For nine NBA seasons, the latest guest on
NBATV’s “#NBATogether” has been a solid player, who has gotten better and
better. Despite that gradual improvement this Dix Hills, NY native has had over
his career, for a while he just did not stick in one place moving from the
Midwest to the Southeast, back to the Midwest, to the West Coast for a season
and now back close to the Northeast part of the U.S. He grew up learning the
game and about life from his father as well as being a well-rounded person, who
took moving around a lot early on his NBA career and now has settled in the
playing in the “City of Brotherly Love” hoping to aide in his team’s quest for
an NBA championship.
The first question via video chat that NBA
on TNT studio host and lead host of TNT’s “Inside the NBA” Ernie Johnson asked
Philadelphia 76ers forward Tobias Harris is what did his father Torrel teach
him that he would never forget?
Mr. Harris taught his son, now 27 years
old, who has played for the Milwaukee Bucks, Orlando Magic, Detroit Pistons,
Los Angeles Clippers and as mentioned now the 76ers from a young age to
“respect yourself, respect others” and really work at whatever you want to
achieve.
“My father was a basketball player, a
basketball agent. First black man with an NBA license and NFL license to
distribute and manufacture clothing,” Harris, who was chosen No. 19 overall by
the then Charlotte Bobcats, now Hornets in 2011 draft added about what his
father, who is his agent accomplished. “An amazing human being of faith. Always
put faith first in everything that he did in life.”
“So, for myself, my brothers (Tyler,
Terry, and Torrel, Jr.) and sisters (Tesia and Tori) it was taught as a young
age to strive for whatever you wanted to get to. And he just taught me a really
great groundwork of a base to become who I wanted to become. And from a young
age I got that and I’ve been blessed, and really truly fortunate myself,
brothers and sisters to have a father figure like my dad.”
Harris said about what makes having his
father as his agent work is that he keeps a “really cool tone” when it comes to
dealing with the “non-positives” of what he hears about his son from the front
offices of the teams in the Milwaukee Bucks, Orlando Magic, Detroit Pistons,
Los Angeles Clippers and current with the aforementioned 76ers.
From the age of eight when he began
playing basketball, when Harris said to Johnson that his dad has always been
his agent. But he always told his, who always was “Michael Jordan” in his eyes
the truth, and it is Harris who gives the real outlook of what he had to work
on to be a better basketball player.
Having that back-and-forth where nothing
is off limits and by having his dad, who also worked in the financial industry
at one point in his life in his corner both as his agent and as his parent.
“So, it’s kind of like, it’s a collective
thing that he brings to the table of having me understand where I’m at, and how
to continue to push forward,” Harris said of what his dad is and the amazing skill
set he is as an agent.”
It was Harris’ father that arranged for
him to meet the six-time NBA champion and Hall of Famer of the Chicago Bulls at
his last game at the New York Knicks gym of Madison Square Garden in New York,
NY when he was playing for the Washington Wizards.
Harris attended that game with his dad and
younger brother. Mr. Harris snuck his kids out from school early. Said that
they were going to the gym. Took them to the game, and after the game Mr.
Harris met with Jordan in the hallways of MSG and asked if he could autograph
his kid’s basketball card. Jordan turned around and signed the card.
“It was a moment that I will never forget.
We never forget,” Harris said of meeting Jordan and him autographing something
for him. “And even watching ‘The Last Dance,’ it was like déjà vu of kind of
the timing of everything and how it was. So, it was an amazing time to meet
Michael Jordan.”
The unfortunate side of this story is that
Harris said he lost the card MJ autographed, which he said that he had for a
mere 60 minutes. But he said that it did not matter because he got to do
something that very few people get to do and that is meet one of the greatest
to ever play on the NBA hardwood.
Besides being a solid basketball player,
Harris is a well-rounded person who has perspective that has been a major part
in why he has had a solid NBA career to this point, despite not sticking in one
place as mentioned early on in his NBA journey.
Earlier this month, he did a piece for
“The Players’ Tribune” titled “Y’All Hear Us, But You Ain’t Listening” on June
3 where talked about how he went to schools that were mostly Caucasian and how
he put a piece together talking about the systemic racism that our country is
right in the grips of right now since the tragic death of George Floyd in late
May by a Minneapolis, MN Policeman putting his knee on his neck.
Harris said that the piece was his
thoughts and feelings about how those in law enforcement across this nation who
killed unarmed minorities have not faced any consequences. How back in May when
men with guns took to the steps of Michigan’s capitol to protest the
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic and President Donald Trump called them, “good
people.” But when there are protest another African American life being taken
unnecessarily, they are referred to as “Thugs.”
He also said that putting this story
together took a true self-reflection of his own life. This moment that were in
when it comes to dealing with systemic racism is when he was mentoring kids
from kindergarten to First Grade one day while he was a member of the Orlando
Magic (2013-16) and he asked one kids why he did not do his homework because
his teacher asked Harris to pose that question to him?
The young man told Harris that the lights
in his family’s home were not on after 5 p.m.
It suddenly hit Harris that a young man
had a real circumstance that kid and what many kids, especially many minority
children have to go through on a daily basis. That paled in comparison to the
life Harris had growing up with a mother and father that always had solid
paying jobs to pay for the electricity so that their children could do their
homework and not have things like will they be able to have enough to eat or
their parents have the income to pay the electricity bill to clog their ability
to reach their full potential.
“For me, my potential wasn’t blocked,”
Harris said of how he grew up. “It took me a while to grasp that but once I saw
it first-hand and was able to kind of relate to it in a way of, ‘Wow. I
understand what this kid is going through because I’m this dialogue and this
conversation with them.”
Along with being able to go to the best
schools growing up as well as play basketball at Half Hollow Hills West in Dix Hills, NY until
2008, then transferring to Long Island Lutheran Middle and High School in
Brookville, NY for his junior year, and back to Half Hollow Hills West, Harris
also had a great mentor in Hall of Famer George “Ice Man” Gervin, who he first
met at around age seven, eight.
In their time together, Harris learned
from Gervin the fundamentals of the game from proper footwork and how to shoot
layups properly.
One thing that Harris said that he knew
about Gervin was his immense love for basketball and that he loves teaching the
game that he was exceptional at.
It was those same principles as Harris got
older on that he held onto and grasp them in a “more detailed” way of
incorporating his game with them.
“It’s been a true honor to be able to have
George Gervin as a mentor, as a family friend and somebody that I can really
call at anytime to get advice on in anything of life,” Harris said of being
mentored by the legend of the San Antonio Spurs.
Amongst the advice Gervin Harris said he
gave him was to enjoy your life and what you have.
It is a mentorship Harris has with Gervin
that goes beyond the basketball court, which he also said that he relays to him
to play the game with true joy. Compete at a high level every time you take the
court. Enjoy everyone meaningful to you around you from your family and your
friends.
Those moments are even more important when
the sport that you play for a living like basketball can bring you to your
knees crying tears of serious pain like when now Los Angeles Clippers perennial
All-Star forward Kawhi Leonard hit the game-winning fallaway jumper right in
front of the Toronto Raptors bench in Game 7 of the 2019 Eastern Conference
Semifinals that sent the 76ers home short of their goal of reaching The Finals.
Harris saw up close the four-bounce
game-winning jumper while he was trying to boxout All-Star center Marc Gasol.
