Black or White Doesn't Matter with Two Seconds on the Clock

This is the roughest of rough drafts. I've started over and am in desperate need of help. Sorry for asking you to read this:


Today’s NBA is fast paced, with a greater focus on pick and roll offense, intense defense (except for the Knicks), and an emphasis on the fastbreak dunk. Many white players come from programs like Wisconsin, Butler, and the Ivy League schools, where game plans are built around zone defense and ball control offense. This style of basketball has slowly been disappearing from the league since, oh, probably the first time Dr. J dribble the full court and dunked over someone. Seriously, Youtube that shit... Dr. J was the man. Around the same time as all this was happening, Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics were engaged in an epic rivalry (that had been going on since the 60’s) with the Los Angeles Lakers and Magic Johnson. Bird was white and Magic was black. Given the history of race relations in this country, you can probably fill in the blanks. The media took the rivalry and made it nation wide obsession. The NBA’s ratings were never higher. Then Bird retired. And after that there hasn’t been a white, American born (a key difference because even Steve Nash is Canadian) superstar since then. Thus the myth that white players can’t play in today’s NBA.
There are a lot of good white players today. Troy Murphy and David Lee are serviceable double-double big men and Kevin Love would be a superstar if he didn’t play in Minnesota. Yet, they are rarely seen at the All Star game or in the playoffs. These are the venues of most exposure in basketball and not seeing a white player dominate in, oh, 30 years certainly makes it easier to manipulate fans into believing the myth. Certainly die hard fans (who are essentially scholars of the game) know that this myth is compete bullshit. It is the semi-fans or the one team only fans that have been manipulated. For example, if a fan only followed the Cavaliers for the past 10 season, that fan would have watched Luke Jackson and Chris Mihm effectively ruin the first two years of the LeBron James Era. That fan would probably buy into the myth that white players can’t make it today’s NBA. And most of the myth is built around the careers of players like Jackson. Mihm, Adam Morrison, and Christian Laetner. Yes, they all were terrible players, but there is no need to compare them with every white player to come out of college. And yet, here in 2011 BYU point guard Jimmer Fredette is held to this standard. Why?
The myth that white players can’t play in the NBA is perpetuated by the media so that when the next white superstar does arrive, they’ll have years worth of material to write and report. Therefore, any white player, like Jimmer Fredette, is going to be portrayed as a player that has no shot of making it the NBA so that if he does, they’ll have a plethora of material to write about. The difference between white and black has been the backstory of some of sports greatest stories. The NBA would say day like to return to the days of Magic versus Bird and Los Angeles versus Boston. But that won’t happen without a white superstar.
What harm comes from this? The myth that white players can’t play in the NBA is just a modern adaptation of “black players can’t play professional sports and would ruin the game if they did”. In other words, it’s just another myth that’s come along try and make sports more than a game. And that is what has been lost over the years. Basketball is a sport. Sports are games. Games are played on courts and fields, not in press boxes and not on soap boxes. Writers don’t want fans to realize this. A good basketball scholar follows players and what they did on the court, not what they did off the court. And what really sells papers? Race and conflict. Any documentary about Bill Russell will tell just as much about his political protests and strong opinions on race as they will covering his 11 championships. Yes, that’s right 11. Shouldn’t that be the focus of the biography on a basketball player? Does it really matter that Russell was black? The guy won more goddamn championships than most franchises.
Today’s sportswriters are sometimes more concerned with what goes on outside the game. Think about the whole Tiger Woods fiasco. When people found out about his affairs, they all turned on him. And not just Tiger Woods the person, but Tiger Woods the golfer. When he came back and played like shit everyone it was because of his personal life and that he shouldn’t be the number one player anymore. But, really, did Tiger Woods being a sex addict and all around despicable (seriously, cheating on his wife with dozens of women is beyond appalling) person change the fact that he is the best golfer in the world? No. And what story did it replace? “Holy crap, Tiger Woods is black”. But, that’s the point. Sport writers want the game to extend of the court, field, or pitch because it sells. Bird and Magic sold because the media was able to convince people that race was more important than all the epic games played.
In today’s world of Twitter and instant updates on ESPN, people are attracted to big name celebrities and people that make a shit load of money. So, players are followed like Paris Hilton (only they contribute to society). Since none of the best players are white, fans easily buy into the myth that white players can’t be successful. Players today are millionaires and millionaires in this country are a focus of public scrutiny. Again, this gets away from the point that even if they millionaires, they are still athletes. They make that money by playing games. And, the best players play. Coaches today don’t care if a player is black or white, they need players that fit their system. All the aforementioned white players that crashed and burned in the NBA did so because their skills didn’t fit the systems they were playing in. Not to mention that some of the all time greatest busts, Robert Traylor, Dajuan Wagner, and Kendrick Brown, were all black. Race makes no difference.
So, what does this all mean? It means that the myth that white players can’t be successful in today’s NBA is a hot topic in the media so that when the next Larry Bird finally shows up, the media can make a lot of money covering that player. Then the NBA can make money. After all it is a business and race sells. But, for all this marketing and all these invasions into the lives of athletes, the truth about professional basketball is erased. All the should really matter is what happens on the court. On the court it doesn’t matter if someone is black or white. The players we remember were great players because they could shoot a ball into a basket. So, even though race gets the headlines, championships go in the record books.