Trey Lyles should be known as “Trey LIEls” because so many front-offices have lied to their fans about how good they expect Lyles to be. In none of his multitude of stops in the NBA has he lived up to fans’ expectations of him, and part of that is because those expectations were set way too high in the first place. That’s not totally Lyles’ fault, but some of the blame does fall on his shoulders for displaying tantalizing glimpses of talent in between long stretches of absolute nothingness on the court.
I can just imagine some know-nothing in a suit smirking as he says into a microphone at a press conference, “We think Lyles can bring the scoring and rebounding we need to make real noise in the playoffs this season”. Or “Lyles is young, he plays with energy, and we want him to be part of the core that brings a championship trophy back to [insert city name here]!” Those are the kind of weaselly words that are said about most players when they’re acquired, but they’re especially egregious when applied to a guy who has overall been a disappointment for his entire time in the league (save that short stretch with the ‘Ggets where he temporarily made Paul Millsap obsolete).
Perhaps I picked a bad time to rag on Lyles and the Spurs’ front office because Lyles just had his second twenty-burger in a row. Given his outrageously low scoring rate this season (ten points per 36 minutes), this occasion should be treated with the same reverence as Bradley Beal scoring fifty in two straight games. The view counts, however, will prove that that the viewers of NBA highlight videos have different ideas of what deserves reverence.