In the early days of the COVID-19
Pandemic, former teammate JJ Redick, now with the New Orleans Pelicans texted
Harris and said that Leonard traveled on that last second shot.
When Harris got a chance to look at that
play again, he agreed that Leonard, the 2019 Finals MVP of the eventual NBA
champion Raptors that he took too many steps.
“Needles to say when he got to the baseline
and he’s shooting this rainbow shot I was just like, ‘Na, no way,’” Harris
said. “So, I was trying to get Marc off the board and when it bounced and the
second bounce I was like, ‘All right, this is coming to me. I’m going to just
go get it.’ And it just didn’t stop and it goes in, and I was like, ‘You gotta
be kidding me?’”
“It was just unreal about how the
trajectory of the basketball bounced like that. It’s hard to talk about.”
The 76ers had thought that whoever came
out of the Eastern Conference last season was going to be holding the Larry
O’Brien trophy, even though the five-time reigning Western Conference champion
Golden State Warriors were still formidable before the eventual Achilles tear
sustained by two-time Finals MVP of the now Brooklyn Nets Kevin Durant, and a
calf strain prior to that.
Harris said that the 76ers wanted to be
that team to come out of the East and Leonard’s shot shattered those dreams.
The Sixers hope to get another opportunity
to win it all when the NBA restarts its season this summer at the ESPN Wide
World of Sports Complex in Orlando, FL on July 31.
They are at 39-26 currently in the No. 6
spot in the Eastern Conference playoff picture, just two games behind the No. 4
Seeded Miami Heat.
There have been a number of players who
have expressed their doubts of returning to play out the rest of this season
because of their fears of catching COVID-19, especially with the spike in cases
of the Coronavirus in Florida recently.
Other players like perennial All-Star
guard Kyrie Irving, who is also the Vice President of the National Basketball
Players’ Association (NBPA) and fellow perennial All-Star center Dwight Howard
of the Los Angeles Lakers have expressed their feelings about not continuing
the season because that it might take the focus away from the social unrest and
social issues that need to remain in the consciousness of the country.
Harris said he has heard the opinions from
his NBA brethren on all sides about the pandemic and the need for series police
and social reform and believes that they are all valid. No one should have
their feelings about what is going taken from them. It is all having an affect
on the mental state of all of us, especially minorities that you cannot
understand unless you are that individual.
“For me and my standpoint, I believe that
if we are suited up to play, I’ll be ready to play,” Harris said about resuming
this season with the 76ers in Disneyworld. “Like if my guys, my team is ready
to play and I truly believe we have a chance to win a championship, I’m with my
guys and I’m ready.”
Harris said that he has kept his mind in
the state that the 2019-20 NBA campaign would resume at some point.
One of things that he has done since the
NBA’s hiatus back on Mar. 11 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic is getting nine hours
of sleep, which he said to Johnson is a part of his regiment even before the
pandemic, which he has been getting plenty of during this pandemic. The only
issue with that is when the team is on the road when the 76ers travel to
different cities and they arrive late into the night.
“But I aim for eight to nine hours of
sleep a night and I definitely feel great when I’m able to do it,” Harris said.
“Sleep is the best form of recovery.”
During the pandemic though, Harris said he
has been getting about eight hours of sleep, hitting the bed at 12:30 a.m., 1
a.m. But he has been getting plenty of naps in during the day. Once the season
restarts, Harris said he plans to be getting to sleep by 10:30 p.m.
But does believe this is an important time
to each NBA player to use their platform to produce real change.
The biggest platform that the players on
the 22 teams, the eight playoff teams in the Eastern and Western Conference and
the six teams that are on the within striking distance of being above the
playoff line will be in Orlando to say this is what happened to the
aforementioned George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and most recently Rayshard Brooks
and why it cannot be permitted to continue.
It is a chance for Harris and those that
come to Orlando for the restart of the season as a collective group a real
opportunity on a national stage where everybody will be glued to their
televisions and media devices and see how the players play on the hardwood and
how they will demonstrate their feelings about what is happening to minorities
at the hands of those sworn to protect and serve all of the public.
The players have been using their
platforms recently from joining the protestors in their peaceful marches
against police brutality.
No matter what the players decide to do,
whether they go to Orlando to be a part of the restart or not, they all either
individually and/or collectively have to take that next step and come to a
consensus of what they really want to come out of this.
Harris said he wants justice to be served
to those in law enforcement or Caucasians that harm or kill minorities they
deem to be a threat when they have not done anything wrong. Also, the social
equality of people being able to truly listen to others without first stating
their own opinions.
Along with taking keeping the public
informed about what is happening in our nation, the players once they get to
Orlando have to know the protocols of keeping one another safe, which they got
recently in a 100-page handbook about the rules and regulations of being on the
Wide World of Sports campus in Orlando.
Harris said that he has read the handbook
but he will let head coach Brett Brown and the top brass of the 76ers point out
the main points that they need to follow while on campus.
One thing that Harris did point out that
he saw in the handbook is the rule that no player can be in another players
room. He said jokingly that while the team will be staying in the same hotel as
the Dallas Mavericks and Harris said that his former teammate with the Clippers
and 76ers Boban Marjanovic will be trying to communicate and hang out with him,
which he will have hotel security keep the other half of tandem of the former
social media mini-reality series “Bobi and Toby Show” apart.
At least Harris will be able to see
someone and be within six feet of in Marjanovic, and that is something a lot of
people who have lost someone of great significance because of this pandemic.
It is in moments like this that we all
have to find something to lean on to give us a sense of hope that we all will
make it out of this on the other side.
That is something Harris began when he tweeted
@tobias31 in the early morning of Apr. 25, “Your life is always moving in the
direction of your strongest thoughts.”
Harris said that his strongest thoughts
now are positivity, to win an NBA title, mediate, which he does everyday when he
wakes up, which allows him to go deep into his mind to figure out what kind of
person he wants to be on that day.
“For me it’s really about love,” Harris
said. “About having that light in the world to spread love. To really have
people that you come into contact with just feel okay.”
“I think especially during these times
with COVID-19, with everything going on in the world, it’s being able to really
open up and really ask someone how they’re doing?”
It is something that Harris said he has asked
people whether he is at the grocery store or simply coming into an interaction
with somebody saying that while we are in a tough time in our world that is
important to have a conversation, no matter if it just for a moment or longer.
That at this time it matters greatly that each person to find the light in all
of this darkness, while also standing up for what you believe in and be the
person that will play a role in making serious change.
If there is anything that the Coronavirus
(COVID-19) Pandemic has taught any of us that life is very fragile and that the
difference between a lot us reaching our full potential and having to really
dig in to get there is our circumstances that we grow up in.
Tobias Harris grew up in the greatest of
circumstances with two loving hardworking parents, and a close-knit family of
brothers and sisters who went to the best schools, receiving the best education
you can ask for. He used that education and commitment to basketball to make it
to the University of Tennessee and then the NBA.
Along for the ride has been Harris father
Torrel, whose been his agent, biggest cheerleader and presence that has guided
his son and given him an understanding to never take his talent for playing
basketball for granted and his life experience of being a mentor to young kids
has opened his mind to the understanding that not everyone grew up like him but
he can have a seismic impact that can be the driving force they need to be as
successful like him in whatever they want to do. They just have to put in the
work on a daily basis, especially when it comes to getting an education and to
always be kind to those you are around.
