The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 455 - 73 Love Passionately

[Rivers said, "I’ll tell you, at the end of the day, the teammates you crave are those who love the game, the ones who can really play..."

Did he mean that there are players who do not love basketball?

Rivers seemed amused by my naivety, as I indeed believed that all professional basketball players loved the game.

Rivers continued, "There are as many types of people in the world as there are types of players in the NBA. Basketball, like any other profession, has some people who do a job just for the generous pay. They work hard, make more money, gain some prestige, even though the job itself may not be that appealing to them."

"Then there are those who do a job because their life has led them to it, they follow in their father’s footsteps, or everyone around them does it, and they have no other choice. And there is a fraction of people, a small fraction, who are driven to do a job by something inside them, they love it too much, they can’t do anything else but that."

"In the NBA, you have all these types, but the last kind is the rarest and usually the most accomplished."

"Most players come to the NBA to work, they play hard, give their all, strive for victory, take the game seriously. But their hearts aren’t in basketball, they are not content with a spectacular game, not too excited by a victory, nor too depressed by a defeat. Don’t get me wrong, these players are not unprofessional or lazy, they are hardworking, for the sake of a good salary, just like corporate employees work hard. But often they feel as bored as corporate employees do."

Bored? I wanted to ask, is it boring to fight for rebounds with Alonzo Mourning? Is it boring to try scoring against David Robinson’s defense? Or is blocking Dan Majerle’s shot boring?

Rivers, smiling, said, "Well, I assure you, no one is bored enough to go fight for rebounds with Mourning, If you want to wrestle the rebound away from him, you better care about that ball more than anything in the world."

"But what I’m saying is, a lot of people are tired of basketball, some of them even hate it, especially those black kids who had no choice but to become basketball players after being taken to the courts by their parents since sixth grade. No one asked them if they wanted to play basketball, maybe they wanted to play piano. They played, and then they found they were popular, teachers liked them, gave them high grades, they got into college easily, got scholarships, and teams were willing to pay them millions of dollars, just as long as they were willing to play that stupid game."

"They did everything as they were told, but they don’t like basketball as much as they did in sixth grade, they hate it, they wake up every morning dreading to hear the thumping of dribbling, you can’t blame them."

Rivers shook his head, as though to banish some unpleasant thoughts from his mind, and then said, "But there are those who have fallen in love with the sport of basketball, like being in love with someone all your life. They can never get enough; they want to keep playing forever; they are dedicated to the sport. When they put on their uniform, it’s as if they are playing their first game, and it’s like that every game. For them, it’s the most familiar, most comfortable thing in the world."

"Once the game starts, they don’t care about the duration, you can tie them up in the parking lot, lock them in a car, chain them down, and then halfway through the first quarter they’d drag the car to the court, yelling ’I’m open, give me the ball!’ Their whole lives they hope to play with the best players in the world, they’ve done it, and then they play every day."

Listening to Rivers’ description, I was fascinated; I thought such people must be the luckiest people in the world. Who would be a representative figure for such people?

Rivers laughed again, thinking I’d asked a very silly question, and he mentioned two names, one was Michael Jordan.

He mentioned Jordan more than once, it was apparent he had a lot of respect for Jordan but was not overly enamored with him, neither idolizing nor despising.

Jordan was a great player, but so what? Because Rivers was a basketball player as well, with his competitive spirit, he was not a fan who would blindly worship; he had genuinely competed against Jordan on the court.

However, when he mentioned the other name, Rivers had a different look in his eye, filled with respect and wonder, and a long silence.

The other was Ah Gan.

He finally said, "Ah Gan stands in a place very, very distant from us, as if he comes from the future, running to this era to tell us that basketball can actually be played this way. He knew how to play better than any of us, and he loved basketball more than anyone. Sometimes Michael instilled fear in us, and we overcame that fear. But Ah Gan once instilled fear, and one day, we suddenly felt, actually, there was nothing to fear, it was normal to lose to him, it was fun to play against him. He made many players realize the joy of professional games; this is incredible."

I asked another foolish question, asking which day it was when they felt that, even though I should have known ’one day’ wasn’t referring to any specific day.

But Rivers answered me earnestly, "April 19, 1987."

————Published in 1993, authored by Doug Rivers and Bruce Brooks, excerpt from "Those who love the Game".

Doug Rivers dribbled the ball past half-court and began to organize the Eagles Team’s offense.