The Casual Basketball Fan’s guide to NBA rookies

Lesson three: Expect expectations instantly

With the burden of history off your shoulders — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar? You mean the guy from Airplane!? — and the ability to operate with certainty, you are free to judge your team’s HTR with a clean slate and a permanent marker. And since you have no frame of reference in the context of NBA history, there’s no reason you shouldn’t expect the most from him after tip-off.

Let’s define expectations. Expectations in the world of CBFs is the knowledge that at all times, your team’s HTR is the best player on the floor. He’s as advertised. There is no building toward potential. There is only realized potential and spontaneous combustion of potential. There are no off nights. There are no bad plays. There is no learning or adjusting. The point of being an HTR is  they are head and shoulders above anyone they play with or against.

So, if a player dominates in college or has been projected as a player who could dominate the NBA, then they should be able to deliver immediately. If your team’s HTR is as good as advertised — and it won’t take long to find out (see lesson two) — he will have great games and very good games only. If not, then you are free to lambaste.

The question then becomes: What do you criticize him for? There are three steps to the CBF philosophy on acknowledging a lack of meeting expectations. Each step becomes more critical and a more inclusive way of truly establishing yourself as a CBF.

The first is to criticize the player. This makes the most sense. If a player plays badly then it’s on the player. The second is to criticize the team’s thinking for drafting that player. The team sold you on a prospect and for the audacity of wasting your time, you make sure to let them know. The third is to use another HTR from another team and claim that was whom the team should have drafted at the beginning, instead of your HTR. This is the final step to being a CBF. You have the gift of hindsight. Why not use it?