Power ranking responses to NBA Power Rankings

6. Quote Tweet article tagging a potentially aggrieved player/team

This one doesn’t necessarily have to be bad. It doesn’t even have to be mean-spirited. It’s just kind of there. We’re moving closer to respectable reactions to power rankings.

Players like having motivation. Motivated players play better, probably. I’m better at rinsing off dishes when I set them on fire first. I know how motivation works.

Unfortunately, depending on a user’s reach, this may never have the intended impact. And depending on the outlet for which an article is posted, the post may never quite have the gravitas to move a player to care.

It’s safe to assume that if an article has the necessary ingredients (author with clout, outlet with reach, opinion out of touch with a player’s own view of themself) this kind of thing will filter down to them on its own. This is kind of an unnecessary step.

The best case scenario here is that somehow, some way this is a time where the player is on social media and looking at their mentions and hasn’t seen this article and is interested in reading it and does so. At this point, they think to themself “I need to prove this author wrong really badly” and then they go off. That’s kind of a Rube Goldberg machine. It’s a slim chance.

The other issue is that this kind of response also has the air of “it’s self-evident that this NBA Power Rankings is wrong” without ever actually providing a counterpoint. There’s no room for growth here. Ultimately, one can do worse. One can do better too.