New NBA Culture Affects The Game's Rivalries

Is the passion and intensity of NBA Rivalries like Larry Bird vs. Magic Johnson fading? (nesn.com)

Everyone loves a rivalry. Red Sox vs. Yankees, Lakers vs. Celtics, and Duke vs. North Carolina are a few of the more recognized matches we as fans look forward to each year because of the added disdain each team has for the other.

Tensions between these teams have a tendency to rise and boil over, which makes the ultimate goal of victory mean that much more and taste that much sweeter to a team. Who doesn’t have a story with siblings or friends that you hold over them and constantly retell, just to make sure they remember that one time you were the best? And how much do you hate it when you’re the one on the short end of the stick? Take those feelings and desires to never to be on the losing side of backyard bragging rights, and multiply it by infinity. Then you might begin to have an understanding of what rivalries mean to collegiate and professional athletes.

We’ve heard about the killer instinct. Magic Johnson had it. Larry Bird had it. Michael Jordan had it. It was a necessity to be great in the NBA. A requirement. A prerequisite. A burning desire to be better than the guy next to you that ran so deep, you were in the gym long after the janitors had finished their rounds. Once they stepped on the court, they knew they were better than you, and they made sure you knew it.

That’s how it used to be. Anymore, though, we as fans and media see less and less of it. Kobe Bryant is the most notable active player that media and fans would say has that instinct. But outside of him, who else is there? You could make arguments for few players like Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, or Dwayne Wade, but they would all be met with contention and dispute. Even the league’s nearly unanimous MVP, LeBron James, was referred to as a choke artist and not having the desire to take the big shots until he finally won the title. The attitudes players have toward the game have definitely changed and it has created a very different atmosphere on an NBA court.

There has been a movement away from trash talk and wanting to own the spotlight, and a movement toward keeping verbal exchanges clean on the court, and creating “dream teams” during the regular season. This is not to say that teams of old didn’t have multiple talented players on the court at one point. Just look at the Lakers and Celtics teams form the 60s, 70s and 80s. Even more recently, Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen with the Bulls, Stockton and Malone with the Jazz and Kobe and Shaq with the Lakers were all dynamic duos that needed each other to win titles.

Now, with the explosion of free agency, players are looking to team up in pursuit of the ever-elusive ring. The Celtics started it when they went out and acquired Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett to go alongside Paul Pierce. Then the Heat dominated the headlines by bringing in arguably the most gifted player to ever grace the court in LeBron to go along with Dwayne Wade, as well as Chris Bosh. Even before those moves, the Lakers brought in Paul Gasol to fill the void in the post left by Shaq and to take some pressure of Kobe, and then this past offseason brought in Dwight Howard as well.

While it is certainly entertaining to see such prominent names play alongside one another, something is lost in sports when players decide they no longer want to be solo in the spotlight and team up: the rivalry. Players are now best friends on the court, as well as off it, rather than being bitter adversaries during a game. Even the Olympics has contributed to this new movement in the NBA, where players like Kobe, LeBron, Carmelo Anthony and many other All-Stars spend their time as friends and teammates, rather than competitors and rivals. And while some of the greats like Jordan, Magic, and Bird played together in search of a gold medal, they didn’t have the added element of having “dream teams” once they were back on an NBA court. It was back to the rivalries, the trash talk, and the desire to beat their fellow man and make sure they remembered it. That element is slowly fading away with today’s current players.

While, as before mentioned, Kobe is one of the remaining players in the league who most fans and media would say has the killer instinct, he may also provide one of the better examples of a player expressing the desire of teaming up with another superstar, as opposed to wanting to own the spotlight and push anyone wanting to share it back into the shadows. In an article written by ESPN’s Jackie MacMullin back in February, Kobe says if the Celtics didn’t want Rajon Rondo to, “send him my (his) way,” and that he, “loves that kid…he’s one of my favorites.”

