Old School vs. New School: How To Rank Greatness

It seems as if this week is the week in which former NBA players decided to defend their eras and their players. You had Stephen Jackson who was on the 2006-2007 Warriors that beat the top seeded Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs as an eighth seed. Then, you have NBA legend Oscar Robertson saying this. You have Isaiah Thomas saying this, too. So, this week was the week in which former NBA players, some all-time greats, told us how they really feel.

People are putting Stephen Curry in the category with all-time great point guards already. Former players are complaining. He’s having fun with the whole thing, though. This is not anything new. In many sports, when a generation of players retire and the new generation of players reach their primes, the old generation tends to complain. They want to hold on to their spot. They feel the need to remind the fans that were either very young or not born at the time of their primes of how good they were. Some take it to the extreme and don’t just say they were good back in the day, but that they are good now after retirement. This is not an NBA dynamic. This isn’t just a player dynamic either. This is a dynamic in all of sports.

You guys ever argue with an older person about sports? You already know how it goes, (unless you are an older person reading this, don’t stop reading though). The first thing you are going to hear about is how good the players back in their day were. Stats not even something that is brought up. You are probably going to bring up stats before them. All they would talk about is impact and what they saw with their own eyes. This is something that is very important. I personally feel that statistics hold too much weight in the sports world today because statistics could be deceptive sometimes. However, they’re going to use feelings, memories, and “vibes” to discredit the current players of your generation. The next qualifier that older fans are quick to bring up are rule changes. For the NFL, it got softer. For the NBA, it got softer. For the MLB, the game was much better back in the day because guys were better; more home runs. “But, they were on steroids. That’s why.” “Steroids don’t make you make contact with ball, trust me I’ve been watching the game since you were a baby.” On and on and on, you guys know how it is. Legitimate facts and claims might be brought up. This is a fundamental aspect of every good argument/debate. Both sides must bring up legitimate facts that both parties can agree on in order to argue about what they don’t agree on. Rule changes do change the way sports are played making the games different. However, if both sides were to be honest, there’s just a generation gap. You will never fully understand how great the former players were despite how many YouTube videos you saw of them because you weren’t alive or old enough when these players were playing. The older person may never fully understand how great this generation of players are despite rule changes because they’re so used to seeing a certain style of play, seeing how great their generation of players were, or stubborn. It’s different when you experience greatness at the time when they were great because you understand the impact. However, anybody can over or underestimate people.

Now to Stephen Curry.

He’s on pace to break several offensive records this year and he has his team on pace to win the most games in NBA history. The team that they might surpass for the most wins in NBA history is the NBA champion 1995-1996 Bulls. This is a win total that many people didn’t think would be passed for a long time. Some teams have won 67 games, but nobody has even reached 70 since the Bulls set the mark at 72 wins 20 years ago. In other words, Stephen Curry and the Warriors are having a historic season.

How do you discredit a person’s greatness when the numbers show you how great they are? You discredit everything else surrounding them. Their team was really good, he or she was just along for the ride. Or in Stephen Curry’s case, the league isn’t as good anymore and the rules changed so its easier to play the game. THEY COULDN’T PLAY IN OUR DAY! Numbers do lie sometimes. It feels like every year, a different quarterback throws for the most yards in a season. Out of the top 15 seasons for most passing yards, 12 of those seasons were had in the last 5 years. A statistic like that will show you why having the most passing yards in a season is probably not the best indicator for how good a quarterback is historically. The increase in passing yards are directly correlated with the rule changes in the NFL that make it easier for offensive players to produce.