“I think education is the most vital thing
in the world, especially for our youth,” Harris said. “Its’s having our youth
educated in many different ways. I think that if I had to get to the root of it,
there’s a lot of things in school systems and education that have been able to
really hinder a lot success for a lot of young people. And I think that I want
to be a part of that type of change where our young kids coming up understand
that there is more, and here’s ways to achieve it. And I think that’s a big
mission for myself.”
Information, statistics, and quotations
are courtesy of 11/7/2018 www.slamonline.com
story, “Bobi and Tobi Discuss Their Friendship, Online Show And More,” by
Isaiah Freedman; 6/3/2020 www.theplayerstribune.com
piece “Y’All Hear Us, But You Ain’t Listening,” by Tobias Harris; 6/20/2020 8
p.m. edition of NBATV’s “#NBATogether With Ernie Johnson: Tobias Harris;” www.google.com; https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/h/harrito02.html;
and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobias_Harris.
For 19 NBA seasons playing with the
Milwaukee Bucks, then Seattle Supersonics, Boston Celtics and Miami Heat, the
latest guest on NBATV’s “#NBATogether,” the No. 5 overall pick out of the
University of Connecticut in 1996 NBA Draft shot his way to become the National
Basketball Association’s (NBA’s) all-time leader in three-pointers made, was a
perennial All-Star, earned two NBA titles and a Gold Medal as a member of the
200 Men’s Olympic squad. What made the life of this Hall of Famer different is
that he grew up in a military family where he moved around a lot and had to
embrace being different. It was not until he got on the hardwood that he found
a place he could literally and figuratively call home and whatever role he was
asked to play, and he played that role well. He also played that role off the
floor as a husband and father.
Among the first things that NBA on TNT
studio host and lead host of TNT’s “Inside the NBA,” presented by Kia Ernie
Johnson asked in his interview with Hall of Fame sharp-shooter Ray Allen about
the kinds of conversations he has had about not just the Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Pandemic but the screams and protest for social justice in the wake of the
deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and Rayshard Brooks at
the hands of law enforcement or racist Caucasians with his five children in 15-year-old
son Walter Ray III; his 14-year-old son Walker; 11-year-old son Wynn; and
eight-year-old son Wynstan Ryan with his wife of 12 years Shannon Walker
Williams, and daughter Tierra from a previous relationship with Rosalind
Ramsey.
Allen said that he has “tried to allow
them” to see the good, bad, and ugly that exist on Earth so that they can
converse early in their young lives. That when they exit the confines of their
home, they know what is happening, what the “weather” is like around different
parts of America, and the world.
That he wanted to be the “voice” for them
to ask for answers when they have questions. Allen said to Johnson that the
main problem that parents have in teaching their children about the bad and
ugly parts of life.
That the difficult parts they “will learn”
once they get older or they have to do something because that is what their
parents told them to do when they are in a certain situation.
“We’re not talking to our kids,” Allen
said about the issue parents have in raising their kids when it comes to hard
subject matter. “We’re not having conversations with them and letting them
know, why?”
Allen said that with his children they do
sit down and talk about what is happening in America. He shows them the movies
about the subject matter that they talk about like “The 13th,” “The
Hate You Give,” “Birth of A Nation,” and “Amistad” that talk about the history
of African Americans in America, their heritage and how we ended up to be where
we are today where we have made progress but we have a lot more progress to
make to where we are treated, paid and honored equally as our Caucasian
counterparts.
“They have questions and I just want them
to be prepared,” Allen said. “And I think that its not just a black thing. I
think white kids should understand too because this is America.”
Johnson even said that he has been reading
the 2018 book “White Fragility,” by Robin DiAngelo, which he said has
gotten a lot of traction now that explains about how Caucasian America is so
terrified to talk about race and how it is an uncomfortable subject to talk
about.
When the subject came up about the passing
of Mr. Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis, MN Police back in late May, Allen
said that his kids just “watched” and “paid attention.”
They saw what was occurring on television
like the rest of our nation and the world for that matter, and Allen said his
children were “astounded.”
They watched it as a family again because
Allen’s daughter had yet to see Mr. Floyd being killed when one of the three
officers, that have been charged in the murder of the 47-year-old put his knee
on his neck while having his hands in his pants pockets.
Allen then said he educated his kids on
the statistics on how we got to this point low point in our nation where in
just the last decade alone, 12 African Americans have lost their lives at the
hands of those sworn to serve and protect them, and how Caucasian America has
become so desensitized to this kind of modern day lynching and not confront
those that would commit this horrific act.
The example Allen gave to illustrate this
point of when his oldest son Walter Ray III was in the first-grade he thought he
was Caucasian, and when someone said to him that he was black, he replied “No,
I’m white.”
Allen in gathering his thoughts at that
moment of what he heard out of the mouth from his son, it “dawned” on him that
because his won was light-skinned and in his mind because he is a child that he
thought he was Caucasian.
“Because we’re teaching our kids, you
know, hatefulness and hurt, and all these negative traits. This jadedness that
we put on to our children,” Allen said. “He’s thinking about the 64 crayons in
the Crayola box. He knows what black looks like. He’s like ‘I’m beige. I’m not
black.”
It was here Allen had to explain to his
son what made black and brown folks who they are, and why minorities are looked
at differently in society.
The difference is that Allen is teaching
his son this valuable lesson through love as supposed to him learning this
differently from a person via a racist prism of not liking dark-skinned people
and that you do not like being around minorities.
It is here where this hatred that has
continued the cataclysmic divide that can be seen as clear as the sun in the
sky on a clear day.
This is when your kids Allen said where
they begin to ask questions about who their children are, and this is where
each parent has the opportunity to have this powerful conversation where they
come out of it having a positive outlook on each person they come into contact
with, not having an predetermined feelings.
Allen gained a lot of experience with this
when he was his sons age because growing up the third of five children himself
to Walter Ray Sr. and Flora Allen the now 44-year-old from a military family
moved around a lot, spending time in Saxmundham, a small market town in
Suffolk, England; in Altus, OK; Edwards Air Force Base in Kern County in
Southern California.
During this time though, Allen felt like
an outsider because of the way he talked.
Growing up being an army brat where you
can be on one military base one moment and then on another in an instant, Allen
compared it going to a “private school” your whole life.
As Allen and his family settled in Dalzell,
SC, where he finally had some stability attending all four years of high school
in one place and is not living on a military installation of all places it
happens to be in the southern part of the U.S.
“I say to this day one of the best places
for me for growth as a young person because I had to learn to fight,” Allen
said of that part of his young life. “I had to learn. This is the first place,
the first time in my life that I realized I was black.”
“When you grow up on a military base,
you’re traveling all over the world and you’re around kids of different
ethnicities and there’s no segregation, and you live where they put you. Your
whole street is mixed, it’s a united nation of families.”
It was a completely different story for
Allen once he got to the south where he saw the segregation first-hand, where
he saw how African Americans hang around just other African Americans, and
Caucasians were around just other Caucasians.
Allen found himself caught in the middle
more often than not because when he got off the bus as an eighth grader coming
from the military base it was easy for him to have his guard down because of
the mix of ethnicity he was around.
When he got to high school back in the
states in the south, Allen saw kids “drift” where they felt they were supposed
to go, and he would follow them.
