This absolutely comes down to race and style of play.
But first, my disclaimer.....
I am white. I grew up 2 minutes away from East St. Louis. One of the worst areas in the country. There is a reason why St. Louis is #1 in violent crimes now. A huge part of it is because of East Saint. And it's a 90% black community. Over the past 15 years, East Saint has basically moved it's way into my city.
I have friends who have been stopped by cops driving through East Saint at night. The Cops pull over my friends (who are white and go through East Saint to go to school) and say what are you doing here? Do you know where you are? Get out of here before you get hurt. They have to turn off all of the stop lights at night so that people can pass through it without stopping. Because if you stop, you got a good chance of getting mugged or killed.
Half of the news paper I get everyday is all about people getting killed in East Saint. It gets really old, and it's spreading to the areas around it quickly.
Now, I am not racist. But there is no doubt that racism is a huge problem still in our society. Me personally, I ate at the black table in Highschool. I hunf around with alot of black people. I found the white kids to be too stuck up and clicky for my taste. I still act white, whatever that means. I act like myself. I don't change for anyone. Due to the fact that I love making fun of people and cuttn' up, as well as my life-long love of basketball, I just fit in with alot of the black kids better. I still got mine though. They knocked me everyday because of my hatred for rap/hip-hop, but I didn't care. I was going to be me.
I play in basketball leagues and got to open gyms 3-4 times of week, and 95% of the people there are black. Most of them I would consider to be good friends. They got my back, I got theirs. Plain and simple.
We argue and joke around about the NBA all of the time, and alot of the time, they even agree with me. They make fun of me, but they acknowledge the truth in what I'm sayn'.
The problem that white people have with the NBA now (at least white people I talk to in the mid-west) is that it isn't basketball anymore and there aren't any white players anymore. White people don't feel like they can connect with the NBA like they used to. It's not an issue for me personally. I grew up basically worshipping Gary Payton. I could care less what color he was. We was the man. He was the Glove. In my eyes, I was idolizing another human being. Alot of white people don't look at it that way. They miss Larry Bird. They miss Mchale and Lambier and Stockton.
MJ leaving basically was the final straw for alot of white people. They gave MJ a pass because he didn't act all that "black." He was "articulate" and fundamental. Yes he was very athletic, but he didn't only depend on that. He was smart and was a team player.
White people are mad because Stern has the league set up to where it's almost all about dunking and athletic ability. And you can play defense on the perimeter anymore without it being a foul. It's made for LeBron, Kobe, Wade, T-Mac, Arenas, VC....etc. Good defense and team basketball has taken too much of a back-seat, and alot of white people don't like that.
Let's be honest. On a whole, white poeple can't run as fast or jump as high as alot of black athletes. It's a simple truth. But there are plenty of very smart, very fundamental, good shooting white guys on the college and H.S. level that will never get a shot at the NBA because they can't do 360 dunks.
I am going to repeat that these views are from the majority of white people that I talk to about the NBA in the mid-west. I'm not speaking for everyone. They also don't like the fact that guys don't get called for travels and carrying anymore. They want to see more fundamental basketball. They want to see hard-work and good old fashion rivalries again. We don't have those anymore. There are too much 1 on 1 plays and isolations. They want to see ball movement again.
They also hate the fact that all of the H.S. players are coming into the league. For every LeBron there is a Bender. They want to see players earn their way into the L again.
Me personally, I can see both sides of the fence. I think the NBA is in pretty good shape right now with LeBron, Wade, and Howard. There is some solid young guys ready to take over the future. I personally want the old style perimeter defense back. I miss the blood and the tears. The game feels too watered down right now with all of the dunking and constant free throw shooting. To me it's more about the style of game than it is about race. Why should that matter? We are all pink on the inside right?
Does the NBA have an image problem?
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