Endangered Hoops

“If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn’t part of ourselves doesn’t disturb us.” – Hermann Hesse

We live in an era where having more than someone else automatically makes you a better person. But is that really true? We’re all equal parts. One way or another every person in the world is related in some way, so why all of the hatred? Why all of the negativity?

If you’re searching for the answer, Joakim Noah might be the person to talk to.

MouthPieceSports

The son of both a peripatetic, famous father and an artistic mother, Noah was born in New York City before being raised in a bourgeois neighborhood in France, eventually moving back to Manhattan for his formative years. The Big Apple would always be home; it seemed like the perfect place for Noah to blend his outspoken personality in with a city full of unique people. Or so he thought. He was labeled a troublemaker in high school – he was kicked out of United Nations International School when he was 15 – and people would always stare or speak negatively about him and his family. But he never paid attention.

Because all Noah does is play basketball.

On the court, Noah is relentless and passionate. Many find him annoying, but he’s just doing his job, taking the other player out of his game. During his time in Gainesville, where he won back-to-back national titles with the Gators, Jo was arguably the most hated player in college basketball. They hated that he was a lanky seven-footer, that his hair flopped up and down every time he ran up the court. They hated that he would clap his hands after a block, that he pounded his chest knowing no one could touch him. They hated that he was a winner.

Fans knew he was good, but they chose not to believe it. They were too focused on his appearance rather than his overall talent. So while he continued to improve by outworking everyone, the boos got louder.

But that’s life. We will always hate on success. Noah didn’t ask for this, but who really does? No one truly wants to be hated by the world. Even Jo doesn’t know why.

“Some people like me. Some people really hate me,” Noah once told ESPNChicago.com’s Jon Greenberg. “It’s been like that since I was a little kid. I don’t really know what it is, if it’s the hair or just the way I am. I just learned to live with it.”

After becoming a lottery pick in 2007, Noah struggled in his first two seasons with the Chicago Bulls. He didn’t listen and clashed with teammates and coaches while playing a part in the firing of head coach Scott Skiles. Jo wasn’t used to losing and was a cocky rookie who played with selfish, uncoachable teammates. He was no longer the “big man on campus.” But something clicked last season. Jo sought advice from his former college coach Billy Donovan, and he found a friend in Derrick Rose who allowed him to mature. Just like that, he went from averaging a measly 6.7 points to last season’s double-double: 10.7 points and 11.0 rebounds. He also had his first taste of the playoffs.

His performance had finally caught up with his intensity.

The entire city of Chicago had finally fallen in love with what Noah was drafted for: hard work. He was booed in his own arena as a rookie, and during this summer’s free agency craze, there were talks of him being traded for Carmelo Anthony, causing quite a few Chicagoans to again evaluate how truly valuable Jo is to the team. In October, he signed a five-year, $60-million extension that will keep him in Chicago until the 2015-16 season.

So far this season he’s averaging career highs in minutes (38.4), points (15.4) and rebounds (12.2). He’s also improved his unorthodox jump shot, which he calls “unusual” and “artistic.” He’s connecting on 44.7 percent of his shots from 10 feet, 66.7 percent from 10-15 feet and 41.0 percent from 16-23 feet, all major improvements.

At 25 years old, many would say that Noah has reached his peak. Still, he was raw coming out of college, and should have room for improvement. And while his unabated emotion is no longer considered “showboating” to those around the League, it has become the fuel that will keep the fire burning in Chicago. Fans shouldn’t hate him even though he enjoys taking that role. At the end of the day, he’s the guy who just dropped a double-double on the opposing team and came out with the win.

The question that we should ask ourselves is: are we hating Noah strictly because of his looks, or because we aren’t comfortable within our own skin just yet? Self-empowerment comes through positive thought and many of us carry a notion that other people are more emotionally solid than we are. But is that really true? We all wear disguises and fool ourselves into believing that the disguise, rather than the confidence it brings, is what attracts others to us. So why continue to hate on someone who isn’t afraid of being what he’s supposed to be?

Noah has one of the biggest hearts in the NBA. Why? Because he doesn’t listen to the things that would normally wear us down. Haters will continue to hate. It’s their job, trying to keep him from succeeding.

