FROM THE SIDELINES OF HOOP REVIEW

This weekend I had the opportunity to watch a few games at the Hoop Review showcase in Lynwood and Carson.  What I witnessed were several different levels of play--some games were about the talent on the floor, some games were about grass root players who worked hard, and some were about players who just luvv the game.  In the 21^st century there is a proliferation of these types of events, both good and bad. This article isn’t a review of the quality or value of the Hoop Review event.  It’s more about the changing culture of basketball as I see it.  It’s more about the game itself and how players are, or are not, being developed.

I had just finished watching a piece on Sports Center about the Fab 5 that included Jalen Rose, Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King, and Ray Jackson. The show discussed how this trash-talking quintet impacted the culture of basketball by merging entertainment and sports together for the first time in a grand, public way.   Hip Hop was just beginning to find it legs in connection with sports, and in particular basketball, and with the FAB 5 they found a willing group to associate with.   But Coach K had made a simple comment about why he felt Duke would beat the FAB 5. “We were a team, playing a group.  A team will always beat a group, even a group within a team.”

Each era has an iconic figure or figures that change the game and how we perceive it.  In  1979 it was Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, two fantastic players that played the game with a passion and heart, capturing such a commercial appeal when television brought them into our homes. This was around the time when ESPN was born, and while many of us laughed at the early programming, the father and son duo of Bill and Scott Rasmussen, on a day when stuck in traffic, came up with the idea of a 24-hour sports channel.  The culture of basketball was to change forever.

Thanks to ESPN and Dick Vitale, basketball has a whole new language:  being posterized, taking someone off the bounce, he has bounce, athleticism, etc.  These have all become common adjectives of the game. However, these actions and words have replaced some aspects of hard work in the eyes of most young basketball players.

I have seen Russell, Cousy, West, Frazier, Earl the Pearl, and Dr. J delight fans with their basketball acumen and passion for the game, which came from talent and dedication to their craft.    There are now more talented, young players than I’ve ever seen in the past five decades, but--are they willing to put in the effort to develop their skills?

Today, it seems that the game is about obtaining a sports center moment. At the Hoop Review I saw two very talented squads (I refused to call them teams) that had players who could take one another off the bounce, shoot long 3’s and jump out of the gym.  But in the end, most of them went half speed, played very little defense and didn’t show overall basketball skills. I even found myself justifying their actions on the court, saying, “The game doesn’t really count, no one wants to get hurt.”  Then I caught myself thinking, “What does that have to do with hustle and playing D?”

On another court I saw a very young team battling with an older team, playing D, hustling and winning a game that they should not have won. Why? None of those kids are on anyone’s ESPN radar at this point and they are playing to get better, period.  They actually had a coach who wasn’t trying to manage players’ egos and personalities, but was there with the specific reason to get his players better. They simply played hard, as did the other team, but there were no dunks, plenty of D and some great rebounds and foul shots made down the stretch. Who knows how long this coach will have the attention of these young players, because as each one gets better the distractions increase.  It’s likely that the gravitational pull of ESPN ball will attract them to leave the “If you build it they will come” type of basketball for the lure of the “Top 10 Plays.” 

The NBA, NCAA, Sonny Vaccaro, and grassroots basketball are all talking about what to do about the state of the game today.   To me it’s simple--make the dunk worth 1 point.   Crazy?  Think about it. What was one of the most important factors in Kareem Adul Jabber’s (then Lew Alcindor) development as a player? Was it the dunk shot being outlawed?  I am not sure but I do know it made Kareem take his already talented game and hook shot to a new level. He had to work on footwork, learn how to hit 15 footer, and change the game with blocks and defense. 

Don’t misunderstand me, I luvv the Top 10 plays on ESPN and the nightly dunks on NBA TV and I was thrilled by some of the dunks I saw on Sunday.   But in the end, while its entertaining and shows how physically advanced each generation becomes, it also demonstrated to me that the Europeans are still advancing more than we are. We spend every week in the spring and summer  having our kids play in games.  Dirk Nowitzki, at 7’0”, spent his early years developing guard skills, working on footwork, shooting, etc. His coach decided he wasn’t going to be much of a defensive player, but he would become a hell of an offensive player. So he spent hours in the gym and played very few games in his early development.

Grass roots basketball in America has become more about the quantity of games played, versus the development of one’s game. I am not against playing to develop. I am more about holding the players and the coaches (or handlers) more accountable. In the end you will have more skilled players with tremendous athletic ability, and the game will continue to blossom.