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Monday, February 17, 2025
New All-Star Format Produces Same Desultory Results
At least some of the players tried some of the time.
Sadly, that is the best that can be said about the NBA's new All-Star Game format featuring four teams playing a mini-tournament consisting of games that are each an untimed race to 40 points. TNT's Charles Barkley, Shaquille O'Neal, and Kenny Smith picked the rosters for three of the four teams out of a player pool consisting of this year's 24 NBA All-Stars. Barkley's Global Stars included players with an international connection, O'Neal's OGs included veteran American players, and Smith's Young Stars included young American players. Trae Young was selected by Commissioner Adam Silver as a replacement for the injured Giannis Antetokounmpo on the Global Stars, and Silver tapped Kyrie Irving to replace the injured Anthony Davis on the OGs. LeBron James (OGs) and Anthony Edwards (Young Stars) waited until the day of the game to decide that they could not play, and thus no replacements were selected for either of them. The fourth team, Candace Parker's Rising Stars, included rookies and second year NBA players who won the Rising Stars event on Friday night.
I've been following the NBA since the 1970s, and the NBA All-Star Game used to be one of my favorite events, but recently it has become something that I watch more out of a sense of duty than a feeling of joy; during the 1980s, I loved watching the East's Julius Erving, Larry Bird, Moses Malone, and Isiah Thomas compete against the West's Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and George Gervin because the players had fun and showed off their individual skills while playing to win--but in recent years the All-Star Game has featured various gimmicky formats while the only thing the players competed at was showing who was least interested in playing hard.
Last night, after numerous breaks in the action for Kevin Hart to ham it up, the OGs defeated the Global Stars 41-25 in the championship game. The OGs raced out to an 11-0 lead and never looked back. Bay Area hero Stephen Curry was the inevitable choice for the Kobe Bryant All-Star Game MVP award after he scored 12 points on 4-8 field goal shooting (attempting no shots inside the arc), though a credible argument could be made that Jayson Tatum (15 points on 6-7 field goal shooting, three rebounds, two assists) had a bigger impact. The Stephen Curry All-Star moment that I will never forget--and that symbolizes how far the All-Star Game has plummeted--did not happen in 2025, but was when he lay down on the court in 2017 to permit an uncontested dunk.
The Global Stars qualified for the championship game by defeating the Young Stars 41-32, while the OGs beat the Rising Stars 42-35. It would have been fitting if the Rising Stars had won against an OGs team packed with star power, but the OGs closed the game on an 18-9 run after the Rising Stars enjoyed a brief 26-24 lead. The OGs played some defense down the stretch, but still flirted with disaster by missing four three pointers after scoring their 37th point before they closed the game out with a Kevin Durant dunk and a long Damian Lillard three pointer; it never seemed to occur to the OGs to take two easy two pointers instead of firing away from long range, which says a lot not only about the All-Star Game but also about the way that "stat gurus" have skewed basketball with their emphasis on "advanced basketball statistics" as opposed to sensible basketball strategy focusing on attacking the paint, defending the paint, and not relying on high variance long range shots. The Rising Stars played hard but just did not have enough talent to match up with a squad featuring four players on the NBA's 75th Anniversary Team.
Recent All-Star Games have been defined by the players jacking up three pointers and playing no defense, culminating in last year's fiasco featuring 168 combined three point field goal attempts and just five combined free throw attempts. This year, some players--most notably Victor Wembanyama of the Global Stars and Jaylen Brown of the OGs--played defense, but in the championship game the teams combined to attempt 33 of their 59 field goal attempts from three point range while shooting just four combined free throw attempts. Wembanyama scored a team-high 11 points on 5-7 field goal shooting in defeat.
The inescapable conclusion is that some of these players do not want to participate at all, and most of the players refuse to play hard. During the 2025 Legends Brunch--the highlight of the weekend--Rick Barry reminisced about the 1967 NBA All-Star Game, a contest during which the teams combined to attempt 63 free throws. At that time, the players had enough personal pride to compete against each other, but that started to fade in the early 2000s after Michael Jordan retired, and then in the past 10 years or so it completely disappeared. None of the NBA's experimental All-Star Game formats have worked because no amount of begging or extra money will induce these players to compete.
There is only one solution, and I proposed it during my 2024 All-Star Game recap: get rid of the All-Star Game. The players don't want to play, and I can't imagine that many fans enjoyed watching these choppy games interrupted by goofy skits (though it was fun watching a fan win $100,000 after making one half court shot before Lillard could make three half court shots). The NBA should not only stop having an All-Star Game but it should restructure existing contracts that have bonus clauses for being selected as an All-Star, and those bonuses should be tied to objectively measurable performance goals combined with a minimum number of games played. If the NBA thinks that fans just want to see three point shooting interspersed with musical performances and comedic skits then the league should end the pretense of calling that event an All-Star Game and instead just have an "NBA Entertainment Extravaganza" featuring those things.
It was hilarious to hear Draymond Green--a guest commentator on TNT who is preparing for the next stage of his life when he can no longer bask in Stephen Curry's reflected glory--complaining all night about the All-Star format. He whined that the All-Star court is "sacred" ground and that the Rising Stars have no right to even set foot on the court, and he griped that the new format prevents players from ever breaking single game All-Star records. Charles Barkley challenged Green, bluntly declaring, "His generation messed the game up." As noted above, I don't like any All-Star format other than East versus West with both teams playing hard, but Green has no credibility criticizing anything in the NBA; he is lucky to even be in the league--let alone featured as a commentator--after a career that includes numerous dirty plays and violent actions. If modern All-Stars had taken the All-Star Game seriously then they would not have had to worry about their "sacred" ground being sullied by the presence of basketball players who are not superstars.
Note that the 2025 All-Stars were given the opportunity to play for more money in a shorter format; players on the winning team received $125,000 each, an increase from the $100,000 that each player on the winning team received last year, which was an increase from the $50,000 that each player on the winning team received prior to 2018. Yes, All-Star Game winners receive more money for a few hours of "effort" than most people earn in an entire year--and that money is on top of their huge salaries, plus the six or seven figure bonuses that many players get just for being selected as an All-Star.
No, Draymond, we don't feel sorry about "sacred" ground being sullied, but many of us are offended by the combination of greed and sloth displayed by so many players. Unlike some people, I don't have a huge issue with the general concept of athletes making a lot of money: they are the best in the world at what they do, and what they do generates billions of dollars in revenue. However, I am increasingly offended by the entitled attitudes of so many players who want more and more money for doing less and less work, and who have no compunction about breaching their contracts on a whim when they decide that they would prefer to play somewhere else. For those of you who do not understand contract law, teams have the legal right to cut or trade players (and the players with guaranteed contracts still get paid anyway), but players do not have the legal right to get out of shape and stop playing hard if they decide that they don't like their current employment circumstances; the notion that teams "have no loyalty so it is OK for players to have no loyalty" reflects a misunderstanding of the employer-employee dynamic. If the players want the absolute right to play or not play whenever they want, then they should agree to not have their contracts guaranteed. Then, guys like Jimmy Butler and James Harden can stop getting paid right after they stop playing hard, and guys like Joel Embiid can get paid if and only if they show up for work.
Green was not content to rain on Silver's All-Star parade. Green provided more comic relief than Hart, declaring that the Golden State Warriors will win the 2025 NBA title. When Joe Namath made his famous guarantee prior to Super Bowl III, he was the best player on the New York Jets and arguably the best player in pro football. In marked contrast, Green has never been better than the third best player on his own team except for the one season when all of the great players left or got injured, after which Green led the Warriors to a 15-50 record while posting his typical "triple single" averages. Adding Jimmy Butler should make the Warriors a better team in the short term, but the Warriors currently are clinging to the 10th seed in the West; if they move out of the Play-In Tournament field and into the top six that would be an accomplishment, and if they win a playoff series that would be a surprise--but imagining them winning four playoff series is delusional, and making such a prediction as the team's third best player is absurd and delusional.
If Commissioner Silver does not cancel the 2026 NBA All-Star Game, then he should at least put a clown's hat on Green and replace Hart with Green so that the audience understands that Green is there for comic relief and not serious commentary.
"The 2023 NBA All-Star Game
may have been not only the worst NBA All-Star Game ever, but possibly
the worst basketball game ever played by high level players--until the
2024 NBA All-Star Game sunk to a new low: the teams launched 168 three
point shots while attempting just five free throws as the Eastern
Conference All-Stars routed the Western Conference All-Stars, 211-186.
That is not competitive basketball, and it is unrecognizable compared to
what the All-Star Game used to be: in 1994, the East beat the West
127-118 in a game featuring a combined 60 free throw attempts but just
30 three point field goal attempts; there was no shortage of highlight
plays/moments but the most important thing is that the players competed.
During the wonderful 2024 NBA Legends Brunch,
Larry Bird praised today's players and made a request: "The one thing I
would really like to see is they play hard in tonight's
All-Star Game. I think it's very important when you have the best
players in the world together you've got to compete and you've got to
play hard."