But there was a point where the African
American kids would tell Allen that he was a “white boy,” simply because that
was who he hung around a lot and that he spoke properly.
When the African Americans kids said that
Allen spoke like a “white boy” he did not know what that meant. He only spoke
the way he was taught to speak, proper and with respect.
“It was confusing to me. And for the first
time in my life I had to question who I really was,” Allen said of that time.
Allen also said that he was catching the
same hell from the Caucasian kids because they felt because of the color of his
skin they did not welcome him either, which put him in limbo.
What saved Allen was the game of
basketball, and everyday that he got off the bus and had nowhere else to go, he
went to the basketball court.
It was here where Allen found the strength
to fight back against anyone on the hardwood both literally and figuratively,
especially against those that told him he was not good enough to make the
school’s basketball team.
Because he was really good at basketball
playing for the Hillcrest High School squad, Allen finally gained acceptance
from both the African American and Caucasian kids at school, especially after
leading them to their first state title game.
As he got older, Allen said he used
basketball to bring the African Americans and Caucasians he knew together
because of how he grew up being a military brat.
So much so that kids that were not from
the base, when they came to Allen’s home for Sunday dinner, they realized when
they walked in the door, you see every ethnic background there.
After high school, Allen would go on to
attend the University of Connecticut from 1993-96, where he was named USA
Basketball’s Male Athlete of the Year in 1995 and earned First-Team
All-American honors in 1996 as well as captured the Big East Player of the
Year.
He would finish his career No. 3 on the Huskies
all-time scoring list with 1,922 points and making a single-season program
record of 115 three-pointers.
In the now famed 1996 draft, the Minnesota
Timberwolves selected Allen No. 5 overall and then his draft rights dealt to
the Bucks, where he played for seven seasons.
For much of his NBA career, Allen was
mainly known for his ability to strike a match from the perimeter and
especially from three-point range where previously mentioned is the all-time
leader in career triples made at 2,973.
Allen proved in his rookie season at the
1997 NBA All-Star Weekend where he finished fourth in the Slam Dunk contest,
where he showed that he can put the ball on the floor and get to the rim just
as good as any guard in the league.
Allen said that he finds it fascinating
that everyone in the NBA today that it is their personal mission to become one
of the best shooters to ever step onto the NBA hardwood.
To Allen, the best of all-time is who is
“the best” to that person in their eyes, and that person grows up to young
people that encourages you to become better.
Allen said that he had no clue that
becoming a great three-point shooter would be something that he would be the
best at or be the all-time leader of.
Two years before he surpassed Hall of
Famer and current NBA on TNT color analyst Reggie Miller as the all-time leader
in threes made while with the Celtics (2007-12), it was hard for Allen to
fathom that he would be the all-time leader in that category.
“I couldn’t possibly be that guy because
I’ve seen so many great three-point shooters. How is it me?” Allen said.
“Because it was never something that I strived to do. My mission coming into
the league was to be someone that people respected and came to work every day.”
Allen tells kids all the time that the No.
1 key to becoming a success at anything in life, specifically in sports is to
be “available.”
That availability to Allen during his NBA
career was to make sure his diet was on point, that he got plenty of rest, not
to put anything into his body that could hinder him playing at his max
potential on the court.
That his how he was available for 1,300
games in his 18-year career, 1,149 of them as a starter and he ultimately
became a phenomenal marksman from three-point range but people forget because
Allen played for nearly two decades totality of the other talents he brought to
the floor.
Allen was especially available when the
game is hanging in the balance in the closing seconds, especially in the
playoffs.
When asked by Johnson where the so-called
“clutch gene” comes from?
Allen answered that every young person
wants that chance when the clock is winding down from 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 to hit that
game-winning shot that brings the crowd to their feet.
“It’s just inside of us,” Allen said. “To
me, clutch is being able to do your job when you’re job is needed to be done.
Regardless of what the score is on the clock. Regardless of where you are, and
regardless of how you feel. You go in there and do your job and you show people
this is who I am and this is what I do. And if you come see me play, there’s a
guarantee that you’re going to see what I do and you’re going to see me do it
consistently, and you’re going to see me do it well. At the beginning of the
game and at the end of the game.”
Getting to that point of being clutch
Allen said comes from not compromising your practice, your sleep or any of the
things that make you who you are.
He also said that the reason that others
falter at the end of games is because they get tired due to the fact that they
are not in the greatest shape they need to be in because fatigue “makes cowards
of all of us.”
Allen said that he has practice contingency
after contingency when he is shooting so that even when he is pushed down, he
can get back up and shoot a three-pointer late in the game.
This is something that Miami Heat head
coach Erik Spoelstra knows so well because he told Johnson when he interviewed
him early during the league’s hiatus because of the pandemic that the first
workout Allen had with the Heat he and team president in Hall of Famer Pat
Riley is watching him lay down in the painted area of the court, scrambling to
his feet and running to the corner to shoot a three. Allen goes through this
drill many times during that first workout.
Coach Spoelstra during his interview with
Johnson that it was that kind of drill and the undeterred focus he had while
doing it would lead to the game-tying triple of an offensive rebound by
perennial All-Star Chris Bosh in Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals that tied the
score and the Heat would go on to win that game in overtime 103-100 that tied
The Finals at 3-3. The Heat would go on to win Game 7 95-88 to clinch
back-to-back titles and their third Larry O’Brien trophy in franchise history.
“I’m just thankful that every time I watch
that, the shot goes in,” Allen said of one of the greatest shots in NBA
postseason history. “I see it and it does remind me of everything I put into
the game and my physical being.”
“It’s fascinating because that’s what
sports is all about. You get thrust into these situations and on such a grand
scale playing in the NBA Finals it makes or breaks us. Our careers, our city’s,
you know our teams, organizations.”
It was this moment that Allen always
feared of being that guy that missed a free throw at the end of the game with
the whole world watching and never letting that moment go.
Whenever Allen saw that when he even
watched a college game on television the day before, he would head to the gym
and shoot free throws.
Allen also said that he became incessant
about putting in the work on every angle possible so that whenever he was in
the situation where he had to backpedal towards that three-point line in the
corner of the half court and being able to attempt that shot without letting
the backside of his feet touch out of bounds.
That shot Allen made in Game 6 of the 2013
Finals is something he worked tirelessly on, especially on game day at least he
said 30 to 40 times.
Before that shot Allen hit in the 2013
Finals for the Heat, who he joined as a free agent in the 2012 offseason, the
Boston Celtics acquired him along with Glen “Big Baby” Davis and the No. 35
overall pick in the 2007 draft for Delonte West, current studio and color
analyst for the New York Knicks Wally Szczerbiak, and the No. 5 overall pick of
the same draft, which turned out to be current Houston Rockets’ forward Jeff
Green. Along with acquiring Allen, the Celtics acquired future Hall of Famer
Kevin Garnett from the Minnesota Timberwolves to play alongside current NBA
studio analyst for ESPN in fellow future Hall of Famer Paul Pierce.
That group in five years together led the
Celtics (2007-12) to totals of 66, 62, 50, 56, and 39 (strike shortened season
of 2011-12) wins during those regular seasons, two appearances in The Finals in
2008, where they led along now head coach of the Los Angeles Clippers Glenn
“Doc” Rivers led the Celtics to their all-time league leading 17th
NBA title when they defeated the arch rival Los Angeles Lakers in six games.
