Nanashi Kiku

So I've been wondering whether the reason Nakatani came across as a much better coach than Sanada was simply because he only had one GoM member in his egoistic phase to deal with. But the more I think about it, the more I feel that the number itself didn't matter that much. What really determined whether someone deserved to be called a good coach or not was their mindset.

In chapter 222, Midorima said that he couldn't get along with people who didn't do everything humanly possible. And the very first thing that came to my mind when reading it was that Shuutoku was exactly the kind of school that lived up to that standard. Back in chapter 34, when a bench player asked if it was okay to let a first-year handle the game, Nakatani said that it was necessary because Midorima would become the core of the team for the next three years. If you actually look at the context, it's obvious that this had nothing to do with exploiting him. It was simply the way Shuutoku approached building a team.

Shuutoku wasn't a school that had built its reputation on winning countless championships. Considering their slogan, "Persistent and Tireless," clearly what mattered the most wasn't winning or losing, but that every individual of the team had to understand exactly what they were supposed to do and do their best to complete it. And that was exactly what Nakatani meant here. The team first had to recognize what the best direction would be over the next three years with Midorima. Normally, Ootsubo was the one carrying Shuutoku, but he was already a third-year at that time. If Midorima had the potential to become the core of the team for the next three years, then naturally the team should gradually start building themselves around him. Once every player understood this role that they needed to fulfill, they could plan for the future of the team and devote themselves to carrying out that plan as best as they possibly could.

And this was already confirmed by Izuki btw.

Before anyone claims that Nakatani was forcing Midorima to play hero ball, I'd like to say that in fact, he was doing the exact opposite. His idea was for the entire team to support Midorima by creating the best possible conditions for him to shoot. That philosophy was demonstrated most clearly by the Sky Direct 3-Pointer, the play that could only become a reality because they had practiced it countless times together and Midorima had strongly believed in every teammate to do their part to set him up for the shot. And you'll obviously see a stark contrast when you compare this to Teikou in their third year, where the idea of "support" barely existed anymore and each player just played their own game and scored independently without coordinating with or relying on the rest of the team.

So why was everyone angry, and why did they see Midorima's request to have the ball for the entire quarter as "selfish" when he first suggested it?

Because the coach was the only person who had the authority to decide the team's game plan. Nakatani agreed to Midorima's request here because they just happened to think in the same way: letting Midorima have the ball would be the most effective strategy (tbh I can't see this as anything but Nakatani spoiling him because he literally instructed the entire team to play around Midorima from this point onwards). And right after that you can see Nakatani about to tell Takao to support Midorima by stopping Kuroko.

That said, those were two separate issues. It still didn't change the fact that Midorima didn't go about it the right way. At the end of the day, the coach was the only one with the authority to decide the team's strategy. Midorima absolutely had the right to suggest what he believed would work best, but he didn't have the authority to speak as if the entire team should simply adjust their playstyle to suit him, which was essentially how he came across in the above panels. (And I say this with certainty because this was before Midorima really learned how to play as part of a team.)

What I find even funnier is that I apparently have to explain what "selfish" means all over again. Because I honestly don't know what level of reading comprehension can lead someone to think that "only allowing Midorima three selfish requests a day" = "not allowing Midorima to do anything he wanted for the rest of the day." The context makes it pretty obvious that "selfish" here referred specifically to Midorima asking the entire team, from his fellow first-years to his seniors and even his coach, to accommodate what he alone wanted. And the fact that they were willing to indulge him three times a day was already incredibly generous of them. I don't know what more in the world people even want from them to accept that they were a genuinely supportive team for Midorima anymore. If Shuutoku had really forbidden Midorima from doing whatever he wanted after he'd used up those three selfish requests, then they wouldn't have let him put his lucky items on the bench during every single match. Takao wouldn't have encouraged a hesitant Midorima to ask the senpai trio to buy lunch for him. And the entire club certainly wouldn't have been so ready to search for his red lucky item. The series has ended for more than ten years already and I really don't understand why I still have to point out things that are this obvious...

