Michael Jordan has Ruined the NBA

"If I can't practice, I can't practice. It is as simple as that. It ain't about that at all. It's easy to sum it up if you're just talking about practice. We're sitting here, and I'm supposed to be the franchise player, and we're talking about practice. I mean listen, we're sitting here talking about practice, not a game, not a game, not a game, but we're talking about practice. Not the game that I go out there and die for and play every game last it's my last but we're talking about practice man. How silly is that?

Now I know that I'm supposed to lead by example and all that but I'm not shoving that aside like it don't mean anything. I know it's important, I honestly do but we're talking about practice. We're talking about practice man. (laughter from the media crowd) We're talking about practice. We're talking about practice. We're not talking about the game. We're talking about practice. When you come to the arena, and you see me play, you've seen me play right, you've seen me give everything I've got, but we're talking about practice right now. (more laughter)

I think Iverson sums it all up in his statement May 8, 2002 (after the altercation with him and great coach Larry Brown). It was the beginning of the new NBA. Gone were the days of Jordan, Pippen, Rodman; players who were as sound fundamentally as they were playmakers. Players who knew you had to play both sides of the ball to win championships. Players who understood you had to practice, and practice hard to be able to execute the way they did on the court. Michael Jordan also had the utmost respect for his coach, and understood if he bought into Phil Jackson's philosophy, no other team on the court could outplay them. Now that has all been replaced by the Iverson's, the Kobe Bryant's, the Stephan Marbury's. These players are bigger than their coaches and teams. They don't need to practice, they already have multi-million dollar shoe deals. They probably haven't practiced hard since the 6th grade. And it shows, every year the jump shot comes one step closer to becoming extinct (and you would think it would improve with team defense also becoming extinct). In 100 years the NBA might have to change their scoring system to allow for a 3 point dunk since that 3 point line is just so far away. Why do you think we are terrible at Olympic basketball? Its embarrasing, the rest of the world plays team DEFENSE and PRACTICES their jump shot, and now we are getting beat at a sport WE INVENTED. This would be like our soccer team whipping Brazil, Germany and England every 2 years (World Cup or Olympics). But that won't ever happen because our best athletes want the big money and they don't want to have to practice.

I had some hope when I heard of Lebron James coming up in high school. He's definitely a great player, but not the same caliber as Michael Jordan was. I hate to say it but I doubt I will ever be able to watch another NBA in my life. After five minutes of running up and down the court playing one on one, no team defense, no fundamentals, and no class, I am ready to vomit. Thank God for the NCAA March Madness. With the NBA plucking the best college players as soon as they can get them (used to be right from high school, now they wait until after one year of college), you get some very crazy, exciting games. You actually have players playing as a team and actually relying on their jump shot. You actaully have coaches who are respected by their players, and you have kids playing for pride for themselves and their school.

But whenever I really want to be inspired, or maybe I feel like I can't accomplish a certain task, I put in my tape of the "Flu Game". This game defines everything that is great about Michael Jordan, and aslo defines what the new NBA lacks. I have attached a link to a very good article describing this game if you have never seen/heard of it.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/espn25/story?page=moments/79

Just reading the article again chills me. I urge anyone who has not seen this game to get a copy of this game or the series versus the Utah Jazz (back when they had Malone, Stockton, Hornacek). Just make sure not to watch this game, and then turn on a current NBA game afterwards, or you'll feel just as sick as Jordan did that game.