San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Duke’s Williamson on target to play — he won’t regret it
Basketball’s collegiate ideal is hanging by a thread. The NBA snatches up the best players after a single season, the league’s age minimum will eventually be reduced from 19 to 18, and Zion Williamson’s recent injury exposed the grand hypocrisy: Revenue-drawing stars get no money (above the table) while the schools, coaches and television networks get rich. DeMarcus Cousins summed up the dilemma at the Warriors’ Thursday shootaround. He drew the most attention for saying “college basketball, the NCAA, is bulls—,” but don’t forget Cousins’ flip-side comment: “I loved my experience in college. That was some of the best years of my life playing basketball.”
As tortured as the landscape appears at times, the collegiate ideal still exists — and it’s gratifying to know that Williamson believes that. Last month, asked about the possibility of sitting out the rest of the season to preserve his draft stock, Williamson told Yahoo Sports, “I can’t just stop playing, I’d be letting my teammates down. I’d be letting Coach K down. I’d be letting a lot of people down. If I was going to sit out, I wouldn’t have gone to college.”
Even after suffering a mild knee sprain in Duke’s loss to North Carolina, there’s no reason to believe he’d change his mind, despite calls for him to shut it down. Assuming the injury heals properly and he’s not rushed back, expect Williamson to resume his mindblowing domination in search of an NCAA championship.
Why? Because he’s a competitor, a joyous athlete having the time of his life. Because he couldn’t imagine quitting on his teammates. Because the NCAA Tournament is one of the grand theaters of sport, giving him exactly the exposure he needs going into the draft. And because there’s nothing more ludicrous than the perception that every high-profile freshman is really just a dimwit who never goes to class and spends 14 hours a day on the basketball court.
For Williamson and so many others with an eye beyond the game, even a single year in college means invaluable lessons learned in diligence, responsibility, social skills, emotional development and that certain class or two that illuminates a life after basketball. That’s not some corny sales pitch for higher education; it’s very much for real.
Should college athletes be paid? It sounds good, but let’s hear a plan that makes sense. Would Williamson make more than the backup point guard? If everyone on the football team is paid equally, isn’t it a bit awkward if one of them wins the Heisman Trophy and another never sees the field? And what about women’s sports? Walnut Creek’s Sabrina Ionescu leads a nationally ranked Oregon team playing to packed houses; shouldn’t she make as much as Ducks quarterback Justin Herbert? What about athletes who bring glory to universities in the lower-profile sports? Will high school kids choose College A because it pays more than College B? Exactly how does your salary system work?
Charles Barkley made a lot of sense on TNT the other night, saying, “Where did we get to the point where you got clowns on television saying, ‘Oh, don’t play.’ That’s what we do: We play basketball. I don’t want to see anybody ever get hurt. This kid looks like he’s going to be a fantastic player. But I get so mad when people act like money’s the only thing that matters in the world. Like, ‘Oh, dude, you’re going to go into the NBA. Don’t play.’ That’s ridiculous.”
And when the NCAA Tournament starts, nobody will be obsessed with the troubling issues surrounding college basketball. It will be all about the show. Williamson doesn’t intend to miss out.
Around the NBA
The disgrace continues in New Orleans. The Pelicans have to play Anthony Davis, lest they draw the NBA’s wrath, but they don’t want him getting hurt and jeopardizing a potential trade this summer. Because he clearly wants out, fans and teammates aren’t so thrilled to see him. The Pelicans’ season is lost and the front office has an eye on the lottery. So Davis plays 20 minutes against Indiana Friday night, helping New Orleans build a 20-point lead, but he sits out the entire fourth quarter and the Pacers roar back to win. That’s seriously messed up. (Davis was held out of Saturday night’s game against the Lakers.
Reason given: “rest.”)
Everyone knows DeMar DeRozan is a tremendous player, but he’s no Kawhi Leonard, and the ramifications of that trade came to light as Toronto hosted San Antonio on Friday night. The beloved DeRozan got a tremendous ovation from appreciative fans, creating a special atmosphere. He had some nice moments on the court. But with 15 seconds left and the Spurs leading by one point, Leonard stole the ball from DeRozan and stormed in for a dunk. Inside 10 seconds, DeRozan had a chance to win the game but instead dished off to Davis Bertans, who wound up missing a contested fallaway jumper from the deep left corner. DeRozan isn’t a finisher, and that’s OK. Leonard is the one who sees his name in lights.
Here’s what separates the NBA from the NFL in global outreach: The NFL insists on playing games in London, where there is sufficient interest but no serious commitment to the American brand of football. It’s really just one massive inconvenience for teams forced to play there. Can you imagine the soccermad kids of Europe deciding to put on the helmets, crash violently into each other and venture into the grand concussion debate? That will never happen.
The NBA, already featuring a galaxy of stars from other countries, plans to launch a 12-team Basketball Africa League in January 2020. This is the continent that brought us Hakeem Olajuwon, Dikembe Mutombo, Manute Bol, Pascal Siakam, Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo (the Greek-raised son of Nigerian immigrants), among many others. The NBA has been successful drawing interest through camps and the Basketball Without Borders program, but an actual league will get countless more young athletes interested. “Outside of maybe LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, there are two freak types in the NBA now, Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo,” said Raptors President Masai Ujiri ,a native of Nigeria and the first African top executive in the history of North American major sports, in an ESPN interview. “... So, you mean to tell me with the development of basketball on the continent, and what’s to come, you’re telling me there aren’t two guys like that walking around on the continent? ... The talent is walking all over, and I think that’s special.”