FanPost

Trusting the Process - Post-Mortem or Prelude


I have not tried to write anything even half-serious here for a while, and I think it is time I do. A throwback piece as it were, in honor of what Liberty Ballers once was, and to take a hard look at the state of the Process today - to see if we can reach any kind of conclusion as to whether either the Process or Liberty Ballers have any life left in them.

And honestly at first glance it appears bleak for both. For LB, posts are simply way down, and so many long-time Liberty Ballers are either gone or else very infrequent visitors. Whether the root cause is simply ennui, loss of faith in the team, disappointment in our recent playoff runs, the Ben Simmons saga, Covid, Coral, or perhaps the general downfall of civility and discourse in our society these days, or some of all of the above, the facts are the facts - LB still survives, but it is not at all what it was in its heyday.

And as for the Process, maybe it is the loss of so many of the beloved heroes of the era, TJ, Dario, Nerlens and Jerami, and so many, many, oh so many, many others, and the debacles that followed - the Colangelos, Markelle, Mikal Bridges, and of course and foremost Ben, there is no doubt that at the very least we are past numerous inflection points, and in the midst of an interregnum, the ending of which is difficult to predict. Loss of faith is a very real thing these days - and specifically with this team.

So where do we go from here?

For me - we start by thinking about recent seasons, which started with such promise, only to die on the vine prematurely. Maybe. just maybe, this year will be the opposite, hardship early, and a happier ending still to come. We have undergone a rash of health issues thus far, Covid and otherwise, plus the Ben saga - which must be ended sooner rather than later for some kind of modest return - a rotation player or two - to go along with the addition by subtraction effect which by now seems almost a certainty. And then if maybe we can have a healthy or at least not totally worn-down Joel come the playoffs, with a real back up in Drummond, and Tobias playing within himself for a change - come the playoffs - with a real backup of his own in Niang, and Matisse bringing a little more offense than in the past, and the continuation of Maxey's emergence as both scorer and distributor, and Seth continuing his own strong season, and a little bit of Shake and Furkan, and someone who comes back in a deal for Ben taking one of those spots in the rotation and bringing a legit and useful something to the table - maybe, just maybe, oh please God cut us some slack maybe, then maybe the Process has some life left in it yet.

And if the Process still has some life left and starts to make a little noise in the playoffs, then maybe LB can be reborn again as well.

And with that I bid you adieu for a while.

Your feedback as always is most welcome...

A user-created LB joint. The Liberty Ballers staff does not contribute to FanPosts.