It’s too late now.

Andrew Macaluso is a contributing writer for Endangered Hoops. You can find more of his work at DimeMag.com, SLAMonline.com and as well as his blog, News From the Hardwood. You can follow Andrew on Twitter at @_andymac

11/26

The two best closers in the League were up to their usual tricks again on Friday night. While Kobe Bryant couldn’t get it done, Carmelo Anthony did, hitting a jumper at the buzzer to beat Chicago…

…and the Top 10 Plays…

-Follow Sean on Twitter at @SEANesweeney

It looked like a star. Sure felt like one too. The countdown and the stare down. Back-n-forth he swayed, yet eyes never moving. Glued. To the possibilities of what could be. Big time.

Life is always teaching us lessons. You might think that cliche, but it is most certainly true. The mop-headed boy learns not to go near the nest of humming bees the first time he gets a stinger in the side of his arm. Maybe five years later, that teenager, now with pants slightly dragging and a face full of ache, hanging out by the movie theater, learns the only way to impress a certain good-looking female is money. Pay for her movie ticket, and you’re in. Still, another five or six years later, that kid is no longer a kid. He’s looking at a job, at employment and responsibility, and learning again that sometimes it’s not what you know but who you know.

Bees...not always pretty

Michael Beasley wasn’t built for this. All of the hate, the pressure-building, steam-bubbling pressure that always accompanies stardom, or fame, or celebrity, or doing what you love for a living. Take it from him; he has “Super Cool Beas” tattooed on his back. You know his idea of a good day is chillin’.

The first time I saw Beasley play was in 2006 at the famed Hoophall Classic in Springfield, Mass.. He was a senior at the Notre Dame Prep School and considered an eccentric, yet spectacular talent. In warm-ups, he had the place ready to blow right through the roof. Windmills. Reverses. Through-the-legs. It was one of the greatest athletic exhibitions I’ve ever seen, and Beasley did it all with his patented “I-know-you-know-I’m-not-trying-and-I-don’t-care-that-you-know” look. The more “Oooooooosss” he got from the crowd, the more he wanted to play games, not realizing that at one minute, people can be fans, but the next, they will quickly turn judgmental, and hateful.

Beasley finished that game with 9 points. I think I can speak for everyone who was in that gym that night when I conceded on the way out: “Dude just doesn’t care.”

When the lights shine brightest, when that hum, and that heat, hits you in the face, that’s when all of that fame, celebrity, talent, skills, potential doesn’t matter. It is just you and the soul. In this case, a soul, a mind and a ball.

The Baltimore/DC area has produced some incredible talent within the last decade or so. There’s Beasley of course, but also Carmelo Anthony, Donte Greene and Kevin Durant, just to name a few others. ‘Melo and KD are two of the top 10 players in the entire world, which brings me back to Beasley.

I had a conversation this summer with Charlotte point guard D.J. Augustin for a DimeMag Q&A. Augustin was Durant’s college teammate and is now one of his best friends in the League. Augustin described their summers together, which consisted of a lot of hoops and classes back at Texas. All of the guys come back and play pick-up: T.J. Ford, Royal Ivey, the current Texas team. Always there. ”We would wake up early in the morning and work out with the team,” Augustin told me, “and then we would come back in the afternoon and play pickup.”

That’s a decent days work. Except, KD would work out before the team in the a.m. with his own crew from Oklahoma City and then stay after the pick-up in the afternoon for even more work.

“He just don’t know when to stop, man,” Augustin admitted. “He doesn’t know when to stop. I’ve never seen anyone like that. I think we all love basketball. Every basketball player loves basketball, but I’ve never seen somebody love it the way he does.”

For Beasley, how many times is he going to get stung?

What does this have to do with Beasley? Not much. But still, it’s kind of interesting to think about, being that Beasley and KD are perhaps the two most talented players to come out of the Baltimore/DC area in a long time. And they couldn’t be any more different.

Durant breathes basketball. He sweats it. Trying to find quotes for a “Kevin Durant is a hard worker” story takes as long as it does to type those 24 words into Google. But do you ever hear those same things being said about Beasley? Not really. You hear things like “talent” or “unlimited potential” or “headcase” or “pothead.”