Instead, the players disrespected themselves, the
sport, and the legends who built the game that provides them with the
opportunity to receive generational wealth. No one is expecting the
All-Star Game to resemble game seven of the NBA
Finals, but the refusal of the modern players to even pretend to want to
compete is sad...
We hear so much about how great Commissioner Adam Silver is, but it
appears that he is praised because he tends to let the players do
whatever they want, in contrast to his predecessor David Stern, who viewed himself as a caretaker of the sport as a whole.
Considering how little today's best players care about putting even
forth minimal effort, the NBA should get rid of not just the
All-Star Game but even the concept of being an All-Star: retain All-Star
Saturday Night (it could be renamed something else, like NBA Showcase
Saturday) and of course retain the Legends Brunch, but the All-Star Game
serves no purpose, and being selected as an All-Star in today's NBA has
no meaning. Only the awards given after the season matter, so let the
players grumble about having to play at least 65 out of 82 games--oh,
the suffering!--to be eligible to win those awards.
Here is
the challenge to Silver: fix the All-Star Game, or have the intestinal
fortitude to not only get rid of it but to publicly say that he is
getting rid of it because the players do not take it seriously enough to
deserve to have it and to receive the bonuses associated with being
selected for it."
"The
2023 NBA All-Star Game was not only the worst NBA All-Star Game
ever, but it may have been the worst basketball game ever
'contested'--and I use that word with hesitation--by high level players.
Denver Nuggets Coach Michael Malone, who coached Team LeBron, made this
statement after Team Giannis prevailed 184-175: 'It's an honor to be
here, and it's an honor to be a part of a great
weekend with great players, but it's the worst basketball game ever
played.' Malone also admitted that he has no idea how to fix the game.
The
NBA All-Star Game began its horrific slide to irrelevance several years
ago (see game recaps appended to this article for more details), but
yesterday the league's showcase midseason event descended to a nadir
from which there may be no recovery.
At its best, NBA basketball
is about the world's greatest athletes competing at a high level at both
ends of the court while working together to help their team win. At its
worst--and its worst was on full display last night--NBA basketball is
about players flaunting their individual skills without any connection
to team success while their 'opponents' step aside and watch instead of
competing on defense. The 2023 NBA All-Star Game was such an abomination
that it is difficult to decide which moment was the worst."
"How much has the All-Star Game devolved from an actual competition
featuring the league's best players to an exhibition of players
demonstrating individual skills devoid of competition or team play? Free
throws are a quick way to gauge physicality/defense. The 2022 All-Star
Game included eight fouls, four of which were called in the fourth
quarter, and Team LeBron shot 2-2 from the free throw line while Team
Durant shot 7-7 from the free throw line. This season, NBA teams average
a little over 21 free throw attempts per game, so it is obvious that
the All-Star Game featured few fouls, few free throws, very little
physicality, and token defense compared to a normal NBA game.
All-Star
Games used to be played much differently. In the first NBA All-Star
Game, the East beat the West 98-93 in overtime in 1954 with the East
shooting 36 of 44 from the free throw line and the West shooting 17-26
from the free throw line. In 1962, Wilt Chamberlain set an All-Star
single game scoring record (42 points) that stood for 55 years.
Chamberlain shot 8-16 from the free throw line, and his East squad shot
24-43 from the free throw line. The West, which won 150-130, shot 36-51
from the free throw line. Chamberlain's scoring record took place during
a competitive game, and the record stood until long after NBA All-Star
Games ceased to be competitive; his record is so exceptional that even
in an era during which it is much easier to score in All-Star Games only
two players have surpassed the standard that he set--and Curry did so
by making a bunch of uncontested three pointers.
For most of
All-Star Game history, players from both sides played hard, played
defense, and committed a normal amount of fouls. Things began to change
in 2007, when the victorious West only attempted nine free throws and
the East only attempted 13 free throws, a big decline from 24 and 28
respectively in the 2006 All-Star Game. The 2008 All-Star Game was more
of the same. Matters improved a bit during the next several All-Star
Games, but in 2014 the East attempted nine free throws and the West
attempted 12 free throws. Since 2014, single digit free throw attempts
per team have been the norm rather than the exception--and on the rare
occasion that a team has attempted more than 10 free throws most of
those free throw attempts have happened in the fourth quarter, when the
new scoring rules inspire (or shame) the All-Stars into playing some
defense."
"Giannis Antetokounmpo did not have the first perfect shooting
performance in NBA All-Star Game history--Hal Greer shot 8-8 from the
field en route to scoring 21 points and winning the 1968 NBA All-Star
Game MVP--but he set the NBA All-Star Game record for most field goals
without a miss (16), and he captured his first All-Star Game MVP by
scoring a game-high 35 points as his Team LeBron routed Team Durant,
170-150. Antetokounmpo played just 19 minutes, so he scored nearly two
points per minute. Most of Antetokounmpo's shots were lightly
contested--if not uncontested--dunks, but he also shot 3-3 from three
point range. Each team shot 3-5 from the free throw line as both teams
spent most of the game not even pretending to care about defense.
Perhaps the league and/or the players think that the fans want to see
uncontested dunks and wide open three pointers, but I think/hope that
true basketball fans want to see competition. A contested dunk is a
great play; an uncontested dunk is just performance art."
"After
three quarters, it seemed that the new NBA All-Star Game format had not
inspired many players from either team to even pretend to play at a
fraction of their full capabilities. Fortunately, the fourth quarter--a
race to 157 points based on adding 24 points (in honor of Kobe Bryant)
to the 133-124 lead enjoyed by Team Giannis over Team LeBron at the end
of the third quarter--featured high level play as both teams looked
fully engaged: Team Giannis' Kyle Lowry seemed to try to take a charge
on every defensive possession, players from both teams contested almost
every shot, and the level of physicality ramped up to top notch regular
season levels, if not even first round playoff levels.
It is mystifying that most NBA players seem to need external motivation
to play their best in the All-Star Game, but with a substantial portion
of the weekend's festivities dedicated to the memory of
Bryant--including naming the All-Star MVP award for him--it would have
been a travesty for the players to just sleepwalk through the entire
proceedings. Kawhi Leonard is a pioneer of the less than commendable
load management scourge, but at least he always plays hard when he is on
the court. Leonard scored a game-high 30 points on 11-18 field goal
shooting (including 8-14 from three point range), grabbed seven
rebounds, dished for four assists, and received the first Kobe Bryant
All-Star Game MVP Award as his Team LeBron won, 157-155."
"The All-Star Game sunk to such depths a few years ago that there were
even whispers that it might be discontinued. Instead, the league changed
the format from East versus West to a format in which the top two
vote-getters conduct a draft consisting of a pool of other All-Stars
selected by fans, coaches and media members. LeBron James faced off
against Giannis Antetokounmpo in this year's All-Star draft. Popular
consensus was that James, whose draft strategy seemed to be focused on
acquiring every major player who will be a free agent soon, got the
better of Antetokounmpo--but it did not look like that initially, as
Team Giannis led 53-37 after the first quarter and 95-82 at halftime.
Antetokounmpo scored a game-high 38 points on 17-23 field
goal shooting, including 10 dunks. He also had 11 rebounds and five
assists. He set the tone in the first quarter with 16 points.
Antetokounmpo's
Milwaukee teammate/All-Star teammate Khris Middleton added 20 points on
7-13 field goal
shooting, including 6-10 from three point range. Middleton scored 12
first quarter points.
To coin--or repeat--a phrase, it seemed like Team LeBron was in 'chill
mode' during the first half, but in the second half they exerted at
least some defensive effort and they rained down a barrage of three
pointers. Team LeBron outscored Team Giannis 96-69 in the second half
while shooting 22-49 from three point range. The teams combined to
attempt 167 three pointers during the game, compared to 108 two pointers
attempted.
Kevin Durant earned MVP honors by scoring 31 points on 10-15 field goal
shooting (including 6-9 from three point range) while also contributing
seven rebounds. He had 11 points on 4-4 field goal shooting in the
fourth quarter. Durant's Golden State teammate Klay Thompson finished
second on Team LeBron with 20 points on 7-16 field goal shooting (6-12
from three point range) and he had eight rebounds and four assists as
well."
"LeBron James scored a game-high 29 points on 12-17 field goal shooting,
grabbed a game-high tying 10 rebounds and dished eight assists as Team
LeBron defeated Team Stephen 148-145 in the first year of the NBA's new All-Star selection format;
instead of the traditional matchup featuring the Eastern Conference
facing the Western Conference, a team of All-Stars picked by LeBron
James faced a team of All-Stars picked by Stephen Curry. The NBA tweaked
the All-Star Game in the wake of several subpar All-Star Games,
culminating in last year's farce.
