We Never Picked Utah.
As we approach this year’s All Star Weekend which for a season that’s been like no other ( shortened season, March All Star, etc.) I am comforted with a glimpse of normalcy. A peek into a different era of basketball, a glimmer of basketball nostalgia if you will. I am not speaking of the game nor the way the teams were divided but one single comment made by LeBron James during his All Star team selection show on TNT.
LeBron James and Kevin Durant were the leading vote getters for the All Star Game so naturally they would be the captains for this new pick up game pick your team scenario. LeBron had first pick and as expected stars were taken off the board with haste by the two All Star captains. As the final picks came around a noticeable oddity had taken place. The final picks were both from currently the hottest team in the league, the Utah Jazz 27-9 (Rudy Golbert and Donovan Mitchell). When Charles Barkley pressed LeBron on why after stating they needed size chose Domantas Sabonis from the Pacers and left Golbert as the last player on the board, LeBron responded with "You guys gotta understand, just like in video games growing up, we never played with Utah. Even as great as Karl Malone and John Stockton was, we would never pick those guys in video games. Never." This was the statement that made me think, is this true? Have I ( a self proclaimed basketball purest) fall victim to team and location bias as so many others of my generation or was LeBron the one off. I had to explore this further.
I reached out to some friends of mine whom I have shared many video game and backyard experiences and we were all dumbfounded. Not once have we picked the Utah Jazz. We knew that John Stockton , Karl Malone and Jeff Hornacek were more worthy an opponent for a Michael Jordan lead Chicago Bulls team than let’s say my New York Knicks at the time, but we still did not choose them. I even recall a moment when my adolescent self was faced with a challenging decision of selecting a team during a tournament of “Bulls vs Blazers “ and was ready to end all friendships when I was stuck with the Jazz. We would select the Bulls on NBA Jams knowing the programmers slighted their talents before we selected the Jazz. But why though?
After asking around the consensus was that they never related to us. Growing up a New Yorker during that time the Knicks embodied the blue collar work ethic of the city. Showtime Lakers was a nightly two hour infomercial of how great it was to be in LA. The Bulls were the epitome of team greatness. Those traits resonated with the NBA fans of the inner city. These were the traits we found in our parents , our leaders and someday grow to see in ourselves. Utah Jazz was a great team but safe. John Stockton and Karl Malone made the pick and roll an art form. There was no flash just an efficient basketball play we use to this day. Jeff Hornacek and Bryon Russell were both lock down defenders who both have slowed down ( I use the term loosely) Michael Jordan in a playoff game, but we just never saw them as the team that represented us. As one long time friend put it the Jazz were the Celtics of the west.
Maybe I needed LeBron to make that statement and force me to confront this hidden bias towards the Jazz. Though it may be too late for LeBron to go back and select the best player remaining on the board, it’s not too late to change the narrative. The fact remains Rudy Golbert and Donovan Mitchell were selected to the All Star game just like Stockton and Malone and as quiet as it may be kept has the best record in the league. Maybe we need to start picking them, first.
