ESPN THE MAGAZINE has a treatment this week on the perception fans have of the NBA. Of course, race is the central issue. Brian Scalabrine of the Boston Celtics, who is white, said this in the piece:
“The misperception of our league is definitely race-driven. Suppose that for a whole year, none of our players got into a fight, no one got arrested, no one got ticketed for speeding. Do you think the public would have a different opinion of the league? I bet not. But I do think public opinion would be completely different if 75% of the players in the NBA were white instead of black.”
Having lived in a major city that does not have an NBA franchise (Kansas City), we half-agree with Scalabrine. There is a tinge of racism in the view non-black fans have of the league. But in towns like KC, opinion is also shaded with the comparison of the NBA to college hoops. If a city has a prominent basketball school nearby, most local fans absolutely despise the NBA (look at the failure of the league to penetrate Charlotte).
For us, it’s not about the players being black that has us down on the league. It’s the length of the season and lack of polished individual player skills that kills our interest.
Because of the NBA’s interminable regular season, the importance of individual games is out the window. And of course, player intensity also suffers. And no one will disagree that execution of fundamentals is at an all-time low in the league.
All that said, we do believe that the NBA truly is a microcosm of the still-racist nature of our society. Maybe it’s the cynic in us, but as long as varying skin pigments exist, we doubt that will change.
12:12 pm on February 16th, 2008
When the still photo of Sean Williams giving the finger at the Rookies-Sophomores game came out last night on Awful Announcing, one of the “genius” anonymous posters said “We need more white players with class in the NBA.” Ugh.
http://awfulannouncing.blogspot.com/2008/02/highlight-of-rookie-sophomore-game.html#links
1:37 pm on February 16th, 2008
I’m getting so sick of these idiotic rants about NBA basketball. NBA regular season games may be fairly meaningless but college basketball games are even less so. The college basketball playoff is a 64 team single elimination tournament, how could the regular season mean any less.
Stories like these don’t mean to be racist but they are. Saying that execution of fundamentals is at an all time low is just a uninformed broad statement because people think black players without college experience can’t have good fundamentals.
With players like Tim Duncan, Ray Allen, Steve Nash, Lebron James, etc. there are a ton of great players with excellent fundamentals that can make amazing plays as well. Of course there are athletic players in the NBA that have poor fundamentals but these players suck and end up getting shown up for what they really are. To succeed in the NBA you have to have good fundamentals.
Just because all ESPN shows are dunks doesn’t mean that for the other 47 min of a game these guys are making sloppy plays and turning the ball over all the time. Kobe Bryant is a great fundamental basketball player but unless you watch a full game you would have no idea that he is.