The NBA goes back to the 1940s in the United States; like baseball it was heavily concentrated in the northeast.
Perhaps the bigger popularity of it did not happen until the 1960s with many great Boston Celtics teams; then there were some New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers teams, which are even bigger markets, coast to coast rivalries, bringing even more popularity to the mass market into the 1970s.
By the end of the 1970s there was a fear, or perhaps a concern, that the NBA was "too black".
Was that racist? I guess, in part. But with the majority of the country being white, perhaps it was hard for some fans to completely identify with a sport or even particular teams that had no one that looked like them, that they felt was "theirs". In baseball, we celebrate the integration of Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby and others from the until then segregated Negro Leagues, because it was fair for people of all colors and hues to play the sport, who were the best at what they did by merit, playing against one another. Thank goodness this finally happened. Ironically, there is concern in the 21st century that not enough US blacks play the sport anymore, partially because of the preponderance of Hispanics and Asians in the major leagues. But that phenomena goes deeper.
But in basketball, in the 1970s and accompanied by some scandals that occurred as well back then, for a season it seemed to some that African-Americans (briefly known as Afro-Americans in those days) had dominated a sport that should be more diverse.
People argue that some players who helped "save" the sport were white players who excelled in the sport in the 1980s, like Larry Bird. There have always been good or great white players, but perhaps the rivalry of Bird and Magic Johsnon solidified the NBA as a fun quality event to watch, no matter the race of those involved. But it seemed that diversity helped the NBA then.
Whatever the case, by the late 1980s there was a new phenomenon in the NBA: foreign players.
Hakeem (later Akeem) Olajuwon of Nigeria was a larger than life addition, Patrick Ewing had Jamaican heritage, there was a Wennington (not that good, but played and competed) from Canada, and then the Europeans started to come.
By the 1990s, Detlef Schrempf of Germany and Rik Smits of Holland had entered the league and made an impact, as well as others like Dikembe Mutombo of Congo (formerly Zaire) and others, like Gheorge Muresan of Romania and Manute Bol of Sudan. These guys tended to be very tall and lanky.
Though Schrempf had very good athletic skills at 6'10", it was not until the 2000s that smaller foreign players started to populate the NBA, like Tony Parker from France, Manu Ginobli from Argentina. Now in the mid 2010s, there are many big and small foreign players that make the NBA more diverse than ever, and it seems both domestically and abroad the sport has really caught on well.
Every team seems to have its foreign and diverse players. The game is stronger than ever.
The Miami Heat have been the reigning champions the last two years; they do not have much of a foreign presence. But the Spurs in the Western Division certainly do with the aforementioned Parker, Ginobli, Tiago Splitter from Brazil and Patty Mills from New Zealand.
The Pacers have an important forward off the bench in Luis Scola (Argentina); every other team in the playoffs have some one from abroad, including smaller guys who are even white, like Beno Udrih of Slovenia with the Memphis Grizzlies.
Right now, impressively the Washington Wizards are handling the defensive minded Chicago Bulls with two big foreigners, Polish Marcin Gortat and Brazilian Nene (formerly sur-named Hilario).
While race and diversity can be a cannard as to how popular a sport is, because the true beauty of sports to many like me is that the grace and strength of the athletes transcends race, it is good to see the current diversity of the NBA.
The Hawks have a player named Pero Antic from Macedonia, the Brooklyn Nets have Teletovic from the Balkans, and on and on.
We failed to mentioned the former great Yao Ming from China, or the Chinese descended Jeremy Lin in Houston, but the NBA is well represented and posied to remain a popular sport well into the future.
Diversity, in this case, is strength.
Long live the sport and the NBA.
Blog it, EMC.
Perhaps the bigger popularity of it did not happen until the 1960s with many great Boston Celtics teams; then there were some New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers teams, which are even bigger markets, coast to coast rivalries, bringing even more popularity to the mass market into the 1970s.
By the end of the 1970s there was a fear, or perhaps a concern, that the NBA was "too black".
Was that racist? I guess, in part. But with the majority of the country being white, perhaps it was hard for some fans to completely identify with a sport or even particular teams that had no one that looked like them, that they felt was "theirs". In baseball, we celebrate the integration of Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby and others from the until then segregated Negro Leagues, because it was fair for people of all colors and hues to play the sport, who were the best at what they did by merit, playing against one another. Thank goodness this finally happened. Ironically, there is concern in the 21st century that not enough US blacks play the sport anymore, partially because of the preponderance of Hispanics and Asians in the major leagues. But that phenomena goes deeper.
But in basketball, in the 1970s and accompanied by some scandals that occurred as well back then, for a season it seemed to some that African-Americans (briefly known as Afro-Americans in those days) had dominated a sport that should be more diverse.
People argue that some players who helped "save" the sport were white players who excelled in the sport in the 1980s, like Larry Bird. There have always been good or great white players, but perhaps the rivalry of Bird and Magic Johsnon solidified the NBA as a fun quality event to watch, no matter the race of those involved. But it seemed that diversity helped the NBA then.
Whatever the case, by the late 1980s there was a new phenomenon in the NBA: foreign players.
Hakeem (later Akeem) Olajuwon of Nigeria was a larger than life addition, Patrick Ewing had Jamaican heritage, there was a Wennington (not that good, but played and competed) from Canada, and then the Europeans started to come.
By the 1990s, Detlef Schrempf of Germany and Rik Smits of Holland had entered the league and made an impact, as well as others like Dikembe Mutombo of Congo (formerly Zaire) and others, like Gheorge Muresan of Romania and Manute Bol of Sudan. These guys tended to be very tall and lanky.
Though Schrempf had very good athletic skills at 6'10", it was not until the 2000s that smaller foreign players started to populate the NBA, like Tony Parker from France, Manu Ginobli from Argentina. Now in the mid 2010s, there are many big and small foreign players that make the NBA more diverse than ever, and it seems both domestically and abroad the sport has really caught on well.
Every team seems to have its foreign and diverse players. The game is stronger than ever.
The Miami Heat have been the reigning champions the last two years; they do not have much of a foreign presence. But the Spurs in the Western Division certainly do with the aforementioned Parker, Ginobli, Tiago Splitter from Brazil and Patty Mills from New Zealand.
The Pacers have an important forward off the bench in Luis Scola (Argentina); every other team in the playoffs have some one from abroad, including smaller guys who are even white, like Beno Udrih of Slovenia with the Memphis Grizzlies.
Right now, impressively the Washington Wizards are handling the defensive minded Chicago Bulls with two big foreigners, Polish Marcin Gortat and Brazilian Nene (formerly sur-named Hilario).
While race and diversity can be a cannard as to how popular a sport is, because the true beauty of sports to many like me is that the grace and strength of the athletes transcends race, it is good to see the current diversity of the NBA.
The Hawks have a player named Pero Antic from Macedonia, the Brooklyn Nets have Teletovic from the Balkans, and on and on.
We failed to mentioned the former great Yao Ming from China, or the Chinese descended Jeremy Lin in Houston, but the NBA is well represented and posied to remain a popular sport well into the future.
Diversity, in this case, is strength.
Long live the sport and the NBA.
Blog it, EMC.
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