Quote:
Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
elaborate on that if you want an answer.
But here's when you'll know there's more progress- when about half the white Americans* in the NBA get cut. You (not you Thurgreed) can make the argument that a substantial portion of the crowd is white and they want to see white guys playing, and it is a business selling a product- but that's so sad.
When the Pistons had Jon Berry he was a crowd favorite. He'd come in and hit some open 3s and people would go nuts. Meanwhile, anyone who knows basketball was thinking "oh shit. who is he going to guard?" and the coach knew he couldn't guard anyone so he'd get the hook pretty soon. I know plenty of kids who can hit 3s pretty regularly- that alone shouldn't be a ticket into the NBA. His being on the court was insulting my intelligence.
I was amazed/impressed when Dumars brought in Rasheed because the move cleaned out all white guys, and yet he trusted the fans to realize it made sense. He traded away Bobby Sura to get him, and Bobby actually does(did?) belong on the court. Rasheed coming in took all of Okur's time, so it was all black guys almost all the time- AND I've never once heard anyone complain.
*and I'm not some suck up white apologist, because my kid kicks the shit out of anyone in basketball (if he can just catch one more growth spurt, I'm buying you all lunch with the money Izzo will be saving me)
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The biggest travesty was the Jason Williams hype when he first came into the league. All flash, zero substance. Couldn't guard anyone. I remember arguing with white friends (
who actually played basketball) that Damon Stoudamire had a much better handle and all that fancy crap didn't mean a damn thing. They thought I was nuts. I kept asking why they thought he got yanked in the playoffs at the end of the games and why his jersey was the number 1 selling jersey in the league, but they had no answers.
Long post short, you're not going to get too big an argument from me.
TM
