Barry Decries Today's NBA

Rick Barry was voted one of the top 50 players in NBA history in 1996. He is the only player to lead the NCAA, ABA and NBA in scoring in a season. He is also 6th all-time in NBA free-throw shooting percentage and the leading NBA player in that category in his era. He has also been a critic of the NBA and, "He's baack."

Some of his targets:

• Million-dollar talents with $5 games. 
• Far too many isolation plays designed for superstars to take the last shot — even when they're not open. 
• Too many kids leaving college early and never fulfilling their vast potential (see Hasheem Thabeet and Jonny Flynn, a pair of disappointing top-10 draft picks from three years ago). 
• Empty seats disguised as fans in too many NBA arenas (check out "SportsCenter" highlights featuring Charlotte Bobcats home games). 

As far as "million-dollar talents" are concerned, EVERYONE in the NBA is a millionaire so there have got to be a lot of "$5 games" in there.
The second item is one I've ranted about for years with respect to the NBA. The isolation play is for sissies. Basketball is supposed to be a team game. The term "team" in this respect comes from the word for a "team" of horses used or hauling, pulling, etc. They worked as a "team" and that's what basketball IS, a team game. I've had it with "superstars" that are not all-around players, too. Back in the day when I thought NBA basketball was great (when the league had, Bill Russell, Elgin Baylor, Oscar Robertson, Wilt Chamberlain and some really good white guys such as Rick Barry, Jerry West, John Havlicek, Jerry Lucas and Bob Pettit) many players could have dominated but they didn't because it was a team game. [Wilt Chamberlain DID score 60 or more points in a game 32 times but, he was Wilt Freaking Chamberlain! Michael Jordan scored over 60 points only THREE times. But he was truly a team player.] Where some DID dominate in that era was on defense. You know what that is, don't you, NBA players of today? That's when the other team has the ball and you have to take it away in order to SHOOT again?

Too many kids leaving college early? That also goes for football. But the most important part is kids growing up from the age of three thinking, and acting, like they’re going to be in the NBA so they don’t have to do anything else. And, because of the money, people let them get away with it and even go along with it. What a way to ruin your life; just because you want to may 50 gajillion bucks in 15 years and then lay on your lazy ass the rest of your life instead of being productive like say, oh, the other 300+ million people in the country.

Speaking of the "National Boring League" (from the Pittsburgh Tribune Review story): “In 1974-75, when Barry averaged 30.6 points and paced the league in free-throw shooting and steals while leading the Golden State Warriors to their only title, NBA teams averaged 102.6 points per game, with 14 of 18 teams averaging 100 or more points. This season, teams are averaging 95.8 points, with only four of 30 teams averaging 100 or more points. Once a high-scoring, pass-happy league, the NBA now features stagnant offenses with minimal ball movement.”

The biggest thing though is the money. Baseball started it (or I guess you could say Curt Flood started it) soon producing million-dollar utility players. “Madness. Madness.”