Sports Most Professional Unprofessional
News Anchor and newly promoted CBS This Morning Host, John Dickerson was asked live on air by his co-host Gayle King, "Why do men do stupid things?" The apparent professional, Dickerson answered with a pithy yet woke reply pertaining to the dawn of time. Before quickly moving onto the following teleprompter headline about Facebook’s determination to make envious users happier by filling their feed with more of their family and friend’s perfect lives.
The fact that Dickerson found himself in his current position in the first place, relates ironically to the nature of King’s question and the recent firing of Charlie Rose from the flagship CBS broadcast. The story that led Candidate Winfrey’s Bestie to table the question was the news regarding Missouri Governor Eric Greitens and the scandal surrounding his wife, mistress and an alleged physical assault.
The unconfirmed report runs along the lines of a leaked conversation between the said mistress and her ex-husband. The former hairdresser to the Governor has yet to publicly comment but the cyclical nature of the 2018 news cycle seems to have picked up right where its predecessor, 2017 left off. This particular salon based circle of mistrust will be alarmingly familiar to many basketball fans when it comes to professionalism and coiffures.
As recently as October, then Phoenix Suns Guard Eric Bledsoe expressed a similar distaste when visiting his hair salon by tweeting the now infamous “I don’t wanna be here” which some higher ups took to mean his professional situation rather than his stylistic one. Regardless, the action was deemed to be highly unprofessional even given the lack of clarifying context that 140 characters limits one to. Politically, personally or professionally. Often three sides of the same circle in today’s world.
Suns’ management abruptly said time’s up to Bledsoe’s tenure with the team and began the somewhat difficult process of trading a now plummeting stock for what many presumed to be pennies on the dollar. That said, less than three weeks into the suspension of their former starting point guard, a buyer was found, the trade was made and the Suns somehow came away with assets in both draft rounds along with an expiring contract to possibly move again.
The notion of blackmail runs through the heart of both of these political and sporting stories as it so often does when it comes to unprofessional behaviour. Was it unprofessional of a certain Paul George to make his future plans more public than inner considerations should be? Without doubt, it was unprofessional of a certain magic man to pander to such musings on national late night tv. Half a million dollars worth of unprofessional at that.
Still, the Pacers managed to remove themselves from that particular headline by making one of their own, and shipping their disgruntled leader to the Thunder in exchange for young prospects Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis. Seemingly offering a second instance of easily flipping unprofessional into potential. Although that certainly wasn’t the case at the time of the trade, as the Pacers were roundly derided for asking so little in return for their All Star. Selling in a buyer’s market; rarely a win win situation.
More recently, behaviour unbecoming of a professional came in the unloading of Jahlil Okafor this season, finally bringing to an end a series of missteps by all involved. Okafor struggled to help his situation during his time in the city of brotherly love with speeding fines and the odd bar fight or two. Like Bledsoe, his play didn’t warrant further investment in the Sixers process as his stock bottomed out early last fall.
While Philadelphia did dump his and another unwanted contract of another lottery bust on the Nets, it did take a second round sweetener to make the swap with Trevor Booker a reality, with many considering the pick to be the best part of the deal for either side. A highly unsatisfactory end to the third such instance of unprofessionalism in the past year. Yet there is hope in the face of further male misbehaving on both sides of the sporting and political aisle. Likely it won’t be basketball’s last hope, unlike the 2017 Jedi.
The sporting world’s most professional unprofessional, one Niko Mirotic is in the midst of proving there is a lighter side to every misguided force of nature or nurture. A checkered past is almost a requirement for those pro-unpros. Like the Missouri Governor flipping from one side of the political spectrum to the other, the Montenegrin born Niko flipped his nationality and now flies professionally under the FIBA flag of Spain.
Foregoing nationalistic pride to leave your country of birth, one place about Korea in the FIBA world rankings, for the country one notch below the USA is a time honored way to enrage basketball fans the world over. Another equally galling move for some Madrid based Spaniards would be the opting out of a contract with the club who first signed you at Real Madrid, to follow your NBA dream.
Yet his continual pride and confessed love for Montenegro and a personal $3M buyout left in Spain have worked to his advantage especially in Madrid’s case, as they won the Spanish League, Cup and Euroleague the season following his departure. Money well spent indeed. Seemingly rounding into the form of an American professional, Niko’s play was up and down with the Bulls. Embracing the new style of incoming coach, Fred Hoiberg is one thing. The resulting replacement of fan favorite, Joakim Noah in the starting lineup is another.
