The NBA hates TEAM USA

Click here and spend 5 minutes looking through the pictures. You will notice something about ‘Team’ USA: the NBA people would have you think there are only 5 people on it and their names end with either –obe, -bron, -melo, -wayne or –evin. The fact that the NBA braintrust consiously choses to highlight selective ‘stars’ through their media outlets is an interesting one because it shows that they have made a decision about how to market the game. It is even more interesting because it’s not a simple matter of marketing but rather a deeper indication of how the NBA wants people to approach the game.

Debates about how the American game is ‘one-on-one’ centric in contrast to the European‘team game’ should be centered around the issue of self perception. That is, the American game is the way it is because the entity most responsible for defining [and by extension, projecting] the style and attitude of American Basketall wants people to go ga-ga over certain players and to approach the game in a one-on-one fashion. Next time you are on NBA.com, notice the amount of ‘star’ names that jump out at you and contrast them with the emphasis that is put on the dynamic (and often, exciting) aspects of team play that led to a certain team’s outcome. It’s always ‘X leads team to victory’ or ‘Y saves team ABC again’ rather than say, ‘team Z’s defensive cohesion on open display’. No doubt that many a time, it really is the case that a certain player’s beasting it for the 4th quarter really did seal the deal. But every single time, the way NBA.com would have you believe? I doubt it.

For students of the game, they see these things whenever they watch a game. For beginners and kids, it is often taken as fact that it was really Player Y that sealed the game or Player X’s decision to do a certain thing in one play that decided the outcome. In streetball or in a game of one-on-one this is acceptable but in professional basketball where the players and the coaching staff are some of the best in the world? It is simplification to a very nasty extreme.

The fact of the matter is this: things are never as simple or as star-oriented as the institutions would have you believe. They wanna sell tickets at the expense of cheapening the game and making it a mass marketing form of easily digestible entertainment. While it may be a necessary evil to play the whole ‘star-power’ game, one wonders if the NBA and American basketball really do want to maintain the status quo in how they market themselves. I have a sneaking suspicion they think they have found a magic potion and aren’t really interested in messing with a good thing, especially if its bringing home the dough.