Before the 2018 All-Star Game, James already held the NBA All-Star Game
career scoring record (314 points) and yesterday he surpassed Julius
Erving (321 points) to set the record for most points scored in ABA and
NBA All-Star Games combined. Bob Pettit (1956, 58, 59, 62) and Kobe
Bryant (2002, 2007, 2009, 2011) share the record with four All-Star Game
MVPs each, while James joined Oscar Robertson, Michael Jordan and
Shaquille O'Neal as three-time winners; James previously earned the
All-Star Game MVP in 2006 and 2008."
"The Western Conference's 192-182 victory over the Eastern Conference is
without question the worst NBA All-Star Game that I have ever watched.
Other than the MLB All-Star Game that ended in a tie (and many NFL Pro
Bowls of recent vintage) it may be the worst major professional league
All-Star Game ever. When the reigning two-time regular season MVP
literally lies down on the court instead of attempting to play defense,
you know that the event has jumped the shark."
The Jimmy Butler Saga, and Why Kobe Was Greater than Shaq
I don't plan to say much about the Jimmy Butler saga until it is resolved; I have never trafficked in rumors and speculation, and I am not going to start doing that now. The basic facts are known to anyone who follows the NBA: Butler is dissatisfied with the Heat because he wants a contract extension that the team declined to offer, Butler has broken various team rules while making his dissatisfaction clear, and the Heat have suspended him on two separate occasions for a total of nine games. Butler is a six-time All-Star, but he made his last All-Star appearance in 2023 and it is clear that the 35 year old is past his prime, though still an effective player when he deigns to show up and play hard.
The Heat will pay Butler $48.8 million this season (minus the $3.1 million that he lost due to being suspended), and he has a player option for $52.4 million for next season. During his long tenure in Miami, team President Pat Riley has not shied away from confronting Shaquille O'Neal, Dwyane Wade, and LeBron James, so he is not going to have the slightest hesitation about confronting Butler; after last season, Riley publicly rebuked Butler--who missed the playoffs due to injury--for speaking about how well the Heat could have done with him in the playoffs, and Riley has made it clear that he--not Butler or any other player--runs the franchise.
One might think that it is reasonable for the Heat to expect Butler to show up on time and play hard in exchange for receiving over $100 million this season and next season, but Butler declared that he has lost his "joy" and will not be able to find it again until he is with a different team; when the lost "joy" escalated to missed flights and other violations of team rules, the Heat reasonably decided to not pay an employee who has declined to do the job he is being paid to do.
Butler is following in the shameful footsteps of--among others--James Harden and Damian Lillard, players who decided to say and do whatever is necessary to enable them to not only breach their contracts but also be traded to their destinations of choice. This is business as usual in the modern NBA, which is why I had not yet written about Butler--but listening to TNT's Shaquille O'Neal insist that it is acceptable and understandable for Butler to not "go all out" because the Heat have not given a contract extension to Butler provided an excellent reminder of why Kobe Bryant was greater than Shaquille O'Neal: Bryant consistently practiced hard and played hard while focusing his efforts on doing everything possible to win championships, but winning championships was not always O'Neal's top priority.
O'Neal said that he understands how Butler feels--"You don't want me, so I don't want you"--because he went through that experience more than once during his career. O'Neal has cultivated such a likable image during his post-playing career that it is easy to forget the contentious dealings he had with multiple teams during his playing career, including the Orlando Magic, the L.A. Lakers, and the Miami Heat. Lakers fans remember O'Neal declaring that if the big dog is not fed (the ball) then he won't guard the house (play defense in the paint), and they also remember O'Neal asserting that because he got injured on "company time" he is entitled to have surgery "on company time." That decision to delay his toe surgery not only probably cost the Lakers the 2003 championship (which would have been a "four-peat" not seen since Bill Russell led the Boston Celtics to eight straight titles from 1959-66), but it probably influenced Jerry Buss' decision to choose to build the Lakers around Bryant and not O'Neal; that turned out to be a wise choice that resulted in the Lakers winning championships in 2009 and 2010 while O'Neal settled for one post-Lakers' title as the Miami Heat's second option behind Dwyane Wade.
O'Neal has an infectious joy for life, he has generously donated to many
charities and he ranks among the top 15 players (and top five centers)
of all-time. Yet, despite everything that O'Neal accomplished--and even
considering that he rightfully should have received at least two more
regular season MVPs (2001, 2005)--there is still an inescapable sense
that he should have accomplished even more than he did. Phil Jackson
recently said of O'Neal, "This is a guy who could and should have been
the MVP player for 10 consecutive seasons." If O'Neal had approached
training, practicing and conditioning with the mindset of Michael Jordan
or Kobe Bryant then O'Neal could have established a body of work that
would have credibly put him in contention for the mythical title of
greatest player of all-time (as I explained in my Pantheon series
it is very difficult to pick one player as the greatest of all-time,
though it is possible to select several worthy candidates for that
honor); O'Neal had a great career but no knowledgeable basketball
analyst would rank him as the greatest player of all-time.
Thus, considering O'Neal's history it is not surprising that he is siding with Butler. O'Neal has never believed that a player should be expected to give maximum effort at all times if the player is dissatisfied for any reason. O'Neal's TNT co-hosts Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, and Charles Barkley pushed back, arguing that Butler has a responsibility to fulfill the terms of his contract. Johnson framed this as a matter of personal pride/integrity, while Barkley emphasized that Butler should not let his teammates down. Smith agreed with those points, and he noted that Butler may be trying to get more
money but all that he has done so far is cost himself more than $3
million that he may never recoup.
Jerry West passed away Wednesday morning at the age of 86. Younger fans may not understand why West's silhouette has been embedded in the NBA's official logo for over 50 years, but even a brief review of West's accomplishments makes it clear that West is not only one of the greatest basketball players ever but one of the most important people in basketball history.
West earned induction in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in three separate roles: as a player (1980), as a member of the Team USA squad that won the gold medal in the 1960 Olympics (2010), and as a contributor (2024, in what will now be a posthumous honor). He was one of 11 players selected to the NBA's 35th Anniversary Team (1980). West was also selected to the NBA's 50 Greatest Players List (1996), and the NBA's 75th Anniversary Team (2021).
West made the All-Star team in each of his 14 seasons, he earned 10 All-NBA First Team selections (tied for fourth all-time behind only LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Karl Malone), he won the 1970 scoring title, he won the 1972 assist title, and he made the All-Defensive Team in each of the first five seasons that honor was presented at the end of his career (1969-73). West was the third player to surpass the 25,000 point plateau, and he retired with the third highest regular season scoring average (27.0 ppg), trailing
only Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor. West finished second in regular season MVP voting four times in an era when only one non-center (Oscar Robertson, 1964) won an MVP between 1957 and 1981.
West finished his playing career with a 1-8 NBA Finals record, but he
earned the nickname "Mr. Clutch" because of his tremendous performances
in the biggest games. West declared, "If it comes down to one shot, I like to shoot the
ball. I don't worry about it. If it doesn't go in, it doesn't go in." West holds the career NBA Finals scoring record
(1679 points), ahead of LeBron James (1562), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1317),
and Michael Jordan (1176). West has the third highest career NBA Finals scoring average (30.5 ppg), trailing only Rick Barry (36.3 ppg) and Michael Jordan (33.6 ppg). West won the inaugural NBA Finals MVP award in 1969, and he remains the only player to earn that honor as a member of the losing team.
Robertson and West ranked 1-2 (in whatever order you prefer) all-time among guards until well into the 1980s when Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan made their marks.
Baylor and West were known as "Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside," and they are still one of the greatest duos in NBA history. West was a big-time scorer while playing alongside Baylor, but when Baylor missed all but five minutes of the 1965 playoffs West took his game to a record-setting level, averaging 46.3 ppg on .453 field goal shooting as the Lakers won 4-2 versus the Baltimore Bullets in the Western Division Finals. West then scored 33.8 ppg versus the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals, but Bill Russell and a lineup filled with other Hall of Famers crew beat the Lakers, 4-1. Russell's Celtics were West's greatest nemesis, defeating West's Lakers six times in the NBA Finals.
Chamberlain joined Baylor and West for the 1968-69 season, but by that stage of their careers those three players were rarely fully healthy at the same time. The otherwise incredibly durable Chamberlain missed 70 games during the 1969-70 season because of a knee injury, and during the trio's four seasons together with the Lakers, Baylor played in 76, 54, two, and nine games before retiring early in that fourth season. Without Baylor, but alongside Chamberlain and Gail Goodrich, West finally won an NBA title in 1972 as a key member of one of the NBA's greatest single season teams; the Lakers won a still-record 33 straight regular season games before storming through the postseason with a 12-3 mark, including a 4-1 rout of a New York Knicks team that won NBA titles in 1970 and 1973.
West is a member of my basketball Pantheon, and is without question one of the top five guards of all-time, along with fellow Pantheon members (listed chronologically) Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, and Kobe Bryant.
West, Johnson, and Hakeem Olajuwon are the only players to win an NBA
Finals MVP, an NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player award, and an
Olympic gold medal.