So overall, I think Midorima chose Shuutoku because he saw Nakatani's mindset and realized it aligned with his own. And in return, the reason Nakatani recruited Midorima, and was willing to indulge him even during his egoistic phase, was because he saw that same mindset reflected in Midorima.

What I like about Nakatani's coaching is that he didn't just develop his team's basketball skills. He also helped shape their character. Normally, he was incredibly laid-back, but the moment Takao said Seirin had only won because they got lucky, he immediately made him run laps. To me, that's exactly the kind of coaching that teaches players that, whether you're a genius or an ordinary athlete, neither victory nor other people's recognition is something you earn through luck, nor is it something you're simply entitled to.

I was about to say Nakatani never looked down on Seirin, but... well, I guess once you're not on the same team as the protagonists, you can never be seen as a completely good person from their point of view (jk lol). But honestly, this scene made me realize something else about him: he was incredibly good at separating his personal opinions from his responsibilities. Personally, he thought Seirin wasn't strong enough to match Kiyoshi's level. But when Shuutoku faced them, he still treated them with nothing but respect. Regardless of what he actually thought, he never once commented on the fact that Seirin's coach was just a high school student. On top of that, he even recognized Riko's coaching and warned his own team not to let their guard down despite having already beaten Seirin in three practice matches.

At the time when Seirin was constantly looked down on and only allowed to play a half-court practice match, Nakatani was still willing to set all those prejudices aside and treat them as worthy opponents, at least in front of his own team. I think that was because he respected Seirin as Shuutoku's opponent, and maybe also because he wanted the Shuutoku boys to learn to show the same way of respect (especially considering he literally made Takao run laps just for underestimating them). And with a mindset like that, it only makes sense that he never had anything to say about Midorima's lucky items either. It just gives me yet another reason to feel like Shuutoku really was an incredibly inclusive team.

Like, imo that kind of flashback is not even that necessary because whether we know exactly what happened or not doesn't change anything tho??? Didn't Takao himself specifically say that he liked Midorima because of the way he did everything humanly possible? Midorima's attitude toward Takao had already begun to change the moment he heard Takao declaring that he'd practice more than him, and wasn't that enough to explain why he eventually came to trust Takao so deeply? In the end, the only thing Midorima ever needed to know was that even after Teikou had mentally crushed so many opponents during the time of their talent bloom, Takao was still one of the few people who chose not to give up. And Takao had already proved it by staying with Midorima until the he finished practicing every single day, not just through empty words. So why in the world would Midorima need to know every detail of how frustrated Takao felt after losing that match?

Also I don't like the interpretation that Takao's goal of taking revenge on Midorima was completely abandoned simply because they ended up on the same team. Like, does Takao, the same guy who had once reminded us that "this is just high school basketball," and was more aware than most characters in this series that every player is bound to experience defeat, really look like the type to obsess over getting revenge for a defeat out of pure resentment?

I mean, there was a reason why his goal changed from wanting revenge on Midorima to wanting Midorima's recognition and they ending up at the same school wasn't the whole story. At their core, both of Takao's goals were driven by the same desire: to become someone Midorima could never forget. That makes even more sense when Takao himself did explain in the manga the reason why he recognized Midorima in the first place (i.e. it heavily implied why Takao only wanted to be recognized by Midorima and not by any other GoM members), while Midorima in middle school had spent so long taking victory for granted that he didn't even remember playing against Takao's team. And that underlying motivation wouldn't have changed even if they'd ended up at different high schools.

Again, the reason I strongly believe Midorima had trust issues from what happened in his past is because "trust" was always emphasized in every stage of his character development. From the way he decided to pass to his teammates to the way he entrusted the success of his 3-Pointer entirely to Takao. I mean when seeing his development, the first reaction from everyone on the court, even the people who had known him for years, was never "he's back to how he used to be." It was always the "Midorima has changed, he really trusts his teammates now" kind of talk. That's what makes it so easy for me to believe he'd never trusted anyone in quite the same way before.

What Midorima said in the second panel was often translated as "I'm not worried anymore" but actually the word he used here was 不安 (which refers more to a lingering sense of anxiety or insecurity than simply being worried about one specific thing) and it really makes me wonder just how much Midorima had been carrying inside all this time that made him eventually think like that...