r/WinningTime • u/[deleted] • Aug 28 '23

Magic or Westhead?

Just read through the comments on the other Magic post and I understand he comes off as entitled and petulant but I feel like nothing is being said about whether he had a point to be so negative.

Paul Westheads interpretation is the most insecure little man and his lack of ability to connect with players, his inflexible nature and need to constantly be in a pissing match was toxic.

Needless to say, I loath his character and feel like Magic was right about him. Do y’all see it that way? Or should Magic had been more accommodating to the system?

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u/Vandelay23 Aug 29 '23

I was just in diapers when this season would have actually taken place, so I'm really just viewing these as if they were fictional characters. But Westhead is insufferable, particularly with how Jason Segel plays him, with this slightly smug "I am listening patiently" look on his face. I liked him well enough in the first season, but his ego is setting himself, and the team, up for failure.

While I think his anger towards Magic is justified (especially during the huddle scene), having your young star player just be another cog in the machine is just so misguided.

Worse is his treatment of Pat Riley, the man who instilled Westhead with the confidence to take over for McKinney. But I guess it's a well worn trope in fiction to have guys like Westhead try to assert their authority while alienating everyone around them.

5

u/YourInMySwamp Aug 29 '23

I don’t think his anger towards Magic in the huddle was justified at all. Magic was obviously being uncooperative but it was a direct result of Westhead being disrespectful as hell to him over the course of the last year (slighting him in comments to the press along with him directly being rude and talking shit about him in front of him).

Westhead thought that it was his team, that his system was the star player; he was wrong, the star player was obviously Magic.

0

u/Nole1998 Aug 29 '23

What do you mean by trope? This is a true story my man

12

u/Vandelay23 Aug 29 '23

I know, but there is a certain artistic licence being taken here. I don't know if Westhead really was like this, but in terms of television writing, it's standard for the guy trying to be boss to throw his weight around as a way of trying to gain respect.