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I’d heard that one of the things I’d like about Charlotte Bobcats rookie Michael Kidd-Gilchrist was how much he cares about teammates and team agenda.
Thursday night, in a mean-nothing exhibition at North Charleston Coliseum, I saw something pretty meaningful: Kidd-Gilchrist wasn’t playing because he wasn’t playing well. Rookies are entitled to have bad nights, particularly early on. Along the bench, with the Bobcats making up an 18-point deficit, MKG was going nuts rooting for teammates.
You know those walk-ons at North Carolina who wave their towels so emphatically along the bench they appear rehearsed? MKG was that animated, but nothing about this seemed staged. He was thrilled for teammates and that doesn’t happen enough at the NBA level.
Remember when Allen Iverson was searching for one last NBA gig? Some of you said he’d be so entertaining, it was worth the risk. I replied he’d be so disruptive on a young team, it would have been a disaster.
It’s always been about Iverson. It would always be about Iverson. Maybe that’s tolerable when Iverson is in his prime. It’s exhausting and debilitating when he’s not.
I saw a rookie last night vested in his team’s success regardless of how his night went. That confirms what I’d heard about last season’s Wildcats and MKG, in particular. That’s encouraging.
