When Kiki Vandeweghe was a teenager, his father would drop him off to play pickup basketball in predominantly black areas of Los Angeles. His dad, a former NBA player, wanted his son to face the best competition.
“If you play the best players, you’re going to get better,” said Vandeweghe, the Nuggets’ general manager. “If you’re not going to challenge yourself and your game that way, you’re not going to reach your potential.”
Toughened by the competition, Vandeweghe become a collegiate star and played 13 seasons in the NBA. But the days of white American players reaching their NBA dreams appear to be vanishing. Quietly, the white American has become an endangered species in the NBA.
The last such NBA superstar was Boston’s Larry Bird, who retired after the 1991-92 season.
The last such all-NBA selection was Utah’s John Stockton, a third-team member in 1999.
Since 2001 there have been two such NBA all-stars, Brad Miller (2004) and Wally Szczerbiak (2002).
The Nuggets are on the verge of playing a complete season without a white American on their roster for the first time in franchise history.
On opening-day rosters this season, there were only 48 white Americans, excluding mixed-race players, less than two per team and down from 60 five years earlier.
“I knew we were a dying breed,” said Houston guard Jon Barry, a white American. “I wouldn’t know how to explain it.”
At least statistically, the explanation is simple. As more and more international players come into the NBA, they are taking the spots of all Americans, black and white, but the dwindling number of white Americans is more noticeable in a league that is 75 percent black. In 1990, there were 85 white American players on opening-day rosters of the 27 teams, and only 21 international players. At the start of this season, there were 82 international players.
Within the league, the dwindling number of white Americans is not a major concern. Executives either say it’s a non-issue or are so uncomfortable talking about it, they decline comment – as did Bird and Golden State Warriors vice president Chris Mullin, a five-time all-star.
“I don’t think it’s relevant,” Vandeweghe said. “We’re talking about basketball players. I don’t care if they are from China, Africa, Europe, the U.S.”
NBA commissioner David Stern agreed.
“I don’t think (race) matters a bit,” Stern said. “People ask me about having foreign players as opposed to American players. I give them the same answer. The question is: Is Dirk (Nowitzki) doing a good job? Is Tony (Parker) doing a good job? Is Yao (Ming) doing a good job for the home team? That’s what it’s about.”
Everyone interviewed for this story – players, coaches and executives – said basketball is the ultimate democratic sport.
“If you’re a basketball player, you’re a basketball player, whether you’re black, white, Asian,” Szczerbiak said. “It doesn’t matter. You just put the ball in the hole. If you can bring something to help the team, then you’re a good basketball player.”
The NBA began in 1946 made up nearly entirely of white American players, many from tough city backgrounds. Former Boston Celtics legend Bob Cousy remembers those days.
“Guys didn’t need to have a fire built under them,” Cousy said. “We came self-motivated.”
The NBA was integrated in 1950 when three black players joined the league – Earl Lloyd, Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton and Chuck Cooper. Black superstars such as Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell and Elgin Baylor soon after transformed the sport with their size, speed and skill.
Route out of poverty
For decades many young African-American males have believed that one of the only ways out of the so-called “hood” was through sports. And in no sport have blacks done as well as in basketball.
“If you follow it logically, I think there may be a greater motivation in cities and places of deprivation,” Stern said. “People a little bit behind the curve economically are motivated to do it. And a disproportionate amount of those people in this country today happen to be black. That’s the unfortunate reality of our country today.
“So it’s not a question of discrimination. But it is a question of economic opportunity not being distributed as equally as it could be.”
Following that dream out of the “hood” has often been a false hope because of the minuscule percentage of athletes who make it to the professional level, said Richard Lapchick, president and CEO of the National Consortium for Academics and Sport.
“There is a safety net under white kids playing sports,” said Lapchick, who has studied issues of race in sports for years. “They don’t face the same type of discrimination in the job market and in other areas, whether in sports or outside of sports like African-American kids do.
“So I think African-American kids have been sold a bill of goods for generations that sports and entertainment are the way out of poverty.”
When the black athlete became the dominant force in the NBA, the white American still had a place. There were Hall of Famers Jerry West, Rick Barry, John Havlicek and Bird.
No longer.
Asked why, those within the NBA say they believe more top young white male athletes in this country are turning away from basketball to sports such as golf, tennis, soccer, lacrosse and hockey.
“They’re being drawn to other sports where statistically there’s more opportunity and better opportunity,” Nuggets coach George Karl said. “I think parents today, they want their kids to try to have a dream.
“Maybe the dream for the white American is not basketball anymore.”
Said New York Knicks coach Larry Brown: “It was a city game at one time. At one time, this city was diverse. Now it seems that so many white families are moving to the suburbs, and kids are playing tennis and soccer and golf.”
