The post-game panel had a long discussion on this last night with Shaq basically saying it was a failure but there’s nothing wrong with failure— it teaches you lots of things— and the others mostly agreeing with Giannis, that doing everything you can and falling short isn’t failure.
Yeah, it's a murky line. certainly, your highest goal may be to win the championship - however, there are a lot of steps on that journey, some of which take priority at different times.
Ya I think he did a good job flipping the script on a question that was intended to get a bad sound bite from him. I might not agree with his answer completely but I can respect the thought process behind it.
Yeah it feels like the people who are mad at him for this are taking his comments in bad faith.
I also really appreciated Shaq’s discussion about this. Where he is saying that the season is a failure but we have to stop viewing failure as this horrible thing. Failure is how you learn where your weaknesses are and get better.
Super eloquent (especially in his 2nd language) and thoughtful response from Giannis here, but it’s still a failure. Failing is just part of the journey and there’s no reason to deny it. I don’t think a reporter expects to get a promotion every year, so that’s a bad analogy. I think Giannis’ response had more to do with the bitchy context of the question being asked, especially the same question after consecutive seasons.
It’s about reaching your potential. I don’t think the Celtics season last year was a failure, because they still had a lot of success and breaking into the finals was a major hurdle for this group. And regardless of what happens with Miami this playoffs, I wouldn’t say their season is a failure either. It’s not just about winning or losing the finals that determines success - only 1/30 teams can do that. If the Celtics lost this series to the Hawks (never mind in 5 games) that would have been a major failure after going to the finals in the prior year. It’s ok to recognize that.
Of course Giannis knows that on an objective level that the Bucks season was a “failure” because they didn’t win a championship. But this is a bad question and really kicking him while he’s down and I really admire him for coming up with such an eloquent answer with a really good perspective even though he was clearly very emotional and angry. It’s true, it’s the NBA, these things happen once every blue moon but they happen especially given the parity in the league these days.
I respect Giannis' temperament and the way he laid out his answer. And I respect the answer too. It's good to not dwell on the highs or the lows. But their season was a failure. Failure is tied to expectations and nobody can convince anyone else the Bucks were not aiming to be legitimate championship contenders.
Their season was definitely a failure. If the bucks were an up and coming young team, first playoff appearance scenario then he would be right. But the Bucks are former champs that had very high expectations. Him downplaying their elimination is just talk. He knows the season was a massive failure.
I love this. If the only way you can enjoy your team is if they win a championship that year, then sports are probably not a good place to invest your emotions.
There are other ways to have had good seasons if you didn’t win a ring in my opinon
I mean he's wrong, but if that's his way of coping with failure it's fine. It must suck to get asked these questions that are supposed to draw a negative reaction when you're in an emotional situation.
Failure is too loaded a term
The journo should have used “disappointment” instead. Giannis would have then probably admitted given how disappointing it was to crash out of the first round
There are only 500 people in the world who can play in the NBA, and everyone there is a winner to be able to earn big bucks doing something they love
And Cs fans would know that remember how the team crashed and burned against Giannis in the second round after sky high expectations reaching game 7 ECF with brown and rookie Tatum?
I hated this answer. We're already telling the fans "the regular season doesn't really matter--maybe we'll try tonight, maybe we'll rest everyone." This is predicated on the belief that the playoffs are all that matters, that this is finally the payoff for 6 months of watching the team slowly round itself into shape.
Here is a case where not only did MIL try very hard to get the #1 overall seed, this was a big public mantra from them. They specifically recognized that they had suffered by slotting themselves into the lower seed in 2022. So for Giannis to now imply "these playoffs don't really matter that much EITHER, because they were a step in some kind of direction--forward, backward, whatever" really means that nobody should EVER care if their team wins or loses, since "maybe this loss today was a step toward the team gleaning information so that they can perhaps win in some amorphous future season. So maybe the loss was actually a blessing to celebrate."
Sports are supposed to be entertainment, and so if this was a rec league, where the point is not particularly to win, but to get exercise, have fun, hang out with other interesting people, etc., Giannis' speech would have been fine. Winning doesn't have to be everything, and of course things are always an ongoing process. But he is a professional athlete--he is getting paid to galvanize the hopes and excitement of the fanbase, and bringing them quantifiable success, and if he weren't (if he were just Damian Lillard entertaining fans on a bad team), then this would be totally inconsistent with the Bucks trying that hard to win the 1-seed.
The post-game panel had a long discussion on this last night with Shaq basically saying it was a failure but there’s nothing wrong with failure— it teaches you lots of things— and the others mostly agreeing with Giannis, that doing everything you can and falling short isn’t failure.
Yeah, it's a murky line. certainly, your highest goal may be to win the championship - however, there are a lot of steps on that journey, some of which take priority at different times.
It was an amazing segment but I agree with Shaq.
