No Love 4 da Game

There is the common belief that nowadays players don't "respect The Game". That TV ads, showing-of money earned, are always first to anything else such as praticing, respecting the fans (and I don't mean elevating hands after an in-your-face jam). Players like MJ and Magic refered to basketball as "The Game", in a way with some resemblance to the formal way God is mentioned in a sentence. It used to be that players came from bad neighborhoods and it was either stardom in the NBA or, drugs and jail. It still is, that way but The Game itself has lot a step in the priorities list. Many players totally lack skills, such a passing a ball or shooting a 4ft jumper. Sure dunking is at an alltime quality level, but that is not a such important issue with regards to bball. A dunk is always a sure way to score two and an alley oop a very intelligent play in a 5-on-5 set. But a throwing down a tomahawk in a breakaway or a simple one-hander is just about the same thing.

On the opposite intelligent basketball seems to be almost gone. Simple pick-n-rolls are like dinosaurs -DEAD-, catch-and-shoot players like Reggie -GONE-, centres posting up, drawing a double team and kicking it out to a wide open perimeter player for a 3pt shot like Hakeem used to do -GONE-. Even players cutting behind screens to get a simple layup is a dying issue. Why? Players are so insecure and selfish. Almost all teams play one-on-one isolations for their stars and let them bg the offense down until they decide what to do. Normally they'll give up the ball with 10' on the shot clock and the guy wo gets the ball is gonna shoot it. Good examples are Vince Carter and Macgrady. Are they good players? YES, but their teams never win and their teammates are never motivated, and it looks as if they are always "one-eyed in a blind kingdom". They simply dont understand what a team sport is, and that only touching the ball once in a possession, after 5 passes is OK. They simply must show their full skills and hoist at least 20 shots a game after 15 dribbles so that they get noticed.

Classic PGs are dead, players seem to have some sort of macho ego that gets hurt if they pass the ball, or if they let others create the play for them. Players don't also seem to trust each other. Some role players don't seem to understand their role, and shoot every of the 5 balls they get on the low post in a given game. Whenever someone shoots and after some fight a rebound is obtained it used to be that the PG would slow down and make sure that regained possession would be object of a well advised shot. Nowadays, you get the ball, shoot it before someone else does.

Athleticism has taken over fundamental skills. Let's take Stromile Swift, a tall and athletic PF that came from the Grizzlies to the Rockets. He scores in the figures of 10ppg and gets 6rpg. Everyone seems to think that he has great potential, but the truth is, he can't play basketball. Give him a ball near the rim and you get a great dunk. But he can't shoot anything from 3ft away, he can't pass, he's not a good defender (defending is not only blocking shots) and never seems to fulfil that "potential". The problem is, Stromile can't play basketball, he does not understand the concept of the game. He is a great athlete but that's not (only) what team sports is about. There are many Stromiles in the NBA, and worse is, team GMs and coaches seem to have lost the capability to evalute his kind of game values.

Shot selection is gone down. A guy who shot 42% from the floor in the early 90s was either a brick layer, someone who didn't play relevant minutes or an old guy. Almost all guards shoot such percentages. Even forwards, and centres go little above 50%. Surely defenses have picked up, but the main problem is shot selection. MacGrady and other creators take many though shoots (again the insecure ego) and make many of them. Well they make 40% of tough shoots, which is good for the complexity of the situations they face when shooting, but... why to they take though shots? Wouldn't it be smarter to move the ball around and make some easier ones? Allen Iverson is the best example. On one hand a player with heart and toughness, but never seems to grow up and decide not to score 30ppg. Allen, everyone knows you can score even at 6'0'' tall, but do you wonder why your team barely makes the playoffs? Have you noticed that young players never seem to develop, you are the sole star of the team (stackhouse, Van Horn, Hughes, Webber all seem to never adapt) and that free agents always leave the team? Maybe Iguodala and will eventually become tired of playing D and watching you always playing one on one for 30ppg on 38% FG, and become stars elsewhere.

Amongst other skills lost are smart head fakes, the dribble behind the back when the defender reaches in, the acrobatic layup UNDER the rim while protecting the ball. Even blocks are not pretty as they used to. Sure, you see thunderous blocks on weak shots, but the smart block waiting for the defender to shoot like Hakeem used to do, seems dead. Same goes for low-post moves like hooks - shooting one handers are not hooks - and turnaround baseline jumpers. Bank-shots seem to be a crime when shot any distance from 2ft away. 7ft kisses of the glass used to be money in the bank. Free throw shooting is atrocious, and that would mean easy points, and higher scoring and less times a player would be fouled on a layup. Tactics like Hack-a-Shaq actually pay dividends. Players like Shaq miss FTs due to pure lack of professionalism, his technique is simply wrong and he refuses to take personal training even if in the past it proved sucessful. Lucky him that other centres are little better, and even many PG are in the low 70%s. If doesn't make the highlight films, forget it.


This also applies to GMs. The fan is rarely respected while season tickets increase and teams tank games, use salary cap only criteria for trading and spend seasons just making money with no sportive goal. The Clippers of the 80s and 90s are cloned and, jus for the record, the once mocked up team is a playoff fixture. Coaches have no power or balls to take over a team. Larry Brown and other old school coaches lose the teams as soons as they try to take charge. Many coaches are absolutely zeros, like Tim Floyd and were hired just to pretend they were coaching. Assistants are used in over half-dozen, dressed up in suits and watching teams struggle while they simple play isolations despite any stuff they may have done in practice.

Free agent players will always seek max contracts even if it means playing for 15 win teams with no help or players you know. How do you expect fans with average earning to feel empathy and love for the game? The 99 lock out was a huge mistake and some fans, like me, never saw the NBA the same way after. Patrick Ewing trying to gain simpathy from fans with his retoric "we make lots of money, but we also spend a lot", or Kenny (major bust in the NBA) Anderson's "I had to sell one of my 7 cars", where PR killers. Slam dunk contests have had alltime lows. Star players are a bunch of sissies afraid of getting injured or missing a dunk in front of a crowd. Where is MJ dunking and Bird in the 3pt contest?

The game evolved in some good ways, 3pt shooting and defense being the most important categories. Shooting percentages are gone awry and real basketball has taken a step back. Many players, and that also has to do with high-schooler skipping the NCAA - subject for another post - are simply immature to become pros, and never grow up, living in some sort of stardom heaven. I refuse to buy any sort of merchandising from the NBA except game tickets. I do not subscribe to any pay-per-view channel broadcasting NBA games, do not buy clothes or jerseys and caps, do not buy magazines (except for DIME at 20 USD per year), nor pay at sites that require money for contents (nba's league pass etc).