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Blaq Attack: Was Racism A Factor?

By irishwhat, Section NBA
Posted on Tue May 10 2005 at 10:41 PM EST
More on: (all tags)

Shaquille O'Neal was the obvious choice. Steve Nash got the MVP anyway. The race card has been pulled - and perhaps justifiably so.

ESPN.com sent out a slew of its black staff members to refute the argument that wasn't made.

Without even taking a side, LeBatard has kicked up a sandstorm. Someone had to do it.

Let's face facts. Very few of you will admit to being racist. But most of you probably are, in some way, shape or form.

You cheer the sight of Iraqis getting bombed to death, despite the fact that none of those people have done anything to affect your life. You make jokes about the voice of the guy taking your order when you call out for Chinese food. You laugh at the ineptitude of most white people on the dance floor. And you talk about how "well-spoken" someone like Chris Webber or Barack Obama is, as if an educated black man is the Eighth Wonder of the World.

We've all done it. We all have our stereotypes, conscious or not. America is a racist nation, plain and simple.

Sportswriters are not free from this indictment. There are plenty of journalists in newsrooms across America that let race, consciously or not, affect their opinions. I've heard subtle racism from colleagues, and I've heard VERY overt words that cross the line into pure hatred.

As likeable as he's become this year -- and I'll admit to hating on him for a long time before he got to Miami -- Shaq is still seen by many as the behemoth. The big, hulking black man who only dominates the NBA because he's bigger than everyone else. There is still a heavy bias against him, despite the fact that many a man his size (Mark Eaton, Stanley Roberts) has been far less productive on the hardwood.

Steve Nash, meanwhile, is the poster child for Great White Hope. He's not very big. He doesn't dunk. He dated Elizabeth Hurley and the chunky Spice Girl. To the average beer-drinking frat boy, he's easier to relate to than Shaq, even if their girlfriends look more like Bobby Hurley than Liz.

And don't get me wrong -- Nash had a great year. He's a huge reason why Phoenix went from lottery to contender. But he doesn't belong in the top five on anyone's MVP ballot, regardless of how Nash-friendly your criteria may be.

Shaq is the most dominating player in the NBA. When he went east, he altered the landscape of the entire league. Miami went from 42-40 to title contender. The Lakers went from the perennial favorite to a ping-pong ball logo. Dwyane Wade went from solid rookie to superstar, and Kobe Bryant went from the guy you thought was the best player in the league to a ball hog with a fetish for teenage girls.

Nash didn't have nearly the same impact. He plays less than no defense. He doesn't rebound all that well. He's not a big scorer. He's not even the best player on his own team.

Granted, Phoenix went from 29 wins to 62, and Nash helped a lot. But there are other factors to consider. His numbers are inflated because of the style the Suns play. Would he average 11 assists in Detroit? No. His numbers are helped by having the league's 3-point champion (Quentin Richardson), an All-Star (Shawn Marion) who can score inside, and THE best finisher (Amare Stoudemire) in the league.

Phoenix had talent. It just took a point guard with some court vision to bring it out. Nash has that. Stephon Marbury, the only point guard in the NBA who guarantees his team at least 40 losses a year, does not. His departure has as much to do with the Suns' revival as Nash's presence does. The team's switch to a style that suits its strengths helped as well.

Dallas isn't starving without Nash. The Lakers without Shaq died, the same way Orlando did when he left there. Ask Penny Hardaway what a difference playing with O'Neal makes. He makes everyone on the floor better, because you have to build your whole game plan around dealing with the big man. No one goes into Phoenix worried primarily about Nash. He certainly doesn't make you change your offensive scheme, unless you change it to "our point guard is going to score 35 tonight - he's got Nash on him."

There are plenty of players whose teams would have died (meaning 20 wins would be a stretch) without them this season. Allen Iverson. Kevin Garnett. LeBron James. You could make a case for Ray Allen, too. Sure, Phoenix struggled without Nash. But they were likely a 50-win team with any non-Marbury point man, and any squad can happen to hit the wall for a few games at midseason. The time he missed is not a very relevant sample.

If that's not enough, consider this argument: Andre Miller is another pass-first point guard playing in an up-tempo system. After George Karl's arrival, he averaged 15 points and almost 13 assists a game. Those are Nash-like numbers, with the added bonuses that Miller plays some defense and can rebound.

Had the Nuggets played two halves like their second half, and had Miller put up those numbers for a whole season, would we have anointed him as the MVP?

Think about that for a minute. Hypothetically, of course. The Nuggets are 62-20. Miller leads the league in assists (with a less-talented cast than Nash's, mind you). They're the top seed in the West. Is Andre Miller first on anyone's MVP ballot outside of Colorado?

I highly doubt it.

Were there a slew of writers out there who consciously went with Nash because he's white? I'm not sure it was that blatant (although in a few cases, it may have been). But is it a stretch to say that, on some subconscious level, at least seven writers (the number that got our diminutive friend over the top) put Nash ahead of Shaq on their ballot partially for that reason?

In this country, it's not a stretch.

We don't give obvious titles like The Great White Hope out anymore, at least not unless we're joking. We don't hear people call big black players like Shaq "gorillas" anymore, at least not publicly. Racism in today's America is much more subtle than it used to be.

But it's still here. And it's at least part of the reason that Steve Nash, possibly the least deserving MVP in recent memory, has Shaquille O'Neal's trophy -- and jumped past Iverson, LeBron, KG, Duncan (and a couple of his own black Suns teammates) that may have been ahead of him in line to get it.

It's all part of a bigger problem, one that most of us wish didn't exist.

But you don't get rid of the problem by pretending it's not there.

So to Mike Tirico and everyone else saying that LeBatard was wrong to even bring this up, I have a message.

Stop pretending. The next person to be victimized by the problem could end up being you.