How great was West? Picture Stephen Curry with an excellent vertical
leap and elite defensive skills--or, as West put it, "A wolf who ate
dogs":
I described West's 2011 book West by Westas "a unique contribution to sports literature: it is not an autobiography
or even an 'as told to' story; West writes (p. XII), 'the approach that I
have taken, in collaboration with Jonathan Coleman, is one that is
built on deep reportage...nothing less than a full-scale attempt to
bring forth the truth, to rely not just on my recollection of things,
but to do something more ambitious: investigate myself, speak with
others, and come to grips with what I find.'" I encourage anyone who is not familiar with West's life and career to read my review--and then to read West's book.
West was an important basketball figure from the late 1950s when he was a collegiate star at West Virginia through 2024 when he served as an executive with the L.A. Clippers until his death. After his playing career ended, he posted a 145-101 record in three seasons as the Lakers coach, including the best record in the league (53-29) in the 1976-77 season. West then moved to the Lakers front office and played a major role in building two of the greatest dynasties of the past 40 years: the Showtime Lakers won five NBA titles in the 1980s, and the Shaq/Kobe Lakers of the early 2000s won three straight championships. West felt disrespected by Lakers Coach Phil Jackson, and West moved on to Memphis, where he built the Grizzlies into a 50 win team in 2004 after the franchise had never won more than 28 games in each of its first eight years of existence. He then worked in the Golden State Warriors front office during that team's 2015 and 2017 championship seasons. West only won the Executive of the Year award twice (1995 with the Lakers, 2004 with the Grizzlies), and I agree with former Utah executive Scott Layden, who declared that the award should be named after West; a strong case could be made that West is the greatest executive in NBA history, if not North American team sports history.
It is a cliche to call a person "unique": few people have qualities
that are unusual or rare, and even fewer people fit the literal
definition of "unique" by being truly "one of a kind."
Jerry West's combined record as a player, coach, and executive is unique: no one else has ever played at an elite level in the NBA, then coached a team to the best record in the NBA, and then built multiple NBA championship teams as an executive.
Jerry West will be deeply missed, but never forgotten.
Edwards and Towns Outduel Doncic and Irving as Timberwolves Avoid Being Swept
I enjoy analyzing complex basketball strategies, but--as Charles Barkley succinctly put it during TNT's Western Conference Finals game four telecast--sometimes basketball is a simple sport: if your team's stars outplay the other team's stars then your team has a great chance to win. That simple story explained what happened in the Minnesota Timberwolves' 105-100 win versus the Dallas Mavericks: Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns outplayed Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. Edwards scored a game-high 29 points on 11-25 field goal shooting, and he led the Timberwolves in both rebounds (10) and assists (nine). Towns scored a series-high 25 points on 9-13 field goal shooting, including 4-5 from three point range. Towns was far from perfect--he fouled out in just 30 minutes of playing time as he still has not cured his habit of committing stupid fouls, and he grabbed just five rebounds--but the good outweighed the bad: he shot efficiently from the field, he attacked the paint more often than he had in recent games, he was both more accurate and more judicious on this three point attempts, and he posted his highest scoring total in his last nine playoff games. Mike Conley was steady as always (14 points on 5-9 field goal shooting along with seven assists and no turnovers in 34 minutes), and Rudy Gobert scored 13 points while tying Edwards for team-high honors with 10 rebounds.
Doncic posted his league-leading sixth triple double in the 2024 playoffs (28 points, game-high 15 rebounds, game-high 10 assists), but he shot just 7-21 from the field, had a game-worst -13 plus/minus number, and shot 1-5 from the field in the fourth quarter with the outcome up for grabs. Irving scored 16 points on 6-18 field goal shooting while dishing for four assists but amassing a team-high four turnovers. Dallas keenly felt the absence of Dereck Lively II, an active and energetic center who suffered a neck injury in game three of this series. Minnesota outrebounded Dallas 40-38 and outscored Dallas in the paint 46-36.
Facing not just elimination but the humiliation of being swept, Minnesota stormed out to a 24-12 first quarter lead, but Dallas trimmed that margin to 27-20 by the end of the first quarter and then went ahead by three points in the second quarter before settling for a 49-49 halftime tie.
Minnesota won the third quarter 29-24 as Towns scored 10 points on 4-4 field goal shooting after scoring just five first half points. Minnesota enjoyed a fourth quarter lead in each of the first three games of this series only to fall apart down the stretch, but in this game Towns (10 points), Gobert (eight points), and Edwards (six points) dominated the final stanza. Dallas countered with balanced but inefficient fourth quarter scoring, matching Minnesota with 27 points but shooting just .435 from the field while Minnesota shot .526 from the field.
Game five will be very interesting, because the Timberwolves will show if they are satisfied just to avoid being swept, or if they are excited about the opportunity to win at home and put the pressure on the Mavericks to win game six in Dallas to avoid game seven in Minnesota. The Timberwolves are bigger and deeper than the Mavericks, but that did not matter in the first three games because of how much Doncic and Irving outplayed Edwards and Towns. The Timberwolves are capable of replicating in game five at home the effort level and efficiency that they displayed in game four on the road.
What struck me most about this game, though, is the pregame commentary about Kyrie Irving. Many media members are pushing the Kyrie Irving redemption narrative, but Barkley is one of the few media members who has the courage to speak the truth about Irving. Barkley declared that many of Irving's problems were "self inflicted," noting specifically, "You can't say antisemitic stuff." Barkley concluded that Irving deserved both the criticism he received and the suspension handed down by the Brooklyn Nets in 2022 in response to Irving's unrepentant antisemitism. It is very disappointing that Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal, and Kenny Smith--who rightly do not hesitate to speak out about a host of social issues--remained silent about Irving's antisemitism, particularly at a time when both antisemitic vitriol and antisemitic violence are at unprecedented levels. In their initial response to Irving's unrepentant antisemitism, Johnson and the TNT studio crew did better, with the exception of Smith, who has consistently been off target about this issue.
I know better than to try to persuade people who are willfully blind
to the truth, but when thinking about who has power, what are the limits
of free speech, and what is the nature of objective historical truth,
it is interesting to keep in mind a few facts that I have mentioned in
my previous articles about Irving:
1) Irving has more social media
followers than the Jewish population of the world. Irving has over 20
million followers, while there are fewer than 15 million Jews in a world
that has a population of nearly 8 billion people. When Irving boasts
that he has an "army" supporting him, that is not an exaggeration. He is
far from powerless both in terms of his personal, generational wealth,
and in terms of the influence that he wields. If each of his followers
spreads his messages to just five more people, Irving potentially
reaches 100 million people every time he makes a social media post.
The
Jewish people are so powerful that less than 80 years ago a third of
their population was massacred in Europe while the Jewish people were
unable to get immigration quotas lifted in any major Western country,
including America.
2) No one has challenged Irving's free speech right to post whatever he wants to post. The First Amendment protects against government restriction
of a citizen's free speech rights--but just like Irving has a right to
say what he wants to say, other people have a right to respond to him,
to question him, and to decide to not employ him or do business with
him.
3) I have seen some people assert that the film that
Irving promoted speaks the truth, and I have seen other people say some
version of "everyone has a right to speak his truth."
Regarding
the first sentiment, the movie that Irving promoted asserts that the
Holocaust never happened, that Jews controlled the trans-Atlantic slave
trade, and that Jews worship Satan. Those statements are all
demonstrably false. This would be equivalent to a white supremacist
stating that slavery never happened, that Black people are responsible
for harming white people on a massive scale, and that Black people
worship Satan. If you support Irving's promotion of antisemitic
falsehoods, then you have no standing to challenge white supremacists
who state that they are not attacking Black people but rather defending
white people, and you definitely need to stop talking about so-called
"micro-aggressions." To be clear, I find both white supremacy and
Holocaust denial to be offensive; I condemn both. I just don't want to
hear about "micro-aggressions" from people who endorse
"macro-aggressions" that contradict historical truth and contribute to a
climate in which antisemitic violence is soaring to unprecedented
levels.
Regarding the second sentiment, this notion that
there is not an objective truth but that each person has his or her own
"truth" is precisely what George Orwell warned about in his classic
dystopian novel 1984. If words lose their objective meaning and
if history can be whatever each person believes it to be then we have no
shared past and no shared future because there are no longer standards
for what is right, what is wrong, what is true, and what is false. There
are far too many people in our society who would love to take our
educational system in that direction. The Soviet Union tried it, China
is doing it now, Cuba is doing it now, and we have seen--without
fail--that every nation that goes down this path ends up persecuting its
own people and terrorizing its neighbors.
To anyone who suggests that the above commentary does not belong in a game recap, my response is that Irving's on court revival and his off court issues are two separate matters, but too many people are acting as if Irving's willingness to be a better teammate has some connection with the abhorrent views that he promoted and refused to disavow--and as long as that confusion is being propagated and as long as even otherwise standup people like Ernie Johnson are silent I will speak loudly to confront the confusion and the silence.
