03/12/2021
NBA Star League: Cult Association and the best players of history
To become the best, you need to play with the best. The pinnacle of a basketball player's career is considered to be a victory in the championship of the National Basketball Association (hereinafter referred to as the NBA). A place where players become legends on the parquet floor, from where Hollywood could take hundreds of stories for scenarios, where an atmosphere of professionalism and madness reigns at the same time. The NBA phenomenon amazes with its flavor and leaves no one indifferent.
The whole essence of the NBA fits into the quote of the best basketball player of our time, LeBron James: "My goal is to be the best everywhere and always! That means I have to play to the limit of my abilities!"
How it all started
When the Basketball Association of America emerged in 1946, no one could have foreseen its success. After the merger with the National Basketball League, the NBA appeared. The League of professional men's teams of North America, in particular, the USA and Canada. At the beginning of the era of the formation of the league, due to not very much competition, dynastic teams arose (they dominated for several seasons). The first were the Lakers from Minnesota and the Celtics from Boston. There is a tradition here to call the teams characteristic of the city or state features (Lakers – "lake people, lake people", because of the large number of lakes in the state, Celtics – "Celts", many Irish immigrants traditionally lived in Boston).
Gradually the game developed, the rules became more complicated, new clubs from other cities were added. If at first there were 17 of them, now there are 30 teams in the league.
The national composition of the NBA is wide, and nowadays you can meet players from all over the world in the league. The largest share of African-American players is about 75-80%. Periodically, Russian players also play in the league – so in 2016 Timofey Mozgov, who plays as a center, became the NBA champion as part of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
In the 70s, there was an attempt to create a competitive league – the Basketball Association of America (ABA). The idea to organize a new association arose because of the high monetary threshold for entry into the NBA league. However, the NBA reacted quickly and began to actively promote its model, trying to attract new teams and cities. In 1976, there was a partial merger of the leagues, which affected many aspects of the relationship between clubs and players. In particular, it affected the salary cap - a mechanism that equalizes the chances of teams, limiting their financial injections.
Soon there was a gradual decline in spectator interest in the game. Scandals around players with drugs, racism and bad relations between club owners and players did not add a good image to the league. The situation was saved by the beginning of a long-term confrontation between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics teams. Their stars, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, made the confrontation fascinating and suspenseful until the very end. Johnson will then play a big role outside of basketball – he openly admits that he has HIV, thereby causing a wide public outcry, and that will eventually lead to attention to the problem and the study of the disease.
The peak of the popularity of the NBA came in the 90s. He is connected with the new NBA commissioner David Stern, who brought the league to a new gaming and financial level, as well as with the appearance in the league later of the most famous basketball player on the planet, Michael Jordan.
The NBA is now a corporation with a well-thought-out development strategy and growing commercial potential. The main thing she learned to do is to arrange a show and sell people emotions that you want to experience all the time.
Who made the NBA great
The first truly great player is Bill Russell. The Boston Celtics center, the 11th NBA champion in 13 years of his career. After becoming the first NBA superstar, Russell changed the attitude to the game, to African-American players and their position in clubs. He won the NBA championship as a coach, as well as gold at the 1956 Olympics. He owns a witty quote about happiness: "As you know, in any culture people jump for joy at the moment of the highest happiness. Jumping is an internationally recognized expression of joy, and basketball is a sport that is built on jumping. Maybe the player is jumping because he is happy, but more likely, he is happy because he is jumping. I've heard players complain about almost every detail of the game—the rules, the size or color of the ball, the shape or temperature in the locker room-but I've never heard anyone complain about having to jump."
Another iconic player, Wilt Chamberlain, played with Russell at one time, who could win the match alone and who still holds a phenomenal record of 100 points per match (the average performance of teams in his time was about 90-100 points per match). Chamberlain was a bright individualist and did not hide it. His life was full of adventures, for example, in one of them he managed to visit Moscow, meet Khrushchev and get to know KGB agents.
The baton of great players was intercepted by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who at the time of retirement held records for the number of minutes spent on the floor, points scored, goals scored, blocked shots, etc. The 6-time NBA champion played for up to 42 years, leaving behind a great legacy. After his career as a player, he studied literature, played in films (the famous role in the film "The Game of Death" with Bruce Lee).
After Jabbar, more stars began to appear, mentioned Johnson and Bird, Carl Mallone, John Stockton, Charles Barkley and others.
But the main star of the era and the NBA was Michael Jeffrey Jordan. His NBA career began in 1984 with the Chicago Bulls. He progresses rapidly and wins three titles in a row from 1991 to 1993. Jordan shocks the world when he decides to retire from basketball and try his hand at baseball. He will return in a year and a half to win three titles in a row again from 96 to 98 and forever inscribe his name in the Basketball Hall of Fame. Jordan's charisma, leadership qualities, and most importantly, the highest level of play allowed him to raise interest in basketball to an unprecedented level. Michael became the first athlete to be awarded a personal brand of sports shoes without having played a single game in the NBA. The comedy film "Space Jam" starring Jordan further increased Michael's recognition. According to numerous polls, he is considered the most recognizable athlete on the planet, as well as the athlete who earned the most money during his career.
He expressed his attitude to success in the phrase: "I've missed more than nine thousand shots in my career. Lost in three hundred matches. Twenty-six times I was trusted with the decisive throw, and I missed. I have failed again and again. That's why I succeeded."
