Affirmative Action in the NBA?

Larry Bird recently made comments stating that there should be more white stars in the NBA to relate to the predominantly white fan base. It is reported that about 75% of the athletes in the NBA are black, with the majority of fans white.

Many black men upheld Bird's right to say what he did. One black hall of famer stated that the reason the predominantly white fans relate to the black players was because these players showed great athleticism (most qualified for the job).

I do not believe in affirmative action because I believe it creates greater racial divides and may not allow the most qualified to receive the job. But I do believe in equal opportunity to be considered for jobs.

But since we already have an established affirmative action precedent established throughout the country...

What does everyone think about affirmative action for minorities in the NBA...after all it is all about the money to most folks..do you think this could spur greater ticket sales and television viewership??

I think this is a horrible idea. The reason for it, people are already tired of affirmative action and the excuse of race. In my opinion affimative action in the NBA is greatly flawed, in the sense of sales. It takes away from the most qualified person for the position to be held back. We see this in society as is, and I suppose alot of you would agree with me that affirmative action has helped little, if at all. If this reply doesn't really make sense, I'm sorry, it's a tad early.

Yes, but it does bring to the forefront the inherent fallacies of affirmative action and I applaud Larry on his statement.

Just as unions have no justification for their existence anymore in the U.S. (but do elsewhere), affirmative action has no place either. If it's intent was to adjust the mindset, it has been done. And I might point out, at the expense of choosing the best person for a given job.

The choosing of a employee for a given position should be done BLIND, with no regard for anything but their qualifications. If this is applied in the NBA, you'll most likely come out with a lot of tall black guys and at least one Chinese guy - but probably not a preponderance of white guys. - who knows.

But at the same time, if it is applied through-out the various career paths in all of industry - you'll come out with something, that might be skewed to a given "set" of people, - again, who knows - but so be it. Forcing a company to take a less capable applicant in order to fill a quota is ludicrous. Just like forcing an NBA team to accept a bunch of shorter, slower white guys over more talented "whatever" guys would be ludicrous.

Originally posted by Jamuhn
Larry Bird recently made comments stating that there should be more white stars in the NBA to relate to the predominantly white fan base. It is reported that about 75% of the athletes in the NBA are black, with the majority of fans white.

Many black men upheld Bird's right to say what he did. One black hall of famer stated that the reason the predominantly white fans relate to the black players was because these players showed great athleticism (most qualified for the job).

I do not believe in affirmative action because I believe it creates greater racial divides and may not allow the most qualified to receive the job. But I do believe in equal opportunity to be considered for jobs.

But since we already have an established affirmative action precedent established throughout the country...

What does everyone think about affirmative action for minorities in the NBA...after all it is all about the money to most folks..do you think this could spur greater ticket sales and television viewership??

Not many countries play basketball. Like the NFL it's only popular in Canada and the United States. It would be good to have different people in the NBA other than blacks. Yes it would increase ticket sales. To give you an idea: The Toronto Raptors are all black; whereas Canadians are multicultural. I would have to say the NBA is predominantly black; whereas if you look to mixed martial arts you see diversity. And yes in mixed martial arts there are fighter, not black, that are 8,9 feet tall.

ESPN did a story on this about two years ago....i only remember it because on of the white guys they interviewed was from my college basketball team at the time (Iona)...according to ESPN...most NBA teams like to keep a token white guy on the team just so white fans wont feel alienated...

White men can't jump. (sorry, couldn't help myself)

Too much emphasis is placed on the color of one's skin. When I watch basketball, I want to see talented folks runnin' the court. If you have it, you have it.

In my eyes, there is nothing wrong with what "Larry Legend" said. If the white athlete cannot be the next superstar, so what? It's all about the bottomline, revenue! People will pay to see the superstar, regardless if they are black or white.

What a load of crock. What exactly do they think this is going to accomplish? Affirmative action is a load of BS.

I really don't think this is affirative action. Larry Bird was a great Basketball Player not neccessarily because he was a tall white man. But he could sink three pointers better than any of them.

Sure there are tall white guys out there who can play ball. But honestly watching a good three point player dominate from the arc doesn't make for exciting game play. We want to see them dunking and juking and jiving for lack of better words.

As stated above, white men can't jump. That is basicly it. If white guys could play as well and move as well as black players, more white players would make the cut.

There were a few great whites, but not many.

Saying there are too many blacks playing basketball is sort of like saying there are too many short jockeys or that there are too many fat sumo wrestlers.

It takes a certain ability to play basketball and it would appear that black people have it more than white people.

It's ok though, I hear they still use affirmative action over at the BET (black entertainment television). I wonder when they will invent WET or MET or JET or even PET, yes Polish Entertainment Television. You can fiure out the rest.


Nutzo

Edited: Once again for mishpeelin

[edit on 12-6-2004 by nutzobalzo]

I wanted this thread in my subsribed threads, as it deals with my debate. BTW, I think it's a bad idea. But it's interesting to get a perspective when the shoe is on the other foot, so to speak.

Larry Bird sure sounds like a hippocrite in this quote :

"I didn't care who guarded me - red, yellow, black. I just didn't want a white guy guarding me, because it's disrespect to my game." - Larry Bird

www.chinapost.com.tw...

Didn't he just give enough reason right there why there aren't too many white people in the NBA.

I think the point he was trying to make with that quote was that coaches see him as white and automatically assume that a black guy guarding Bird would be a waster of talent.
Larry Bird wanted to show that white guys could run with the black guys.

And yes, the reason I made this thread was because its interesting to see how people would react if affirmative action were introduced to the minorities of NBA (whites, asians).

They say most qualified, we say most qualified. Most qualified = greater attendance/more business revenue for industries outside of NBA. Yet we still have affirmative action in the workplace.

Valhall says,
"unions have no justification for their existence anymore in the U.S. (but do elsewhere)"

How do you figure...

Where I work, almost everyone ELSE is able to be in a union except the folks that do what I do here....they have way MORE protections from corporate abuse than I do, not to mention better bennifits and starting salaries....yet i supervise many of these employees but am not a manager.....with the mega corp GREED running rampant here in the USA, how anyone could sell off the unions is beyond belief.

Affirmative action is a good intention, but its implimentation is questionable, and it definatly promotes the "weaker" of the candidates over other more qualified....