{"id":131531595,"date":"2023-06-28T12:30:13","date_gmt":"2023-06-28T12:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/?p=131531595"},"modified":"2023-06-28T12:30:13","modified_gmt":"2023-06-28T12:30:13","slug":"the-legend-of-jimmy-butler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/?p=131531595","title":{"rendered":"The Legend of Jimmy Butler"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">&#8220;and so Doc leapt, \/ he left his feet,&#8221; &#8211; Ross Gay, &#8216;Be Holding&#8217;<\/h2><p>I can\u2019t help myself, <\/p><div class=\"subscription-widget-wrap-editor\" data-attrs=\"{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/shipwreckedsailor.substack.com\/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}\" data-component-name=\"SubscribeWidgetToDOM\"><div class=\"subscription-widget show-subscribe\"><div class=\"preamble\"><p class=\"cta-caption\">just thought it\u2019d be funny to interrupt that sentence with the first subscribe bar.<\/p><\/div><form class=\"subscription-widget-subscribe\"><input type=\"email\" class=\"email-input\" name=\"email\" placeholder=\"Type your email\u2026\" tabindex=\"-1\"\/><input type=\"submit\" class=\"button primary\" value=\"Subscribe\"\/><div class=\"fake-input-wrapper\"><div class=\"fake-input\"\/><div class=\"fake-button\"\/><\/div><\/form><\/div><\/div><p>\u2014I can\u2019t help myself, thinking about NBA history after every finals. It is weird and premature and kinda stupid to be like \u201cJohn Havlicek\u2019s out of the Top 20 All-Time because Giannis just had a 50-point Game 7!\u201d Or \u201cJokic is OFFICIALLY a better center than Patrick Ewing and David Robinson after this chip!\u201d But it is a temptation I cannot help but give into.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/2ab86e9d-a26d-458c-be00-258e752915ea_180x135.gif\" alt=\"File:3 rotating rings.gif\"\/><\/figure><p>It\u2019s not simply about RANGZ, although rings is significant. The season is played for a championship. Only one team wins, though, and if we draw a binary good\/bad judgment on a season ending in \u201c29 teams = bad,\u201d we\u2019re missing the point of watching basketball. We watch basketball because it\u2019s cool. It\u2019s the same reason we read books, because they\u2019re cool. Books? Basketball? Both cool. <br\/><\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"If peeing your pants is cool, consider me Miles Davis....\" width=\"790\" height=\"444\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/siCNdfH9U40?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure><p>So one thing I think about is: who\u2019s gonna be remembered as the cool teams? Who\u2019s gonna be the Larry Johnson\/Alonzo Mourning\/Muggsy Bogues Hornets, the C-Webb\/Vlade\/Peja Kings, the Steve Smith\/Dikembe\/Mookie Blaylock Hawks? Some teams have to fill that role every year.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Jason Williams&#039; 45 BEST PLAYS | #NBABDay \ud83c\udf82\" width=\"790\" height=\"444\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Bl_RqlpICgs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure><p>Because, my comrades in Christ: us Elder Millennials talking about 90s teams is our dads talking about the Dr. J Nets or the Clyde Frazier\/Earl Monroe duels back when Black Jesus was in Baltimore. Dudes, we\u2019re old.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/36407ff8-a477-479c-b0f6-9a5ca0ba1554_2740x3809.jpeg\"\/><\/figure><p>The good news is, history doesn\u2019t stop happening, and now we get to witness cool things. Cool things like the Jimmy\/Bam Heat.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"30 Minutes of Jimmy Butler&#039;s BEST Moments From 2023 NBA Playoffs!\" width=\"790\" height=\"444\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/all9rjt7M-Q?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure><p>This is part of why I chafe at \u201cwith Cormac McCarthy and Toni Morrison gone, who are the great American writers?\u201d question\u00a0that I\u2019ve seen going around Twitter recently. The literary landscape is not \u201cthree or four writers we can attach to a movement\u201d or \u201cthe same two poets who keep getting awarded prizes from committees where their girlfriend is chairperson\u201d or \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/style\/2021\/08\/the-state-of-the-literary-jonathans\">these guys named Jon<\/a>.\u201d<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/2ce2d25b-f52f-4abb-a693-92105f1b38c8_560x499.jpeg\" alt=\"File:Lil Jon at 2005 AEE Awards.jpg\"\/><\/figure><p>Small presses matter, mid-selling novels matter, collections of short stories matter, there\u2019s a whole tapestry to literature that informs itself. I was especially struck by this reading <em><a href=\"https:\/\/shipwreckedsailor.substack.com\/p\/friday-links-i-am-in-the-best-mood\">I Keep My Exoskeletons To Myself<\/a> <\/em>and seeing Marisa Crane epigraph their sections with, like, Chen Chen. I don\u2019t know how history will remember either of those writers (favorably, if there\u2019s any justice and sense in the world), but it\u2019s cool that those two contemporary works are automatically in conversation with each other now. <\/p><p>Did the 1920s have the equivalent of, like, Dean Young? Is there a 17th century James Tate lost to history? Forget \u201cthe Tolstoy of the Zulus,\u201d how many storytellers in oral traditions never got the Homer treatment because they were bulldozed by colonialism?