Think about that for a moment: a Laker expressing his desire to team up with a Celtic. Is there a fan out there who can see Bill Russell teaming up with Jerry West? Or Magic teaming up with Bird? If you happen to be that fan, I imagine you are the only one. Those players wanted to be the best in the world, and to be the best they had to beat the best. While sportsmanship is very important, the decline of trash talk and the killer instinct is leaving the NBA with less and less rivalries and with more and more players wanting to create the next powerhouse in the league with their buddies.

Let’s just hope it doesn’t go too far, or rivalries may soon not have nearly the importance they once did.


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Friday Roudtable: Who Is The Best NBA Analyst on TV

Is one of the guys from TNT's NBA broadcast the best NBA analyst on TV? (inquisitr.com)

BDD's Friday Roundtable is a weekly discussion among three of our writers on a trending NBA or college basketball topic.

This week's question: We move away from the play on the court and look to the broadcast booth with the question of who is the best NBA analyst on TV?

Kyle Davis:
A friend and I have discussed a theory in regards to NBA analysts that the better player the analyst was, the more likely you are to think they are right. A hypothetical example: Jalen Rose makes a comment about how Derrick Rose will react to coming back from a knee injury and Magic Johnson argues, taking a different approach saying he will be fine and back to All-Star status. Nothing against Jalen Rose, because he was a very good player, but because Magic is one of the greatest of all time, we automatically value his word and opinion more than others. He's a hall of famer, he knows what he's talking about, right? It's the same reason why if doctors and health experts come out and say red meat will kill you, people panic. If anyone knows, it's them. The problem with this is sometimes the weight of the opinion can overlook whether the opinion actually makes sense.

My point is several factors are in play when considering the "best" NBA analyst. Obviously the analyst, usually a former player, must be knowledgeable, so that's already a given. The NBA really doesn't have any Bob Knights who are clearly too old and just ramble nonsense on air.

Having your opinion garner respect is clearly a large factor because if viewers don't trust the analyst's opinion, there's no reason to watch. Humor and likeability are nearly has important because in 2013, just the facts isn't quite good enough. You want to laugh and be entertained while you soak up the knowledge on your couch at halftime during your game. This is where Sir Charles Barkley clearly steals the show. Whether you agree with what he is saying or not, it's difficult to not find the banter entertaining. He's my clear choice for "most entertaining analyst" but I have trouble listing him as the "best" because part of what people love about him is his humor and him saying ridiculous statements. I've always thought Kenny Smith was very good at his job, but I wonder how much of his success is due to his partnership with Barkley. That's why I would have to give the title to Magic. He garners respect, knows the game from both the player and front office perspective and while his personality isn't over the top like Barkley, that seems to allow him to be more universally liked because he is never too out-there. 

Alex Skov:
You know him, you love him: he's Hubie Brown. Former players benefit from the name recognition that Brown mostly lacks. He never played in the NBA and he last coached an Association team in 2004-05, when he resigned as Memphis Grizzlies HC before the season's halfway mark. Brown's credentials aren't obvious, but look a little further and his biggest accomplishment(s) sneak up on you. He inherited the coaching reins of three losing franchises — the New York Knicks and Atlanta Hawks plus the Grizz — and turned them all into playoff teams. None of this inherently translates to being a good broadcaster. However, it is indicative of his knowledge of basketball. Brown has made basketball tutorial videos, maybe even on Beta tapes given his ripe age of 79. He knows the game better than most if not all commentators and can tell the audience preemptively how a coach will direct his team on any particular play because he intuitively knows the flow of the game. His age also causes the occasional mishap — calling players by their teammates' names, for example — and, gosh darn it, that just makes Hubie loveable.

Champ:
There are a lot of good commentators in the world of basketball (many of whom I don’t know by name but just by their voice), so instead of just narrowing it down to one I’ll choose the duo of Mike Breen and Jeff Van Gundy. Breen has been around for years and always brings a professional atmosphere to the games he announces while still being exciting. Van Gundy is a great addition because he has a lot of insights as a former head coach so he not only knows how the business works, but he also know a lot of the players playing.  Van Gundy has also never been afraid to voice an opinion on something which, for right or wrong, is still refreshing.