However, the decrease in home runs over the years due to the fact that guys aren’t using steroids anymore (at least most guys). This decrease does not mean the players are worse now than they were back then. They just don’t cheat…as much. Are rules in the NBA different than they were back in the day? Yes. No hand checking. The definition of a flagrant foul has changed. However, the skill level of the competition is not the same as it was back in the day. Today’s NBA has more athletes. Today’s NBA athletes are better shooters and I know that Oscar Robertson doesn’t like that. OK, let’s be real. It was never OK to hit people in the face as they are shooting. In any era, that’s a foul. This is what you would have to do in order to stop Stephen Curry from making a three and even then it’s not promised that he is going to miss. I have literally seen Chris Paul have his hand on Stephen Curry’s chest as he’s shooting and he still made it and he turned around a looked at his coach Doc Rivers and basically told him that he had his hand on his chest so he tried his best. I think it was the same game that this happened. Shooting the basketball is shooting the basketball and I find it hard to believe that guys aren’t getting up in the best 3 point shooter in NBA history’s face to try and make him miss, despite what the legend Oscar Robertson says.

The generation gap is real. The generation gap in sports doesn’t just affect fans. It affects players, as well. When you have an NBA legend discrediting your career and accomplishments, it can hurt your career. It may not prevent you from winning rings, but it can prevent you from being thought of as highly as you would like to be at the end of your career because knowledgeable voices have influence. It can even prevent you from making halls of fame, ask Terrell Owens. I believe that in our society, we need to emphasize how influential generation gaps are in our perception of sports. Think about it, if Kobe didn’t start his career while Michael Jordan was playing and several years after like around now, maybe people wouldn’t be calling him this generation’s Michael Jordan, but the next Michael Jordan. Maybe Kobe played to close to Michael Jordan’s era so his impact was still fresh in the minds of NBA fans back in Kobe’s prime. Who know’s? Comparing players is fun is fun for fans and analysts. That’s part of what makes sports interesting. But, when well-respected former players start publicly discrediting current player’s accomplishments and the whole league, that might be a little too far. We, fans and players young and old, need to understand that we cannot completely and fairly judge a person’s career until after it’s done. Doing that might prevent us from recognizing that we are watching the best player in history, or fool us into thinking that we are watching the best player in history. While a player is playing, all we can do is speculate.

All-Star Discrimination: Voting and Centers in the NBA

These are the starters for the NBA All-Star game in this year, which is going to be held in Toronto. The left side is the Western Conference team and the right side is the Eastern Conference team. So, there were many stories that surrounded the All-Star lineup this year. Zaza Pachulia almost started. If you don’t know who he is then you should already see the problem there. Stephen Curry is an automatic shoo-in every year now since he has become the NBA’s most popular player over the last 2 years. Some people are questioning if Kyle Lowry deserves to be starting, but not that many people too mad at him starting and how would it look if the host city didn’t have representative from its team starting the game. Some people are mad that Kobe is in it at all and definitely shouldn’t be starting despite this being his last year due to his performance this year and his team’s poor record. However, those are mostly Kobe haters. Besides that and annual conversation of who got snubbed, there hasn’t been much conversation about who’s starting. When you look at that list, you think to yourself, “I guess all those people deserve to be there. However, when I look at that list, I see one glaring issue: no centers. There are absolutely no centers in the All-Star game. Why is this you may ask? This is due to the voting format.

That is Andre Drummond, the starting center for the Detroit Pistons. These are his stats this year, so far.

That is Demarcus Cousins, starting center for the Sacramento Kings. These are his stats this year, so far. This was actually soon after the All-Star starters were named. So, that is how he responded to not being named a starter.

Andre Drummond plays in the East and Demarcus Cousins play in the West. So, it works out that both could have played and would not be competing against each other for votes. There are other people that got snubbed. There is Jimmy Butler of the Chicago Bulls that’s having a career year. There is Damian Lillard who is having a very underrated year, as well. There is no doubt that everybody mentioned so far will make the All-Star team as reserves. The fact of the matter is that there are only 5 people in each conference that can start. Therefore, to Jimmy Butler and Damian Lillard, oh well. However, for Demarcus Cousins and Andre Drummond, it’s different. They aren’t starting not because there were other people in their conference and their position that were better than them, they aren’t starting because they are centers. Period.

