One Last Draft

Today professional basketball 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, you know the fundamentals. 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, go on Youtube... 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. In those 19 years since Bird retired a myth that white players can’t play in today’s NBA was born and entered into the lore of professional basketball.
Today’s sportswriters are sometimes more concerned with race than the game itself. 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 said 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”. Collectively many white sportswriters were saying, “Well, I’ll be gosh darned he was black after all”. And that’s the point. Sportswriters want the game to extend of the court, field, or pitch because it sells. Race is a perfect topic to accomplish that goal. Bird and Magic sold because the media was able to convince people that race was more important than all the epic games played. And there were golden because on was black, one was white, and it was never clear who was really better.
Okay, so Larry Bird retired and another white superstar never came along, so what? I’ll tell you what, this myth has effectively erased past white players who contributed to how game is played today and is used as a way of demeaning current black players. I never even saw Larry Bird play a game and yet, thanks to ESPN Classic, I know that he was a great basketball player. I know he’s probably the best small forward in the history of basketball. I also know that the reason I think of him every time a white college player (J.J. Reddick, Adam Morrsion, Kirk Heinrich, etc.) is projected high in the NBA draft. It’s not like I can help it. The higher a player is drafted, the better they are supposed to be. Therefore, a white player drafted say 3rd overall (Morrsion) should be a superstar, or at least an All-Star. When I think white superstar I think Bird. Who else would I think of? Bryant “Big Country” Reeves (drafted 6th by the Grizzlies)? He was 7 feet tall and could barely dunk. Adam Morrison? He looks like a character out of Dude Where’s My Car? What I do remember is that both players suffered from an extreme lack of athleticism and the media told me that’s why they couldn’t make it. The NBA today was influenced by street ball and the flash of Magic Johnson’s “Showtime” Lakers they say. They also say without saying that the reason white players can’t play in today’s NBA is because the “fundamentals” are gone. That’s a fun way of them saying, “The league is too black and undisciplined”.
This feeling of the league becoming too black started in the 70’s when the league merged with the ABA and Julius Erving exploded onto the national scene. There had been many black superstars before him (Russell, Baylor, Roberston, et al.), but he was different. He had the ability to drive the entire length of the court and dunk over anyone... he also had an amazing afro. Had in not been for a title run with the 76ers in the 80’s, Dr. J’s legacy very well may have been lost as the league suffered through rampant cocaine use. NBA historians have this fun game they play where they pretend that 1975 to 1980 never happened. It is because of this that “Pistol” Pete Marovich is lost in the catacombs of basketball lore. And while Dr. J and Magic are getting credit for forever changing the game, what they were doing was nothing new and Marovich had just as much influence on the changes to the game. Looking at today’s game. All those behind the back passes and drive and kick point guards, who perfected that style? Pete Marovich (white). Who started that style of play? Bob Cousy (white). In the 50’s. Not Magic and not Dr. J. Then, why do they get credit?
Because the 80’s still define basketball today. Most sportswriters remember back to the 80’s because that is when they started watching basketball. The guys who remember the earlier days are old and retired. And those guys who remember the late 70’s are ignored because the players were all coked up... except Bill Walton... he was on acid. Like me, many sportswriters have watched and seen fewer and fewer white players at All-Star Games. At the same time the game has indeed become more fast paced, and the isolation play (essentially one on one basketball) has become a mainstay in most play books. Players like Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony made a living being isolated from their teammates and essentially reducing a five on five game to one on one. A combination of the drug problems in the 70’s, the dunks of the 80’s, and the one on one crossovers (Jordan over Russell) have changed the image of black players and their influence on basketball. This leads to a stereotype that black players have made the game all about flash and athleticism and not about fundamentals. In order to drive home this point, the myth of white players, and all their fundamentals, not being able to play in the NBA.
Certainly a professional sports league wouldn’t let race define them, right? Wrong. Consider that the NBA is the only professional sports league that has a dress code. That’s right. Players showed up with in baggy clothes and wearing chains and what the kids are calling bling. Then the NBA said, “Look professional!” And really they meant, “Stop dressing like thugs!” So, even on the surface the NBA tries to reduce the perceived... um... blackness of the league. Since this exists in the league, it is not hard to fathom this notion of “blackness” being active in the media. Hence the myth: white guys can’t play in the NBA because (even though white players had just as much influence on changes to game) the league is too undisciplined, too high flying, and too black.