Detroit incident shows what NBA has become

It took an incident as ugly as what took place in Detroit on Nov. 19 for the NBA to take a long, hard look at itself and what it has become.

I used to be a big NBA fan, years ago. I even attended old ABL games in Kansas City and ABA games in New Orleans. I attended many games at Georgia Tech when it was the home of the Atlanta Hawks and Kings games at both Kemper Arena and Municipal Auditorium. Today, if I had free tickets and the game was across the street, I might go.

Young people today have no idea just how good the old NBA game was with players like: Oscar Robertson, Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, Bob Cousy, Bill Russell, Pete Maravich. The names go on and on.

While what Ron Artest did was technically not without precedent, what it became certainly was. Shoot, I was sitting at the scorer's table at a Kings-Bulls game at Kemper one time when a player shot past me and went into the stands after someone. This time though, it was at the end of a game and no melee occurred.

That was all in a day before the hip-hop culture devoured basketball. And this is hardly the fault of the players. It goes back to coaching at all levels, beginning with high school and continuing through college and into the NBA.

What happened that cost Ron Ertest more than $5 million in salary, Stephen Jackson nearly $1.8 million, Jermaine O'Neal $4.5 million and Ben Wilson nearly a half million might have been what was needed to help somewhat. But I fear they will never do what is needed to get the game back the way it was when technical things like dribbling and defense were integral facets of the game.

The NBA has degenerated to the point that every game is more of a show where everyone needs a ball than a contest. Blame the league for instituting such things such as dunking contests that encourage the players to go into gyrations and act silly, thus drawing attention to themselves. Today's motto would seem to be, "Look at me." Why not? The pay scale is so outlandish that winning is no longer the most important matter when a player walks on the court. It becomes. How will I wow and impress them today? They have taken the fast break, once one of the most beautiful plays in the game and turned into a trashy parlor trick whereby players carry the ball so they can dunk it in some outlandish manner.

If they really want to correct the ills that infect basketball today, the powers should start at the lowest level of the inner-city schools, from where a good many NBA stars come from, and teach them the correct way to play the game from the start. It is a team game, not a game of five individuals, which is what you often see these days.

If you are a college coach you can mold a player correctly and make him a star if he is not exposed to what has messed today's game up. Great players should be defined what they do to help their team win.

At the NBA level it would be possible to correct a good many problems if they didn't seem to encourage at least some of them. Look at even the uniforms of today as compared to what they used to wear. A lot of teams look nothing more than silly with that ill-fitting garb.

The incident at Detroit was a wake-up call. The game can still be salvaged only if those who can save it, are willing to do so.