Originally, the NBA All-Star voting was done by the position. You vote in a point guard, shooting guard, small forward, power forward, and center. Then, the NBA realized that most players are able to and do play 2 positions. So, they changed the format to 2 guards, 2 forwards, and a center.  Two seasons ago, the NBA changed their format to the format that we have today. They completely eliminated the center position from the voting process. Now, you vote in 2 back court and 3 front court players. This is why you have 3 small forwards starting in the East. The game of basketball is changing. The Warriors are the face of that change. They don’t shoot threes because the defense makes them. They want to shoot them. Positions 1 to 5 are above average three point shooters. They embrace spacing. And, argument can be made that their best lineup is a lineup in which Draymond Green is starting at the center position and he might be shorter than their starting shooting guard. However, Demarcus Cousins and Andre Drummond are undoubtedly the best players at their position in their conference. Can anybody really say that they do not deserve to be starting in the All-Star game.

Let’s be real. The All-Star game is a popularity contest. The most popular players always start because the fans vote for who they like and the most popular players tend to be the most liked. However, the most popular players tend to be the best players, as well. Their skill level, numbers, and success get them noticed and the better they play, the more popular they become. However, there is an issue here. There is only so much that a good center can do as far as exciting a crowd. Most (almost all) centers cannot handle the ball well enough to break somebody’s ankles. Most centers, although that is changing, cannot hit threes like guards. The traditional elite center has post moves that make them elite at scoring in the paint. The traditional elite center garners the hearts of fans by fooling their defender with posts moves like Hakeem Olajuwon. Traditional elite centers can dunk on you. The absolute, undisputed best centers possess all these skills. Demarcus Cousins and to a lesser degree Andre Drummond do. However, the best guards and forwards possess those skills as well in addition to their ability to cross you up, shoot threes, and make fancy passes. So this AUTOMATICALLY puts the center at a disadvantage in All-Star Voting. Centers can still be voted in because they are categorized as front court players. But, can Andre Drummond, a guy that is incredibly productive but in a limited way, become more popular than Carmelo Anthony, a guy that is productive as well but in a more exciting way. Unless he is dunking, Andre Drummond will not entertain you with his rebounds, but Carmelo shooting over 2 people and making the shot will. I am a Knicks fan. Carmelo Anthony has been playing very well recently (keyword: recently) and has looked like the superstar that he is. However, he does not deserve to be there over a guy who has been the best center in the Eastern Conference all year and if it had not been for this voting format, he would not have been. Carmelo only had 360 votes more than Drummond who was leading him for months. Plus, the effort put forth by his team alone should make him a starter in the All-Star game. Look at this.

And, he still didn’t make it. My point is this. If you are the best in your position, you should start in the All-Star game for your team. This is basically discrimination by the NBA against centers. The center position, despite the lack of scoring from most teams at this position, is still very important to the NBA. Centers are extremely important to a team’s defense. If you can’t rebound well, it makes it extremely hard to win a championship. Their importance to the game alone should warrant them still having a position on the All-Star ballot. It is true that the game is changing and most centers either shoot threes or get rebounds and defend. However, the best centers are still traditional in playing style. You might see Demarcus Cousins take a three point shot here and there, but his game is based off of his dominant post play in the paint. He is not a combo center/forward or whatever you want to call these new age centers. Andre Drummond is not shooting threes. Hassan Whiteside is most likely not going to take defenders off the dribble with elite ball-handling skills. But, they are the best at what they do. Most centers cannot decide to play a back court position if they want to for most of the year. But, Kobe, one of the best SHOOTING GUARDS in NBA history, is a frontcourt player this year. This is another unfair advantage. Demarcus Cousins might have to win the NBA Championship and get the Finals MVP if he wants to make an All-Star team just because he is a center despite being the best one in the NBA and that is wrong.

Sinking Ships: Tanking in the NBA

The following video is going to highlight the Spurs and their bench more than talk about the Sixers, but pay attention to the score.

The official meaning for the word ‘tank’ does not have anything to do with sports. You will not find the most common use of the word in any official dictionary. However, when you search for the definition on Google, it gives the official definitions, but incorporates the ‘slang’ definition, as well. The definition basically says exactly what the Philadelphia organization has been doing for the last 3 years which is basically losing on purpose. Now, when you tell non-sports fans about this concept, the first thing you will almost always hear is: Why would a team want to lose on purpose? This is important to recognize because the fact that this question comes up speaks to the fact that tanking goes against our very nature as human beings and therefore there might be something fundamentally wrong with it.