They Celtics made it back to The Finals in 2010 where they met the Lakers again
but lost in seven games.
Allen called that time with the Celtics
“special” because he and Pierce spent years competing against each other in the
Eastern Conference when Allen was with the Bucks, where aside from reaching the
2001 Eastern Conference Finals, where they lost to Hall of Famer Allen Iverson
and the Philadelphia 76ers in seven games, they struggled just to make the
playoffs in his aforementioned seven season there.
Allen also said that the three had watched
their respective careers from the time Allen and Garnett were growing up in
South Carolina to their time in the NBA.
There was one time Allen recalled when he
was with the Seattle Supersonics (2003-07) when they won a game at the
Timberwolves and the next day he remembered seeing Garnett at the airport
looking “stressed” as he walked from his car to the plane looking very
“unhappy.”
That is what Allen said made being a part
of that Celtics when he, Garnett joined Pierce in “Beantown” in the summer of
2007 because they all realized that by coming together and buying in to what
Coach Rivers was selling them about make a commitment to defend on a nightly
basis and sacrificing shots and points at the offensive end gave them a better
chance to win, even though winning a title was not a guarantee.
But they knew it could happen because
while the teams that Allen was on in his time with the Supersonics were as he
said the “most fun teams” he played on, they were not seasoned enough to do the
little things and make the kind of commitment necessary to win, especially in
tight games in the fourth quarter.
That Celtics team with Pierce, Allen, and
Garnett had three guys who had the ability to make plays on both ends to pull
close games out of the fire.
“It was like-to win at a 65, 66 percent
clip, it was just a different feeling,” Allen said of his five seasons. “We
knew we had the chance to win and win big every single night.”
That bond and togetherness that Allen,
Pierce, the 2008 Finals MVP and Garnett, and even then lead guard Rajon Rondo,
who is now with the Lakers had became fractured after Allen departed in free agency
in the aforementioned summer of 2012 to join the Heat after turning down a
two-year, $12 million deal to return to the Celtics.
Allen said that he had a conversation with
Pierce when the two spent time together on a trip to China about a couple years
ago, where they tried to clear the air. But he said he has yet to speak to
Garnett or Rondo since the final two years of his career on the hardwood.
“To me it’s a shame because you’d done
something so special with a group of guys that you’re forever immortalized in
that city, you know, in those rafters,” Allen said. “And to feel the hatred
coming from that side for me, you know, its been disappointing for me this
whole time.”
The one thing that Celtics team said in
Allen’s time there that when you win you are brothers forever, which is
something Allen said that he comes to feel, know, and expect.
It is something that Allen has seen with
other teams in other sports that when you win a title, your bond should never
be broken, even when members of that team like the players move on.
All Allen did is sign another contract
with the Heat, which at that time was the arch-rival to the Celtics in the
Eastern Conference at that time.
“My heart is sound and it’s strong, and
I’m happy. And my life is great and everything in it,” Allen said. “So, it
would take those individuals to say, ‘I’m fine, you know, having a conversation
and just kind of getting past this,’ because we’ve seen too many things over
the last couple of months to be holding on to immature grudges.”
Allen said that he had that same regret
with Kobe Bryant, who died along with his daughter Gianna and seven other
people in a helicopter crash outside of Los Angeles on Jan. 26.
While he and Bryant, who were in that same
1996 draft class competed intensely when they played against one another, to
the point where they did not like each other. But they had immense respect for
one another.
That dislike though Allen had for the late
41-year-old Hall of Famer to be in 2021 said was nothing “personal.” They just
played that hard because they wanted to defeat the other.
“I think so much in the atmosphere where
it gets misshapen where people start to take it personal with me,” Allen said.
“They have feelings and they say mistruths and its like, ‘Wow.’ Like we really
got to that point where were talking like we’re hurt behind certain instances
and situations.”
At the end of the day, Allen said that
basketball is “game” that is played to be an inspiration and encouragement to
those that watch either in person or on television to be better people, and not
individuals that hold on to baggage, and send it out into the world.
There is nothing wrong in Allen eyes to
say that another player other than your teammate(s) is incredible, and that you
respect that player because of the work they put into their craft to improve.
It really bothers Allen that a lot of NBA
players going back to when he played to now that it is hard to give another
player credit for getting better. That it is a lot easier to call that player a
scrub, overrated, and terrible, especially when they do it on social media.
In Allen’s mind, every NBA player should
be lifting each other up because the opposing player you play against is not
the enemy, except for when you play against each other on the hardwood.
That player is trying to get to the same
level of greatness you are, and possibly higher, with the only reason that you
can realize that you can raise your level of your opponent is because that
opponent pushed you.
“So, you should shake his hand because he
made you who you are. He made you great,” Allen said.
Having that perspective is how Allen
answered that is life would be “exactly” the same when Johnson asked how his
life would had been different had he not landed the part of Jesus Shuttlesworth
in the 1998 Spike Lee movie “He Got Game,” starring opposite Oscar-winning
actor Denzel Washington. The only thing that would be different that he would
not have earned the nickname “Young Jesus.”
But Allen did say though that if he did
not do “He Got Game” that he would not have been as good of a basketball player
that he ended up being.
Being different in this world can be
tough, especially when you are a young person trying to figure it out. Walter
Ray Allen, Jr. was about a different as you can get, growing up on an army
brat. Having to live in a bunch of different places.
What brought him peace and perspective is
basketball and that allowed him to take on a lot of challenges as a high
schooler and he came out better as a basketball player and as a person.
It is how he became an excellent
collegiate at the University of Connecticut, a perennial NBA All-Star, a
two-time NBA champion, a Hall of Famer, and a player who earned the respect
from his teammates, coaches, and opponents in his 18 seasons because of his
tireless work ethic and commitment to being great.
A lot of us today with the global pandemic
and the systemic racism are trying to figure out how to come out better on the
other side of this. Allen with all that he has gone through in his life has
more than prepared him for this moment and he is instilling all of his
experiences to his five children so they will be ready for whatever they have
to take on and thrive in the world.
Information,
statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 5/26/2020 https://news.amomama.com story, “NBA Star Ray
Allen Is A Doting Father of 5 Kids-Meet Them All,” by Pedro Marrero; 6/17/2020
8:30 p.m. edition of NBATV’s “#NBATogether With Ernie Johnson: Ray Allen;” https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/20130618MIA.html; https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/a/allenra02.html; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Boston_Celtics_seasons; and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Allen.
This past Thursday marked the 100-day mark
since the National Basketball Association (NBA) went on hiatus on Mar. 11 in
the wake of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic. On June 5, the NBA’s Board of Governors
overwhelmingly approved, by a 29-1 count a proposal to restart the 2019-20
campaign on the tentative date of July 31 with the eight teams in the Eastern
Conference and Western Conference as well as the six teams on the outside of
their respective playoff line at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt
Disney World Resort in Orlando, FL, assuming there are no setbacks. As the players
set to rejoin their squads and prepare for the trek to the home of Mickey
Mouse, here are the set plans, the remaining unresolved details, and challenges
to be sorted out for the league’s restart.
With 43 days until the NBA campaign
resumes in Orlando, FL, all 22 teams must first reconvene in their respective
home markets, which means players who left for their hometowns-or in some
instances their home countries while “The Association” hammered out its plan to
return to play.
