June 06, 2003

A Little Humility, Please: NBA Player Profile

A Little Humility, Please As David Robinson, aka The Admiral, ends his successful NBA career with the expectation of a championship, it is interesting how the virtue of humility, in Robinson's case undoubtably due to his religious beliefs, have helped him succeed. Let's highlight a comparison to His Airness, Michael Jordan. Remember when Jordan initially declined to play on the 1992 Olympic Dream Team? At the absolute height of his fame then, Jordan could basically name his price for agreeing to play in the 1992 Olympics. [Because he had won a gold medal as part of the 1984 Olympic team, squishy references to patriotism were ineffective.] Jordan's stance was that if Isiah Thomas was not on the team he might play. Since the Olympic coach was none other then Thomas' coach Chuck Daly, that was a high price indeed. Why did Jordan feel this way? Supposedly in Jordan's first NBA All-Star game seven years earlier Isiah Thomas had been the leader of an effort by the East squad's veteran players to give first year player Jordan the rookie treatment. A sensitive soul, Jordan did not take well to the treatment. [Contrast with Shaquille O'Neal in his first NBA All-Star game. He got abused by the West squad, which ganged up to block nearly every shot he attempted. O'Neal seemed to take the "hazing" okay.] So keeping Thomas off the Dream Team was his revenge. Seven years later. Now let's consider the Admiral. After Robinson missed most of the 96-97 season with an injury, the Spurs lucked into selecting Tim Duncan with the top draft pick. (At the time, it should be noted, Duncan was by no means considered to be a sure-fire NBA superstar, although the potential was there.) In Duncan's first year, he averaged 20-10 (21-12) a game, rare for a rookie, and was selected first team All-NBA. Robinson's numbers in Duncan's first year were nearly identical: 22-11. So you have two men on the same team playing practically the same position (Duncan is closer to a true center than Robinson, who doesn't have much of a post-up game). The next year Coach Popovich decreased Robinson's minutes to 32 a game, reflecting the fact that Robinson was nearly 34, old by NBA standards. He still averaged 16-10. But the big deal was that he had the humility to let Tim Duncan be the man and focal point of his (Robinson's) franchise, which he had led for 10 years. Robinson's reward was an NBA championship. Robinson had been an unlikely candidate to acquire the NBA championship that eluded megastars such as Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing. San Antonio is not considered a particularly desirable NBA destination by elite players, and because with Robinson the Spurs were always good enough to have low draft picks, they didn't figure to get too much better. [Patrick Ewing had the same problem with the Knicks.] Yes, it was luck to acquire Duncan in the draft, but Robinson's acceptance of him was key to Duncan's rapid success. Back to MJ. Although Jordan and Isiah Thomas seem to have patched things up, Jordan has obviously never learned humility. Over the past two years there have been disturbing swipes at him from women. His wife filed for divorce before reconsidering. Washington Post sportswriter Sally Jenkins wrote an article highly critical of Jordan after Wizards owner Abe Pollin severed ties with Jordan. Jenkins implied that Jordan was less than gracious in his dealings with women. So, what is better for one to be? Genuinely humble, ala The Admiral, or vengeful exerciser of power, ala MJ, with the possibility that one day you will be a target.

posted by cg1001a to commentary at 11:46 AM - 0 comments