This is how tanking happens in sports: particularly in the NBA. In the NBA, you either want to be the best or the worst, as crazy as that sounds. The reason for that is that if you are the best, you can win a championship. If you are the worst, you have a better chance of getting the first pick in the NBA Draft, where the best college basketball players get selected by NBA teams. If you are just alright, then you’ll make the playoffs most likely but we all know that you’re not winning the championship because you’re just not the best and you’re too good to get a high pick in the draft so you’re basically stuck there trying to provide false hope of a championship to your fans and no future pretty much. An example of a team like this would have to be the Atlanta Hawks from around 2007-2011. They were good and had some good records to show for it, but they weren’t knocking LeBron out of the playoffs and the fans knew this because they would have decent attendance, but most of the fans were rooting for the other team. Many people thought that this was because you have so many people from other states that move down to Atlanta, but that might not be the case because we saw how excited the fan base could be when they feel they have a legitimate chance to do something in the playoffs last year and to a degree this year, as well.

Other leagues have drafts, as well. However, tanking isn’t as big of a problem in the other leagues due to the nature of the sport. I had an argument over Christmas with my cousin. He was born and raised in Jamaica, as almost all of my family was, as a HUGE soccer fan. When he came to America, he started to follow basketball a little bit more and decided to become a LeBron James fan. So, he saw all The Decision mayhem and he saw him go back to Cleveland, as well. Basically, as a soccer fan, he was used to seeing superstars join each other’s teams and dominate so he said he doesn’t see anything wrong with it. My position was that basketball is a different sport by nature so you can’t compare the two and that there’s something to be said for being THE reason why you win a championship in a sport where one guy can change the whole direction of an organization. It was a long argument. That being said, it is true that one or two guys can single-handedly change the whole direction of a franchise in basketball and it is hard (not impossible) to say that about football, or soccer, or hockey, or any other team sport. This is why there is more parity in the other sports, as well. Therefore, the moves being made by a team’s front office in other sports are almost always about improving the win percentage in the next season. In the NBA, who’s beating LeBron and whoever else is on his team? Notice, over the last 20 years, it’s almost always the same handful of teams winning the championship. The Bulls won 6 in the 1990’s. Kobe has 5, Wade has 3, the Pistons, Celtics, Mavericks and Warriors (to date) won one, and Duncan has 5. That’s all in the last 17 seasons, but there’s 30 NBA teams.

So now, you have the NBA draft. In other sports where tanking isn’t as common, the rules of the draft are very similar to the NBA. However, this might not be common to say, but the NBA Draft rewards tanking. Tanking is illegal in the NBA, but it’s hard to enforce a rule when you can’t really prove that a team is breaking it. The 76ers have come the closest in NBA history to show without a shadow of a doubt that they are tanking. I have never met an athlete in my life that has played a game with the intention of losing. Although, it has happened.

It is the front office that makes roster changes that directly hurt the team. Philadelphia has done nothing but make losing changes and here’s a list of them. The worst trade of all was trading away their most promising rookie in a long time who people thought they were tanking for in the first place. Now, all Philadelphia does is lose. They consistently get high draft picks though and this what they want. Is this wrong or just how business works in the NBA.

This can’t be right. That initial first reaction when you explain tanking to someone is what let’s you know that. First of all, I’m a Knicks fan and my team tanked last year and this year we look pretty good and are improving every game. I feel for the Philadelphia fans. They have tanked for so long that losing is a habit over there and it might take them a while to shake it. There must be a way in which Philadelphia can look at other teams or other leagues for guidance on how to develop a good team. The fans don’t deserve it and the city doesn’t deserve it. After all, this legend played there.

The Stephen Curry Effect

Did you see some of the shots that this man was taking? He did whatever he wanted out on the court.

