Photo from alshepmcr via Flickr
These comments from Jennings are both understandable and a little silly. On one hand, he grew up in the Drew League culture and knows that it represents the LA basketball scene in its purest form. However, appearances by Kobe and other stars help increase its profile, thereby boosting its popular and bringing some attention to the local, non-NBA legends who participate.
Purity tests are usually bad news for organizations, whether they’re political parties or sports leagues. Openness and acceptance tend to be virtues. But in the case of the Drew League, the NBA’s lost summer could in fact lead to some unintended negative consequences. It’s a league that exists to boost basketball in Los Angeles. What’s it like when new players come in and treat it as a side-project instead of an organization with a legitimate goal?
If Bryant doesn’t understand the goals of the Drew League, then it might make sense for him not to play. But if he wants to, it’s on local stars like Jennings to teach him about it, not to say he’s not allowed. There’s room for everyone here, but the success of such a partnership depends on all parties respecting the needs of each other. Deciding who’s invited and barred isn’t going to help anyone.
I still want blood.
Don’t get me wrong; camaraderie and community are important and fundamental parts of basketball – both of the game itself and the shared experience of taking in what happens on the court. Right now, though, we’re being deprived of that, save for small doses like the action taking place in Baltimore tonight or the Goodman/Drew League showdown.
If these exhibitions are all we’re going to get, then I say we maximize our enjoyment in any way possible. I want NBA players to call each other out, to talk trash, and to insist that their opponents don’t belong in their league – literally and figuratively. Heck, I want those leagues to be at each other’s throats like the WWF and WCW during the heyday of the Monday Night Wars. Competition – then and now – among rival organizations fighting for the same entertainment dollars and the same audience is a good thing. It spurs creativity and the members of the organization to do their very damnedest to put on the best show they can. These exhibitions can’t create the same tension and sense of the moment as real NBA games with more than just pride on the line*. There is little else at stake, so I cheer anything, even a bit of playful joshing, that brings us a little bit closer toward meaningful basketball.
*Though the pride of these players is not to be questioned. As Austin Daye told SI.com’s Sam Amick, ”No one wants to be shown up by an NBA player, and no NBA player wants to be shown up by someone who’s not in the NBA. So when I get the ball, when I get a possession, I make it a point to show that’s why I’m in the NBA.” One would assume that desire not to be shown up extends to NBA-on-NBA match-ups as well.
As much as I like to pretend that I’m Dr. Phil, I don’t really know how these players think. I’m hopeful, however, that a little slight here and there might get under someone’s skin and ignite a powderkeg of Archduke Ferdinandian proportions. Free of the measured leash of NBA contracts and team fealty and able to choose sides as they wish, NBA players looking to choose sides don’t need a peacemaker. They need a devil on their shoulder willing to push the envelope and, in turn, the pace of play. Let us encourage them to form Triple Ententes, not entreat them to play nice in the sandbox. Fend off the invasion, Brandon Jennings. Don’t extend an olive branch to the encroaching army.*
*Also, don’t blame me if you get absolutely roasted by Kobe for the remainder of your career – in the NBA, in summer exhibitions, while out to dinner with your family at a nice restaurant. Kobe will find you. He will hurt you (well, your ego, mostly). And he will make you regret your jingoism.Â
“Liberté, égalité, fraternité” might work for the French when they’re trying to unite a country, but get that garbage out of here when it comes to lockout basketball. And if they don’t want you in LA, Kobe, then we’ll gladly see you next month in Las Vegas.