Under current federal regulations of the
U.S., those players returning from overseas likely had to self-quarantine for
at least two weeks upon their return to the U.S. Players in Phase 1 of a 6-phase
plan, according to ESPN had from June 15 until Monday, June 22 to report to
their home cities. Starting on June 23, players will begin to be tested for the
Coronavirus, more on that later. Phase 3, which goes from July 1-11, the players
will begin individual workouts at their team’s facility.
The teams will continue to have just
individual workouts in their facilities. There will be a training camp in two
weeks from this Tuesday. Then all 22 teams in Phase 4 will fly to Orlando from
July 7-21, where they will be quarantined for 14 days, which is the current law
in Florida for people traveling in from other states like New York and practice.
The teams in Phase 5 will have three scrimmages against teams from same hotel
from July 22-29. Phase 6 covers time where the teams will play for playoff seeding
and then the postseason, more on that later also.
The selection for which teams would stay
at a specific hotel was based on where they are seeded currently.
The Top 4 Seeds in the East in the
Milwaukee Bucks (53-12), Toronto Raptors (46-18), Boston Celtics (43-21), and
Miami Heat (41-24) in the Eastern Conference and the Los Angeles Lakers
(49-14), Los Angeles Clippers (44-20), Denver Nuggets (43-22), and Utah Jazz
(41-23) from the Western Conference will stay at the Gran Destino Tower at
Coronado Springs.
Seeds currently 5-8 in the East-Indiana
Pacers (39-26), Philadelphia 76ers (39-26), Brooklyn Nets (30-34) and Orlando
Magic (30-35), and the Oklahoma City Thunder (40-24), Houston Rockets (40-24),
Dallas Mavericks (40-27), and Memphis Grizzlies (32-33) from the West will be
quartered at the Grand Floridian.
The six teams on the outside of the
playoff picture in the Washington Wizards (24-40, No. 9 in East) from the East
and the Portland Trail Blazers (29-37, No. 9 in West), New Orleans Pelicans (28-36,
No. 10 in West), Sacramento Kings (28-36, No. 11 in West) San Antonio Spurs
(27-36, No. 12 in West) and the Phoenix Suns (26-39, No. 13 in East) will be at
the Yacht Club.
While there are plans for the teams to play
some exhibition games, which might end up being just scrimmages to get the ball
rolling on the season’s restart, there is no set plan on how things will be restarted.
What has been agreed upon is that each of
the 22 teams will play an eight-game regular season format, with each team
expected to play one back-to-back. The games will be counted towards the respective
team’s record heading into the restart.
The regular season will extend for 16 days
with five to six games to be played per day. The league has called these games “seeding
games,” and there is the unlikely hood of postseason games being played on a
weekday afternoon in the opening round.
Sources tell ESPN that the NBA will use
three different gyms, The Arena, HP Field House, and Visa Athletic Center at
the Wide World of Sports Complex to host games once the season restarts.
It will be reduced from three to two sites
and then one as the restart of the season progresses, with there being four
hours between games on each individual court to accommodate games that go into
overtime, cleaning of the courts and warm-ups.
The NBA Finals format of 2-2-1-1-1 expected
to have games being played every other day. If The 2020 NBA Finals went a full
seven games, that deciding contest to determine the 2020 NBA champion would be played
no later than Monday, Oct. 12.
Some teams will play games that were originally
scheduled with a few modifications as eight squads in the Charlotte Hornets
(23-42), Chicago Bulls (22-43), New York Knicks (21-45), Detroit Pistons
(20-46), Atlanta Hawks (20-47), and Cleveland Cavaliers (19-46) from the East,
and the Minnesota Timberwolves (19-45) and the five-time defending Western
Conference champion Golden State Warriors (15-50).
Those squads are expected to have a sort of
minicamp later on this year to avoid having a 10-month layoff between their
last game played before the pandemic. What those Offseason Training Activities
(OTA’s) still has to be worked out.
One team hoping for a two-three week
period of OTA’s before the start of the 2020-21 season are the Pistons, who
named their new General Manager in Troy Weaver, who comes over from the Thunder’s
front office, where he served as Vice President of Basketball Operations. He
becomes the fourth executive under their lead executive with the Thunder Sam Presti
to be hired by an NBA team for their GM slot. Weaver also became the ninth
African American GM in the NBA.
“We would have loved to have gone but we
knew we were in a rebuild situation. We didn’t deserve to go as far as our record
was concern,” Pistons head coach Dwane Casey, whose gone 61-87 in his one-plus
seasons on the Pistons sidelines said to NBATV’s Matt Winer late last week.
“For us it would have been good for us to
continue to improve. To work with our young players…It would have been good
from that standpoint more so than anything else. Just the player, continued
player development piece that we were going through right now with our rebuild.”
“Hopefully, will get a round robin type
thing with the eight teams that weren’t invited to Orlando to be able to have
some competition because it’s a long time between Mar. 11 and the first of December
as far as having no competition for a lot of young players.”
There was speculation of restarting the
season with only the 16 teams in playoff position already, which would have
been the safest and quickest way to the NBA to return to action and declare a
2020 champion.
The decision to include the 16 teams that
are in position to make the playoffs plus the six squads within at least six
games of each No. 8 and final playoff spots in the Eastern and Western Conference
will allow teams to gear up for the playoffs by playing said eight regular
season games.
The NBA used the historical context of
teams making a late season run at the postseason as their lead for how many
teams to bring to Orlando.
The main reason for increasing the number
from 16 to 22 squads coming to Orlando was money.
If the NBA made the decision to cancel the
season in the wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the players would have faced a
loss of $645 million in salary for those 259 regular season games not played.
Bringing those 88 games back will reduce
those lost wages from said $645 million to $300 million, which is a big deal.
At the moment, the players paychecks are
being withheld by 25 percent, and if the remaining regular season games did not
happen, the players would have scene that reduction in their respective salaries
go from 25 percent to 40 percent, according to ESPN’s NBA Front Office analyst
Bobby Marks.
This point was brought into clear context
on last Tuesday’s edition of ESPN’s “NBA: The Jump” where a graphic of the designated
percentage of basketball related income that was instituted in 2001-02 put into
context the BRI split from the last three CBA negotiations that the players got
55 percent of the split from 2001-04; 57 percent of the split from 2004-11 and
it is down to 50 percent from 2011 to now. It could end up between 49-51 percent
once this season concludes.
By those games being added back, the players
will not see a major reduction in their salaries and it will allow teams to
retain some of their local television revenue, which was in serious jeopardy of
going down the drain.
It also means that the owners according to
what former Assistant Director of Basketball Operations for the Suns and now an
ESPN NBA analyst since 2012 Amin Elhassan said on last Tuesday’s edition of “NBA:
The Jump” that if all the players come to Orlando to finish out this season
they take it in good faith and will not invoke force majeure, where they tear
up the current CBA and they have to construct a new one from scratch.
The addition benefit of the Wizards, Trail
Blazers, Pelicans, Kings, Spurs, and Suns coming to Orlando is they will have
the chance to play their way into the 2020 postseason over a two-week period.
If team in the No. 8 spot in both the East
and West finishes four games or more up on the No. 9 Seed, the team at No. 8
earns the last playoff spot. If that No. 8 Seed finishes four games or less in
front of the No. 9 Seed, there will be a play-in tournament to decide who gets
that No. 8 and final playoff spot.
