The NBA: Appreciate Greatness

They say “all good things must come to an end”… or something like that. When it comes to the NBA, we should appreciate greatness right now.

And it’s true.

In the world we live in, nothing great lasts forever. At some point in time greatness will fall from its ivory tower and come crumbling down. That’s just how everything works. The length of time something or someone is great may vary, depending the circumstances, but overall anything and everything that’s great will come to an end.

It’s been almost one month since future Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant announced his upcoming retirement at the end of this season. Ever since Bryant took to the Player’s Tribune and wrote a poem to basketball, there has been an outpour of support and appreciation towards him.

Bryant’s last season of basketball has been dubbed the ‘Farewell Tour’ as he fades towards the end of his career and outlets like ESPN have followed this ‘Farewell Tour’ as close as possible and have praised every little thing Bryant has done like dunking over Clint Capela for his first dunk of the season. ESPN even had an article on how Bryant was able to successfully convert his first dunk of the season.

Social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook have had users show endless amounts of support to Bryant during this one month period as well, tweeting or posting positive feedback anytime Bryant pulls off a move that reminds us of old Bryant.

But where was the appreciation and praise of him months or years early as we saw one of the greatest basketball players in the history of the sport slowly fall to the hands of father time?

Before Bryant officially announced his retirement the same people praising him were bashing him every time he did something bad. Users on Twitter would erupt and roast Bryant for air-balling another three-point shot or missing another contested midrange jumper.

We build people up their whole career just to tear them down the moment we see decline in their performance.

But why? Is it because we enjoy watching the demise of someone’s career?

This is something I’m guilty of and can’t wrap my head around why I chose to do so.

Instead of diminishing a player like Bryant as he comes to the end of his career and then showing him praise because he announced his retirement, we should have learnt to appreciate what he brought to the table during his 19-year NBA career from start to finish.

Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

In the NBA today we have greatness in the likes of LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Steph Curry. These three players are arguably the best in the NBA but more importantly have become what players like Shaquille O’Neal, Tim Duncan or Bryant was to the generation before – faces of the NBA.

For seven months every year, we get to watch James, Durant and Curry play the sport basketball, not to mention other great players like Anthony Davis or Kawhi Leonard.

During these seven months it seems like fans go into the same cycle.

First we’ll stop what we’re doing just to watch them play the game of basketball because we’ve missed the game so much. Then we’ll get into heated debates on who’s better than who and why. Once someone says something you don’t agree with, a larger argument takes place. Then once that’s settled we’ll compare them with all time greats like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Bryant. Before we know it the season is over.

Then the cycle continues season after season until players reach the point in their career that Bryant is at now.

Then we look back at how great their careers were and relive the past through Youtube, saying “player ‘X’ was so great back then.”

Instead of looking back in the past, like how someone will re-watch a concert they filmed on their phone, just sit back, relax and enjoy what we have in-front of us now.

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We have to learn to live in the present and appreciate greatness as it happens.

So while you’re watching James, Curry, Durant or any other great player in the game today, just put down your phones, your computers, your tablets or any other devices you have and just take in what we have in front of us. Enjoy and appreciate the talent that’s put on display night in and night out from October to May while you can.

Because sometimes you don’t know what you had till it’s gone.

Are you appreciating the greatness of the NBA?