Inspired by Rory Smith’s work on soccer at The New York Times, I want to first reflect on the (more likely than not) possibility that the Milwaukee Bucks do not win the championship this year, before offering a loosely related and more compassionate take on Ben Simmons.
The NBA lionizes hardware, where the accomplishments of franchises and individual players are measured by the yardstick of trophies. This makes sense given our desire to find simple quantifications of success. However, it can obscure qualities of success that are more meaningful. Consider a scenario where the Bucks make the NBA finals every year for the next five years.