Opinions wanted

[40bill]

Although I'm well aware of the policies that are instituted on this board with regard to how we address individual players, does anyone else tend to have less patience with these guys given a (supposed) 22 million dollar college lineup? These guys are all professional athletes that represent UK. Not as well paid as NBA players, but some are making more than G league players.

Just wondering

[***St.Patterson-54***]

No. Unless they pull a S. Sharpe.

[SportsFan]

That's where Pope comes in.

With the depth this team has, there's no excuse for Coach Pope to "stick with" a player too long if he's off his game or is hurting the team. That's the kind of thing that will get fans upset and is something the previous coach didn't give a damn about. Cal didn't have deep teams and didn't like playing his bench, so it was to be expected when he stuck with one of his prized freshmen too long even though he was struggling. Cal wanted to get him his PT necessary to showcase him and pad his stats for the NBA. Pope has enough talent that it will be up to him to decide when to pull guys and what lineup to run with.

[WeWant9]

I don't think my feelings have changed with them getting paid. I always feel UK players should play hard, compete, play for the name on the front, and stay out of trouble on/off court. Getting paid isn't going change any of that for me, nor do I think I will get harder on them.

I do think there are degrees to criticism. Zero issue with someone pointing out a players struggles or issues, do have an issue with just saying a player is garbage.

[Matt Dillon]

I don't think my feelings have changed with them getting paid. I always feel UK players should play hard, compete, play for the name on the front, and stay out of trouble on/off court. Getting paid isn't going change any of that for me, nor do I think I will get harder on them.

I do think there are degrees to criticism. Zero issue with someone pointing out a players struggles or issues, do have an issue with just saying a player is garbage.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

[South jones]

I've never ran a player down, they are not perfect and make mistakes like we all do. The player probably feels a lot worse than we as fans do.
I remember when Roderick Rhodes missed those two FTs In The SEC tourney i felt so bad for him and the camera panned his face over on the bench and you could tell he was devastated.
on the bb forum, posters were crucifying him but I'm sure they were perfect and had never made a mistake in their whole life.