If it’s summertime and we’re talking NBA basketball, then the discussion probably centers around rookies or free agents. The free agent signing period — at least the big news items — came and went rather quickly. The NBA Draft and the Summer League have now come and gone, but not without the usual dose of sneak previews regarding first-year players. Proclamations from NBA analysts beginning with the words “He reminds me a bit of…” or “He could be the next…” both are part of the annual exercise of recycling the established NBA player.
IT’S NOT LIMITED TO BASKETBALL
A little over thirty-five years ago, I was reading the sports section of a local (New York City) newspaper and came across a quote from an actual adult within the New York Mets’ organization (It may have even been the manager) describing a projected five-tool outfield phenom still working his way through the minor leagues named Darryl Strawberry as “Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and Ted Williams all rolled into one” before this kid had ever put on a major-league uniform.
No pressure or anything, especially in a baseball-crazed town like New York City, where the already unrealistic expectations increased dramatically following that regrettable quote. It was immediately identified as a bit of hyperbole, but still made me uncomfortable. It still does.
It’s difficult to believe anyone actually fell for it, but sure enough, once Strawberry finally came up to the majors, one could easily get the impression the aforementioned quote was taken literally by a few, and that he was expected to hit a tape-measure homerun every time he stepped to the plate.
In basketball, it’s no different.
RECYCLING THE ESTBALISHED NBA PLAYER
From the end of the NBA Finals through Summer League play, we again come face-to-face with basketball fans and analysts’ penchant for bringing living NBA players back to life. During the NBA Draft, as a frame of reference selected players are compared with other NBA players, past and present. Nothing wrong with the process on an informational level, as long as the comparisons aren’t taken literally. It only results in unfair comparisons and unrealistic expectations, neither of which are fair to the young athlete and can result in fan disappointment.
While watching one summer league game involving the New York Knicks, you could hear the commentator compare their first-round pick to Kevin Durant and their second-round pick to Anthony Davis. Now the commentator was likely referring to playing style and not necessarily the projected playing ability, but when the audience includes the starving, impatient fan base of the Knicks, perhaps this isn’t such a great idea.
Can’t really kill Knick fans for getting excited, and the Knicks may have actually nailed those two picks, but there will be some rough patches along the way, and it will be several years before we find out how good these kids really are against NBA competition..
That is, if they haven’t been traded by then.
We heard several others from this year’s rookie group compared to luminaries like Steph Curry, David Robinson, Scottie Pippen, Rudy Gobert, Al Horford, Manu Ginobili and others. Steph Curry is still playing, will likely play for at least another five or six years, and we’re already looking for the “next” one.
OF COURSE, SOME THINGS JUST DEFY COMPARISON
Those of us who were around in the 1990’s remember the endless search for the “Next Michael Jordan” and unfortunately, several talented players born in the wrong era were stuck with this unfortunate burden. Guys like Jerry Stackhouse, Grant Hill, Kobe Bryant and even Harold “Baby Jordan” Miner were hearing this before they ever stepped onto NBA hardwood, while Lebron James still gets it fifteen years into his professional career.
Julius “Dr. J” Erving and George “Ice” Gervin each had their nicknames attached to legions of NBA prospects in the 1970’s and 80’s, and us baby-boomers all knew local guys with some variation of those nicknames with none coming close to duplicating the originals in terms of playing ability.
Likewise, there have been several “Baby Shaq” prospects (remember Eddy Curry? Sofoklis Schortsanitis?) who fell out of contention as well. No one deserves that burden.
SPECULATIVE TANKING
Remember how a bunch of teams ended up, uh, ” jockeying for position” during the 2013-14 season to increase their odds of landing either Andrew Wiggins or Jabari Parker, both of whom — at 18 years old — were being compared to established NBA players like Tracy McGrady, Clyde Drexler and Carmelo Anthony? Both have proven themselves as NBA scorers, but given all the hype that preceded their entry into the league, are still viewed as underachievers — even Parker after two serious knee injuries — at 23 years old.
KEEPING IT IN PERSPECTIVE
There’s nothing wrong with experts using an established player — past or present — to give a preview of what to expect — if only in terms of style — from a player we may not have seen play before. Likewise, there’s nothing wrong with a young player patterning his game after an established veteran, and we’ve seen that as well. Hopefully, the fans won’t take these comparisons to heart and will give these players time to develop (labeling a rookie a “bust” after a couple of summer league games is rather common, unfortunately) while the players instead focus on creating their own identities. After watching and listening to some of the 2018 draftees — a rather impressive group of young men — it appears they may have a better handle on all this comparison stuff than the rest of us do.