It is demonstrably true that Irving had a negative impact on team chemistry with multiple teams prior to being acquired by Dallas last season. He has not been in Dallas very long, but up to this point it appears like he has become a better teammate and--for the first time in his career--is demonstrating leadership qualities. Good for him as a basketball player--but what Irving says, does, and stands for away from the basketball court is far more important, and I will conclude by repeating the key point that I made two years ago when Irving promoted antisemitic tropes, and that I repeated in this article, because the truth about this simply cannot be stated too many times:
If you support Irving's promotion of antisemitic
falsehoods, then you have no standing to challenge white supremacists
who state that they are not attacking Black people but rather defending
white people, and you definitely need to stop talking about so-called
"micro-aggressions."
During yesterday's pregame show, Kenny Smith made the bizarre statement that he urged Stephen A. Smith to stop criticizing Irving because they are all from the same neighborhood. Would Smith apply that same reasoning to preclude white people from criticizing racists who come from their neighborhoods? The normalization of antisemitism is frightening, and portends doom for our society, because any society that targets the weakest groups has lost its moral bearings.
Bryant's widow Vanessa was the final speaker before the Lakers unveiled the Bryant statue. Vanessa explained that there will be two other Bryant statues: one will include Bryant alongside Gianna, and the other will depict Bryant wearing jersey number 24. Vanessa took a preemptive strike against anyone who might criticize how tonight's statue looks--a sad certainty in an era of social media oversaturation--by noting that Bryant chose the pose used for the statue and he provided other input about the design. Vanessa said that she only suggested a few alterations, including adding tattoos on Bryant's arms in tribute to all of his daughters even though not all of his daughters had been born yet in 2006. Vanessa added, "This moment isn't just for Kobe, but it is for all of you
who have been rooting for him for all of these years...It brings me
joy to see how much love you have for all of us. We love you back."
During TNT's pregame show, Shaquille O'Neal spoke from the heart about winning three straight NBA championships while playing alongside Bryant, who he called his best teammate ever. It is no secret that Bryant and O'Neal openly feuded while they were teammates, mainly because Bryant had a much more serious and disciplined approach to the game than O'Neal did. O'Neal's current version of those events--that he and Bryant were not really feuding but just both pushing each other to be great--has more than a whiff of revisionist history to it but it is true that they made their peace with each other years before Bryant died, so perhaps it is best that O'Neal does not dwell on every detail of their feud or try to act like he was right.
Vanessa has displayed remarkable grace and poise in the wake of losing her husband and her second eldest daughter on the same horrible day. Much as Jacqueline Kennedy sought to preserve and enhance the legacy of her slain husband John F. Kennedy, it is evident that Vanessa has put a lot of thought into how to best honor and remember her husband and their daughter. Vanessa's speech during Bryant's memorial ceremony and her speech representing Bryant during the Basketball Hall of Fame ceremony highlighted her intelligence, her sensitivity, and her amazing ability to maintain composure while processing tremendous grief. She displayed those same qualities during her speech prior to the statue's unveiling. Vanessa is insuring that Bryant's legacy will endure not just in terms of his basketball accomplishments but also in terms of his post-basketball playing life that had only just begun when it was so cruelly cut short.
I remember as a child reading about Roberto Clemente's tragic passing at 38 in a plane crash as he flew to Nicaragua to personally deliver relief supplies for earthquake victims. The baseball legend had just logged his 3000th career hit, punctuating a brilliant career during which he won two World Series titles (1960, 1971) and one National League MVP (1966). I am not sure how to best express this, but when you learn about someone who has already tragically died at a young age you absorb the timing and manner of death as part of his life story--it is history by the time you know about it. It is different when someone whose life you followed--let alone someone who you personally interacted with on multiple occasions--dies suddenly and unexpectedly at a young age. Roberto Clemente is a historical figure to me: I admire and respect him, but his life did not intersect with my life.
I saw Kobe Bryant play in person. I spoke with him before games, and I spoke with him after games. I saw his mangled pinkie finger up close in person and could not understand how someone could play basketball at all--let alone dominate--with such an injury to his shooting hand; it was perhaps even more amazing when he played despite suffering an avulsion fracture to the index finger of his shooting hand, turning that finger into a bruised, purplish appendage that I also saw up close in person. At some level we all know about our mortality, but when someone who is young and seemingly invincible dies suddenly it is jarring. I don't mean to make this about me; Bryant may be a big part of my life journey because I wrote about him so frequently, but I don't pretend that I was a big part of his life journey. My point is that for those of us who are old enough to remember observing Bryant's life, his death will always be a milestone event that we process differently than we process the deaths of historical figures who perished outside of our living memory.
You asked me the same question last year, Eric. Do you get a
promotion every year? No, right? So, every year you work is a failure?
Yes or no? No. Every year you work, you work toward something--toward a
goal--which is to get a promotion, to be able to take care of your
family, to be able to provide a house for them or take care of your
parents. You work toward a goal. It's not a failure. It's steps to
success. If you've never--I don't want to make it personal.
Michael Jordan played 15 years. Won sixchampionships. The other nine years was a
failure? That's what you're telling me? I'm asking you a question...Exactly, so why you ask me that question? It's the wrong
question. There's
no failure in sports. There's good days, bad days, some days you are
able to be successful, some days you are not, some days it is your turn,
some days it's not. That's what sports is about. You don't always win.
Some other group is gonna win, and this year somebody else is gonna win.
Simple as that. We’re gonna come back next year and try to be better,
try to build good habits, try to play better--not have a 10 day stretch of playing bad basketball. Hopefully we can win a championship.
So, 50 years from
1971 to 2021 that we didn't win a championship, it was 50 years of failure?
No, it was not. There were steps to it. And we were able to win one and
hopefully we can win another one.
Sorry, I didn't want to make it personal, because you asked me the same question last year, and last year I wasn't in the right mind space to answer the question back--but I remember it.
TNT's Inside the NBA crew just had a heartfelt discussion about what Antetokounmpo said. Charles Barkley recalled that when he grew up in the projects of Leeds, Alabama he could have never imagined living the life that he has lived. He rightly considers himself to be a great success, and he refuses to be defined by not winning an NBA title. Barkley feels sorry for anyone who defines himself by what he did in sports, because sports is a very small part of life.
Shaquille O'Neal offered a different perspective. He said that he grew up with a military background, and based on that background he has a simple definition of success versus failure: if you accomplished the mission then you succeeded, and if you did not accomplish the mission then you failed. He emphasized that he is not criticizing or disrespecting Antetokounmpo and he added that failure is not necessarily a bad thing because often you must fail before you succeed. O'Neal said that as the number one overall pick in the NBA Draft he felt that his mission was to be the most dominant big man and to win a championship every year, so he is OK with being told that he was only successful during the four years that he won NBA titles.
Kenny Smith said that Antetokounmpo had given a TED Talk for adults in terms of how to think about their lives and
put things in proper perspective. Smith suggested that O'Neal's definition of success versus failure is accurate but incomplete. Smith said that each person should ask himself if he took every necessary step that he was supposed to take. If you have taken every step that you
were supposed to take, then you did not fail. You may be disappointed
with the outcome, but that is not the same as failure. Smith said that after hearing Antetokounmpo's answer, he now understands why Antetokounmpo and Russell Westbrook play so hard every possession of every game: they know that they cannot control the outcome of the game, but they can control taking every step that they are supposed to take.
By nature, my attitude is more like the one that O'Neal expressed: if you have the necessary talent to dominate, then every time you don't dominate is a failure. My second grade teacher, Miss Day, said that I put way more pressure on myself than anyone else did; I turned everything into a competition, and I was very driven to win every competition. Some of us are just hard-wired to be very intense, very driven, very competitive. Such people view anything less than dominance as abject failure. Think about Bill Russell winning two NCAA titles, an Olympic gold medal, and then capturing 11 NBA titles in 13 seasons. That does not just happen; that is a product of a laser focus on domination, and a deep inner belief that you can never win enough to be satisfied.
It is funny to hear O'Neal take this position on failure now, because the main thing that he and Kobe Bryant used to feud about as teammates was that Bryant did not think that O'Neal worked hard enough to be dominant; Bryant tried to destroy everybody not just in every game, but in every practice, while O'Neal may have aspired to that mentality but he did not live it in terms of work: O'Neal is not cut from the same mold as Antetokounmpo or Westbrook--or Bryant. Everyone wants to win--but few people will suffer to win. Bill Russell used to throw up before every game. Bryant played through an assortment of injuries that would sideline most current NBA players for weeks or months. People like that don't talk about how much they want to win nearly as much as they show how much they want to win through their behaviors, their habits, and their willingness to suffer to win.