Six of one, half a dozen of another. Some you win, some you lose. But it was the contract hold out of last summer that saw the Mirotic professionalism take a lasting hit with the fans in the Windy City. What followed that was as shocking as it was well documented. The pre-season fist fight in practice between Niko and teammate Bobby Portis set a standard for violence that most since have fortunately failed to match.
Portis was hit with an eight game suspension and Mirotic was hit with a broken face. Sucker punch or retaliation? The specifics are swept under the rug by the play of one, both and/or either when they finally returned to the court together. 23 games into the season, the Bulls had mustered a mere three wins. Enter Mirotic. The same player who demanded a trade, informed management to pick a side and seemed destined for the same list as Bledsoe, Okafor and George.
Many expected him to sink to the end of the bench, racking up DNP’s while he waits for his flight out of town, with or without the assistance of the social media news cycle. What the Bulls coaches did confounded popular opinion. They played him. What the Bulls player did confounded the same people. He played well. The team rattled off seven wins in a row on his return, after losing the previous ten and now have five times more wins with him than without.
All while doing untold damage to their lottery standing this summer at a time when bad teams are being found out; remember the 5-1 Memphis Grizzlies? Prehistoric times; when Kevin Spacey had All The Money In The World and the day before he apologised for having none of its morality. Annually, column inches on the back page, are filled with the shock performance of a predicted cellar dweller who has flown out of the traps only to come crashing down to earth thanks to one part scouting and two parts attention.
Yet what seemed to be a cynical pump and dump scheme by the Bulls, to up the value of a tarnished asset, has proved to be a two sided twist of fate. Mirotic understood realising his preference of a trade to a contender meant playing like one and for him, that meant off the bench. Averaging career highs across the board (FG%, 3FG%, RPG, APG and PPG) in the same minute allocation (25mpg) has the short sighted attention of front offices around the association firmly fixed on him.
Those same GMs who have a keen eye on similar situations around the league like Mario Hezonja in Orlando. A lottery bust coming to the end of his rookie contract, a la Nik Stauskas, the Magic are desperate to get any value back for that fifth pick in the 2015 draft. Even if Myles Turner, Devin Booker or even Bobby Portis aren’t walking through that door any time soon.
The Beastly Super Mario has ran up career high numbers in his nine starts this year compared to his pedestrian numbers as a reserve. Shooting better across the board (49%FG v 43%FG and 39%3FG v 28%3FG) despite only a slightly higher usage (19.1 v 16.8). From the outside looking in, it seems to be working. If not only for him, then certainly for his current and future employers. Hello, Brooklyn? It’s Mouseland calling...
But if Hezonja can’t start for the lottery bound Magic on a regular basis, which team in the league expects to win when he starts for them? Scratch below the surface and his starts against carefully curated matchups (Hawks, Clippers, Mavericks and of course, Bulls) seem to be the equivalent of starter’s garbage time. Even with that, his +/- as a starter is lower than as a reserve (-9 v -6). This may discredit Hezonja, but it certainly credits Mirotic.
This is where Niko’s professionalism in the face of his own unprofessionalism differs. Not demanding to start, or putting in performances only when he does and against substandard opposition, he’s auditioning for the role he wants by using the role he has. A trait not shared by the other pro-unpros around the league and with that comes the attention of playoff suitors like Detroit and Utah.
Especially valuable in a quiet trade market where the seller’s price is too high for the buyer’s taste as is the norm in 2018. The Net Rating of the Bulls' Bench has jumped from dead last without Mirotic to 15th with him. A quality that bench deficient bubble teams like the Wizards, Blazers and Pistons could bolster their anemic front lines with. Human error, stupid or otherwise are commonplace. The pace and nature of sports inevitably allows erroneous missed shots the chance for redemption on the following play. Something not typically found in a professionally personal life.
One definition of ‘Professional' is "Having or showing the skill appropriate to a professional person." The key word in this definition being ‘or’ and the key omission being ‘and’. Both having and showing. One without the other falls short. Sporting professionalism in the face of one’s own unprofessionalism can mean the difference between moving from the hopeless to hopelessness (Okafor), moving from the lottery to winning the lottery (Bledsoe) and moving from an uncertain future to future of uncertainty (George). Mirotic has lit a new path for the next generation of professional unprofessionals to follow. Where many settle for either or, it seems and is one ideal outcome.
@iamGRWilson