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Thursday, March 04, 2021
ESPN.com Rewrites Julius Erving Out of NBA Slam Dunk Contest History
ESPN.com must either stop attempting to cover NBA history, or it must hire competent writers and editors. An ESPN.com article published this morning titled "From Jordan to LeBron, our experts pick every NBA franchise's greatest dunker" includes a statement by Tim Bontemps that Julius Erving never competed in an NBA Slam Dunk Contest.
Julius Erving finished second in the 1984 Slam Dunk Contest, the NBA's first ever Slam Dunk Contest. Just prior to his 34th birthday, he completed the free throw line dunk that he made famous en route to winning the 1976 ABA Slam Dunk Contest. Erving finished fourth in the 1985 Slam Dunk Contest.
Visual proof of these facts is easy to find.
Here is a video featuring Erving's second place finish in 1984:
Here is a video featuring Erving in the 1985 NBA Slam Dunk Contest:
I remember a show about ESPN's SportsCenter years ago in which Stuart Scott talked about how much wide-ranging sports history knowledge a prospective candidate must have for ESPN to even consider hiring that person. Either that was self-serving propaganda by ESPN, or the hiring standards have declined dramatically since that time.
It is difficult to understand how an NBA writer fails to know basic facts and history. An NBA writer should be passionate and informed about the sport. In addition, every NBA writer has free access to a host of official NBA publications and media guides, including an All-Star Game media guide that lists every participant in the various All-Star Saturday events such as the Slam Dunk Contest and the Three Point Shootout.
There is no excuse (1) for a national NBA writer to not know basic and important facts, and (2) for a national publication to not hire a competent editing staff to proofread content before publication.
* March 7, 2021 Note: The ESPN.com article has now been corrected by removing the statement that Erving did not participate in an NBA Slam Dunk Contest--but the corrected version does not mention that Erving finished second in the first NBA Slam Dunk Contest shortly before he turned 34, nor does the corrected version indicate that the originally published version contained an error; responsible journalistic practice would be to add a note like this: "The original version of this story incorrectly asserted that Julius Erving never appeared in an NBA Slam Dunk Contest. Erving participated in the first two NBA Slam Dunk Contests. ESPN.com regrets the error." ESPN.com would prefer that readers not realize the mistake that the writer made and the editor(s) overlooked.
In case you missed it, Green is outraged because the Cleveland Cavaliers are not playing Andre Drummond while they decide whether to trade Drummond or to buy out his contract. Green ranted that there is a double standard permitting owners to force players to not play while James Harden was criticized for demanding to be traded by the Houston Rockets.
One important point that both Green and Wiley did not mention is that Harden did not merely ask to be traded; he openly quit on his team, and then he compounded matters by publicly saying that the talent surrounding him is not very good. So, Green's analogy failed to take into account the vast difference between an employee on a guaranteed contract not giving maximum effort and also undermining workplace morale versus an employer deciding that based on the best interests of all involved parties a particular employee should, in essence, be given a paid leave of absence.
The entire segment featuring Wiley is worth watching; here are some excerpts:
Emmanuel Acho begins the segment by asking Wiley, "Is there a double standard between teams and their star players?"
Wiley replies, "No, there is not a double standard." Wiley explains that this is not just an NBA issue or a sports issue but "a life issue." Wiley continues, "What's happening is Draymond is confusing what a lot of people are confusing: double standard with different worlds...Double standard implies that you're in the same world...I understand why people get confused, but the truth is we're in two different realities. Ask Michael Jordan, who is an owner. We [pro athletes] are employees, brother. I know we are glorified employees...[80,000] people showed up to just watch me work and not 80,000 people showed up at everybody's job/employment. But what happens from that perspective is you start to get a God complex. You start to lose your way. You start to realize that maybe I am not the same as other employees. Draymond Green and others need some real world friends to understand perspective. Because, when you are an employee there are two names on your check: yours, and whoever is paying you. You guys don't live in the same reality. It's just that simple. So, if you don't like bosses, be a boss--simple as that. Oh, you can't be a boss. Well, then, being a boss comes with its perks, comes with its privileges." Wiley then points out that salaries in the major sports leagues--the NBA, the NFL, MLB--have soared in the past decade, far outpacing inflation. He correctly notes that this is a major way that owners show respect to employees. He asks players like Green who claim to be disrespected, "What are your measurements? What are your metrics? This metric right here is undeniable. They are showing you respect."
Emmanuel Acho argues that the double standard consists of how fans perceive and react to players, and also how NFL contracts are "binding" on the players but are not guaranteed if the players gets cut. Regarding Acho's first point, fans have all kinds of opinions and standards--some fair, some not fair--but Green's point is that if owners are allowed to tell players to not play then players should also be able to not play--and, Wiley is correct that Green misunderstands the different reality between owning a business and being an employee of that business. Acho also misunderstands those different realities.
Regarding NFL contracts, they are different than NBA contracts because the only NFL money that is guaranteed for a player is the signing bonus, while most NBA contracts are fully guaranteed. However, Acho is wrong to call this a double standard. The correct phrase is "terms of employment." As Wiley said, if you don't like being an employee then be a boss: build a business from the ground up, or buy an existing business and run it however you want to run it. Wiley perceptively notes that Michael Jordan's perspective and public statements changed a lot after he made the transformation from employee to owner.
Wiley's intelligent analysis of the difference between being an owner and being an employee reminds me of my coverage of the 2011 NBA lockout, when I was almost the sole voice of reason. In one of my articles about the 2011 NBA lockout, I made a similar point about the difference between being an owner and being an employee, and I did so at a time when most media coverage betrayed an inability and/or unwillingness to understand the core issues, with Chris Sheridan incorrectly predicting that the lockout would end quickly, and Henry Abbott pretending that he better understands how to run an NBA franchise than NBA owners do. In contrast, I broke down the difference between being an owner and being an employee, and I correctly predicted, "No matter what Henry Abbott, the 'stat gurus' or Chris Sheridan say, the
lockout will continue until the players consent to a fundamental
restructuring of the NBA's business model--and the players have likely
passed up the best offer they will receive; subsequent offers will be
reduced by whatever amount of revenue the owners lose from cancelled
games, starting with the first two weeks of the regular season that
were officially wiped out just a few hours ago."
Accurate analysis is generally not popular, nor is it "clickbait," but I would prefer to understand the world as it is than live in a fantasy world devoid of reality and logic.
"A work of art contains its verification in itself: artificial, strained concepts do not withstand the test of being turned into images; they fall to pieces, turn out to be sickly and pale, convince no one. Works which draw on truth and present it to us in live and concentrated form grip us, compellingly involve us, and no one ever, not even ages hence, will come forth to refute them."--Alexander Solzhenitsyn (Nobel Lecture)
"The most 'popular,' the most 'successful' writers among us (for a brief period, at least) are, 99 times out of a hundred, persons of mere effrontery--in a word, busy-bodies, toadies, quacks."--Edgar Allan Poe
"In chess what counts is what you know, not whom you know. It's the way life is supposed to be, democratic and just."--Grandmaster Larry Evans
"It's not nuclear physics. You always remember that. But if you write about sports long enough, you're constantly coming back to the point that something buoys people; something makes you feel better for having been there. Something of value is at work there...Something is hallowed here. I think that something is excellence."--Tom Callahan