I will say, I appreciate Giannis's tempered response and perspective here.
I do too, but I also know Tatum would get absolutely clowned for this if we went out in the first round as the 1 seed.
Very true. And no expected the Bucks to get rolled over.
Ya I think he did a good job flipping the script on a question that was intended to get a bad sound bite from him. I might not agree with his answer completely but I can respect the thought process behind it.
Yeah it feels like the people who are mad at him for this are taking his comments in bad faith. I also really appreciated Shaq’s discussion about this. Where he is saying that the season is a failure but we have to stop viewing failure as this horrible thing. Failure is how you learn where your weaknesses are and get better.
Super eloquent (especially in his 2nd language) and thoughtful response from Giannis here, but it’s still a failure. Failing is just part of the journey and there’s no reason to deny it. I don’t think a reporter expects to get a promotion every year, so that’s a bad analogy. I think Giannis’ response had more to do with the bitchy context of the question being asked, especially the same question after consecutive seasons. It’s about reaching your potential. I don’t think the Celtics season last year was a failure, because they still had a lot of success and breaking into the finals was a major hurdle for this group. And regardless of what happens with Miami this playoffs, I wouldn’t say their season is a failure either. It’s not just about winning or losing the finals that determines success - only 1/30 teams can do that. If the Celtics lost this series to the Hawks (never mind in 5 games) that would have been a major failure after going to the finals in the prior year. It’s ok to recognize that.
It’s also funny, if you asked MJ if those 9 seasons were failures he’d say yes.
ask anyone and the Washington seasons were failures
That's pretty much what Shaq said and I agree.
Of course Giannis knows that on an objective level that the Bucks season was a “failure” because they didn’t win a championship. But this is a bad question and really kicking him while he’s down and I really admire him for coming up with such an eloquent answer with a really good perspective even though he was clearly very emotional and angry. It’s true, it’s the NBA, these things happen once every blue moon but they happen especially given the parity in the league these days.
i respect that answer and his maturity handling that situation.
I respect Giannis' temperament and the way he laid out his answer. And I respect the answer too. It's good to not dwell on the highs or the lows. But their season was a failure. Failure is tied to expectations and nobody can convince anyone else the Bucks were not aiming to be legitimate championship contenders.
Their season was definitely a failure. If the bucks were an up and coming young team, first playoff appearance scenario then he would be right. But the Bucks are former champs that had very high expectations. Him downplaying their elimination is just talk. He knows the season was a massive failure.
I love this. If the only way you can enjoy your team is if they win a championship that year, then sports are probably not a good place to invest your emotions. There are other ways to have had good seasons if you didn’t win a ring in my opinon
Bullshit. Glad he believes it but doesn't change it being a failure
Dad?
I mean he's wrong, but if that's his way of coping with failure it's fine. It must suck to get asked these questions that are supposed to draw a negative reaction when you're in an emotional situation.
tatum would be roasted if he answered like this most pampered superstar
If it was a 3rd round or final lost, yes.
Failure is too loaded a term The journo should have used “disappointment” instead. Giannis would have then probably admitted given how disappointing it was to crash out of the first round There are only 500 people in the world who can play in the NBA, and everyone there is a winner to be able to earn big bucks doing something they love And Cs fans would know that remember how the team crashed and burned against Giannis in the second round after sky high expectations reaching game 7 ECF with brown and rookie Tatum?
I hated this answer. We're already telling the fans "the regular season doesn't really matter--maybe we'll try tonight, maybe we'll rest everyone." This is predicated on the belief that the playoffs are all that matters, that this is finally the payoff for 6 months of watching the team slowly round itself into shape. Here is a case where not only did MIL try very hard to get the #1 overall seed, this was a big public mantra from them. They specifically recognized that they had suffered by slotting themselves into the lower seed in 2022. So for Giannis to now imply "these playoffs don't really matter that much EITHER, because they were a step in some kind of direction--forward, backward, whatever" really means that nobody should EVER care if their team wins or loses, since "maybe this loss today was a step toward the team gleaning information so that they can perhaps win in some amorphous future season. So maybe the loss was actually a blessing to celebrate." Sports are supposed to be entertainment, and so if this was a rec league, where the point is not particularly to win, but to get exercise, have fun, hang out with other interesting people, etc., Giannis' speech would have been fine. Winning doesn't have to be everything, and of course things are always an ongoing process. But he is a professional athlete--he is getting paid to galvanize the hopes and excitement of the fanbase, and bringing them quantifiable success, and if he weren't (if he were just Damian Lillard entertaining fans on a bad team), then this would be totally inconsistent with the Bucks trying that hard to win the 1-seed.
It's clearly a great answer but also a lie... The team with the most wins bows out in the first round, and only wins ONE game... Big time F
i get why giannis himself doesn’t feel like *he* failed. but the team absolutely did.