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The Top 5 All-Time Greatest Nicknames in the NBA

It seems like a right of passage for NBA players. When a player has proven himself in the league, he is granted a nickname, a "knighting" of sorts by his peers and fans. Some are more creative and catchy than others. 

Some players earn a nickname from their style of play, or from appearance or a quirk, and for others we just shorten the name or use initials. Maybe it's because attention spans have shrunk so much that we can't wait long enough to call players by their full names. Regardless, most elite players have nicknames that are used so often we sometimes forget what their actual names are. "King" James, D-Wade, Melo, CP3, Durantula, The Black Mamba, "Big Baby" Davis, Superman, and so on.

In honor of yesterday (Aug. 14) being the birthday of Ervin "Magic" Johnson, we are counting down the top 5 greatest nicknames in the NBA. If you agree, thank you. Think someone was snubbed? Let us know who you would make your top 5.We have a comments section and Twitter feed just for that.

Dr. J (NBA.com)

No. 5 "Dr. J" - Julius Erving

Dr. J played with a certain elegance and ease about his game. Watching him, you would think he just knew what was going on a little sooner and better than his opponents. The story goes that a friend in high school gave him the nickname, after Erving dubbed the friend "Professor." The nickname suits him well - not to mention opening doors for a Dr. Pepper endorsement after retirement - because Dr. J made the difficult plays look easy. You can trust him on the court, he's a doctor.

Karl Malone (slcdunk.com)

No. 4 "The Mailman" - Karl Malone

Where else is the term mailman held in such a high regard? There lies the true greatness of the name. It epitomizes Malone's ability to make plays and has a gritty toughness about it. No matter what the circumstances, the Mailman delivered, or at least that was the idea. And thankfully for both Malone and the post office, the shorts grew longer with time.

Pete Maravich (signis.net)

No. 3 "Pistol Pete" Maravich

Alliteration? Check. Longevity? Check. A headline writer's dream? Check. In a sport that involves "shooting" a ball, Pistol Pete is the perfect nickname for an unbelievable scorer, who didn't have the luxury of a 3-point line. You can imagine the fear of opponents when seeing "Pistol Pete" walk onto the court, much like if he would be entering an old-west saloon. You'd better watch out if ol' Pistol Pete is around. 

Michael Jordan (midwestsportsfans.com)

No. 2 Michael "Air" Jordan

So maybe "Air Jordan" isn't the most creative nickname in the world. But when it's namesake sparks a global marketing boom, can you really leave it out? Jordan did a lot well on the court, but his best trick was hanging in the air for what seemed like an eternity; switching hands on the ball, splitting defenders, ordering room service for after the game. The most exciting play in basketball is the slam dunk and the world sat up in it's seat when Air Jordan got ready for takeoff.

Magic Johnson (interbasketball.net)

No. 1 Ervin "Magic" Johnson

Magic. In sports circles that's all you need to say and everyone will understand. This wasn't just a nickname those who followed the team knew. He will always be Magic Johnson, with lesser references to Ervin sounding more like the nickname. Just think about the person. Johnson was a 6-foot-8 point guard who could do it all: pass, dribble in traffic, and of course, score. And he legitimately played the position, unlike a LeBron or Durant, who will occasionally walk the ball up the court. How many 6-foot-8 players do you see wanting to run the point and you have to look away and cringe, knowing it can't end well? Johnson was magical on the court, and how he's been able to overcome an HIV-positive diagnosis for 20 years is pretty magical in itself.

Honorable mention: "The Admiral" David Robinson, "The Worm" Dennis Rodman, "The Big Aristotle" Shaq, "The Truth" Paul Pierce and "The Answer" Allen Iverson, "Spud" Webb and "Larry Legend" Bird


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