Globalization fans fire
Cousy said the same fire that has driven young black kids to reach their dreams is now evident overseas, where youngsters exposed to the NBA game while growing up now seek the same dream. There were 36 countries represented on opening-day rosters this season.
“It’s a trend that will continue,” Cousy said. “Europeans and African-American kids’ options are much more limited and they want it more badly in sports. In a highly competitive capitalistic society, it’s still the guy that wants it the most, whether it’s selling widgets or slam dunking.
“The guy that works the hardest and has the most intensity is going to be the most successful, assuming he has the skills.”
That skill set today is long, tall and athletic, and NBA scouts are scouring the globe to find the next Dirk Nowitzki, the Dallas Mavericks’ 7-foot German sharpshooter and perennial all-star.
“The cure for cancer in basketball is long, athletic and fast,” Karl said. “There seem to be more African-Americans that fall into that category.”
And overseas, more big men who can shoot and handle the ball.
“The NBA is looking more toward overseas for the skilled big player,” said Colorado State 7-foot sophomore Jason Smith, who has the type of athletic game NBA scouts love. “They like big guys who can dribble. That makes it fast and exciting. That’s what crowds want to see.”
Sacramento’s Miller, who isn’t viewed as an athletically gifted player, said: “They’re looking for certain prototypes. Long, athletic. That’s not my strong point. A lot of white guys just have to make up for it with other parts of their game.”
The international players have not only nearly doubled the number of white American players in the league, they are competing for top honors. The 2005 most valuable player was Steve Nash (Canada), and foreign players at the All-Star Game in Denver last year included Zydrunas Ilgauskas (Lithuania), Nowitzki, Manu Ginobili (Argentina) and Ming (China).
Said Indiana forward Peja Stojakovic, a native of Serbia and Montenegro and a three-time all-star: “Every basketball player back home has a dream to be in the NBA.”
Lapchick said he isn’t surprised at what’s happened.
“David Stern, through a major and deliberate effort, has been very successful at globalizing the game,” he said. “Twenty years ago it wasn’t even a thought on most people’s minds.”
Stern began marketing the game worldwide in the 1980s, and the NBA now has offices in Paris, Mexico City, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Taipei, Taiwan, Beijing and Shanghai. Lapchick said he believes the ongoing globalization of the game also will result in more black players getting squeezed out of NBA spots once more U.S. colleges start signing international prospects.
“Then from here they are going to continue to the NBA, which will continue (the decrease) of both white players and African-American players,” Lapchick said.
Vanishing act
Anyone looking for the next Bird or West or Havlicek might have to wait a while. The highest-ranking white American in the scoring race this season is Szczerbiak, whose 19.9 average is 23rd in the league. Last season the highest was Kirk Hinrich of Chicago, at No. 40. No white American made a recent NBA list of the top 20 players in jersey sales.
One white American has won the NBA’s slam dunk contest – Brent Barry in 1996.
Mark Pope was the Nuggets’ last white American player. He got mop-up minutes in nine games last season and was cut during training camp last fall. The Nuggets opened the season with 11 African-Americans and four international players.
Vandeweghe said he has never faced pressure from ownership to add a white American player.
“Nope. Not even a little bit,” he said.
The NBA’s fan base in arenas is predominantly white, but Stern said fans don’t regard the race of the players as an issue.
“It’s only about us and them. The us is the hometown,” Stern said. “It doesn’t matter if your player is Yao Ming or Tracy McGrady or Matt Bonner. We are looking for the opportunity to root our home team to victory. To me, that’s also the beauty of sports.”
Rod Dorsey, a black insurance agent from Denver, and Terry Varkony, a white developer from Aurora, were asked at Friday’s Nuggets game if race matters to them when watching the NBA.
“None whatsoever,” Dorsey said. “It probably makes a difference to the general public, but not to me. Most of the people who buy tickets are white and most of the tickets are corporate tickets.
“There’s no white basketball heroes.”
Varkony added: “It makes no difference to me. Most of the white players now are European players. I think it does have an effect on the general population (liking the game), because they have nothing to identify with. But it doesn’t bother me. Even if they were white, they’d be bigger, stronger and faster than I am anyway.”
While the white American player appears to be vanishing from the NBA, there are collegiate players who appear ready to take the next step.
Gonzaga’s Adam Morrison is widely considered the best player in college basketball this season. And if not Morrison, it’s Duke’s J.J. Redick. Both are white. Both will be drafted. Nevada’s Nick Fazekas, a former Ralston High School star, is considered a potential first-round prospect. And CSU’s Smith is a possible lottery pick when he turns pro. He isn’t worried that the odds are against him.
“It’s basically whoever plays the best,” he said. “It could be a white player, a black player, Asian or Mexican. It comes down to whoever has the best skills.”
Staff writer Adam Thompson contributed to this report.
Staff writer Marc J. Spears can be reached at 303-820-5449 or mspears@denverpost.com.
