<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Not long ago, National Basketball Association teams built their franchises around white American players such as Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, John Stockton and Chris Mullin. Even second tier players like Dan Issel, Kiki Vandeweghe, Bill Laimbeer and Rex Chapman enjoyed a high level of success. Yet the presence of white American players is slowly fading from the NBA, which is probably why Bird felt compelled to say recently that the league needed more white stars. At the end of the 2003-04 regular season, only 50 white Americans out of a total of 435 players were listed on NBA rosters. Of those players, only one - Milwaukee's Keith Van Horn - is listed among the league's top 50 scorers. Four white Americans were among the league's top 50 in rebounds, and one - Sacramento's Brad Miller - was among the top 10. There were only three white Americans among the top 50 in assists although two - Memphis' Jason Williams and Chicago's Kirk Hinrich - were among the top 10. </div> Source Ever since Larry Bird made his comments regarding white players in the NBA, I've noticed several articles about the issue. After reading them, theres defiently been a decline in white Americans in the NBA, but why? My take on the issue is - it shouldn't matter what race you are, as long as you can play. People are reading way too much into it, and I think the reason of the decline is because the NBA is turning to athletism rather than overall fundamentals. White players aren't known for being 'athletic freaks,' which has caused the decline. Other random and probably useless facts: Only two players were selected in this years first round draft - Robert Swift and Luke Jackson. And lastly, Luke Walton was the only white player competing in the NBA Finals. With that said, what do you guys think about the issue? Do you even think it's worthy of articles? Or is it a problem the league is facing?
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">My take on the issue is - it shouldn't matter what race you are, as long as you can play</div> My sentiments exactly. Sure, the majority of America is white and while Larry might have a point that people might watch more if they had someone that they could identify better with, that's not the solution to the problem. The solution to the problem is that we all learn to identify with each other based on being human beings, not our skin color. If you can ball, then fans should identify with that, not your skin color.
The concept of "identifying" with someone isn't exactly a switch you turn on or off. A lot of kids from tougher backgrounds will identify with someone with 'street cred' like Iverson.. Similarly people who went to Duke may enjoy watching Duke alumni like Carlos Boozer more. A better example perhaps, is Yao Ming's huge asian fan base.. And yes, "asian," not just Chinese. People read too much into it in that they don't understand racism has absolutely nothing to do with identifying with someone.. People will subconsciously enjoy watching people like them.. That's just how your mind works. If someone who went to your high school made it to the NBA, wouldn't you love watching him too? Similarly, if that guy who went to your freshman Algebra class happened to be someone like LeBron James, would you like that even more? It kind of goes without saying, doesn't it? Far too many people have turned a perceptive comment into a stage for political debate.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The concept of "identifying" with someone isn't exactly a switch you turn on or off.</div> Sorry. Sometimes my mind works in a vacuumous Utopia where things are as they should be, not as they are.
The media has a habbit of taking things out of context and blowing them up. Like Ice said, race isn't the important thing, skill and ability are the reasons for player selection. player selection definately shouldn't be a racial thing, and i don't believe it is. there are an increasing number of european players coming into the league each year, the obviously aren't white americans, but they are of different racial background. If it was a black mans game, as bird put it, why would euro's being increasing in number? I am white (Australian actually) and not so athletic, but i love watching the NBA, i guess i like the way i can watch the game and see an athlete pull of a ridiculous move knowing that i'd never been able to do something like that.
Nobody ever said it was mutually exclusive.. Of course a white guy can enjoy T-Mac as much as a black guy. Just because you can identify with players of a certain race or background doesn't mean you cant watch/enjoy other players even more. What's so tough to understand :/
yeeaah..but come on guys a black thug wouldn't have Ostertag as a favorite u know! But I don't think it's racial, because come on there are a few WHITE players that got game and a bunch black.
