Lamenting the Loss of the NBA, as well as Villanova’s
James DuganI miss the NBA. It is not for me to lament wings, beer and a marathon of college basketball, but something is missing. The countless, nameless players from some schools I have never heard about, let alone their academic reputation, the hideous breakdowns at the foul throw line and David slewing Goliath metaphor are becoming a yearly ritual like cleaning out my closets in the Spring. And though I love the fervor of March Madness, it is a bit like watching Saturday football in the Fall, but this time without NFL to show how everything should be done.
When I was growing up, Friday nights were for the Sixers. In youth with my brothers through the teens with my friends, your game emerged from the basketball icons displaying their acumen, skills, and passion. The names of the 80’s and 90’s basketball players still ring in my ear: Ewing, Barkley, Jones, Thomas, Bird, Malone, Mahorn, Cheeks, and Starks and they were just my favorite. But you had Jordan and Magic, Pippen and Stockton doing their own thing in a different time zone that you would find out if you didn’t miss This Week in the NBA on Saturday mornings. On Sundays, you would even see the showcase games and watch with avid attention for the next move you would try. Basketball was everywhere, played all year, and during this time of year, even with infant of March Madness that now has eclipsed the NBA for my age group, our eyes were on the matchup for the playoffs or the trade we need to make to get there next year.
What happened? Where did the storied game of my youth with all the legends go? Why has the NBA taken second seat to college kids whose games seem (sorry for the puns) pedantic and academic? Finally, what have we lost if my friends and family never return to the NBA?
The players of the NBA didn’t grow up watching the rivals of the Knicks and Sixers, Celtics and Lakers, Jazz and Lakers, San Antonio and Houston, and my favorite Detroit vs. everyone. They know of the great Bulls teams, but few realize the history and great players that existed in every city. There were no give me games except for the Washington Bullets, whose very name installed fear. The game has changed. Every player is built exactly the same. They all look like swing forwards at 6’7. Their athleticism would rival the best of the 80’s, yet almost every team seems to lack role players. These role players helped develop the fan base because they taught you basketball. The rebounder as Rodman is almost non-existent. The muscle or motivator like Oakley and Mahorn are gone. The big man seems to be just non factor instead of an integral part of the game that kicked the ball out to the wings and sometimes would spin for the hoop if the defense cheated. The general guard who ran the offense is now taken over by the superstar. Each team seems to be a carbon copy and that hurts the local flavor that established your pride and cemented your team’s history. Without role players, every game looks like one or one. The crowd and fans wait for one person to score instead of a team victory. The role player gave the fans many styles to emulate, but more importantly, they taught that the game and team was bigger than superstar.
The second reason is the superstar. They are different. They seem to be aloof and professional basketball is just a job. The passion of the game is not translated through television and that is proven by the declining attendance of the majority of teams in the NBA. The superstar is not a person who is a great athlete, but a great basketball player who makes a ton of money. The humility in professional NBA players is gone and that has impacted how the fans relate to the players. There almost seems to be a cavalier attitude that they deserve the money and fame because they place a ball through a hoop. What I liked most about the 80’s and 90’s basketball players is that they saw themselves as lucky to play the game for a living. They played the game with respect for their coaches and teammates. There have always been superstars in the NBA, but today Kobe and Lebron are larger than the game, and they seem to be aloof of their condescending appearance. The NBA needs to go back to stars as professionals who place their team before the career and the fans over their statistics, and a good dose of humility would go a long way to endearing their fans once again.
I’ll let you come up with more reasons if you feel the same way, but I do think we lose if we do not have the NBA. First, for many Americans, we live in insular neighborhoods and the NBA is an early and positive exposure to race, especially to African Americans for suburban whites. Second, basketball can be played in all seasons in most of the United States. It requires few people to enjoy playing the game and is the best exercise for mixing stretching, aerobics and calisthenics. Third, it is a winter sport that does not require ice or being outside. Fourth, it a great point of pride and history for a city in a game that has changed America.
I could go on remembering the NBA, but Villanova just was just beaten by St. Mary’s and I need to look up where the school is located. It is sad that basketball will be done in two weeks, except in if you live in Cleveland or LA. I do hope the NBA comes back. There are just too many great sports’ memories I have to share with my son and my old friends, and hopefully, if the Sixers ever come back, some still to see.
