AJC > Sports > Hawks > Blog > Archives > 2007 > January > 25 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USDo you see what I see?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The revelation came Wednesday night while I was sitting a foot off the baseline at TD Banknorth Garden watching the Hawks and Celtics play what was easily one of the strangest basketball games I’ve seen in years.
And that’s a major statement when you consider I’ve been watching games in person since the late 1970s (Pops is a sports junkie that’s always enjoyed witnessing the action in person, so I had no choice).
As bad as the Hawks were in digging their 18-point hole, the Celtics were just as disastrous in losing that lead and eventually the game. And the sad part is both teams were trying with all their might to win this game.
But what do you expect when the main characters of this play are, for the most part, 22 or younger in most every instance?
Josh Smith, Al Jefferson, Kendrick Perkins, Marvin Williams, Josh Childress, Gerald Green, Sebastian Telfair, Rajon Rondo and the list goes on and on. The bulk of teams in the NBA wouldn’t go as young as these two teams have gone. But there are more headed in this direction (Philadelphia and Memphis are on the way).
Unlike others who toss out youth and inexperience as an excuse, I present it to you here as evidence that we’re all fools if we expect today’s NBA to be the glorious game we grew up on.
That’s over folks.
Done.
We’ll have to wait another generational cycle, if ever, to see the game resurrected to its proud former past. USA Basketball and the NBA have joined the reformation movement. But I’m not sure if they can succeed (though I’m pulling for all involved).
There have just been too many crimes against the game, from a grassroots level on up, for it to be saved from the unsavory elements that have stripped it of it’s fundamental greatness (and yes, reading the Big O’s book has definitely colored my view of the game now, because he’s right when he points out that there has always been a division between the way organized basketball is played and the freelanced version that is prevalent on courts where there are no referees and few rules).
I’m figuring we’ve seen the last of the game as many of us knew it. There are just too many youngster, too many unfinished products, too many talented athletes and too few ultra-skilled players to produce the type of games we think we’re entitled to.
(This isn’t PlayStation folks, guys miss shots during the real thing.)
I’ve adjusted my filter now, I’ve realized that the player development that used to take place at lower levels will be played out painfully (and expensively for the people buying tickets) at the NBA level. So if your team is one of these developmental squads, like the Hawks and Celtics, brace yourself.
This is your life, too.
Do you see what I see?
Comments
By Tyger
January 25, 2007 05:54 PM | Link to this
Assuming that you are correct, and you are, then the draft is not the answer as far as rebuilding teams. Why?
These youngsters are drafted on raw talent, size, potential/upside. So, in the near term, they rarely can help. In the long term, they’ll more likely than not, to benefit someone other than the team that drafted them.
Take Joe Johnson for example. Drafted by the Celtics, traded to Phoenix and then to the Hawks. He was a great talent out of Arkansas, much more polished than any of the youngsters we have today, but it still took 5 years and two teams before he took off.
So whats the answer? Obviously free agency/Trades. Teams are better off getting guys coming off their 1st/2nd contracts that have an NBA track record.
It’s more expensive, but you get a better product. After the 1st contract, the good/great players are generally re-signed to an extension. Time for them to get paid, but after that 2nd, the market seems to avg. even for the good ones. And you can find good values with experience and enough consistency to build around.
Take Juwan Howard for example, he was enormously overpaid after his rookie contract, it wasnt his fault, his team overestimated his upside. But now, his value has avg. out and he’s still a very productive player, just not overpaid now.