San Antonio Spurs guard Dylan Harper believes receiving criticism is not necessarily a negative experience, arguing that constant public attention can indicate that a player is doing something right.
Harper discussed how he approaches outside opinions, particularly on social media, where young basketball players frequently face scrutiny over their performances, skills and training routines.
“I mean, you got to, if you get critiqued like that on a level that I think we get critiqued, you got to be doing something right. That’s how I look at it. Like, you doing something right to be getting all this, not hate, but all this critiquing and stuff like that. So for me, it’s just looking at it from a different perspective.”
Rather than concentrating on negative comments, Harper prefers to consider the bigger picture. He believes critics often overlook the positive aspects of a player’s development and focus primarily on perceived weaknesses.
“Yeah, they could be talking all the bad stuff, but there’s a lot more good you’re doing than bad. They ain’t seeing the full picture. But for me, I don’t really post my workouts, stuff like that. The Giannis stuff, things like that, got to post and stuff like that.”
Harper also explained that he generally prefers to keep his training sessions private, working on his game without cameras or the pressure of public evaluation.
“I like to go to the gym, no cameras, just me and my guy Kenny Miller, and just rep. I feel like it’s critiquing everything. Like, they was critiquing how I was shooting, how I lay the ball up, how I dribble. So it’s like you can’t win. You in a lose situation.”
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Despite the constant scrutiny, Harper understands that attention is part of being a high-profile basketball player. He expects criticism to increase as his career progresses and believes athletes must learn how to handle it.
“But like D said, if they doing all of that, obviously they feel some type of way. Obviously you doing something right if you catching everybody’s eye. So I just feel like it’s only going to get worse. So you might as well just either not look at it or just buy into it and try to get the best out of it.”
The young guard also questioned whether avoiding social media entirely is a realistic solution, noting that criticism can still reach athletes through friends and people around them.
“You cannot look at it, but there’s going to be people around you telling you about yourself. So when people be like, ‘Delete Instagram,’ stuff like that, if I delete Instagram, someone going to come with me and show me an Instagram post. So you going to see it all the time. It’s not like you can run away from it.”