Reader Comments (4)
Dugan, I hear you on missing the NBA. I've never been able to get myself into the March Madness, partially because I'm too cheap to spend even $5 on a gamble I know next to nothing about, and partially because I can't really even root for local universities which I didn't like when I was at my Division 3 college. The NBA, though, I used to be a big fan of.
I think we will someday look back on the 80s and 90s as the peak years of the NBA, and I think that the decline has as much to do with the league itself as with the players. Think about the original Dream Team- Magic, The Mailman, Air Jordan, Bird, Hakeem the Dream, The Round Mound of Rebound... These guys were SUPERSTARS! The way they carried themselves and represented America, their omnipresent endorsements, their classic competitions- the elite ballers of that era make today's stars look like the New Coke.
I'm not sure whether the league's marketing department, the commisioner's rulings, the networks, the kind-of salary cap, or college basketball are to blame (I personally think that the NHL has also converted some old b-ball fans), but the NBA just isn't prime-time anymore. I do hope it comes back.
I acutally still follow the NBA and have since Ewing was drafted by the Knicks back in 1985. There was never a team I followed my intensely than the Patrick Ewing Knicks of the 1990's (and correspondingly had my heart broken more by).
I disagree that there are no stars in the league anymore. LeBron, Kobe, DWade, Chris Paul, Dirk Nowitski, Dwight Howard, Carmelo, Durant, etc are all very talented players that could have thrived in any NBA era. However, what is true is that there are no more great teams. Expansion, the salary cap, poor player development has led to these teams pretty much being one-man shows with few exceptions. In the heyday of the 1980's while everyone remembers Bird and Magic, some forget that those teams wer eloaded with Hall of Famers throughout the rosters. So were the Sixers and Pistons who also had elite teams during that decade. As great as Jordan was, his Bull teams did not win until Pippen took that next step to being an elite player.
Jordan's legacy also has had a negative impact on the league after he elft. Too many scouts were looking for the next Jordan and valued one on one skills over all around excellence. Today's game you see way too many isolation plays where the Alpha Dog is at the top of the key dribbling while the rest of his team stands around and watches. Those Celtic/Laker teams were lessons in team play and passing. They are still great to watch.
That actually brings me to the Nova loss. The parts I watched I saw a Villanova team filled with High School All Americans playing almost out of control, one on one style. They lost to a team that played unselfish ball. It was obvious to watch.
I'm with you in lamenting basketball as one of my favorite past times. I rarely ever have picked up a ball since college, and I've been even less likely to watch a game. Although I do still here a lot of high school kids and younger talking about the NBA, so something makes me think maybe I just outgrew the sport and replaced it with slower games like football and baseball. Even with the lack of prominence you describe, I don't think the NBA is just going to fade away. I'd willingly become a fan again if the 76ers' management actually acted like they were trying to win championships or at least get to the playoffs. Every year they tout one good player that will be picked up, and spend little or no time trying to build a solid team. I'm just not going to watch until I see some consistency, or a change in the coaching or management.
The other key issue that I think a lot of people have with basketball is the scandals involving players in the last ten years. I know there were some issues in the Jordan-era, and maybe I'm being overly nostalgic, but I just don't remember seeing the kind of outrageous behavior from superstars that we've seen more recently. The Kobe trial has soured my appreciation for that guy, and the video of Ron Artest punching fans and AI's mug shot are some images I don't think I'll ever forget. Aside from the players, the referee game-fixing scandal didn't help either.
The funny thing is that with the exception of the Gilbert Arenas gun incident, the NBA has been pretty good in recent years with player behavior off the court. They did have a bad stretch in the early part of the 2000's but have since been out of the police blotter. Compare that to the NFL which seems to have an off-the-field incident every week ranging from dog-fighting, guns, murder, sexual assault, drugs, etc. Yet, NFL is like the Teflon Sports...nothing bad ever seems to stick to it like it does with MLB or the NBA. The incidents you mentioned were over 8 years ago...yety people still associate that behavior with the present day league.
A major problem with the NBA is that unless you have a Hall of Famer on your team, you have little chance of ever winning a title. You go back to the last 50+ years of NBA champions, the Detroit Pistons of 2004 were the only team to win a title that did not have a all time great HoF on their roster. Kobe, KG/Pierce, Duncan, Wade/Shaq, Kobe/Shaq, Jordan, Olajuwon, Isiah, Magic, Bird, Dr.J/Moses...all these players are all time greats and all have rings.
And the problem is, there are very few of them to go around. 90% of the NBA has absolutely no shot of winning a ttile in the next 5 years.