It finally happened. Since LeBron James left Cleveland the first time, we’ve been waiting for that one fan base that would grossly overreact to a player leaving via free agency, and by god have the fans, media, and some members of the Utah Jazz put the salt in Salt Lake City.
Where do we start? I guess with the saddest passive aggressive shot that one come up with Rudy Gobert’s Instagram sendoff to Chris Brown’s “Loyal.” If we’re honest, there are teenage boys who handle breakups in a far more mature manner than Gobert. Rubio only tweeted out an emoji in his disappointment, thus showing he had more emotional depth than your typical child’s swimming pool.
Gordon Monson of the Salt Lake Tribune had some thoughts about Hayward’s departure as well.
“People around here only got bits and pieces of the whole,” Monson wrote. “Over the past seven seasons, we saw the ups and downs. And then the steady climb. We saw the improved shooting, the swelling confidence, the broadening shoulders, the Kobe-style body language that screamed to anyone watching that the kid from the Midwest had grown all up.”
“He never really warmed to a fan base that wanted to adore him, as much as any fan base could have, given the circumstances,” Monson continues. “The Jazz mostly lost when Hayward played for them. And when Dennis Lindsey entered his rock-steady formula for rebuilt success and Snyder developed a group of young players straight through all kinds of adversity into a 51-win outfit, he decided the winning in Utah wasn’t good enough.”
What Monson (and to a larger extent, fans) either choose not to get – or flat out ignore – is that unless your favorite team has a Top 5 player in the league, no amount of money is keeping these players in small markets. Fans will see this play out next year when both Russell Westbrook and Paul George consider the opportunity to bolt for LA in free agency.
As the fan of a small market team myself, I realize that any of my favorite players can be gone at anytime because in the great big ocean that is the NBA ecosystem, Nemo doesn’t always make it across the ocean from year to year.
Sports have always had the underlying meaning that you can do everything right – and still lose. So instead of doing their best “LeBron leaves Cleveland, Part 1” reactions, fans should take heart in the fact they still have a really good franchise nucleus and Rudy Gobert under contract for the next four seasons, and go from there.
Thought a little more about #betrayward. I have never thought he was a superstar or HOFer. This yr made me question that more than ever. 1/x
— P. Drake Young (@pedrodon) July 5, 2017
https://twitter.com/rilojh/status/882631363148398592
This is the part that just takes the cake. It felt like the villain revealing to the audience how he was going to take over the world. https://t.co/4E0haeqAjh
— SLC Dunk (@slcdunk) July 5, 2017
Or you can trash Hayward’s mentions on Twitter, come up with not really all that clever hashtags, and just decide to be 2010 Cavaliers West Coast with one less title and a lot more snow.
Because this will come up again in four more years when Gobert himself is up for free agency. And those who ignore history, as they say, are doomed to repeat it – in Cleveland, Salt Lake, or any other small market city.
