Why only compare white players to other white players?
For instance, when talking about Adam Morrison, commentators always compare him to Bird (and no one will every be "the next Larry Bird," and I wish I could snack every damn experts who keeps saying that) or Dirk Nowitzki, but why won't they compare him to, say, Rashard Lewis? If what's being compared are his skills as a player, why only compare them to those of other white players? Why is everyone so afraid to compare a white players abilities to a black player abilities or vice versa?
2006-07-10T13:58:07Z
Okay, people are getting a little stuck on comparing Morrison to Lewis, and not really seeing the larger question, so forget about Morrison and Lewis, and consider that almost all the white players who come into the league get compared to Larry Bird (like Peja Stojakovic) even when there is absolutely no skill comparison there, while those some players could have skills comparable to a famous Black player, but no one will comment on it. Do you thinks that's from some kind of fear, a general stupidity, the desire to find the nest "great White hope," or what?
132006-07-10T15:13:57Z
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Closed minds are incapable of thinking past superficial things. If J.J. Redick lives up to his expected potential as a shooter, he'll inevitably be compared to Jeff Hornacek or Steve Kerr b/c he's white, when he could turn out to be more like Reggie Miller than either of those two. More than likely, I think Redick will end up like Dell Curry - a shooting specialist with very few other skills. When I read about Morrison's skill-set - good shooter, good scorer, slow-footed, poor defender - I think of Glen Rice. Since Redick and Morrison are white, a thorough search will be conducted to find a good, white player to compare them to. I think they make the comparisons b/c they have some mental block that won't allow them to look past skin color. I don't think they are afraid to make the comparisons; I think they are just too closed minded to do it.
You're right that white players are normally only compared to other white players...
Larry Bird was not only the greatest forward ever to play in the NBA, he's also the greatest forward ever to play college basketball as well...
Bird himself was compared to Rick Barry when he first came up... great shooter, great passer, poor individual defender, but a great defender in the team context (crafty, as they used to say)...
After Bird came a long line of "next Larry Birds"... Detlef Schrempf was the first of the 'next Larry Birds"... basically because he was 6'9, white, and blond... that's where the similarity ended... Schrempf was an OK all-around player, but his overall skills in all areas were several notches below Bird's level. Detlef was from Germany, guess you could say he was Dirk Nowitski before Dirk Nowitski was Dirk Nowitski... but Dirk is quite a bit better than Detlef ever was...
Morrison's supposed to be the new 'next Larry Bird', simply because he's a good shooter... but Bird could get you 15 or 20 rebounds if you needed him to as well... so much for Adam Morrison...
Wilt Chamberlain used to notice these comparisons many years ago...he always thought that Bill Walton came closest to playing the game the way he (Chamberlain) did, but of course, no one ever called Bill Walton the 'next Wilt Chamberlain'... Walton was merely known as the Great White Hope... (after Bill Bradley retired)...
And Dirk has been, and is being, compared to Bird more and more... Anytime Dirk has a 20/10 game, he's the next Larry Bird... But so far, Dirk is just a bunch of numbers... there was much more to Bird than just the stats he put on the scoreboard...
In a lot of ways, Shaq is similar to George Mikan, in the sense that the other players in the leauge just could not physically deal with him... but that comparison is certainly never made... (Shaq is well aware of who Mikan was, and when Mikan passed away a couple of years ago, Shaq paid his funeral expenses). Mikan was the NBA's first superstar, and led the (Minneapolis) Lakers to five championships in six years in the late 40s/early 50s...
1.) Us white basketball players can't compare to black basketball players, at least as far as talent goes. 2.) There is a difference in skill types. NORMALY a white basketball player will be more gritty, and a decent outside shooter, while blacks are better drivers, and defenders, obviously there are exceptions. 3.) Most people dont compare them due to the simple fact that one of the players may be offended.
i believe because basketball is still diversed. back then black players were low in numbers. now its the white players. i think because of that they want to compare the white players with other white players and vice versa. also i believe the skin makes it easier to spot out the comparisons. if a white player acts like mj on the court they arent going to say that because he is white. instead they are going to compare him to a white player who reminds them of jordan. for instance noone is going to say a white player is the next jordan. instead they will say the next larry bird or something.
One, because white players are so rare. Two, we live in a hyper-sensitive age of political correctness where people are afraid to go anywhere near race. Many white people are afraid to even use the word "black". So we're all forced to use the cumbersome "African-American", which is too much of a pain to use repeatedly in a conversation. So we just don't have that conversation.