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The story with Jordan Paul developed and unfolded in recent times, until it moved to the least nice chapter: the abuse phase.
At this point, the professional review ends, and the business becomes personal and obsessive.
Everything about him boils, his every action is outrageous, everyone is waiting for him in the corner.
Every mistake or loss is "I told you so", more fuel for the fire, which burns with great pleasure.
There is no mercy and no empathy.
The beauty is that here we get an improved version: while in the US everyone is a murderer, in Israel the attitude toward him becomes particularly extreme. Paul is part of the national project and our pride, the unfortunate Washington Wizards, the team whose following causes so much grief and distress, and to all the experts and commentators around us it is clear that there is only One person stopping the progress of Danny Obadiah: the evil Jordan Paul!
"It is clear to all the experts and commentators around us that there is only one person stopping the progress of Danny Obadiah: the evil Jordan Paul!"/GettyImages, Patrick Smith
Of course Jordan Paul deserves criticism, and of course it's not only in Israel, and just recently a general manager in the NBA defined his contract as "the worst in the league".
He plays apathetically, his numbers are disappointing, he doesn't upgrade the players around him, he is selfish, his body language is problematic, his percentages drop.
There is no doubt that he is a professional disappointment in every way, one big mistake.
But Jordan Paul represents many problematic phenomena.
First and foremost, he too is likely to be swept up in the general despair at the weak Washington, which suppresses almost everything that comes near it.
American sports culture allows for the existence of aimless teams that not only pass the time, but have a vested interest in losing. It's a murky, unsportsmanlike atmosphere that demotivates any normal athlete. No one would be surprised if Jordan Paul showed ability It's completely different if he joins a team with real ambitions, which fights for every victory, and in which he becomes a role player. Just watching Washington is depressing. How does it feel to play in it, to move from city to city and get the upper hand every night, especially if you've already experienced the taste of the top?
In addition, What draws the criticism towards Jordan Paul is of course his contract, $140 million for four years, but is that also his fault? Is he the fool here? Even if we ignore dozens of other absurd contracts in the league, even if we ignore dozens of mistakes and omissions by General Meng 'Rim, what is Paul's sin? Did he force someone to pay these sums? Is it because of him that there are so many millions out there that are distributed disproportionately? Is he the only one who earns too much?
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His salary intensifies the legitimacy to wretch him.
Jordan Paul/GettyImages, Patrick Smith
Today it is Paul's salary that allows the cruelty towards him.
This is what strengthens the legitimacy to wretch him.
The starting point is that because he earns tens of millions of dollars a year, he is a strong and happy and invulnerable man, and therefore not only is it allowed to enter him, but it is also obligatory to humiliate him.
It seems that Jordan Paul has already fallen into this circle - an absurd contract, a team lacking ambition, a problematic image, hostile media - and is unable to get out of the loop that only continues to intensify.
By the way, the one who contributed to Paul's problematic image is also Danny Avdia, who already in the preseason, in Washington's warm-up game against New York (Practis!, Allen Iverson would shout), waved his hands demonstratively and was indignant at an attack that Paul did not give him, as if it was the first time in history The NBA where a player walks alone and doesn't look to the sides.
Today, the animosity towards Paul is so strong, that many justify the punch that Draymond Green threw at his face in training (assuming that "he probably deserved a brat"), even though it turns out that Green has a dangerous violence problem.
More than anything, Paul is part of the brutal game, which involves brutal communication with a sensationalist attitude.
No limits.
And so Stephen I. Smith, the man for special assignments, says that everyone around Jordan Paul hates him and he needs a "personality transplant".
And that's how Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett sit, throwing a discussion full of insults and curses (it is recommended to watch with subtitles for English translation), and say that "a player like Paul has no place in this league at all".
Shaquille O'Neal crowns him as "Shaktin' a Paul" man of the year, a corner that is served with humor and smiles, but again, also cruelty.
And no one listens to the actor, for whom he is not being used correctly at all, is not playing his role, and may even be wronged.
There is no attempt to defend Jordan Paul, a basketball player who negatively affects his environment.
But it was a small moment from Friday night's game against Denver that illustrated the story.
Paul went to take an outside ball under the basket, got confused, lost concentration, feared a five-second foul and just miserably released the ball and lost it.
It was a ridiculous mistake, which went viral and was gleefully shared by his haters.
She became the highlight, on an NBA team that was defeated by 66 points in two days.
In Israel, of course, they celebrated and mocked and called to throw him to hell.
At such moments it is difficult to stop, and not be part of the rambunctious and drifting herd.
But as the bully behavior of the audience and the media, merciless, increases, it is here that the sad story of an actor, a person, who lost his way and is unable to get out, is revealed.
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Jordan Paul
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