OTL: White Americans in the NBA

Well, this kid ended up in the NFL. He was pretty much a man before I even started puberty. I knew plenty of kids who were "can't miss" guys going into high school and ended up sucking or pissing their chance away. But my last year of HS, our starting five had three guys who played Division 1 basketball, one who played Division 1 baseball and one who ended up playing football and is now in the NFL. Safe to say I wasn't going to make it.

 

When I played middle school ball we won the county championship with 55 points. One kid had 42. He was about 5'10", could shoot and handle the ball. When we were in 12th grade, he was still 5'10" and never got off the bench. He peaked at 13.

 

When you think about it, that would suck so hard, to peak at 13. Hopefully kids like that have more going on in their lives so they don't dwell too much on that sort of thing.

 

I think it was actually "white americans" which I'm assuming doesn't include guys like Steve Nash.

I don't think it's a reach to say that white america doesn't identify with the NBA anymore, which doesn't necessarily mean they need another Larry Bird to get behind. I think white america was plenty interested in the NBA when Michael Jordan was playing.

The NBA has a lot of problems and not having enough white, american players is pretty far down the list, way behind 1. The games are fixed. 2. A large portion of the players should be in prison.

 

U.S. teams have struggled in international competition because the rules are different and the players have little experience at that type of game. The notion that European players are somehow more skilled than American players is a fallacy. Of the top 25 3-point shooters in the NBA, only five are international products.

 

How are the rules so different?

I would agree with saying the games are refereed differently, but a wider lane and the inbounds rule would favor running, slashing and athletic players.

 

What is your logic behind saying that they should be in prison, that they have committed crimes and gotten away with them or is it something else?

 

White men can't jump.
White men love college basketball because there are more white players.
White players are more cerebral.
White players are better suited for coaching.
I know I haven't touched all the stereotypes but I think you get the drift.

 

The rules don't allow for standard low-post play, which is how most Americans operate their offenses. Americans thus are not used to defending the style of game at the international level, and this is where they have suffered. All, or nearly all, of the most embarrassing U.S. losses hae involved the opponent scoring big numbers -- Puerto Rico at the 2004 Olympics, Greece in the 06 World Championships, etc.

 

So it's not the rules, but our guys inability to defend properly?

I agree with that.

 

JJ, you have seen enough crazed minor hockey parents and players to know those kinds of kids don't have much else going on because nobody wants to think that Junior can't get to the Show.

A guy I know has an eight-year-old who plays hockey year-round. (He likes it, says the old man. I told him the kid didn't know what he liked, he was just doing what his parents expected him to.) Nothing outstanding about the kid - either in his size or ability - and he is on his third organization because both the kid and his parents wear out their welcome in a real hurry with their kid's me-first attitude and their bullshit and behind-the-scenes politicking.

I know a guy who works for Hockey Canada in their minor hockey development program. He told me (and I'm sure this is the same for other sports) that the best kids at eight or nine are not the best kids when they get to 16 or 17.

 

I believe its more about drive than physiological. The countries that are the roots of "White America's" are now coming over to the NBA. They jump, they dunk, they are athletic. Look at the South Americans in volleyball, heck look at the US volleyballers, those guys get up just as high as "blacks." They just chose to go another route.

I currently live in the suburbs, where there is traveling baseball, coaches, etc. That's nice, but its not going to replace the hunger. That's the key, not genes.

I grew up a small chinese kid in America in the '70s and I thought there was no way I could play professional sports, no role models, no shining beacon. When I saw Liu Xiang win high hurdles gold medal in 2004 and then set a world record, that blew my mind. (Yao is an amazing athlete but simply a beast.)