality of guys like Renzi Stone, Jonnie Gilbert, Tim Heskett and Quannas White.
Not everyone is capable of bringing it for 35 seconds on every possession and to every single practice. Not everyone has a refusal to lose. Some people are just gifted athletically and content with personal achievements because truly committing means risking being emotionally hurt if you are not the next Jordan. So I am not writing these guys off. I am just recognizing they are human and flawed like everyone else and I accept them the way God made them. But it is a shame that a guy like Heskett did not have the talent of a guy like TMG or a guy like Renzi did not have the talent of Tiny. Because those two guys would have been NBA All-stars if they were given the gifts of Tiny and TMG. They would have been the guy that the coach had to have on the floor at the end of the game. They would be the guys the coach puts on the bench in the few occassions they have foul trouble to save them for the final few minutes because at crunch time no one would be better.
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