Posted on 08/18/2004 2:05:55 PM PDT by gopwinsin04
Once the black game moved indoors and became more organized, the pressure to establish bona fides increases.
If you're not scoring beaucoup points, if your picture isn't in the papers, if you don't have a trophy (right away) then you ain't the man, and you ain't nothing.
Being second best in the black community is just as bad as being last. And if a teammate hits nine shots in a row, the black attitude is...'Screw him, Now it's my turn to get it on.'
If young black players usually cherish untrammeled creativity, white hooplings mostly value team oriented concepts. 'White basketball means passing the heck out of the ball,' says Dawkins.
White guys are willing to do something when someone else has the ball--setting picks, boxing out, cutting in to clear a space for a teammate, making the pass that leads to an assist pass.
In white basketball, there is more a sense of dicipline, of running set plays, and only taking wide open shots. If a guy gets hot, he will get the ball until he cools off.
Why is white basketball so structured and team oriented?
'Because the white culture places more of a premium on winning,' Dawkins believes, 'and less on self-indulgent preening and cheast beating.'
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.foxsports.com ...
first backboard shatterer as I recall was he not?
what he says is pretty astute.
" The championship Knicks were the best TEAM ever..the game was beautiful to watch, the classic city game..the players NEVER stopped moving "
One of the best , I agree . 1964-65 Celtics were just as good IMO .
Look. This whole black-tude theory is just as silly and laughable as it gets. When you find me the "white basketball", super-disciplined, totally team-oriented NBA team that wins the championship playoffs, then we'll talk. Heck, just find me one that wins its region. If there's any merit to this super-dumb theory it won't take you long. Good luck!
And just to be clear, I am not arguing that poor sportsmanship and huge egos aren't rife in the NBA. I am only dismissing the silly idea that this is why Team USA is struggling at the Olympics. The reason it's struggling is simple: the NBA's top-quality players are on the other side of the Atlantic..
actually the first person to break a backboard was none other then Chuck Conners!!! Yes the Rifleman played for the Celtics and broke a backboard on Nov 5th, 1946.
http://espn.go.com/sportscentury/moments/9911.html
Yum.
I hope you're a girl. :o)
Well, Kareem with THAT Laker team wasn't nearly as important as Walton was to his team.
No, I'm convinced that that particular Trail Blazer team was a monster, precisely because there were no stars, and the guys were "interchangeable parts." For Pete's sake, they even LOOKED alike: Larry Neal looked like Maurice Lucas in body type; Larry Steele looked like Bobby Gross. More important, each one had specific roles that reminded me of a machine. The Suns had a very good team that year, but we could never even play that TB team close. We could play the Lakers straight up.
Somehow, I can't imagine that book matching the literary standards of Bill Russell's autobiography-written with the help of Taylor Branch-Second Wind.
Then again, perhaps Keyshawn is just an unknown quantity.
Keyshawn Johnson=A young A.E. Houseman?
You make the call!
-good times, G.J.P. (Jr.)
He broke a lot of hearts here in the Metroplex that night.
It's very simple. International rules allow zone defenses. Coaches use varying defenses to keep the other team off balance. The NBA, even though they changed the rules last year, still effectively are one demensional. The NBA game puts a premium on one on one play, team play is de-emphasized. The international game HAS to be more team oriented, more off-the-ball planned activity.
Regards, Ivan
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