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Volume CXXXII, Number 22 |
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David Stern's NBA "image problem"
J.P. BOX
COLUMNIST
Ever since Michael Jordan's first retirement, NBA Commissioner David Stern has worried about the league's image problem. In an effort to galvanize support for a sport with a waning fan base, he launched a public relations campaign backed with the catchy slogan "We love this game!" and aimed to promote a squeaky-clean image of the NBA.
During the 1993-1994 season, Stern expressed interest in wooing Duke University head coach, Mike Kryzewski, to the NBA ranks. According to Sports Illustrated, "The commissioner worries privately about the league's growing problem with trash talking and violence, and a hire like Kryzewski-intelligent, disciplined, respected-would be a public relations coup."
Nearly a decade later, Stern continues to fret about what to do with the NBA's supposedly tarnished image. His nervousness translates into an obsessive reaction to fine players, coaches, and owners for loosing their tempers on the court.
Indiana Pacers guard Ron Artest has become Stern's favorite target for public punishment. The runner-up for the defensive player-of-the-year award missed a total of 12 games and paid thousands of dollars in fines due to a slew of flagrant fouls and general misconduct on the basketball court.
In years past, Stern targeted Rasheed Wallace, Kenyon Martin, and Mavericks' owner Mark Cuban. After each transgression, he publicized the event to let the world know that the NBA does not condone a volatile power forward or a belligerent owner.
At the same time, media outlets desperately searched for the next Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, or Larry Bird to arrive and "save" the league. Backed by a nostalgic public that yearned for the days of yesteryear, the sporting world lost focus of the current NBA product-one that not only challenges our notions of race, but also is playing some of the most inspired basketball the world has ever seen.
First of all, the well-publicized outbursts of Artest, Wallace, and even Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan are not indicative of the NBA on a nightly basis. Paradoxically, Stern focuses the media's attention on deviant instead of normative behaviors. In other words, by focusing so much on the occasional confrontation, Stern steers attention away from the actual games and changing culture of the NBA.
In New Jack Jocks: Race, Rebels, and the American Athlete (2002), Larry Platt dubs the current NBA stars as basketball's "hip-hop generation." As he broke into the league in 1996, "Iverson was leading a new generation of ballplayers, kids much less interested in acquiescing to white, mainstream tastes, kids who scoff upon hearing that [Julius] Erving shaved his Afro is the late seventies when he decided he wanted to be a businessman."
Instead of recognizing and celebrating the immense talent of this unprecedented generation of ballers, the likes of David Stern and conservative media pundits focus on the baggy shorts, excessive trash talking, tattoos, and other superficial elements. Unable to get past their own inhibitions, they fail to embrace the most talented and promising group of athletes in the NBA since Jordan, Bird, and Magic dominated play.
To judge the immense talent in the NBA, we need not look any further than the opening round of games that kicked off the 2003 NBA Playoffs. In the East, the Boston Celtics stunned the heavily favored Indiana Pacers and took game one, 103-100. Antoine Walker, a point guard in a power forwards' body, scored 22 points, grabbed eight boards, and dished out five assists.
The real story, however, was Paul Pierce's 41 points against the NBA's best defensive player, Ron Artest. Behind the Truth's 21 fourth-quarter points, the Celtics outscored Indiana 34-21 in the final 12 minutes of play to steal the victory. Who's missing Jordan's comeback heroics?
In the West, the Sacramento Kings defeated the Utah Jazz 96-90 in a match-up featuring two of the best passing teams in the NBA. You want '80s-style basketball? Look no further than the King's run-n'-gun offense and the Jazz's methodical pick-and-roll.
Hailing from Wurzburg, West Germany, Dirk Nowitzki exploded for 46 points and 10 rebounds in game one as the multicultural Dallas Mavericks topped the Portland Trailblazers. All of the sudden, a German-playing alongside a Canadian (Steve Nash), a Mexican (Eduard Najera), and a Frenchman (Tariq Abdul-Wahad)-is dominating the NBA playoffs. Is this the future of the league?
Coney Island's Stephon Marbury and the Phoenix Suns turned in the upset of the week with a dramatic 96-95 overtime win against the San Antonio Spurs. With the Spurs leading by three points with precious seconds left in the fourth quarter, high school rookie, Amare Stoudemire, banked in a three-pointer to push the game into overtime.
After going 2-10 from behind the arc during the regular season, Stoudemire had the guts to take the most important shot of the Suns' season. The NBA's Rookie of the Year finished the game with 24 points, nine rebounds, and two blocks while going up against the game's most dominant big man, Tim Duncan.
Marbury stole the show, however, by banking in a desperation three-pointer with time expiring in overtime. Like a true poet, Marbury called the game-winning shot a "tear drop from God."
If Marbury provided the most inspiring finish, the 76ers' Allen Iverson put on the single most dominating performance of the playoffs thus far.
Proving his case as the game's best, Iverson willed Philadelphia to victory and scored 55 points on 21-32 shooting against the New Orleans Hornets. In addition, A.I. had eight assists and two steals. After the game, Iverson said, "The basket looked like an ocean, and I was just throwing rocks in."
Despite these performances, the press continues to focus on deviance. The headline of espn.com's NBA link is "Anger Management." The article discusses the "bad blood" between the Pacers and Celtics after Tony Battie's flagrant foul in game one. Is this a bigger story than a German scoring 46 points in a playoff game or a teardrop from God?
David Stern and the media would go a long way in fixing the "image problem" by embracing the tremendous talent and bravado of the next generation of NBA superstars.
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