DP theory and other musings while we wait..

Before I get into my theory, I just want to say how much I am loving the rest of the team that aren't fighting mystery cramps. In particular, I think Council and Bidunga are going to wind up in my all-time favorites list. I could see it last year with Bidunga, particularly in contrast Dickenson. In fact, think I remember saying that I wanted Flory to take more of Hunter's minutes. The guy simply plays with joy and effort. He can guard anybody and never seens to let off the gas. He's not afraid of contact, and he's aggressive around the basket. Love it.

Throw in Council and you've got another guy who is just fun to watch. And in addition to his obvious skill and aggression, he appears to be having a really good time. Seeing him taking selfies with the fans, and just smiling constantly is a blast to see.

And then there's the Peterson circus. First some observations: while Self has clearly shown his frustration, it doesn't seem (at least in public) to be an issue with the players. It's also interesting to see that DP himself doesn't seem to be frustrated, or at least he doesn't show it. Compare that to other players who get sent to the bench for cramps or injury: there's often an obvious "look" or some kind of outward expression of disappointment. I don't see that with DP which suggest that he's NOT frustrated...which is bad.

At this point, the murmored rumors have escalated to a huge national story. To think that DP and "his people" are unaware of this is impossible to believe. With that in mind, it will be interesting to see how he reacts and if he's suddenly "cured" and able to play 40 minutes. Another observation is that at OSU all indicators seemed like he was going to play a full game. This tells me that he's not having these same issues on practice. If he were, Self wouldn't be surprised that he can't play a full game, so I assume that this "issue" only happens in games.

So my completely speculative theory is that there's something mental going on specifically around games. My daughter had issues getting carsick when she was younger. Several times, when we'd be on a long drive and everything was fine, my wife would ask her, "are you feeling ok?" Of course, this would trigger my daugher to think about getting sick, and sure enough within the next 5 minutes we'd be pulled over on the side of the road. So not only did I have to deal with my daugther's motion sickness issue, but I also had to remind my wife not to trigger her when things were going ok. Therefore, my completely unsupported theory if that there's no physical issue, and that he's not "faking" things to practice load management. My theory is that he has no issues with his endurance at practices, but for whatever reason, he's now mentally triggered by the bright lights and crowd. And by thinking about NOT cramping, he's made himself hyper sensitive and fearful of cramping.

My sincere hope is that the current circus makes him realize that the best way to respond to the critics is to go out an play 30+ minutes from here on out, and is phsycally able to be on the floor when we need him the most.