Daryl Dawkins: Hoops in Black and White (Sociological Look at USA's Dream Team Failure)

FOX Sport ^ | 8/5/04 | Daryl 'Chocolate Thunder' Dawkins

[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.'

[vikk]

All those guys, except for the last two, make their teammates better. Shaq is a very underrated passer, gets boards, McGrady has a great outside shot and is a very good passer, and Kobe, as much as I hate him, is lights-out from the outside, is a killer on defense, and wants to win more than anyone.
Did they not ask Ron Artest?

[gopwinsin04]

I like Sam's explanation in post #35, the inner city game is all about showing off for the young ladies on the playground floor.

Put those same players in an all boys Catholic school and I doubt they would play the same way.

[vikk]

Or Rip Hamilton? Or Michael Redd?

[HenryLeeII]

Philly's own Chocolate Thunder ping!!!

[cyborg]

On Long Island in recent years well drilled public high squads like Cold Spring Harbor have beaten super athletic teams like Hempstead and Roosevelt.

*** That's true because Hempstead High School has seen better days. I live in Hempstead, and for a lot of the boys anyway, basketball is what they've chosen. I'd not say it's all they have because I looked at my property taxes and they sure do get a lot of money *LOL* The only difference between Cold Spring Harbor and Hempstead High is the aCSH's dminstration's pockets probably aren't as deep!

[sharktrager]

To me Dawkins has it 90% right, but it bothers me for him to say black kids have no other way to express themselves. I seem to recall there being things like music and school. And it is awful hard for him to explain why this same problem exists across the economic spectrum. Take a kid like Kobe. He was not raised in the inner city. Heck, he spent most of his childhood in Italy! He still can't pass the ball, or handle the fact that someone else on the team might be better.

[AntiGuv]

Did they not ask Ron Artest?

Ron Artest and Paul Pierce weren't on the offer list I saw. I've no idea why. I was just limiting myself to the black guys on the possible roster from a few months ago. I figured Karl Malone balanced my team out better than Kevin Garnett. =)

[vikk]

At first I thought that it's good, because it's the ultimate wake-up call for the NBA, but someone raised the point that David Stern probably WANTS this to happen. What better way to increase the world popularity of basketball and expand into more markets?
Look for franchises in Shanghai, Madrid, Paris, and Buenos Aires in the future.

[cyborg]

That's all well and good for playing with friends. A game played between friends is very different from tournament sports though.

[gopwinsin04]

You wanna have a Dream Team, you need 'The Truth' Boston Celtics Paul Pierce

[AntiGuv]

Hamilton & Redd weren't on the list either. BTW, I think Larry Brown needs a good bit of the criticism for the struggling USA squad too, considering the sorry decisions he made for filling out his roster..

[vikk]

I figured Karl Malone balanced my team out better than Kevin Garnett. =)

He's dead, Jim.

[cyborg]

You're right about international basketball players.

[drjimmy]

And today, if you look at the teams kicking our butts in Europe, they are predominantly white, team-oriented groups.

They are also predominantly professional basketball players, some of them currently or formerly in the NBA. By the way, Puerto Rico isn't in Europe, and most of their players aren't white.

[vikk]

And I guess that's good in the end, anyway. I like the way the international players play, so if there's more of them, we'll have better fundamental basketball.

[LanPB01]

Subtract Vince Carter from that list, and you've got a winning team.

[bad company]

Personally, I think that Walton was, and still is, full of baloney. Back then, he had this mountain-man image, he smoked lots of pot, and I don't think he bathed regularly.


LOL! this guy's a riot!

[Tribune7]

Billy Cunningham did a poor job of coaching in that final series, but by then, I doubt he had any control.

Don't blame Billy Cunningham for Gene Shue's failures. Cunningham was a pretty good coach & got the 76ers a championship.

[AntiGuv]

Oh, OK. I just don't care for Garnett (or Iverson) but I'll put him on the damn team.. :P