For those who are not in tune with popular culture in America, this is Stephen Curry. He is the greatest shooter of a basketball that the planet Earth has ever seen and I am not exaggerating as you can see from these highlights from a game earlier this season. There have been many great shooters in NBA history, but Stephen Curry stands out. His shooting prowess has caught the eyes of the sports world and really all of America as the NBA All-Star Voting results from last season showed.

All basketball fans know that when a basketball star captivates the hearts of America, people tend to emulate them while they are playing basketball. Particularly, fans tend to emulate them. Particularly, young fans tend to emulate them. We all know someone who thought that they were Allen Iverson and we all know people who still think that they are Kobe Bryant (this may or may not be to the detriment of your team whether on a recreational court or during an organized game). Basically, NBA stars change the way that the sport of basketball is played here in America and internationally and if you don’t think that NBA stars change the way that basketball is played internationally, just look at Stephon Marbury. The emulation increases when the star wins an NBA championship and when the player’s stature is more closely related to that of somebody that doesn’t play in the NBA than somebody that does and Stephen Curry is 6’3”, 190 lbs, and won the NBA Championship last season.

But the Warriors won the championship though…

Despite Charles Barkley saying it in a very interesting way, many people who are well-respected in the professional and collegiate basketball community share the same opinion that Charles does about jump shooting teams. Many people feel that if you just shoot the basketball like crazy (especially from the 3 point line) that you cannot succeed in the NBA and many other levels of basketball. But the Warriors won the championship though…

No disrespect to the Golden State Warriors. They do more than just shoot the basketball. They are one of the most intelligent teams in the league and they play very underrated defense. However, you cannot deny the fact that their offense is concentrated primarily on the 3 point shot with the king of threes running the offense: Stephen Curry. So now when you consider the success that Stephen Curry has had, the fact that he makes it look effortless, and the fact that most guys are near his height so most guys aren’t too small to attempt Stephen Curry-esque shots, you realize that a lot of people are going to try and emulate him. It’s a given. But, not everybody can be Stephen Curry. You can’t shoot like him. If you’re reading this and you can, I will probably see you on Hoop Mixtape or Ball is Life pretty soon. So what kind of effect is Stephen Curry having on the NBA? Enter Mark Jackson…

It’s interesting that Mark Jackson is the one that is saying that because Mark Jackson is the reason that the Warriors are good. He was their coach for a few years and took them from a team with a below average record to a team with one of the best records in the West in a very short time span. An argument can be made that Steve Kerr took them to another level and Steve Kerr was the guy who replaced Mark Jackson, but at the time that he was fired, he was doing a very good job and the players loved him. So with all that love that exists between the coach and his former team, it’s surprising that he said that. However, two things have to be acknowledged. 1. Mark Jackson did not mean those comments maliciously and meant that Stephen Curry is indirectly and unintentionally hurting the game. 2. He may have a point.

Yes, this top ranked high school player is 7 feet and still opted to shoot the three after he broke the defender’s ankles although he kind of had the lane (or could make a lane at that height in high school). The fact that he was able to break his ankles at that height is impressive. If you have 7 footers looking for threes, you’re definitely going to have 6 footers pulling them like crazy. Is Stephen Curry to blame for this though?

The NBA is changing and Stephen Curry and the Warriors are the face of that change. The 3 point shot is the most dangerous shot in basketball. A series of 3 point shots can cut into a big lead in seconds. The Warriors have mastered this. Stephen Curry has become the best player in the league in the eyes of many. Everybody wants to be the best but, can you really blame the man for doing what he does best and what works for him. The incredible passing and floor leadership is very evident in the video in the beginning of this post. However, like Mark Jackson said, people don’t notice that though, they notice your biggest strength. Kids aren’t going to look to emulate Stephen Curry’s defense, footwork, or leadership too often. What is undeniable is that many people are going to try and get the 3 point shot to work for them like it does for him because of height comparisons.We cannot deny that Stephen Curry has effected the game dramatically and the basketball world will feel this effect for years to come.

But if you are going to shoot a lot of threes? Don’t do this.