Like, if I think Dame is a Top 3 MVP candidate this year (I do), and he doesn't start, then I start looking for who shouldn't be starting. I think we can all agree that Luka is the weakest of the arguments for starting of the five starters in the west... so then you compound that with seeing him on TV all the time? It just leads to hate.

This happened with Zion during his college season. He was (correctly) anointed, but then they started talking about Zion during literally every single game-- including all the ones Duke didn't play. So a lot of people I saw online started not liking Zion-- not because of Zion, but because of the coverage.

I agree that it shouldn't hurt our ability to say "hey, this guy's insanely fucking good," but it does put blinders on a lot of otherwise logical people sometimes. (Not that that's necessarily what's happening to everyone in this thread. I just mean in general.)