Re: [Celtics' Stuff ] Fwd: Big O speaks out on today's NBA

[JB <jim_metz@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Feb 16, 2004, at 1:02 AM, Ramos Ojai wrote: (see below for full text)

> The top teams in the league have embraced this change and you see the
> hybrid style of play in teams like the Kings, the Mavs, San Antonio
> etc. Oddly if viewed from another angle these cutting edge teams look
> "Old School" to me.
>  
> My 2 Cents
> Ojai
********************
	Between you and Musty, we've almost got a nickel, which reminds me of
a story my father told me of his youth in Brooklyn. We're probably
looking at about 1918 here, when there was a saturday matinee at the
movies (silent pictures, I presume), they would allow two kids in for a
nickel, if they shared a seat. My father who was one of five kids
(seven people, including the parents) living in two rooms, used to
stand outside the theatre calling out: "I've got two, who has three,"
looking for a kid with three cents, so he could get in for two.
	 With all of the longing, for the "good old days," it seems
appropriate, to remember.
	He also had a motto, about inflation/rising prices. "When bread was a
nickel, no one had a nickel. When bread became a dollar, everyone could
afford it."
	Not to downplay oscar Robertson's  reminiscences, but every generation
of NBA player seems to think his era was the pinnacle.
	I do like your idea Ojai, that like the concept of Hegelian
dialectics; thesis/ antithesis, the game is still maturing and
incorporating whatever elements are available to become better and
better.
	There are great "old school" teams and teams with the athletes and the
fundamentals, to watch now.
	That said, if I could watch a team with Bob Cousy running the fast
break, Bill Russell dominating Chaimberlain in the paint, Heinsohn's
baby hook, crossing the lane, Tom Sanders shutting down Elgin Baylor
and Bill Sharman and Sam Jones nailing sweet stroked jumpers, there
would be no channel switching to this era, or any other.
	There are those historical windows of grace and talent. I think of the
Greek philosophers, the Elizabethan poets, the Impressionist painters
and the folk-rock musicians of the sixties, as examples of a coming
together of great talent, to define an era and a genre, as reaching
levels of greatness, not likely to be reached before, or since.
	Yes, the Bird/Magic years, brought the game to new financial heights
and restored some of that  artistry, but I do have to agree with
Robertson, that like the highest mountain peaks, there are some things
even nature itself can't exceed.
	JB
Unchain My Heart!

***************

I have a great deal of respect for the Big O. However, I think that
he's painting with really broad strokes and an XXL brush here. He makes
a lot of valid points but completely ignores teams like the Jazz, Bucks
and Kings who have been playing an excellent brand of basketball.
 
And despite his views on the terrible mismanagement of the NBA, the
league provides more jobs at higher rates of pay in all levels of its
organization that during the "Golden Days " of the Big O's playing
career. In my book, that is the definition of good management.True, in
a lot of NBA clubs, the standard of play has gone down, however to
blame that on the league smacks of paranoia.
   
Living in Asia, perhaps I have a different perspective on the evolution
of the NBA. A lot of people under-estimate the impact of the NBA in
Asia and around the world. The NBA basketball is second only to soccer
in many parts of Asia.
 
In the eighties me and my brother had to set up a 30ft antenna to catch
the UHF transmisssions of the Far East Network, (For those who don't
know what this is, it's the TV service that the US military provided
for its far flung bases 'round the pacific) and watch grainy
transmissions of the Celtics kicking everyone's butt. If I was lucky I
could catch 8 games a year. Merchandise? Forget about it. Now I can
turn on the TV and watch up to 3 NBA games a day, no need for the giant
TV antenna!
 
Perhaps this smacks of The Big O's view that the NBA panders to
foreigners to buy merchandise. Or was it his view on importing foreign
players who have fundemental skills to play spear and water carriers
for the superior american athletes who have no fundementals? I lose
track...
 
In the end the Big O should be comforted by knowing that cream rises to
the top. Right now the influx of foreign players is bringing about a
change in the NBA culture. Just as foreign born players are forced to
be more athletic and be in better condition, american born players are
also spending more time on the fundementals. The infatuation with the
dunk is almost over and the love affair with the cross over dribble is
dying as well. The top teams in the league have embraced this change
and you see the hybrid style of play in teams like the Kings, the Mavs,
San Antonio etc. Oddly if viewed from another angle these cutting edge
teams look "Old School" to me.
 
My 2 Cents
Ojai