Here's a few random thoughts for Sunday morning:

1. The NBA putting an enormous amount of pressure on a 19 year old to drive ratings by giving him opening night, Xmas, opening night again, and a million national TV games seems like a lot of eggs in one basket.

2. No one on the Pels asked for this. But it's also beyond the point of an excuse.

I understand the FO has tried to shelter Zion the best they can from the get go (Jrue is an MVP candidate), and they should.

But there's a natural tension between what's best for Zion vs roster

3. Any organization with long term thinking will tell you that it's a no brainier to protect your best asset, everything is second to that. However there's a balance between doing that and also attending to the goals and desires of other players on the roster.

4. There needs to be a sense of self responsibility on the player's end. Your desire to win may not align on the same timeline as the FO, but the response to that can't be to crumple in the face of adversity. Everyone knows the Zion situation isn't ideal - it's not an excuse

5. Bottom line is that the players and vets are here to win. While I imagine "short bursts" runs contrary to that, you have to show you are actually here to win. Blowing a 16 point lead and getting smacked by the Clips is not that. The team has a lot of growth to do in that area.

6. Looping it back to tweet 1, all this has basically made it impossible for Zion to be a kid and have fun.

Yes it comes with the territory but he just turned 20. He said not too long ago "I haven't felt like a teenager in a while".

That's remarkably sad.