From hoopshype.com lain fools by Eddie Johnson / December 19, 2006 Eddie Johnson - Getty Images THE AUTHOR: EDDIE JOHNSON Played 17 years in the NBA for the Kings, Suns, SuperSonics, Hornets, Pacers, Nuggets and Rockets. Won the 1988-89 NBA Sixth Man Award averaging 21.5 ppg. NBA all-time leading scorer among players with no All-Star appearances. He is in his sixth year as the color analyst for the Phoenix Suns broadcasts. You can visit his website at www.jumpshotclub.com I was busy working the best story and most exciting team in the NBA ? the Suns ? the other night when a local Phoenix reporter showed me the highlights from a brawl that just happened in New York City between the Knicks and the Denver Nuggets. I just shook my head and told him whenever the league seems to be headed in the right direction, some knuckleheads will put the image of the league on their backs and set it back two years. Just look at the main culprits in this fight ? Mardy Collins, Nate Robinson, Jared Jeffries, JR Smith and Carmelo Anthony. Now let?s ask this simple question: What have any of these players done in the NBA so far in their careers to justify thinking someone has disrespected them? Give me a break. Grow up. Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and Dwyane Wade, who have won championships, have gotten fouled multiple times the way you were fouled, JR Smith. They have a right to react sometimes to someone taking a cheap shot and I agree that Collins took one. But you should have gone to the line, make your two free throws and take your punishment for still being in a game that was already over while you continued padding your stats. The flagrant foul committed on you was not the first one ever committed and will not be the last. And I tend to believe that?s the first time you were fouled that hard because you couldn?t get off the bench in New Orleans/Oklahoma City. JR, you could have squelched this brawl by doing exactly what I suggested and it still might not have escalated until the smallest person in the building, Nate Robinson ? who seems to think he is a reincarnation of Calvin Murphy, which he is not ? started loading up against any Nugget he could encounter. Now this is the same guy who tried a circus-like dunk at the end of a game a few weeks ago when it was already decided. This is the same guy who, after scoring a basket, pumps his chest and jumps around like he has done something miraculous. Robinson looked like a raging tornado during the fracas, still trying to prove a small man can not only compete in the NBA, but can hold his own in a fight as well. Watch the end of the tape when Anthony is back near the bench. Robinson is seen giving chase and then immediately backpedals when he notices he is within reach of Anthony and the Nugget bench. This brings me to the biggest coward move of all ? Carmelo Anthony punching Mardy Collins and then backpedaling to his bench. Carmelo got 15 games for this act, proving that the highest-scoring player in the league is indeed its most selfish. I think the penalty is too harsh. I thought it should have been 10 games, but David Stern and Stu Jackson probably gave him an extra five games for running after he sucker-punched Collins. The problem with Anthony and some of our stars today compared to years ago is that they don?t plan ahead. They only think in the moment and react accordingly. People are still wondering why a player like Steve Nash wins the MVP two years in a row and might win a third this year. It is obvious. He plans ahead. He sees things other players don?t take the time to think about because they live for the moment. You can tell in his passing and his leadership skills. Nash is no different to John Stockton, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, etcetera. I truly believe that instead of having the fight on their mind during the fracas, all of these stars would have been thinking long term for the good of the team ? being leaders instead of the instigators. If Carmelo had the mindset of a star and a leader, he would have gotten his teammates out of harm's way ? keeping them focused on a solid victory and getting ready to go back to Denver, where they would be playing 12 of their next 15 games. And even quite possibly, according to reports, welcoming Allen Iverson into the fold as a new teammate. But no. As we see time and time again with this new-millennium players, it's always about the moment and my interest. Now Anthony has to sit and see his team struggle to find a way to make up for the 31 points per game he takes with him. And finally to the two coaches... Isiah Thomas and George Karl, who I suspect had something to do with this as well ? especially Karl, who had no reason to keep Anthony and Smith on the floor when the game was pretty much decided. Yes, I heard your radio interview explaining why you wanted to keep team confidence up after blowing some late leads in prior games and that could be true. But we also know that you love Larry Brown and despise Isiah Thomas. I also tend not to believe that you would have done the same thing if you were blowing out San Antonio or Golden State, thus embarrassing your good friends Gregg Popovich and Don Nelson. I also think you validated my point by calling Isiah a profanity at the end of your interview. Anyway, Isiah could have taken the butt whipping as another lesson for his team and not encourage his players to be physical when they were not the first 46 minutes of the game. Yes, I did see him mouth off to Anthony, but give me a break... I saw coaches my whole 17-year career talk smack to opposing players on a nightly basis. Bottom line, this is all bad for the league and sooner or later owners, coaches and players will get the message that fans have a perception of the NBA and every misstep taken could cost the league more and more each year. That is why the penalties for each occurrence will get progressively worse. And they should until this me-first attitudes among a small number of players is corrected. I enjoyed his perspective.
I like the perspective, but I find some inconsistencies in his comments. Stockton, Jordan, and Bird would have been right in the middle of any brawl. These three would have taken exception to a teammate getting fouled hard. However, the difference back them was these players had team enforcers or goons to do their dirty work for them. Stockton had Malone Jordan had Oakley Bird had Parish
Shape, I don't think they would have been at the forefront of a brawl, enforcer or not. Malone did not ever brawl with anyone, nor did Oakley or Parish. They may have sent messages but it was always within the context of the game. Even when Bird squared off with Erving, it was man to man and quickly over.
<div class="quote_poster">philsmith75 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Shape, I don't think they would have been at the forefront of a brawl, enforcer or not. Malone did not ever brawl with anyone, nor did Oakley or Parish. They may have sent messages but it was always within the context of the game. Even when Bird squared off with Erving, it was man to man and quickly over.</div> I agree, but at the same time I wouldn't paint the picture these guys were Angels either. I just think the old school players tolerated physical play more and didn't blow the situation out of proportion. They retaliated differently back then and kept it within the spirit of the game, so to speak. Both George Karl and Isiah Thomas came from that era of basketball, and both were trying to send a message to each other through the actions of their players. I don't think either expected the outcome to result in a brawl, but the maturity level of the players and the level of sportsmanship has fallen off dramatically.
Maybe age had something to do with the brawl as well. High schoolers like Lebron James and Kobe Bryant have always been well spoken (I think), but maybe the rest of 1rst year college or straight out of high school guys, still have that immaturity about them. Growing up in the NBA is kind of difficult, maybe one doesn't grow as normally as we'd think. Instincts could have all been messed up at those young ages. Sometimes it takes a while for people to settle down in those types of situations, rather than go with the gut feeling at the time. I mean neither of those two guys are crazy like Ron Artest or some other players, so what happened to their decision making ability? Does anybody understand that? Maybe guys in the nba back then were a lot more mature mentally to play down the situation whereas young guys today go back to their school yard fights. We expected them to be more mature and grow up, but they aren't where most guys were back then (mentally).
I hate Eddie Johnson, but agreed with most of what he had to say. Yes, attitudes are different nowadays and big money plays such a big part. It sounds like a dichotomy. Players today are better athletes than in the past but the game hasn't gotten better; It's gotten worse. That said it's not as bad as the mid 90s when too many teams had players lining up at the 3-pt line and shooting 3s. Those years were the worst imho. Also, bad were when some players had drug problems. Still, Eddie Johnson is such a cr*p homer of an analyst and announcer. It gets disgusting .
