The white, non-European NBA player: Perhaps the rarest of all sports figures, this creature is considered by some to be mythical, by others to be extinct. But the SALT LAKE TRIBUNE did some research and found that they are neither fictional beings nor have they been wiped off the face of the Earth. They just tend to reside in Middle Earth Indianapolis.
After crunching the numbers, the paper found that there are 46 white Americans out of 432 players on current NBA rosters, about 1.5 per team. Which makes sense - anyone who watches the Lakers would could Chris Mihm as half a player.
The research came about after a Utah Jazz player asked one of the beat writers if he knew how many white American players were currently playing in the NBA. And why am I not shocked in the least that this conversation took place in Utah? But you will be surprised to know that the home of John Stockon, Jeff Hornacek and Mark Eaton does not have the most white American players on the roster: that honor belongs to Indiana with five.
(Then again, if it wasn’t going to be Utah, it had to be Indiana, right? I mean, really? Could we be a little bit more stereotypical?)
There are four teams in the NBA without a white American player on their current roster: Atlanta, Detroit, Memphis and Washington. Perhaps we could bus Travis Diener up to Detroit in order to spread the white guy wealth just a little bit. The paper has the entire list of white American players (sorry, Canadians like Steve Nash - go suck some maple syrup) and with a few exceptions, it’s a who’s who of injury-prone stiffs.
But there’s (great white) hope, my pasty-skinned brethren: the story notes 14 of the 46 white American players have three years or fewer in the league, including rookies like Kevin Love and Joe Alexander. So announcers should be able to use phrases like “cerebral,” “blue-collar” and “hard-working” in NBA games for years to come.
6:21 pm on February 4th, 2009
There are four teams in the NBA without a white American player on their current roster: Atlanta, Detroit, Memphis and Washington.
So the Hawks, Pistons, Grizzlies & Wizards are all racists!
6:22 pm on February 4th, 2009
Are there any Larry Bird offspring ready to fill the void?
6:23 pm on February 4th, 2009
Watch what you say about Indiana, Bub, or we'll run you over with our tractors & beat you to death with our Lawrence Welk records!
10:28 pm on February 4th, 2009
Another point to the order that all and only white people are racist.
12:00 am on February 5th, 2009
It's totally acceptable to talk about the lack of black coaches in football, but the minute the conversation goes the other way, it's taboo. There should be a committee to research why there is a lack of white professional basketball players.
12:04 am on February 5th, 2009
Hey RoB68:
racist - a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. No where does it disseminate that racism is only a white attribute.
6:37 am on February 5th, 2009
Jason Kidd is a "Half"-rican.