@BShark @Crimsonorblue22
I remember way back when, before many Bucketeers were even a glint in their parents' eyes--heck, before some of their parents were even a glint in the g-parents' eyes--that the huge knock on Amos Otis was that he "wasn't giving 100%," or he got by on "superstar talent with journeyman effort," and stuff like that. He stole bases and made it look easy, so why didn't he try harder and steal more? He could cover 36,000 acres in centerfield, so why didn't he catch that one at the wall in right center? He trotted to first on groundouts to the pitcher, but shouldn't you run every time? Then Brett came in, who blew every one away with his crazy full-bore hustle, probably cementing Otis's legacy as not givlng it all. The performance by Cain in the WS years was hailed as an Otis with the "right" approach, with all those advanced metrics to document his superhuman feats.
Looking back at Otis, and now Wiggins, I think that people see those guys as blessed with ability that enables them to perform spectacularly all the time if they would just try harder, or focus more. But I think the reality is that no one in history can be spectacular all the time. Even Wilt, with the single greatest and longest variation of statistical excesses over average in basketball, was accused of not doing everything he could (couldn't beat Russell, so he must not have been a team player, etc). I think what we see is that these guys are so fluid in their movements that we think they are taking it easy when they really are giving it all. Sometimes, circumstances (a rebound at just the right angle, an opening in the line in football, a reachable line drive n the gap, etc) provide the uniquely talented some opportunities for the spectacular, but we err in thinking spectacular can ever be routine.
"He makes it look so easy" is one of the worst things that can be said about an athlete. These sports are not easy for anyone, and that is why very, very few athletes (even the greatest hustlers in history) have few seasons spectacularly exceeding the mean. If it were simply effort, we would not see the very ones we extol as examples of better effort regress in years we forget or don't pay as much attention to.
Now, I agree that "focus" obviously is different. Not paying attention to a coach's play-calling, making dumb fouls, not blocking out, passing to someone who isn't there.... All these are things we have seen every athlete do. I just think they are magnified when a guy who "makes it look easy" does them.
Sometimes a tiny bit of luck can play a big role in perception. If just a couple each game of Mahome's wild scrambles had resulted in fumbles, or his tipped passes in more interceptions, we would not be as happy. People would say he was trying too hard, and that he needed to focus better. When, not if, his performance regresses toward the mean this year or in the future, or when, not if, he isn't setting or tying records each game, I just hope people will attribute it to the usual trends of athletic performance and not think he has gotten complacent or stopped giving it his all.
