Under my new definition of the word “bust”, which is “a player picked in the top five of the draft who never scores thirty or more points in a single game”, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is a bust. Under many of the other competing definitions for the word “bust”, he remains a bust, but there are some definitions of “bust” which are restrictive enough that he does not qualify. I respect the fact that people have different ideas about how to use the word, but, simply put, those people are wrong. My definition is the correct one. It is the definitive one.
MKG had a decent chance to step out from underneath the oppressive shadow of bustdom by scoring ten points in the first quarter of this game, but he went on to score just nine more points in the remaining three quarters. It’s almost like he didn’t want to score thirty because he wants to have the “bust” security blanket to crawl back under when he underperforms in comparison to his contract. At the moment he can say “Don’t blame me for getting thirteen million dollars a year, the Hornets knew I was a bust when they gave me that contract.” If he were to score thirty in a game, he would no longer have that excuse.
I think my expert psychoanalysis of the situation should qualify me to get a job as a sports psychologist.