If there is no need for a play-in tournament,
the start date for the 2020 NBA Playoffs could possibly be moved up by several days.
According to ESPN.com’s Senior NBA writer
Adrian Wojnarowski, the NBA is expected to take an aggressive approach to move
up the start dates of each playoff series once the previous round series
concludes.
Once the players get to Orlando and be in
the bubble of the Wide World of Sports Complex, the NBA plans to daily test the
players, coaches, and support staff of each team for Coronavirus according to
ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne and NBATV. It remains unclear if the league will have
those in the bubble do a nose swab test or an antibody test.
There will also be layers of protection in
place in the bubble such as social distancing, temperature checks, use of mask
when appropriate and sanitizing.
If a player or anyone test positive for
COVID-19, they will begin treatment and recovery for at least 14 days as they
will be moved into “isolation housing.”
Player will not be allowed to enter each
other’s hotel rooms, which will be cleaned once a week
The NBA does not expect to halt play due
to a player, coach or member of a team’s support staff testing positive. Instead
they will be isolated and monitor their surrounding colleagues.
If a team test positive for COVID-19, several
players or staff members test positive would be the one thing that could bring
the restart to the season to a halt. Small or otherwise expected number of
cases will not put the breaks on the restart to the season in Orlando.
Any player or support staff that leaves
campus without approval will face being quarantined for at least 10 days and enhanced
testing. If anyone fails to comply with any of the protocols, they will be
first subjected to a warning, fine, suspension and/or removal from campus. The
league also said it would create an anonymous hotline to report potential
violations within the bubble.
Everyone on campus except players will
wear proximity alarms.
As far as who will be allowed in the bubble
in Orlando, each of the 22 teams will begin with 37 people from each team, with
a report saying that 28 people from each of the 22 teams will be the minimum
that the coaches and league executives settled on.
With the potential for teams to be on
campus for up to three months and practicing for extended periods of time, the
need for extra personnel will presumable big a huge help as teams go through a
training camp and practices, which the GMs of nearly every team were in
unanimous favor of.
There will be a limit on the amount of
players from other teams, media, team executives, league/union personnel and
some sponsors can attend games.
With there being a set of guidelines in
place, that is over 100 pages long and especially because the state of Florida
has had a serious uptick in cases of people getting the Coronavirus, the NBA
has a plan in place to resume their season where the players and support staff
can be as safe as possible.
Even with all those protocols in place,
five-time All-Star lead guard for the Trail Blazers Damian Lillard said to Mike
Greenberg on Monday’s special edition of ESPN’s “Sportscenter: The Return to
Sports” that he does not feel “100 percent” comfortable being in the bubble in
Orlando, but it is a “risk” he is willing to take.
He added basketball is something that he
and his NBA brethren “do” and how they take care of their families and how they
provide to improve their communities that they play in or where they are from.
“So, to play the game that I love, to
resume the season, you know is I guess a risk that I’m willing to take,” he
said.
As far as players having their families
possibly come to campus and stay, with that number being likely three members would
be allowed to join players in Orlando after the First-Round of the postseason. Then
teams will be allowed to reserve hotel rooms for limited player guests.
When it comes to who can come in and out of
the bubble, Commissioner Silver, who does not want the campus at the Wide World
of Sports to be referred to as a bubble because he said that some of the employs
of Disney will be going in and out of the campus but will not be in the same
room as the players.
There is still the issue of how the league
will handle individuals that come to the campus who are at high-risk for getting
COVID-19, like the several head coaches, assistant coaches and support staff who
are over the age of 60—including Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich (71), the
oldest head coach in the NBA, Mike D’Antoni (69) of the Rockets, Alvin Gentry
(65) of the Pelicans, Terry Stotts (62) of the Trail Blazers, and Rick Carlisle
(60) of the Mavericks.
The expectation is that all five leading
men on the sidelines for their respective NBA squads are expected to be in
Orlando for the restart of the season, but it will only increase the concern of
the possibility for the Coronavirus infiltrating the bubble.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver stated on TNT’s “Inside
the NBA” back on June 4 that it was possible “certain coaches” could possibly
not be on the sideline at the restart “in order to protect them.”
“I think one of the things we know, we’ve
learned a lot about the virus since we shut down in March, and the data is demonstrating
that for the most part, and there are exceptions, that [it is] healthy young
people that are the least vulnerable,” Silver said to Ernie Johnson, Charles
Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal two weeks and four days ago. “But
there are also people involved in the league, particularly some of the coaches,
who are obviously older people and we also know people at any age who have underlying
conditions are most vulnerable.”
“So, we are going to have to work through
protocols that maybe, for example, certain coaches may not be able to be the
bench coach. They may have to retain social distancing protocols. And maybe
they can be in the front of the room, a locker room, or a ballroom with a whiteboard,
but when it comes to actual play, we’re not going to want them that close to
players in order to protect them. So those are all issues that we are continuing
to work through.
In response, Coach Gentry told Shelburne
that of Commissioner Silver’s answer that it “doesn’t make sense.”
“Unless we’re going to line all the coaches
up and give them physicals to determine all the underlying conditions, how are
we going to determine who is at high risk?” Gentry asked. “At the end of the
day, they’re the league. They’re going to make the choice.”
Coach Carlisle, the President of the NBA
Coaches Association said that he spoke to Commissioner Silver, who did admit jumping
to an unproven conclusion with his comments on “Inside the NBA.”
“The health and safety of our coaches is
first-and-foremost. It’s entirely possible that an NBA coach in his 60s or 70s
could be healthier than someone in their 30s and 40s,” the head coach of the Mavericks
said. “The conversation should never be solely about a person’s age. Adam
assured me that we would work through this together to help determine what is
both safe and fair for all of our coaches.”
During games when the league does restart
in late July, referees and front row coaches do not have to wear masks, but
coaches that sit in the backrow on the bench will be required to wear a mask.
Players from opposing squads can watch
each other’s games at the aforementioned arenas on campus.
The amenities each team will have include
players-only lounges with televisions and video games, pool, barbers,
manicurists, and pedicurists. They players will be encouraged to enjoy social
activities outdoors.
For those that play card games, the deck
will be disposed of after each session, and there will be a sufficient number
of card decks available.
The other issue that the NBA has to tackle
before the restart is what will happen to players if they decide they do not
want to come to Orlando for the restart because of their concerns with the
COVID-19 Pandemic and the fact that they want to focus all their energies to tackling
the social unrest in our country following the recent deaths of Ahmaud Arbery,
George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Rayshard Brooks at the hands of law enforcement
in their respective states or unapologetic racists.
In a report from Wojnarowski and Malika
Andrews of ESPN report that All-Star guard and Vice President of the NBPA Kyrie
Irving of the Nets and Lakers guard Avery Bradley have been leading a “Players
Coalition” that has been put together to take the lead in voicing a growing
number of players uncertainty about joining the NBA’s restart in Orlando.
In early June, Irving said of the league’s
decision to restart the season, “I don’t support going into Orlando. I’m not
with systemic racism and [expletive]. Something smells a little fishy.”
Among the things that this coalition wants
to hear what the “The Association” and its sponsors, and team owners will do to
address issues affecting the African American community.
