michael_nielsen

Writing (and design) have the very interesting property that huge effort + talent make the writing _appear_ easier. And outsiders often think that means the writing process must have been easier for the writer, when the opposite was true.

MJ versus LeBron: I know what you mean. For me, LeBron looks like massive force applied to a problem. MJ is smoother (though still incredibly forceful). It's a bit like Federer vs Nadal.

In most sports, looking at clips from the 80s it's obvious today's top athletes would be much better. But after a brief period to adapt, MJ would clearly just destroy the modern NBA, same as in his own time. Otherworldly.

It’s exactly that, I think about this in a lot of things. People can be great, but how does it look? That look can often make you feel a certain way. Like Westbrook vs Harden is similar too. I Harden in that he looks slow and smooth, but is unguardable.https://twitter.com/udayrsingh/status/1119845590194692097?s=21 …

I can see Harden is amazingly skilled, but find his foul-oriented game a real turnoff. I'd much rather watch Steph or LBJ or Westbrook or Giannis or KD. Westbrook is so fun to watch, even when he's playing in a way that's arguably bad for his team.

I think within that, however, is why people often miss the mark. I usually describe as the hacker’s hooper. He finds the loop holds and exploits them so close to the margin that it’s a direct turn-off. But... if it were so easy, why isn’t it more exploited? It’s easy, but hard!

If you're a player or team, Hardin's approach is great. As a spectator, I'm less interested in who is winning than enjoying the beauty of the game. And there Harden is of less interest to me. It's certainly _clever_ and he's astoundingly skillful. Just not what I want to watch.