5 things wrong with the NBA
January 1st, 2005 Ryan Jones
1. The players
Basketball players are not role models. Many of them have not finished High School or college, making them the dumbest among professional athletes.
These are not good upstanding citizens. The NBA is full of players with criminal records, drug charges, and those who have 13 kids with different ladies. We’re talking pure street thugs who happen to have skill here.
2. The way the game is played now
Today’s game replaced skill with size, and the ability to show off. Nobody shoots anymore. Today’s player would rather look pretty and miss a dunk than make an easy jump shot. Look at the increasing number of fouls. The drive to the net isn’t there which means the shot is; but players keep trying to force the dunk. Making jumpshots won’t get you on sportscenter.
3. 3 – point shot
It’s almost non-existant. Nobody even attempts it anymore. So frequent is the 3 point shot that the NBA is considering removing the 3 point line altogether.
4. The recruiting policy
If you haven’t been scouted by the time you hit 6th grade, you might as well foget about going pro. Basketball players are drafted younger and younger, and it only makes them dumber and dumber. Sure a guy might be a great high school player, but think how much better he’d be after 4 years of college ball with a real coach. A highschool superstar has most likely had the whole offense based around him, which leads to selfish play like I mentioned earlier.
5. Ron Artest (come on you thought I wasn’t gonna mention this?)
Guys like Ron Artest embody everything that is wrong with the NBA. It’s no longer a team sport, it’s a statistical contest between ghetto thugs. There is no class anymore.
Yes these guys are athletes, but they’re paid exhorborant sums of money. If a player walked up to Artest on the court and hit him, he’d be spending months in jail. Yet for Artest to do the same to a fan and only recieve a suspension is ridiculous. He should criminally prosecuted, sued and banned from the game Pete Rose style.
Ok something was thrown at him.. Great. Have the guy removed, and arrested, get on with the game. If you didn’t have a reputation for being an uneducated idiot, you probably wouldn’t have gotten anything thrown at you anyway. Does that make the fan right? Of course not. He deserves to be prosecuted too. Professional athletes however, as much as they shouldn’t be, serve as role models to millions and they should be expected to live up to that.
Until the NBA grows up and drops the “it’s all about me getting paid” attitude, I’ll stick with football and Hockey, where at least the players can read and write proficiently.
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