42, 35, 25, 28 and 33. Those are Michael Beasley’s scoring digits from the T’Wolves past five games. Those numbers scream all-star. Yet, no one is really sure if Beasley will ever be playing in that annual February showcase. Certainly not this year, for Minnesota will be lucky to scratch 20 wins. But what about in the future? If he keeps improving? If he becomes a better rebounder? A better defender? Better teammate? Probably. The only problem is that Beasley has never proven he can take on the toughest, most difficult opponent to hold: his mind. That super-cool mentality that makes him such a fun-loving and interesting character off the court, is the same one that will ultimately decide whether he ever learns from his stings or just continues to grab that hive.

Three years after being proclaimed the NBA’s next great star, and less than one year after being canned by those same people for a second-round pick, Beasley has himself a nice, little niche: great player on a horrific team.

Still, trying to predict where Super Cool Bease will go from here is pointless. It really is. Because it will be something no one expected. One way or another.

-Follow Sean on Twitter at @SEANesweeney

11/16

The Lakers got back to their winning ways, Carmelo Anthony had a chance to see how bad his future team looks and Derrick Rose continued to kill it…

…the Top 10 Plays from the night…

Chauncey Billups traveling away a 75-foot shot…

I can’t stress how huge this game is for the Lakers. There are some teams (ie. Rockets) who you can take to a game 7. Denver isn’t one of those, mainly because they are so up-and-down. LA should do whatever it can to end it tonight.

END OF FIRST QUARTER: Lakers came to play…took the early lead with everyone contributing…Ariza is locked in, thats a great sign. Melo, Billups- they all are sort of flat so far. In a way that’s great, but you know in the second quarter that bench is going to get the building rocking. If the Lakers win the second quarter, they will win the game. LA 25 DEN 20.

8:41 Second: Exactly what I felt was going to happen…JR Smith is invovled, not a good sign for LA fans…their energy is picking up…the starters need to come back in ASAP Denver 31-30

By the way, this Kobe/Shaq Where Will Amazing Happen? commercial is CRAZY…

7:45 Second: Can a role player make a three…The Machine and Farmar missing wide open looks…the bench is doing what they do in the Pepsi Center, still they only up 1

1:00 Second: Wow, a good Lakers team showed up for a road game…Denver looks real shook/timid…they are flat, no doubt about it…without a dozen Lakers TO, it would be a 15 point game right now

Kobe just banged a rainbow corner 3 and then blocked Melo’s runner at the buzzer…its 53-40 LA at the half…I said if we won that quarter, we will win. I can’t see LA blowing this.

3:15 Third: Bill Walton’s son is playing huge. Making open Js, took a huge charge on Smith…Kobe hitting, so is Gasol and Odom is active…you couldn’t ask for more right now if you are an LA fan…Smith just hit a 3, Denver is on the edge right now- LA 79-64

END OF THIRD QUARTER: It is 83-67 LA. The Lakers just survived the final two minutes with the Mamba out after Kleiza and Smith had hit threes for an 8-0 Nuggets run…Denver made a couple of stupid fouls; one by JR Smith and one by Kenyon Martin where he just lost his mind for a second. The Machine w/ 4 big FTs to push it back up to 16. All they gotta do is finish this.

9:30 Fourth: The real Lakers are finally back…that dunk by Walton might’ve just sealed it…it is 90-69…it seems like they have taken the Nuggs hearts

8 Fourth: Denver just isn’t even trying on defense…Kobe just walked down the left elbow for a dunk, seemed like it was over, but Denver just hit 3 pullups in a row (Smith & Anthony w/ a three and long two)…but KB just stopped the bleeding w/ an easy layup…LA 98-82 w/ 6:30 left

Two straight buckets for the best player in the game…KB eyed-up Smith and just wetted a corner three- it’s 101-82 with just over 6 minutes left.

4:17 Fourth: It’s over…3 straight Shannon Brown FTs and then a Smith missed 25-footer…108-85, ball game, two straight Finals Appearances…let’s go, new ending this year…