As I get older, I am starting to understand that it is healthy to have a growth mindset like the one that Anteotkounmpo expressed and that such a mindset is not incompatible with being fiercely competitive. Anyone who listens to what Antetokounmpo said and concludes that Antetokounmpo is not competitive enough or does not care about winning missed the point. The key concept to grasp--as Smith noted--is that we are all responsible for taking all of the steps that we can take to get the best possible outcome. After we do that, we can accept what happened--and if we are disappointed by the outcome, then we can learn from it and do more work. Note that Antetokounmpo repeatedly mentioned the steps to the process, the building of correct habits, and doing the work so that his team can win a title next year. Of course Antetokounmpo is disappointed that the Bucks did not win the NBA title--but he does not view himself as a failure because losing is part of sports and part of life.
Antetokounmpo is remarkably mature for someone so young who is at the top of such a competitive profession. I am much older than he is, but I may not have reached that level of maturity.
That is what Antetokounmpo is talking about--not accepting losing, but accepting outcomes as they happen while also learning, growing, and continuing to do everything possible to obtain better outcomes.
Ernie Johnson and Barkley emphasized another important point: Antetokounmpo took great pains to not personally attack or insult the questioner. When Antetokounmpo said, "If you've never..." and then stopped himself, you could tell that he was about to say something about that reporter never doing something at an elite level--but then Antetokounmpo switched gears, and used Michael Jordan as an example. At the end of his answer, Antetokounmpo again emphasized that he did not want to make his answer personal. Smith noted that Antetokounmpo tried very hard to make this a teaching moment. It was beautiful to watch Antetokounmpo try to educate the reporter instead of just belittling him.
I think that Antetokounmpo provided great insight into the thought process of someone who, by virtue of hard work, intelligence, and toughness--rose from poverty to becoming the best in the world at his craft.
It will be a shame if people misunderstand or misinterpret his message.
"Inside the NBA" Crew Weighs in on Kyrie Irving, the Departure of Steve Nash
Kyrie Irving and Kanye West have both made antisemitic social media posts recently. It does not seem likely that the NBA will discipline Irving despite Irving being unrepentant about how his post dehumanizes Jews. In a classic--and clumsy--attempt to control the narrative and distract attention, the Brooklyn Nets parted ways with Coach Steve Nash on the first day that Irving's Nets appeared on national TV since Irving made his now infamous social media post. Nash's departure is being presented as a mutual decision, but it is not hard to imagine that the Nets preferred for TNT's pre-game show to focus on the Nets' dysfunctional play instead of the Nets' resident antisemite.
TNT played along--for one segment. The first segment of TNT's pre-game show for the Brooklyn Nets-Chicago Bulls game focused on the Nets' coaching situation. Earlier in the day, reports suggested that the Nets plan to replace Nash with Ime Udoka, who the Boston Celtics suspended for the entire 2022-23 season, but that rumor caused so much media consternation that now the Nets are claiming that they have not determined who their next coach will be; assistant coach Jacque Vaughn will serve as their interim coach.
After the TNT crew spent 11 minutes talking about how bad the Nets are as a basketball team, Ernie Johnson tossed to a break by saying that in the next segment the crew would talk about Irving. After the advertisements ran, Johnson opened the discussion by describing Irving's behavior in the past year or so as "unpredictable and unsettling"--referring to, among other things, Irving's anti-vaccination stance and his embrace of lunatic conspiracy theorist Alex Jones--before directly addressing Irving's antisemitic tweet. Johnson said simply and directly of Irving, "That is promotion," contradicting Irving's disingenuous press conference statement that when he posts something for millions of his social media followers to see he is not promoting what he posts. Johnson noted that Irving has over 20 million followers across his various social media platforms.
Shaquille O'Neal mentioned that he was one of the first athletes to frequently utilize Twitter, and he knew from the beginning, "I had to be responsible." O'Neal said of Irving, "He's not conscious" and O'Neal expressed frustration because "We [the "Inside the NBA" crew] have to answer for what this idiot has done." O'Neal said that he tries to bring people of all different backgrounds together instead of tearing them apart, but that it is obvious to him that Irving does not think that way and "does not care."
Charles Barkley summed up the issue concisely and accurately: "I think the NBA dropped the ball." Barkley insisted that the NBA should have immediately suspended Irving. Barkley noted that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is Jewish--which is not relevant, as Irving deserves to be suspended regardless of who the Commissioner is--and declared that Silver should have said, "You can't take $40 million (a rough approximation of Irving's annual NBA salary) and insult my religion." Barkley is correct that the NBA should have suspended Irving--not because Irving insulted Silver's religion, but because Irving insulted every intelligent human being and because Irving's promotion of vile antisemitism is inexcusable (Amazon.com's willingness to sell the video that Irving promoted should also be addressed, but that is not something that the NBA controls).
Johnson pointed out that discussions are ongoing within the Nets organization and the NBA offices, so it is possible that the NBA may still discipline Irving, and Barkley was right on target when he replied, "It's too late now." Barkley added that if the NBA suspends Irving now then it looks like the NBA caved in to public pressure as opposed to taking a stance based on right and wrong.
Kenny Smith, who used to be a voice of reason, was way off target. He started off by saying that he will take Irving at face value when Irving says that he is not antisemitic. If that is how Smith thinks, then he also needs to take white supremacists at face value when they say that they are pro-white, not anti-Black. At least Smith conceded that reporter Nick Friedell has a right to question Irving about why Irving made the social media post, but that is so obvious that it should go without saying. Friedell and all journalists have a responsibility to ask pertinent questions, and there is no question more pertinent now for Irving than asking Irving why he promoted antisemitism on his Twitter feed. I am the first to note that many press conference questions are as stupid as they are irrelevant, but in this situation Friedell did his job--which makes him stand out in a room (and profession) where far too few people are willing or even capable of doing the job.
Anyone who does not understand how far off target Smith is regarding Kyrie Irving should just watch the segment and then imagine that Kyrie Irving is your least favorite politician and that Kyrie Irving tweeted about a video filled with vile, hateful stereotypes of Black people claiming that slavery never happened, that Black people worship Satan, and that Black people are responsible for the suffering of white people, who are actually the original and true Black people. In that hypothetical situation, can you picture Smith saying that he will take at face value the politician's insistence that he is not a racist?
A person is defined by what he does, not who he claims to be. In just a few days, Irving's words and actions have told the world so much about who he really is, and by not listening carefully Smith is telling us something about who he really is. Smith has generally been a thoughtful person, so maybe he will reconsider his position.
Ernie Johnson gently brought the segment back on track by passionately saying of our society "We've lost our way" and emphasizing that anyone who posts to social media--particularly a person who has as many followers as Irving--should first think, "If I put this out there, who am I going to hurt?" Johnson then cut to a clip from his podcast with Barkley when they had a conversation with Rabbi Erer Sherman. Rabbi Sherman said that the answer here is to communicate, and he invited Irving to come to his congregation, meet his family, and increase his understanding. Rabbi Sherman opined that the way out of our society's troubles will be through sport, because sport and religion "intersect in a deep way." It is true that historically sports have brought people from different backgrounds together, but I am not sure that it will be so easy to mend the deep fissures tearing apart our society.
During the game telecast, Reggie Miller said, "The players have dropped the ball on this one...Right is right and wrong is wrong. If you are going to call out owners, then you have to call out players as well." I have made that same point repeatedly: if NBA players are going to declare that they are more than just athletes and that they are social justice warriors then they have to accept the full weight of that responsibility, and they have to be willing to speak out about players who say or do hateful things.
The Nets announced that Irving will not speak to the media today, and he will not speak to the media for the foreseeable future. I can understand why the Nets prefer that Irving shut his mouth, but putting him under wraps so that he can keep scoring points is not the right way to go. Irving should take responsibility for what he posted and for the tremendous influence that he has. Also, league policy requires players to be available to the media on game day. It is not clear what, if anything, the suddenly silent and apparently impotent NBA office will do about this violation of league policy.
If this is not the Nets trying to protect Irving from himself but rather Irving using the team to shield himself from scrutiny then shame on him for being so cowardly. Irving claims that he has an "army" supporting him--and the scary thing is that may be true. If Irving feels so powerful, righteous, and smart, then he should not be afraid to listen to questions without interrupting and then to answer those questions. Dictators control the press, but freethinking leaders are not afraid to be questioned and challenged.
Earlier today, after Nets General Manager Sean Marks was asked why the team had not fined or suspended Irving, Marks stated that the Nets are communicating with the Anti-Defamation League regarding the Irving situation. That is weak. If Irving is willing to be educated about history, then the ADL and other groups can play a role, but it is not up to the ADL to punish Irving or set workplace policies for the NBA.
The NBA, its teams, its coaches, and its players are not shy about expressing their opinions about a host of political, economic, and social issues, so their silence about Irving sends a loud and clear message: the NBA does not care about antisemitism.
How Significant is a Long Regular Season Winning Streak?
