IS TYRESE HALIBURTON OVERRATED?
How a professional basketball player is ultimately "rated" is outside of his control. If a team decides to pay a player more than he's worth, yes, the player's agent undoubtedly had something to do with it, but it was the organization who willingly signed the contract. Like I've never heard of Haliburton going on TV and saying 'I'm one of the best players in the NBA'.
And as for these NBA accolades, yes, some players are overrated in the sense that most of the big awards don't really take defensive prowess into consideration. But as it currently stands as of this writing, I don't even think it's possible for Haliburton to be overpaid, as I have to presume, due to his ability to successfully facilitate comebacks, he's one of the hottest draws in the NBA. With him around, in theory, you can never take for granted that Indiana will lose. Even in Game 2, you know what I'm saying, it wasn't until Rick Carlisle pulled the starters - kinda early if you ask me - that OKC fans truly felt safe, even though the Thunder convincingly led all the way.
To answer the above question, I thnk Tyrese is both overrated and underrated. He's obviously the best PG in the East, even better apparently than Jalen "Bonk" Brunson, who is, as an all-around player, overrated. If I were personally assembling a team and could chose any starting five I'd prolly pick Derrick White over Haliburton, but that's not saying he's actually better. You have to at least give that Haliburton, that now he's the bigman of the Eastern Conference.
But he's also obviously overrated, to some degree. Shit is complex. I've learned that it's better to embrace players for who they are. Yes, you always hope that they develop and become better players, if not people overall, but it isn't ideal to try to change a person into someone they're not. So on one hand, you could say something like I wish Haliburton had more of 'the Mamba Mentality'. But at the same time, he and most other stars not having it just make you appreciate Kobe more for the type of athlete he was.
That said, yes, I have to agree with every other pundit and say that Haliburton needs to be more aggressive. I more or less said the same thing after Game 1, you know, if you actually expect Indy to beat OKC in a series without relying on lucky comebacks.
There comes a point in the life of every underdog trying to make it big that they just have to let it all hang out. It'd be better for Tyrese if he were super-aggressive and turn the ball over every time he drives to the basket rather than playing the role of passive superstar. He's already "overrated" anyway.
I'm not going to go as far as to say he has nothing to lose, but this is the kinda shit that happens when you shine. It's arguable whether or not Haliburton is even the best player on Indiana. But hitting all those big shots and all that kinda shit, besides the NBA accolades, he sorta put this pressure on himself.
It reminds me of that phrase 'if you can't stand the heat, stay out the kitchen'. I have no idea what's going on in that young man's mind, heart and soul. But it's better to just flat-out quit than not assert yourself after climbing all the way to the top of the ladder.
...AND SPEAKING OF OVERRATED
I really want to see if the Pacers are going to dumbout and throw a shitload of money at Myles Turner this offseason. Unless he leads the team to victory over the Thunder - which he arguably should since he's the Pacers' senior star - there's no way they should be offering him some super-ridiculous contract.
If the Pacers lose this series, then it's pretty safe to say that they're literally one star away from winning a championship. So win or lose, it wouldn't be ideal to let Turner walk. But let me explain to you how I feel about Myles.
He was already a borderline all-star prior to everyone trying to imitate the Splash Bros. Once that happened, when teams en masse concluded that relying on the three was the path to a championship, traditional bigs across the board were devalued. At least one player who fell victim to that trend, Andre Drummond, is actually better than Turner. But unfortunately for Andre, he doesn't have a jumpshot.
It's all well and good when you have a 4 or 5 who's threatening from three. Logic dictates that the more versatile talents the players on your roster have, the better. But what happened is that a lot of bigs started playing out of position, like they became lazy on offense. And to this day, I contend that it's strange when the biggest guy on your team is always lingering around three-point line. Or rather let me say that's only a good strategy when the other four guys are able to outrebound whoever is defending them. And the Pacers aren't built like that.
Myles did have that ridiculous dunk in Game 2, one so powerful that even the opposing crowd was like 'oh shit'. It's like he reminded us, if only for a second, that he actually is a formidable big. But he also has what I would call a history of passivity. The good thing tho is that at least if the Pacers lose, obviously he won't be the scapegoat.
THE BATTLE OF THE BRAINTRUSTS
It's arguable whether or not the Thunder and Pacers, especially the latter, are actually the two best teams in the NBA. I'm no longer minimizing Indiana's achievements, at all, since they went straight through two teams this postseason with clearly more-talented rosters. But that said, they are from the East, and you have to wonder if either the Cavs or Knicks adequately prepared them for the the Thunder.
But what's interesting is that these Finals feature the two teams with clearly the best braintrusts. On one side, you have a squad basically made up of rookie contracts led by a player who, just a couple of seasons ago, no one would have ever imagined would become MVP. On the other end, like even as I write this having watched all the highlights this postseason, I can't definitively name all five of Indiana's starters.
These two teams have beautifully-constructed, cost-efficient rosters whereas, instead of blindly starchasing, they've found diamonds in the rough. That's the mark of truly proficient braintrust - finding diamonds in the rough.
Ultimately, OKC has the advantage when it comes to depth, youth, compatibility and all-around talent. Of course, none of that means shit when your opponent can perform miracles. But it remains to be seen if those types of Pacers' comebacks are only norms against East teams.
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