Chip Shot: Thoughts on the NBA
January 23, 2021 at 3:03 a.m.
Chip Shot: Thoughts on the NBA
By Chip Davenport-
My birthday this summer coincides with my 25th anniversary of my arrival as a resident in the Hoosier state. It was a move in the proper direction. There are many reasons I enjoy living in Northern Indiana.
However, my thoughts are locked on things about me a bit more atypical of a middle-aged male in this area.
I’ll spare you many of them, and lock in on my love of the NBA, or “The Association” as the pundits call it. I must admit the ‘90s and early ‘00s when teams were at the free throw line for 45 or more free throws was an excruciating period, but I endured it. Talking to numerous gentlemen my age, or close to my age for that matter, I’m not quite on an island due to my love of the NBA, but I’m close to being on one around here.
I loved many things about the early and mid-70s NBA and ABA: the red, white, and blue ball, the slam dunk contests, the zone defense, the full court pressure defense, and the three-point shot in the ABA. Both leagues had guys with afros that would make a 6’4” guard look like he was 6’10”. I loved seeing the huge ‘fros sported by guys like Darnell “Dr. Dunk” Hillman, Julius “Dr. J” Erving, and Mike Gale – all merging from the ABA – as well as established NBA players like Bingo Smith, and Wes Unseld in the NBA.
I loved ‘70s basketball because the great centers ruled the Earth, ironically much like large dinosaurs once ruled it. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Nate Thurmond, Bob Lanier (and his “Baby New Year” ears), and Artis Gilmore of both ABA and NBA fame, and a fine ambassador of the 70s afro to boot.
However, I completely understand how the league has transformed to today’s guard/forward dominated league with electrifying players like Luka Dancic, Jamal Murray, Steph Curry, Damian Lillard, and LeBron “The King” James.
I think part of the transition was the introduction of the three-point shot in the 1979-1980 NBA season. I also think, as most normal-sized kids would think, it’s easier to mimic the moves of guards and forwards than it is to mimic Kareem’s skyhook, and dunking – at least for me – is out of the question unless I was playing with my NERF hoop anchored by suction cups on my bedroom door.
Furthermore, in the here and now, I’ll tune into an NBA game just to catch the halftime and postgame shows if Charles Barkley, Shaq, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson are in the studio. The banter and one-upmanship among them are a big part of the evening’s sports treat.
Some things from the ‘70s, and now-defunct, ABA are alive and well in NBA action as we know it today. The three-point shot (’79-’80), the slam dunk contest (circa ’78), and the zone and pressure defenses (circa late ‘80s). Even the afros are back! I’ve seen a few coifs enhancing a player’s height by at least half a foot while watching the current season of NBA season.
Additionally, almost all the dudes in The Association today are built like Thurmond! Google him, he’s one of the most muscular basketball players in his time, and still would be today!
Professional basketball reminds me life as we know it today has many similarities to decades past.
My children have tried to draw a line in the sand between our generations saying, “You don’t know what it’s like, you grew up in the ‘70s and ‘80s.”
My rejoinder was, “I’ve already been 16, 18, 21, even 30, 40 and 50 and you haven’t. The only difference between you and me is my telephone was tethered to a wall, and we had to wait for everything much longer, and it came in the mail. So HA! I’m actually from the future!”
My 21-year-old daughter, Ellen, surprisingly keeps my rejoinder in mind. I believe I used it when she was 16 or 17.
Maybe the engineers of the ABA-NBA merger, the second most brilliant professional sports business move, were from the future, too.
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My birthday this summer coincides with my 25th anniversary of my arrival as a resident in the Hoosier state. It was a move in the proper direction. There are many reasons I enjoy living in Northern Indiana.
However, my thoughts are locked on things about me a bit more atypical of a middle-aged male in this area.
I’ll spare you many of them, and lock in on my love of the NBA, or “The Association” as the pundits call it. I must admit the ‘90s and early ‘00s when teams were at the free throw line for 45 or more free throws was an excruciating period, but I endured it. Talking to numerous gentlemen my age, or close to my age for that matter, I’m not quite on an island due to my love of the NBA, but I’m close to being on one around here.
I loved many things about the early and mid-70s NBA and ABA: the red, white, and blue ball, the slam dunk contests, the zone defense, the full court pressure defense, and the three-point shot in the ABA. Both leagues had guys with afros that would make a 6’4” guard look like he was 6’10”. I loved seeing the huge ‘fros sported by guys like Darnell “Dr. Dunk” Hillman, Julius “Dr. J” Erving, and Mike Gale – all merging from the ABA – as well as established NBA players like Bingo Smith, and Wes Unseld in the NBA.
I loved ‘70s basketball because the great centers ruled the Earth, ironically much like large dinosaurs once ruled it. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Nate Thurmond, Bob Lanier (and his “Baby New Year” ears), and Artis Gilmore of both ABA and NBA fame, and a fine ambassador of the 70s afro to boot.
However, I completely understand how the league has transformed to today’s guard/forward dominated league with electrifying players like Luka Dancic, Jamal Murray, Steph Curry, Damian Lillard, and LeBron “The King” James.
I think part of the transition was the introduction of the three-point shot in the 1979-1980 NBA season. I also think, as most normal-sized kids would think, it’s easier to mimic the moves of guards and forwards than it is to mimic Kareem’s skyhook, and dunking – at least for me – is out of the question unless I was playing with my NERF hoop anchored by suction cups on my bedroom door.
Furthermore, in the here and now, I’ll tune into an NBA game just to catch the halftime and postgame shows if Charles Barkley, Shaq, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson are in the studio. The banter and one-upmanship among them are a big part of the evening’s sports treat.
Some things from the ‘70s, and now-defunct, ABA are alive and well in NBA action as we know it today. The three-point shot (’79-’80), the slam dunk contest (circa ’78), and the zone and pressure defenses (circa late ‘80s). Even the afros are back! I’ve seen a few coifs enhancing a player’s height by at least half a foot while watching the current season of NBA season.
Additionally, almost all the dudes in The Association today are built like Thurmond! Google him, he’s one of the most muscular basketball players in his time, and still would be today!
Professional basketball reminds me life as we know it today has many similarities to decades past.
My children have tried to draw a line in the sand between our generations saying, “You don’t know what it’s like, you grew up in the ‘70s and ‘80s.”
My rejoinder was, “I’ve already been 16, 18, 21, even 30, 40 and 50 and you haven’t. The only difference between you and me is my telephone was tethered to a wall, and we had to wait for everything much longer, and it came in the mail. So HA! I’m actually from the future!”
My 21-year-old daughter, Ellen, surprisingly keeps my rejoinder in mind. I believe I used it when she was 16 or 17.
Maybe the engineers of the ABA-NBA merger, the second most brilliant professional sports business move, were from the future, too.
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