Last night, the Golden State Warriors routed the Phoenix Suns 118-96, avenging Tuesday night's 104-96 loss to the Suns while also ending Phoenix' franchise-record 18 game winning streak. Phoenix point guard Chris Paul is the only player in NBA history to play for three different teams that had winning streaks of at least 17 games; that is an interesting statistic, but while some commentators cite it as an example of Paul's impact on winning I look at it differently: Paul has been on several excellent teams but he has only made one NBA Finals appearance and he has not won an NBA title, which undercuts any assertions that Paul has not had enough talent around him to win a championship--particularly if one buys the notion propagated by "stat gurus" that Paul is at least as good as Kobe Bryant and that Paul is a great clutch player. The evidence suggests that whatever impact Paul has on regular season winning does not extend to the postseason, which in turn raises the question of how significant it is for a team to have a long regular season winning streak.
The longest regular season winning streak in NBA history--33 games--was posted by the 1971-72 L.A. Lakers. Led by Hall of Famers Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, and Gail Goodrich, the Lakers won the championship. No team came within 10 wins of matching the Lakers' winning streak until the 2012-13 Miami Heat featuring LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh won 27 straight regular season games en route to capturing the second of back to back championships in the midst of making four consecutive NBA Finals appearances.
The regular season success of the 2008 Rockets demonstrates McGrady's impact on winning--which was no less, and probably more, than Paul's impact on winning for teams that had other All-Star caliber players--but also brings to light that long regular season winning streaks do not necessarily lead to championships. The Washington Capitols won 20 straight regular season games over a two season span (1947-49) but did not win a title in either season. The 2009 Boston Celtics and the 2015 Atlanta Hawks each won 19 regular season games in a row without reaching the NBA Finals. The 1982 Celtics and the 2020 Milwaukee Bucks each won 18 straight regular season games without reaching the NBA Finals. Of course, the 1981 Celtics, the 2008 Celtics, and the 2022 Bucks won NBA titles with the same star players who led the way for the long regular season winning streaks in the adjacent seasons.
Here are some notable regular season winning streaks by great players who led their teams to championships after the season in which they posted their longest regular season winning streak:
1) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's longest regular season winning streak was 20
games during the 1970-71 season, when he led the Milwaukee Bucks to the
NBA title. Abdul-Jabbar played in 10 NBA Finals and he won six
championships. Abdul-Jabbar's Bucks also had a 16 game winning streak in 1970-71 and a 16 game winning streak spanning the final two games of 1972-73 through the first 14 games of 1973-74. The 1974 Bucks lost to the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals.
2) Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant led the 2000 Lakers to a 19 game
winning streak before setting a playoff record with a 15-1 postseason run that
included a 4-1 NBA Finals victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.
3) In addition to leading the way during the 1972 Lakers' 33 game winning streak, Chamberlain also won 18 games in a row with the Philadelphia 76ers spanning the end of the 1966 season and the beginning of the 1967 season. The 1967 76ers went 68-13--setting a regular season wins record broken by his 1972 Lakers--and won the NBA title.
4) Michael Jordan's longest regular winning streak was 18 games during
the 1995-96 season, when his Chicago Bulls set a record with 72 wins
(since broken by the 2016 Warriors) en route to capturing the first of
three straight championships.
5) Bill Russell led the Boston Celtics to 11 championships, including a record eight straight titles from 1959-66. His longest regular season winning streak was 17 games during the 1960 championship season. He also had a 16 game regular season winning streak during the 1965 championship season.
The championship aspirations of James Harden's new team, the Brooklyn Nets, are much discussed, but it is interesting to observe Harden's former team as well. The Houston Rockets did not win a title with Harden, and they are not likely to win a title any time soon without him, but historically speaking an MVP-level player is typically worth at least 15-20 wins. Examples of this abound, including NBA-ready rookies Larry Bird and David Robinson, whose teams improved 32 wins and 35 wins respectively upon their arrival. Bird and Robinson were not entirely responsible for those win increases, but in both situations they were primarily responsible for turning around their franchises.
Harden received the 2018 regular season MVP, and he has finished second in the MVP voting three times (2015, 2017, 2019). If he is worthy of being considered a perennial MVP candidate then he should also be worth at least 15-20 wins.
After defeating the Portland Trail Blazers 104-101 tonight, the new-look Rockets are 5-3 since trading away Harden, a significant improvement from their 3-6 start to the season with Harden (Harden missed one game, a Rockets win versus Sacramento). After his final game with the Rockets--during which he scored 16 points on 5-16 field goal shooting as Houston lost by 17 to the L.A. Lakers--Harden publicly expressed his view that the Rockets were just not good enough. It is obvious that Harden quit on the team, and that the Rockets were not as bad as they looked with Harden, but it is also obvious that replacing Harden with Victor Oladipo is not a huge talent drop off, regardless of what the NBA's MVP voters may think.
This is obviously a small sample size of games in an unusual season dominated by the specter of COVID-19 and the associated health and safety protocols enacted by the NBA to attempt to complete an abbreviated 72 game schedule. However, the notion that the Rockets could be a good team without Harden should not be shocking to anyone who has followed Harden's career.
Harden has been putting up video-game level individual numbers for many years, but those numbers did not translate into consistent postseason success for the Rockets. Harden's Houston teams lost in the first round three times in eight seasons while making just two trips to the Western Conference Finals, and failing to reach the NBA Finals. As discussed in my analysis of Daryl Morey's Houston legacy, that is not elite level playoff performance.
Harden reminds me of Gilbert Arenas and Stephon Marbury, two players who put up gaudy individual numbers but who had very little positive impact on winning. After Arenas suffered an injury that caused him to miss extensive playing time and the Washington Wizards were not much worse without him, I asked Is Gilbert Arenas the Most Overrated All-Star in the NBA? Arenas' fans did not like that article, but they also could not refute the reality that even with Arenas the Wizards struggled to stay above .500. The record shows that Arenas did not have much impact on winning when he played, and the Wizards did not completely fall apart when he did not play.
There are players who score 30 points in a way that compromises opposing defenses and leads to team success, and there are players who score 30 points in a way that has little impact on team success. If you take Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant off of a team then that team is going to struggle unless/until that team acquires a legit MVP-level player (the 1993-94 Chicago Bulls did not collapse without Jordan primarily because the Bulls still had Scottie Pippen, arguably the best all-around player in the league at that time other than Jordan). If you take Arenas or Harden off of a team, that team can survive by either adding an All-Star level player, or possibly even by pooling the collective efforts of several good but not great players.
Marbury did not score as prolifically as Arenas or Harden, but he averaged at least 20 ppg and at least 8 apg in six different seasons, a feat exceeded only by Oscar Robertson, who had 10 such seasons. Robertson was a master of the all-around game, a basketball genius; Marbury was the antithesis of Robertson in every meaningful way. Marbury made the playoffs just five times during his 13 season career, and his final playoff appearance was as a little-used reserve for the 2009 Boston Celtics; as a starter he never advanced past the first round. Marbury had all of the physical tools--he was strong, fast, and durable--but he did not know (or care) how to play winning basketball.
To a lesser extent, Steve Nash falls into the category of overrated player, but with some important caveats. At his peak, Nash was legitimately an MVP-level player, and he had a Hall of Fame-caliber career--but there is no way he should have been a two-time regular season MVP while his far more impactful contemporaries Shaquillle O'Neal and Kobe Bryant each won one regular season MVP. MVP voters assigned a value to Nash's performance that is not fully supported by what happened on the court. Of course, Nash was a better teammate than Arenas, Marbury, and Harden, and Nash had a much better understanding of what it takes to win--Nash just did not have the physical capability to dominate a game all over the court to the extent that players like Jordan, O'Neal, and Bryant could while leading teams to multiple titles.
During Nash's final season with the Dallas Mavericks (2003-04), Dallas went 52-30 in the regular season, and lost in the first round of the playoffs. Next season, the Mavericks replaced Nash with Jason Terry--a good player, but hardly an all-time great--and lost in the second round of the playoffs after posting a 58-24 regular season record. The Mavericks advanced to the NBA Finals in 2005-06 after going 60-22 in the regular season, and they eventually won an NBA title in 2011; Jason Terry was the sixth man for that team, but still ranked third on the squad in minutes played per game.
Meanwhile, Nash's Phoenix teams--which were stacked with All-Stars and All-Star caliber players, including Amare Stoudemire, Shawn Marion, and Joe Johnson--advanced to the Western Conference Finals three times in eight years but never made it to the NBA Finals.
If your former team can replace you with a solid player and have better results, and if you cannot lead a stacked team to at least one NBA Finals, then you are not the best player in the NBA. Most NBA MVPs won at least one title. The exceptions are Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Allen Iverson, Steve Nash, Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The first three players on the list each led at least one team to the NBA Finals. Westbrook was the second best player on one Finalist, and Harden was the sixth man for that 2012 Oklahoma City squad. Rose's career trajectory was altered by injury, but he also won his MVP at least in part due to the negative narrative surrounding LeBron James after he quit in the playoffs before fleeing Cleveland for Miami.
