Change is inevitable in the NBA, and it comes in many different shapes and sizes. While the style of play on the court constantly changes with each passing season, things like the lives of players in the league are far different from what they once were.
Interest in the league has never been higher, which means that these players are dealing with things that old-school players never had to deal with. While Stephen A. Smith commends the NBA stars, he believes there's one big area they can improve upon.
SAS shares his problem with the current generation
Smith has been involved in sports media for quite some time, so he's seen how coverage of sports has changed over the years. Thanks to social media, professional athletes are subjected to a completely different level of coverage nowadays.
In some ways, Stephen A believes that the current NBA stars are conducting themselves well. His biggest problem with them, though, is that he believes they aren't mentally tough enough, and that's leading to issues for them both on and off the court.
"I'm very proud of them, believe it or not," he said on KG Certified. "Ballsy, courage, betting on yourself, innovative, all of that stuff is applicable, absolutely true. I just need them to be tougher mentally. Somebody giving you constructive criticism does not equal condemnation. It means in the moment, this is what you did. In the moment, this didn't work. Suck it up, deal with it."
"And you see a lot of these young cats, particularly professional athletes, that don't absorb to all of that. And they're not telling the truth always as to why they feel that way. The real truth is, you've learned to monetize everything. So anything that gets attached to your name, you view as potentially compromising your brand, and that's problematic for you," Smith added.
Does Stephen A. make a good point?
Smith criticizes professional athletes for a living, so his relationships with these players can be rocky. But that's not something that only this generation of players has struggled with; you'll be hard-pressed to find anyone who enjoys reading bad stories or comments about themselves.
With social media being such a prominent part of the sports world nowadays, these players are subjected to far more criticism than they once were. SAS understands that, but he still thinks they could handle this criticism better.
On one hand, Smith's criticisms make sense, as we see many players engage with the media on a near-daily basis. But being overly critical of them probably isn't fair because no other generation of players has dealt with this same level of criticism.
It's an interesting point to debate, and at the end of the day, these players aren't going to be able to please everyone. Smith is right in suggesting that some stars could be mentally tougher, but it would be wrong to say that most players in the NBA nowadays are mentally weak.
Related: "He's lucky he's not in prison for theft" - SAS blasts Ben Simmons for consistent absences as a max contract player
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