When people say, "don't wake up a sleeping bear," it definitely applies to star players in the NBA. There are players in NBA history that you knew not to get them going. Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Reggie Miller just to name a few.
In today's NBA, LeBron James and Jimmy Butler are surely two guys you don't want to poke them and get them going. It seems like Dillon Brooks and Grant Williams forget they're no longer at Oregon and Tennessee, their alma maters where they were the 'go to' guys.
I guess Grant Williams paid no attention to the first round series of the NBA Playoffs. He must've forgotten that Jimmy Butler scored 56 points on one of the best defensive teams in the NBA this season in the Milwaukee Bucks.
Grant Williams must've forgotten how Dillon Brooks was a contributing reason to the Memphis Grizzlies being eliminated. After Brooks ran his mouth, LeBron goes on to have a 20 point, 20 rebound game and in the closeout game the Lakers won by 40 points.
When you're a role player in the NBA, you do your assigned job and that's it. Grant had his one shining moment in the playoffs, hit a few shots and got going in front of his home crowd. Great, wonderful but be quiet for the love of basketball and your team.
Your team needed that win in Game 2 and you got Jimmy Butler going. He proceeded to hit shot after shot on you, score and one basket and propel his team to a Game 2 win.
I hope you've been quiet in the locker room, on the flight to Miami and in practice. Even your best defender on the team in Marcus Smart knows better than to poke Jimmy Butler and get him going.
What role players in the NBA fail to realize sometimes is, if a star player is playing average, let them stay there, all it takes is saying one thing and they can switch real quick.
Grant, have you listened to podcasts on how former NBA players told stories of how they messed with MJ, Kobe, Reggie Miller and others and the light switched real quick? Did you not pay attention to the Kevin Garnett-Michael Jordan trash talking story on "All The Smoke" podcast his rookie year and how it didn't end well?
As a basketball player myself, playing against certain people, I knew who to mess with and who not to. I have certain friends that I knew to never poke if I was playing against them. If they were missing shots, not in the flow of the game, that was great for me, especially if I was guarding them. I knew to keep them there and know that they can't get going.
That's just the unwritten rules of basketball. I'm competitive as it gets but I'm not getting into a heated exchange with someone I know is capable of not only changing the outcome of the game, but having a direct impact on every possession on both ends of the court.
What happens with role players who don't get as many shots or play a bigger role on their prospective teams, their egos get in the way of what the goal is, to win the game, not make headlines and try to have your one shining moment.
I've been the player that changed games if you started trash talking me. It didn't end well for plenty of teams in parks many ages ago. I know and understand what that zone is like that Jimmy Butler was in, in Game 2.
Trash talking is great for the game, don't get me wrong. It's not good when you're messing with the star player on the other team. It never ends up and that fiery look in their eyes spells trouble.
There's a reason why you're called a 'role' player Grant. You play a 'role' on the Boston Celtics and I know it's surely not trash talking Jimmy Butler.
I hope your team gets back in the series because if they don't, you'll be the talk of the off-season and how Game 2 of the series ignited a fire in a star player who pushed his team to new heights.
To all of the role players not just in the NBA but in high school, college and those who play pickup ball and in recreation leagues, may Dillon and Grant be lessons to you, never wake up the bear, never wake up a sleeping giant…
