As recently as a few weeks ago, I had wondered what My lasting impression of him would be. I, along with many others on this board am obviously partial to professional athletes who went to the University of Missouri. More so in football than basketball, because our basketball team obviously doesn’t put out the same amount of professional athletes is our football team does, but what I feel the same for Michael that I feel for some of these other kids that had long careers at Missouri.
Despite his incredibly poor performance in these two games he has been back, my question was absolutely answered. It is a resounding yes, I will feel the same for Michael as I feel for any athlete that graced a Missouri uniform. Here is why.
That guy hurt his draft stock my coming back. Albeit two games, he absolutely did. I didn’t think that would be possible. When there were speculation of him coming back, I was thinking to myself “If you were healthy get back on the court. There’s nothing that you can do that will hurt your draft stock”. But he did. Nothing went right for him in his return. He shot terribly, he had almost 0 handles, he turnee the ball over, and worst of all he had zero explosiveness or strength. Did he hurt his draft stock in a manner that can’t be salvaged? Absolutely not. Too much size and talent to do that, but he heard it. So why come back? He knew he was nowhere near 100%. He knew the explosion wasn’t there, the first step wasn’t there, really nothing was there. Sure he wanted to play with his brother, and sure he wanted to play for his dad, but he did it for the University Missouri and for his teammates. That says something about him.
He didn’t have to come back. In fact, I’m absolutely sure that at minimum, 95% of players with his talent would not come back in the same situation (No depth,no guard play, no realistic chance of winning a title, absolutely not 100%). He’s different. He put his team first. And in this scenario, that’s an extremely bold move. In all likelihood he never Don’s a Missouri uniform again, eight on the court he will be remembered for two lousy games, but he should be remembered and as a star player, a freshman at that, who put his team first When he really didn’t have to.
I would have been bitter had he made the decision to not come back after being medically cleared. I’m sure a lot of us would have. But seeing what we saw on the court for those two games, I don’t know how he had the mental strength to get back on the court and show the world that version of himself.
Not that it matters to him or anyone else, but I think more highly of him right now than I would have had he played a healthy season, and was named to the NCAA all first team. He didn’t accomplish at the University of Missouri, what he set out to do. We didn’t get the Michael Porter Jr. that we wanted. But thats ok. I’m thrilled he came to the University, and it can only help the future of our program. So I just want to say, thank you for your effort’s Michael. They have not gone unnoticed.
Sorry for the rambling guys haha. Also, I’m sure there are plenty grammar mistakes in there. I apologize for that also. All of that was typed up via the voice reader. Just my opinions Ya’ll have a good one.
Despite his incredibly poor performance in these two games he has been back, my question was absolutely answered. It is a resounding yes, I will feel the same for Michael as I feel for any athlete that graced a Missouri uniform. Here is why.
That guy hurt his draft stock my coming back. Albeit two games, he absolutely did. I didn’t think that would be possible. When there were speculation of him coming back, I was thinking to myself “If you were healthy get back on the court. There’s nothing that you can do that will hurt your draft stock”. But he did. Nothing went right for him in his return. He shot terribly, he had almost 0 handles, he turnee the ball over, and worst of all he had zero explosiveness or strength. Did he hurt his draft stock in a manner that can’t be salvaged? Absolutely not. Too much size and talent to do that, but he heard it. So why come back? He knew he was nowhere near 100%. He knew the explosion wasn’t there, the first step wasn’t there, really nothing was there. Sure he wanted to play with his brother, and sure he wanted to play for his dad, but he did it for the University Missouri and for his teammates. That says something about him.
He didn’t have to come back. In fact, I’m absolutely sure that at minimum, 95% of players with his talent would not come back in the same situation (No depth,no guard play, no realistic chance of winning a title, absolutely not 100%). He’s different. He put his team first. And in this scenario, that’s an extremely bold move. In all likelihood he never Don’s a Missouri uniform again, eight on the court he will be remembered for two lousy games, but he should be remembered and as a star player, a freshman at that, who put his team first When he really didn’t have to.
I would have been bitter had he made the decision to not come back after being medically cleared. I’m sure a lot of us would have. But seeing what we saw on the court for those two games, I don’t know how he had the mental strength to get back on the court and show the world that version of himself.
Not that it matters to him or anyone else, but I think more highly of him right now than I would have had he played a healthy season, and was named to the NCAA all first team. He didn’t accomplish at the University of Missouri, what he set out to do. We didn’t get the Michael Porter Jr. that we wanted. But thats ok. I’m thrilled he came to the University, and it can only help the future of our program. So I just want to say, thank you for your effort’s Michael. They have not gone unnoticed.
Sorry for the rambling guys haha. Also, I’m sure there are plenty grammar mistakes in there. I apologize for that also. All of that was typed up via the voice reader. Just my opinions Ya’ll have a good one.
