Hey just take a look at the NBA or many of the college players who belong working in a car wash not pretending to get an education while some alumnus with big bucks fund their excesses...baby-mommies...cadillacs....
and go ahead enjoy your sport...I wasnt refering to your rec league...
Im 62.....and I played stickball in the streets of NYC when I was a kid(and football in the park)...didnt touch a ‘roundball’ till we moved to the burbs at age 15...and their were no thugs there either....
Basketball is popular in the 'hood because its cheap to play and, well, many blacks tend to excel at it. But there are just as many players who aren't thugs. The ones who do bad things tend to get more publicity than those who go about their business quietly and don't run afoul of the law or of society. There are plenty of black NBA players who are likely model citizens.
So I would have to disagree that it has become a league of thugs. There are other things that are causing more harm to the sport, IMO.