NBA Elders Are Smart, Not Necessarily Good

By Bethlehem Shoals
Let’s get one thing straight: I respect my elders. I celebrate Father’s Day, only occasionally borrow money from my uncles, and keep the basement proper.
I also -- despite my stated preference for youthful teams -- get that experience matters in sports. Veterans have been places, seen things, that young ‘uns could barely even begin to comprehend. That’s why, to me, LeBron’s beheading of the Pistons in last season’s playoffs was almost more of an upset than the Warriors’ small, smooth stoning of the Mavs. You just don’t expect a kid to beat the crap out of grown men.
But after last week, I’m sincerely worried that veterans are being fetishized the way youth sometimes is.
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Shaq’s being treated not as an aging big man, but as a championship guru, something between player-coach and paid consultant. Chris Webber can hardly walk, but he’s a crucial acquisition for the Warriors ... because they need to get less carefree? Sam Cassell is suddenly key to Celtics contention. Ben Wallace can help the Knicks. If not him, what’s left of Jermaine O’Neal.
Look, I know that every team is jealous of Boston. Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen are super-durable guys at the tail end of their primes. No nonsense, strictly business, and instant legitimacy for the franchise. However, what’s important about these three isn’t that they’re vets -- it’s that they’re not deteriorating yet.
That’s why the Lakers are still the big winners in the unexpected arms race: Pau Gasol will be around for a minute. He knows his way around the league, but could never be characterized as a gamble. If the Lakers don’t win this year, they still have some time left. There’s a clock -- not a stopwatch -- ticking, and the closing window is creaking, not screeching.
And that’s assuming that these veteran acquisitions still have anything left in the tank. Intangibles do wonders, but they’re still secondary to playing basketball. Shaq needs to bring something to Phoenix other than wizened smiles and fist pumps because, valuable as those things are, they’re not worth $20 mill a year. I have several relatives who could do the same for far less.
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Bethlehem Shoals, a.k.a. Nathaniel Friedman, is the newest contributer to The Sporting Blog and will be covering the NBA in this space about five times a week. He will also continue to maintain his personal site at FreeDarko.com. ↵