“Abram’s gonna be alright.” “He’s my guy.”
I wrote about this earlier in the season. At some point, fans will just need to believe that Stoudamire is sincere about what he says and take him at his word.
He said he would give players "freedom" to play their game and create. We've seen that.
He said he wanted to space the floor, move the ball around, and let the players play. We've seen that.
He said he wanted GT to be tough (physically and mentally) and play hard. We didn't see it early in the season, but we sure as heck saw it against Duke.
He said he wanted the players to "do the work", and those that do the work will play. We've seen that.
He said he would play a lot of players and see who was the best that day and go from there. We've seen that. (Much to the dismay of some of us)
I think he's the same with players. What he says to them he means and is transparent...I believe he said that's what he's about as a coach. Transparency. If Abram isn't playing, it's probably because he's not doing what Stoudamire requires of all his players. Abram is probably one of the more talented players on the roster. Abram not playing is on Abram. Stoudamire isn't like Deion Sanders, he doesn't have different rules for his "good" or "bad" players.
As a fan, you got to like that. As player, you probably love playing for him.