<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/9eb07a2a-8cf1-4355-bfd1-1028f882089c_800x533.jpeg\" alt=\"File:Lloret de Mar - Coastal 'Cam\u00ed de Ronda' Footpath at Dona Marinera Monument 1966 - Panorama of Lloret de Mar Beach &amp; Costa Brava Mediterranean Sea Coast 06.jpg\"\/><\/figure><p>Anyway. <\/p><p>Some NBA teams I think are cool from my adult life: <\/p><ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><p>Champions like the Giannis-Jrue-Middleton-Lopez Bucks and the Jokic-Murray Nuggets <em>would<\/em> be cool \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/espn\/page2\/story?page=simmons\/080501\">critically acclaimed<\/a>\u201d teams, except they actually won. <\/p><\/li><li><p>Every Clippers team since Blake Griffin\u2019s rookie year has started out cool and ended in tragedy. <\/p><\/li><li><p>The DeMar DeRozan\/Kyle Lowry Raptors were cool. So were the Kawhi Raptors but again, champions. <\/p><\/li><li><p>The Bulls are basically anti-cool\u2014aside from the Jordan Dynasty, logo\/uniforms, mascot, starting lineup introductions, and being from Chicago\u2014but they\u2019ve had flashes. Rose\/Noah\/Deng\/Taj\/Thibs was Certainly An Era, and the DeRozan\/LaVine teams were cool for the like ten games Lonzo Ball was healthy. <\/p><\/li><li><p>The Lonzo Ball-Brandon Ingram-Zion Williamson Pelicans were cool for the like five games they were healthy together. <\/p><\/li><li><p>The Light The Beam Kings need another year or two in order to become cool, sort of like the Ja Morant\/JJJ\/Bane Grizzlies needed this past year not to have happened in order to remain cool. <\/p><\/li><li><p>The Marcus Smart-Jayson Tatum-Jaylen Brown Celtics were a rare cool Boston team until this past playoffs. Maybe in 20 years we\u2019ll have nostalgia-tinted glasses on when thinking about them. <\/p><\/li><li><p>The Jalen Brunson\/Julius Randle\/Immanuel Quickley Knicks are cool. The last cool Knicks team was the Sprewell\/Houston\/LJ Knicks. I expect the next cool Knicks team when I am 70. <\/p><\/li><\/ul><p>Some writers I think are cool who, even though I hope the best for them, I do not necessarily <em>foresee<\/em> Cormac McCarthy\/Toni Morrison-level stardom in their futures, even though they are extremely talented and deserving of a life filled with all the happiness and comfort and book sales they could imagine: <\/p><ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><p>Dude, just like, read the \u201cFriday Links\u201d column here every week. <\/p><\/li><\/ul><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.unsplash.com\/photo-1629830639445-d6c5f21006f2?ixlib=rb-4.0.3&amp;ixid=M3wxMjA3fDB8MHxwaG90by1wYWdlfHx8fGVufDB8fHx8fA%3D%3D&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=crop&amp;w=1000&amp;q=80\" alt=\"woman in black long sleeve shirt sitting on white chair\"\/><\/figure><p>You\u2019ll notice the epigraph of this blog is from Ross Gay, talking about Julius Erving. My on-the-young-side-of-Boomer uncle would swear Dr. J is the best basketball player he ever saw. Not-much-older-heads would say Clyde Frazier is the best point guard they\u2019ve ever seen. 50 years after their heydays, I don\u2019t personally rank either of them top five all-time at their position. Poetry\u2014especially poetry as good as the poetry Ross Gay writes\u2014is just one way to preserve these legends. <\/p><p>Or maybe it\u2019s nothing bigger than <a href=\"https:\/\/defector.com\/category\/lets-remember-some-guys\">Remembering Some Guys<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/deadspin.com\/lets-remember-some-guys-behind-the-remembering-1837487820\">Remembering Some Guys<\/a> is good. <\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/b82bb705-a651-4552-9cae-7ee39da049e5_256x534.jpeg\"\/><\/figure><p>Sorry you got an email, <\/p><p>Chris<\/p><div class=\"subscription-widget-wrap-editor\" data-attrs=\"{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/shipwreckedsailor.substack.com\/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}\" data-component-name=\"SubscribeWidgetToDOM\"><div class=\"subscription-widget show-subscribe\"><div class=\"preamble\"><p class=\"cta-caption\">Thanks for reading shipwrecked sailor! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.<\/p><\/div><form class=\"subscription-widget-subscribe\"><input type=\"email\" class=\"email-input\" name=\"email\" placeholder=\"Type your email\u2026\" tabindex=\"-1\"\/><input type=\"submit\" class=\"button primary\" value=\"Subscribe\"\/><div class=\"fake-input-wrapper\"><div class=\"fake-input\"\/><div class=\"fake-button\"\/><\/div><\/form><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;and so Doc leapt, \/ he left his feet,&#8221; &#8211; Ross Gay, &#8216;Be Holding&#8217;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131531595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131531595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=131531595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131531595\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=131531595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=131531595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=131531595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}