Bradley strongly is calling for the owners
of the 30 NBA squads to do more saying that all the “weight” should not be
placed on your players to take care of the issues, and that “remaining silent
and in the background” will no longer fly.
What this coalition really wants is an
increase in team executives (GMs) amongst the ranks of team decision makers.
Currently African Americans make up 27 percent (eight) of the head coaches and
just 27 percent (eight) of GMs in the NBA.
To bring this into context, Masai Ujiri is
the only African American in the league that is the president of Basketball
Operations with the defending NBA champion Raptors.
In a statement last Monday to ESPN from
that coalition, it wrote in part, “WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH! We are combating the
issues that matter most: We will not accept the racial injustices that continue
to be ignored in our communities. We will not be kept in the dark when it comes
to our health and well-being.”
It is unlikely though the NBA will force a
player that is unwilling to participate in the restart. So, it is reported that
the league has set the date of this Wednesday, June 24 as the deadline for
players to let their respective team of their decision to or not participate in
the restart, with the date of this Thursday, June 25 for “protected” or “excused”
players. Players who chose not to go to Orlando, according to ESPN will be
docked pay
When Commissioner Silver appeared on “Inside the NBA” as
mentioned in early June, it was on the heels of the death of the aforementioned
Mr. Floyd by a Minneapolis, MN Policeman, who put his knee on the 46-year-old’s
neck on May 25 for 8 minutes and 46 seconds.
The death of Mr. Floyd as well as the most
recent death of Mr. Brooks has sparked a world-wide level of people taking to
the streets to protest for police reform and social equality for over three
weeks now. Many former and current NBA players have joined in those protests
like Stephen Jackson, Timberwolves All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns and his teammate
Josh Okogie in Minneapolis MN, and Celtics swingman Jaylen Brown and Pacers
guard Malcolm Brogdon in their hometown of Atlanta, GA.
Other players who have been out with the
protestors have included Harrison Barnes of the Sacramento Kings; All-Star Giannis
Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks; two-time Kia MVP and perennial All-Star
Stephen Curry of the Warriors; fellow perennial All-Stars and California
natives in Russell Westbrook of the Rockets and DeMar DeRozan of the Spurs, and
Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard.
According to a tweet from ESPN.com’s Malika
Andrews @malika_andrews at the start of this weekend that Commissioner Silver
in speaking at Creative Arts Agency Amplify Town Hall said “The Association”
and the NBPA have had discussions about having civil rights activists and speakers
talk to the players virtually in Orlando to keep the engagement on social
injustice, while also exploring other avenues to “directly engage in policy.”
After conversing with Shams Charania of “The
Athletic” and “Stadium,” Lakers All-Star center Dwight Howard in a statement
said “In a time like this where we are fighting for equal rights, it would be
contradictory if we told our own players to not play and as we say…As radical as
Kyrie may sound, he is 100 percent correct. We are no longer slaves, so every
man has a right to transparency in order to make sound decisions…If anyone of
us chooses to sit, it has nothing to do with another player’s right to play.
Not once has any of us told one of our fellow brethren not to go to the Orlando
Bubble Experiment and we stressed that in our meetings.”
The big thing that needs to be considered
by the players though and the coalition set up by Irving and Bradley that if
there is a sense of mutiny by the players from the owners perspective, they
will be out for blood and go after what was lost during this essential strike,
especially if there are no fans in the stands next season, which makes up for a
huge part of the NBA’s BRI.
What also needs to happen is the star
players of the NBA in order to create real change where more minorities are
head coaches and lead executives in the league need to be more connected with
the owners of their respective teams.
To put this point into perspective, the
Top 15 of the 30 NBA owners in Steve Ballmer of the Clippers ($51.4 billion),
Joseph Tsai of the Nets ($9.7 billion), Micky Arison of the Heat ($7.8 billion),
Ann Walton Kroenke ($7.8 billion), Robert Pera of the Grizzlies ($7.1 billion),
Dan Gilbert of the Cavaliers ($6.5 billion), Tom Gores of the Pistons ($5.6
billion), Joshua Harris of the 76ers ($4.3 billion), Mark Cuban of the
Mavericks ($4.1 billion), Tilman Fertitta of the Rockets ($3.8 billion), Gayle
Benson of the Pelicans ($3.1 billion), Glen Taylor of the Timberwolves ($3
billion), Michael Rubin of the 76ers ($2.9 billion), Antony Ressler of the
Hawks ($2.7 billion), and Michael Jordan of the Hornets ($1.9 billion) have a
combined worth of $121,700,000,000.000 in personal wealth as of November 2019.
This kind of money can buy a lot of
influence. It can decide what school districts get funded. What communities get
the kind of business that can have a positive impact in a certain community and
what communities are negatively impacted. It also impacts which candidates are
supported financially for races at the federal, state, and local levels, which
can make a huge difference when we have huge happenings like the aforementioned
pandemic we are in currently.
The NBPA has stated last week that they
are committed to “deepen” its commitment to civil rights organizations and
institutions whose focus is on ending police brutality and addressing voter suppression
and giving support to the economic development happening in communities that
are marginalized.
The Players’ Association also said it will
do its part to increase voter participation and be the driver for civic engagement
through new and existing partnerships.
Through its foundation, the NBPA added
that it will continue matching its players philanthropic endeavors and work to
develop a leadership education series as a way to use its platform to advance
the cause for social justice.
The fact that the NBA got to a point where
it is in position to restart its season has become more than just getting
players back on to the court. It is about giving people not just something to
take their minds off all the stuff going on in the world right now from the Coronavirus
(COVID-19) Pandemic but the racial injustice and social inequality that
minority communities have been facing for far too long.
It is important that we get sports back into
our lives and the NBA has worked tirelessly since it went on hiatus on Mar. 11
to position itself for a restart.
Barring a serious turn in events in
Orlando, the 2019-20 NBA campaign to crown a champion will get underway in late
July. More than that though, this is hopefully a major step in some necessary
healing, strategizing, organizing, and mobilizing for a moment that will change
our nation for the better from now to November and beyond.
Information, statistics, and quotations
are courtesy of 6/4/2020 www.espn.com story, “Adam
Silver Pondering If Older Coaches Should Be On Bench When NBA Returns,” by Tim
Bontemps; 6/5/2020 www.espn.com story “What
We Know and Don’t Know About The NBA’s Return To Play,” by Tim Bontemps and
Brian Windhorst; 6/16/2020 www.essentialllysports.com,
story “We Will Not Just Shut Up and Play: Kyrie Irving and Coalition Issue
Statement Regarding NBA Resumption,” by Aaron Mathew; 6/16/2020 3 p.m. edition
of ESPN’s “NBA: The Jump,” with Rachel Nichols, Amin Elhassan, and Paul Pierce;
6/17/2020 3 p.m. edition of ESPN’s “NBA: The Jump,” with Rachel Nichols, Paul
Pierce, and Kendrick Perkins; 6/17/2020 8 p.m. edition of NBATV’s “Gametime,”
with Stephanie Ready and Dennis Scott; 6/18/2020 3 p.m. edition of ESPN’s “NBA:
The Jump,” with Rachel Nichols, Amin Elhassan, and Kendrick Perkins; 6/18/2020
8 p.m. edition of NBATV’s “Gametime,” with Ro Parrish and Sekou Smith, with
report from Matt Winer; https://www.espn.com/nba/standings;
and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_George_Floyd.
