Jason Whitlock - David Stern failed to help basketball grow to its full potential

[kuniva_dAMiGhTy]

How many games you think they should play then? Could you imagine them playing 16 games per year and then 1 game playoff rounds? It would be absolutely terrible and people would think of it as a joke. You can't compare it to football. Just different sports.

Not 82 games. Not 4 rounds best-of-7 in the playoffs. I know that much.

[BigMacAttack]

No it's not. I'm talking about basketball btw, not the NBA.

Basketball is anywhere from 3-5 depending on who you ask. There is no real definitive answer as there is no real way to measure this, though the top four are generally considered: Soccer, Cricket, Basketball, Tennis in that order, but I have seen volleyball, baseball and even field hockey and table tennis above basketball according to some rankings.

[Dresta]

I think this is a very overrated factor. Non-hispanic whites are only 67% of the population nowadays. Also the majority of us are not racists.

Here is some evidence to support my case.

1. The NFL is almost as black as the NBA.
2. Even the QB position is becoming increasingly black (RG3, Cam, Wilson, Kaepernick)
3. By far the most white sport of the 4 major leagues in america is the NHL. The NHL is also by far the least popular and profitable.
4. The english premier league is the best soccer league in the world. It is primarily white. It has almost zero popularity in America.
5. Black players (lebron, kobe, d wade, paul, durant, howard, griffin, etc) are the transcendent stars of the NBA. No major corporations are clamoring for Kevin love to shill for them. Casual fans love dunks, which are primarily performed by black players.
6. some racist people tried to set up a whites only basketball league. it failed

That's not true anymore. And i'm darker skinned than that dude . It simply doesn't make sense to refer to people as fair as Blake Griffin as being 'black'

[MavsSuperFan]

That's not true anymore. And i'm darker skinned than that dude . It simply doesn't make sense to refer to people as fair as Blake Griffin as being 'black'

his dad is black, and in america if you are partially black you were considered black. That is how race has always been viewed in this country. Also I think he self identifies as black.

[BigMacAttack]

his dad is black, and in america if you are partially black you were considered black. That is how race has always been viewed in this country. Also I think he self identifies as black.

Does he use a mirror? Haha reminds me of when I found out Kidd is black, Griffin is lighter then that.

[DMV2]

Parity didn't really get the NBA anywhere in the 70's when MLB was the most dominant league. It was Bird and Magic who gave the NBA live primetime TV slots. Then Jordan took it to the next level and officially help turn basketball into a global sport.

I don't think we can say for sure that parity would work for the NBA like it does for the NFL. You have 52 players on an NFL roster. 22 players total in each play. It's definitely much more of a team sport than the NBA. 1 QB has to rely on 10 other players on his squad to score a touchdown, and then he has to watch 11 more of his teammates defend the field. In the NBA, you can watch your favorite player make a huge block at one end of the court and then hit a huge 3 at the other side of the court in a span of 20 seconds. That's really not bad. It would be great if the NBA was more team-oriented but like I said the league was put on the map by 3 names (Bird, Magic and Jordan). It's just how the league is.

So to me, the overall effect of "superstars" in the NBA is actually a good thing. My only criticism would be that Stern and the NBA focuses way too much on "offensive superstars." I'd like to see defense become a bigger part of the game.

The NBA doesn't have as many fans in the States as the NFL does but globally, it's bigger and the league will keep growing. It's not all that bad.

NFL = Biggest league in America
MLB = Still huge among 35+ demographic and they sell tickets well.
NBA = Big international fanbase
And the NHL has Canada.

Each league has its own niche.