Re: BULPETT: NO WALKER CONTRACT UNTIL AFTER THE C.B.A. IS SETTLED

[Kim Malo <kmalo19@idt.net>]

At 02:43 PM 6/14/98 -0400, Bentz wrote:
>Tom:
>
>Why has team play degenerated this much, if it has?  Is it officiating, the
>league itself?  Why would team play just die out?

I'm not Tom, but figured I'd stick my 2 cents in. A few reasons.
When the league started to switch over to MJ as the lead star from Bird and
Magic, he wasn't much of a team player (that came later). So the things
people honed in on to admire and imitate were all the individual athleticism
shows -the moves and the dunks. Add in the fact that kids increasingly are
coming into the league too young. Which means insufficiently trained in the
fundamentals of team basketball and making it on their athleticism alone.
Plus the money. As that skyrocketed, personal stats were increasingly
important for the players to point to and say this guy does this and gets X,
I do this much more so I should get more. There are more little factors -fan
adulation, team play requiring more hard work, etc.- but those are the Big
Three. So to speak...

-Kim


>Tom Eisele wrote:
>
>> After Bird and magic and company left the NBA it has been going downhill.
>> Malone and Stockton are the last of the dying breed of pure basketball
>> players. When they leave all we will see is individual drives to the hoop
>> and long jumpers.
<snip>