Current NBA Youth Versus Past NBA Greats

We always hear about major athletes and how they wanted to be like the stars they grew up watching. If you liked basketball you wanted to be "like mike", hockey, the great Gretzky, a quarterback, John Elway. This is all well and good, but I say once players and know their own talents they don't want to be like those greats at all. They want to be THEMSELVES.

As I type this hub, I instantly think of Charles Barkley, Larry Bird, Kareem and other greats and their attitudes on how younger players need to be more like their generation of players and before. How the younger generation is killing the game. Some of them believe that this generation of players are becoming spoiled with the lavish contracts without having played one NBA game. The way they dress on the sidelines is thuggish and a result of the hip-hop culture. Players that leave too early in their college careers haven't proven themselves enough. While he does have valid points on some issues, many of the older players are biased towards their contemporaries and predecessors and if you don't aspire to be like them then you have no respect for the game.

I don't care how much Kobe Bryant, Sidney Crosby, or Peyton Manning say they looked up to Jordan, Hull, or Namath, they want to be great in their own right. They want their names to stand alone as much as possible in the annals of greatness. They may hint at their own greatness from time to time, but they will generally defer to greats of their past as not to seem cocky or disrespectful. It is humbling to be compared to greats of the past. It lets you know that you are on the right track to greatness yourself. It does show humility to not toot your own horn, and humilty is great, but its also ok to want to be great all by yourself. You aren't killing the game because you want to be the best, you aren't showing disrespect because you dont pay homage to Jordan and Gretzky at every turn in your life.

No one plays the game to be attached to someone all the time. You play so you can be the best YOU can be. Deep down Jordan, Yzerman, and Marino, wanted to be great in their OWN right too. You can show respect to the past and be great IN YOUR OWN RIGHT all at the same time.