Take off the cult worship snowflake glasses. You act like you’re better than everybody else. It’s actually funny to me. There’s a point that needs to get across to the kid. Booing wasn’t the first step, nor the third. It’s classless sure. But a truly classy person doesn’t take it personally and understands that there is SOMETHING to be gleaned from the raw unfiltered emotion of the mob rather than getting butt hurt or defensive or turning it into a pissing contest. And that something is that they want to see some fire from the kid. It’s time. Why is it funny? Max Kellerman’s little brother had a great quote years ago that sums it up. Paraphrasing: sports is man’s joke on god. We are born in a world where we fight and scrap and struggle every day and in the end, it doesn’t matter because we die anyway. So our only response to that scenario is to create our own sub-world, called sports, which ABSOLUTELY doesn’t matter at all, and treat it as if it were life and death. That’s our joke on god. Let them be fanatics. It’s part of the scene. As pointed out above they’re booing not because the ball doesn’t go in the basket but because they are frustrated that he doesn’t believe in himself as much as everyone around him believes in him. It’s super common in high level sports - I work 1on1 with pga and lpga golfers who come from a variety of privileged and prodigy-like backgrounds, and their tour coaches and sports psychologists and parents and agents etc etc every day and deal all the time with exactly what neo is going through. I had a 20 year old Asian girl give herself a piece of self-talk in the middle of a tournament last year that would be good for this situation: “Time to grow a pair and hit a good shot.” Blaming the fans for somehow holding him back or interfering or making things worse or for not being patrons saints of basketball wisdom or all that is sacred in the world of psychological therapy is literally just an excuse. Blaming, finger-pointing, throwing around accusations instead of looking in the mirror is also low-brow stuff. There’s absolutely something to be gained from the fans albeit brutal response to the situation. Whether he wants to gain it or not is up to him. Therein lies the potential of listening to the subtlety of the sound and where it is coming from and harnessing the raw energy of it versus being tormented by it and deflecting. I’m really curious if neo’s as bothered by it as you are. Obviously there’s a history there with you and fans being dumb that probably will never be let go of. Ultimately Neo has started playing very defensively mentally, as if trying to protect his stock like a football team trying to protect their lead and immediately giving it away instead of attacking. Feels like he wants the season to be over, especially since his injury scare. None of this matters to him, IT SEEMS. And as per kellerman he’s right. But as of right now he’s not at all cut out mentally to be a competitive athlete professionally. He’s also probably never had the chance to hone those skills, I’m guessing. The jeering gives him a chance. There’s a beauty to it. Embrace it. It’s tactless but they’re not wrong in wanting to see more effort more hustle more moxy more fight more killer-or-be-killed from him and really the whole team. So it’s a tactless way to communicate it but are the tactful ways that he’s probably surrounded by with everyone kissing his feet working at all? Shock therapy is a last resort, but as far as the fans are concerned that’s where we’re at with just a handful of games left and not much of a pulse from Neo.