KD. Thought he was a boring goody-two-shoes with the Thunder. I like how he embraced the villain role with the Warriors and subsequently. Now he's my favorite player
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I was such a spiteful little shit about the Heatles. LeBron is one of my favorite players ever now.
Tbf, except for Heat fans, who wasn't? Lebron having a PBS special to announce it. Bosh was in his prime, Wade had injuries but still in prime. They did the whole "how many rings we gonna win?" shit lol. Lot's of fuel for that fire.
Dillon Brooks recently. It might have been the Grizzlies that were keeping me from liking him.
Brown. Used to think he's gonna be a better player than Tatum, thought he was way more consistent than Tatum. Instead somewhere along the way he started playing extremely stupid basketball.
I think probably Rondo or Pat Bev. I always hated Rondo on that Celtics teams but really appreciated the insight and leadership he brought to the court. Pat Bev, well, he's one of those enforcer dudes that backs up their teammates every team loves to have. I think it's a shame his time on the Lakers were short but, with us so heavy on guards to start last season, his contract was going to be moved regardless. When he's not on your team, it's easy to hate him lol
james harden
he was on the trash rockets but still making the playoffs and dropping 50 or 60 a night
then tried to form a super team in brooklyn and basically has turned into a pre madonna or whatever
mad lame but i lost all respect for him lol
*prima donna
LeBron. Hated the media-centric “decision”. Titles w 3 teams!! And, so far, seems to not have become an evil villian off the court.
The other way? Used to like Karl Malone. The HIV phobia I could kinda get early on…not a lot of evidence that it was not a concern. But the disavowing kids a la Larry Bird. Loser.
That’s not really your problem with Karl Malone, is it?
Ben Simmons.
Not only did I used to think that he didn't suck and that he wanted to be in the NBA, but I even used to think he was good and that he wanted to be great.
There was a time when Philly fans were debating trading embiid and building around Ben Simmons.
Dray. Used to think he’s just always fired up. Now he’s just an asshole
Me too. I used to find his antics somewhat amusing. Now I just see him as a huge bully and I will forever stan Jarrett Allen for kicking him in the nuts.
Joker
Lonzo Ball, all of the talking Lamar did when he was coming into the league made me want to see Lonzo fail badly. But Lonzo himself seems to be the opposite of his dad. He's more quiet, hardworking, and improved his game every year he was healthy.
People say that now because he's been severely injured (and, even if he plays again, will never live up to his draft position.)
His daddy was just a self-marketing machine. Obnoxious? Sure. But, the 45th ad you see for Nike or Adidas or whatever the fuck isn't annoying?
I actually had the exact opposite feelings about Kobe - I loved the #8 kid with hair playing as Shaq's Robin, but I always thought bald black mamba rapist #24 Kobe was the most overrated player in sports.
Players like Ray Allen and Jimmy Butler who went from rival teams I absolutely loathe to Miami
Curry and KD because of the superteam Warriors Then I actually started watching them play and realized how great they are and how smooth their game was and regretted that I didn't watch them more during their primes.
Both still in their prime though.
Kobe.
As a Nuggets fan he was always the bad guy, he’d rip our hearts out and gloat over it and it killed the Melo years.
But the whole “Girl Dad” phase softened me on him and I began to really appreciate his body of work and then his “Letter to Basketball” was the push that made me say “damn, Kobe is the man”
Then bam, he’s gone.
Even though he was the bane of my basketball fandom for two decades, I am a Kobe fan.
Fake nuggets fan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXPpHI0RFJw
in answering the thread question, Rondo is the one for me, even before he came to the Lakers. he really seemed try to help the young guys (i'm going to ignore who was wrong in Dallas)
I’ve done multiple 180s on KD.. had him prematurely as one of the best ever back in the late OKC days just projecting out his career but then flipped complete after signing with golden state.
I believed that you could pick literally anyone of that all star team that season, add them to those warriors and they still would have won the titles without injuries.
Because that turned people off KD and then he came back to the cartoon nets, I feel he was almost underrated.. now I just think he is one of the greats that fucked his own legacy.. he could have gone the dame path and stayed in OKC a little longer, or atleast just chose another option besides golden state.. I think he would have still earned at least one ring that would weigh more than what he got in Golden state in my opinion
I fucking hated LeBron after 2011...but now it's honestly really hard to hate on him with what he's done in these past 12 years.
Jimmy butler. I used to defend him vehemently now I realized he’s just another foul merchant
I grew up watching ACC basketball and I thought Tim Duncan was the slowest, most overrated player in all of sports. I was sure the number one pick of the draft would be a bust instead of the GOAT he became.
I'll go with a role player, Javale McGee. I remember watching this dude as a first and second year player. He had all the tools but was dumb as rocks. I figured he would be out the league after his rookie contract. But props to him, he embraced being a role player and has been playing for like 15 years. So many players can't get over not being the star and wash out.
Imagine you’re John Wall. Your first ever year in the NBA and you step into a locker room that has Nick Young, Gilbert Arenas, Andray Blatche and JaVale McGee you end up thinking this is the normal way a locker room interacts.
“You mean you guys don’t shit in y’all teammates shoes?”
I was hyped for Ayton until year 3, now I can't stand that he's still in the league
Russ has literally done nothing different than age and be less good.
Lol.
His game has always been the same.
Not that I'm ever mad at that. HOF career.
I thought Luka would be a bust and I did a 180 after his first week in the league.
I got to agree with Russ.
I hated ZBO so damn much during those grit and grind Memphis teams. He just always seemed to bust our asses.
Now I love watching his old highlights.
Al Jefferson too, dude would turn into Kareem against us. No clue why.
Lonzo was wild overhyped and now he’s a valuable role player when healthy. I can’t really enjoy watching LaMelo right now but he is definitely making progress so I think he’ll be my answer in two years.
I think Demar I’ve always thought of as overhyped but now that I’ve watched him so much with the Bulls I appreciate how he just goes out and is consistent. One of those miscast guys like Aaron Gordon.
Kobe. I was a never fan of him growing up. Shaq was my guy but as he got later in his career I started to have a soft spot for him and actually found myself rooting for him. I wanna say around 2012 is when I started to root for kobe. Same with Brady. Hated him while growing up but in his last couple of years I was picking him for the super bowl.
Luka. I still think he's amazing and I love watching him play for the most part, but his habit of yelling at refs and also standing under the basket with his arms up to wait for the foul call is so annoying. He often doesn't run back on defense because everyone else is upcourt and he's still standing under the basket flailing his arms.
i hated lebron before he came to the lakers, now im his second biggest meat rider right next to draymond
I recently flipped on Josh Giddey
Anthony Edwards. I wasn’t too high on him as a player coming out of college but after his first season dude showed that he was very deserving of that first pick.
James Harden. Those prime years in Houston were something else, but the recent stops in Brooklyn, Philly, and now LA it’s hard to support the guy like I used to. I never thought after the years of beating up on LA and the iconic dropping of Wesley Johnson, that James Harden could be a member of that team, but here we are.
Westbrook as well, except it happens weekly
If you don’t love him at his Worstbrook, you don’t deserve him at his Bestbrook