Antetokounmpo is the only player from this group who is still in his prime, so he gets a pass for now--Michael Jordan and LeBron James each won multiple regular season MVPs before they won their first NBA titles, so it remains to be seen what path Antetokounmpo's career will take.
When the Rockets shipped out Harden, they did not get rid of a player who is worth 15-20 wins. If Oladipo and John Wall--who was initially acquired to play alongside Harden--can both stay healthy then the Rockets can continue to be what they were during the Harden era: a good team, but not quite good enough to win a title.
"Inside the NBA" Should Have Discussed DeSean Jackson's Comments and the Farrakhan Issue
It was great to see the original "Inside the NBA" crew tonight. "Inside the NBA" is probably the greatest sports studio show ever, providing a deft combination of intelligence and humor while covering a broad range of topics beyond who won and who lost. "Inside the NBA" has a long track record of thoughtfully discussing a wide variety of issues.
The high standard long set by "Inside the NBA" is why I am disappointed that tonight's episode ignored recent pro-Louis Farrakhan statements made by several high profile people, including Ice Cube, DeSean Jackson and Stephen Jackson.
Ice Cube has been a guest on "Inside the NBA" and he collaborated with Kenny Smith for a Kobe Bryant tribute aired by TNT. DeSean Jackson is an NFL player, but "Inside the NBA" discussed at length comments recently made by NFL player Drew Brees. Stephen Jackson is an NBA champion and a prominent sports media personality.
Ice Cube tweeted, "The Honorable Louis Farrakhan continues to warn America to this very second and he's labeled one of your 'evil names' and you turn your ears off. Why is the truth so offensive that you can't stand to hear it?"
DeSean Jackson tweeted with approval a quote that he (incorrectly) attributed to Adolf Hitler stating that Jews "will blackmail America" and Jackson also tweeted his support for Louis Farrakhan.
Stephen Jackson reacted to DeSean Jackson's tweet by repeating the classic antisemitic trope that Jews run all of the banks: "You know who the Rothschilds are? They own all the banks...I haven't said one thing that's untrue yet." Stephen Jackson also said, "I'm a fan of Minister Farrakhan because nobody loves Black people more than
him. He hasn't told me to hate somebody one time. He's teaching me how to be a leader. Just because you don't like him, doesn't mean I'm gonna not like him."
It never should be acceptable to promote hatred, and one would hope that in today's climate any kind of hatred would be deemed unacceptable. Perhaps you are not familiar with Louis Farrakhan; perhaps you agree with Chuck D, the front man for Public Enemy--unquestionably one of the greatest rap groups ever--who once sang, "The follower of Farrakhan/Don't tell me that you understand/Until you hear the man."
Fair enough. Let's hear the man. Here is Louis Farrakhan in his own words:
"The Jews, a small handful, control the movement of this great nation,
like a radar controls the movement of a great ship in the waters...The
Jews got a stranglehold on the Congress." February 25, 1990 speech.
"I think Hillary Rodham Clinton is a part of, if you trace her lineage,
she go right back to the Rothschilds. Her daughter is about to marry a
Jewish young man. This is no accident." July 11, 2010 speech.
"How did we get a Black president? Because those Satanic Jews know that
this is the time of your separation from them that God wants to give you
a land of your own as the cornerstone of the Kingdom of God. You didn't
see when they got in the room and said 'we have to deceive them and
through them deceive the entire world.' How could they be the chosen of
God and leading the world into filth and indecency?" October 3, 2010 speech.
"The Satanic Jews that control everything and mostly everybody, if they are your enemy, then you must be somebody." March 2, 2014 speech.
"[Former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul] Wolfowitz, so-called
Jew, but a member of the Synagogue of Satan...Satan is a human being
without human characteristics. That's why the revelator called them
beasts in human form. These are people sitting in the Pentagon, planning
the destruction of Muslim nations...Wolfowitz had 10 years now, to plan
how they're gonna clean out the Middle East and take over those Muslim
nations. They needed another Pearl Harbor. They needed some event that
was cataclysmic, that would make the American people rise up, ready for
war...they plotted a false flag operation and when a government is so
rotten that they will kill innocent people to accomplish a political
objective, you are not dealing with a human. You're dealing with Satan
himself, the Synagogue of Satan...you're dealing with Satan himself, the
Synagogue of Satan...Now they got into the Bush administration and on 9/11
the Twin Towers went down...George Bush, and those devils, Satans around
him. They plotted 9/11. Ain't no Muslim took control of no plane." February 28, 2016 speech.
"I'm not an anti-Semite. I’m anti-Termite." Oct. 16, 2018 tweet.
During a July 4, 2020 speech, Farrakhan not only repeated the same kind of antisemitic hatred quoted above, but he also asserted that COVID-19 positive tests are rising in Florida now because he personally instructed Allah to afflict Florida. Farrakhan said that he did this to punish Florida for the U.S. embargo against Cuba, and Farrakhan claimed that Cuban doctors have a cure for COVID-19 that the U.S. government is suppressing because the U.S. government is using COVID-19 to kill Black people. That speech is available on YouTube, in clear violation of YouTube's policies against disseminating hate speech.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) summarizes Farrakhan's views: "Louis Farrakhan heads the Nation of Islam,
a group he has led since 1977 and that is based on a somewhat bizarre
and fundamentally anti-white theology. Farrakhan is an antisemite who
routinely accuses Jews of manipulating the U.S. government and
controlling the levers of world power."
The SPLC article about Farrakhan is worth reading in full. Here is an excerpt:
Farrakhan’s antisemitism has earned him some strange allies. Former Klan and White Aryan Resistance leader Tom Metzger
was so impressed with Farrakhan's anti-Semitic bombast that he donated
$100 to NOI after attending a Farrakhan rally in Los Angeles in
September 1985. Given that white supremacists share NOI’s belief in
separation of the races, a month later, Metzger and 200 other white
supremacists from the United States and Canada gathered on a farm about
50 miles west of Detroit, where they pledged their support for the
Nation of Islam.
Antisemitism is only one of Farrakhan's many prejudices. Over the
years, his comments have consistently been rabidly anti-gay. "God don't
like men coming to men with lust in their hearts like you should go to a
female," he told a Kansas City crowd in 1996. "If you think that the
kingdom of God is going to be filled up with that kind of degenerate
crap, you're out of your damn mind."
The SPLC describes the Nation of Islam as a hate group: "Since its founding in 1930, the Nation of Islam (NOI) has grown into one
of the wealthiest and best-known organizations in black America. Its
theology of innate black superiority over whites and the deeply racist,
antisemitic and anti-LGBT rhetoric of its leaders have earned the NOI a
prominent position in the ranks of organized hate."
Therefore, Ice Cube, DeSean Jackson, Stephen Jackson, and others are publicly aligning themselves with a man whose statements and beliefs are unequivocally racist, antisemitic, homophobic, and anti-American (and sometimes just bizarre, such as his remarks about instructing Allah to afflict Florida with COVID-19).
Imagine if a prominent white entertainer, a white NFL player or a white retired NBA player stated that he supports David Duke or that David Duke speaks the truth or that David Duke is teaching him how to be a leader? Do you think that "Inside the NBA" would ignore that?
"Inside the NBA" is watched by millions of people, and the "Inside the NBA" crew is highly respected and influential. They missed a golden opportunity to educate their audience about these issues. Ray Allen would have been a perfect guest. Allen has discussed how moving it was for him to visit the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. Speaking of the Holocaust Museum, New England Patriots' receiver Julian Edelman provided a heartfelt response to DeSean Jackson: "How about we go to DC and I take you to the Holocaust Museum. And
you take me to the Museum of African American history and culture...And we have those uncomfortable conversations." It would have sent a wonderful and positive message if "Inside the NBA" had spoken truth to power, and had asked Allen to give his thoughts about Edelman's statement.
I have often criticized Mike Wilbon for his basketball analysis, but I will give him credit for addressing directly and unequivocally the comments made by Stephen Jackson. On "Pardon the Interruption" Wilbon declared, "This is not tolerable...It undermines everything Stephen Jackson said so eloquently on behalf of Black Lives Matter. He has no credibility now. He has undermined his own previous good work with this garbage. And it's garbage. I know Stephen Jackson. I like him. If I was sitting with him now--I have worked with him--I would say, 'Stephen, stop! You're wrong. You're not speaking any truth. You're going to have to become more familiar with the truth via history. Let's read some. We'll read it together. This is insane. You are ruining weeks of actually trying to appeal to people on one level and then bringing your own bigotry and prejudice in at a time when no one can afford to say that, to have that, to entertain it.'"
Wilbon is right. It is a shame that Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O'Neal did not step up and deliver a similar message. For that matter, where are NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell?
Louis Farrakhan has spent decades making it very clear who he is and what he believes. The time has past for the sports figures, celebrities, politicians, and public figures who have invoked his name to make it clear who they are and what they believe.
"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
