Darryl Dawkins on the difference between "black basketball" and "white basketball"

[Evilmav2]

Dawkins on hoops in black and white

Charley Rosen / Special to FOXSports.com

3 days ago Darryl Dawkins has never worried about being politically correct. Ever since he made headlines in 1975 when he became the first schoolboy to be drafted into the NBA (Philadelphia — fifth pick overall), Dawkins was never shy about speaking his mind.

According to Dawkins, the outcome of the upcoming Olympic basketball tournament hinges on a subject no one else dares to fully address — the racial components that define basketball as we know it. "The game is the same," says Dawkins. "The object is for the good guys to score and to keep the bad guys from scoring. But there's a big difference between black basketball and white basketball."

Darryl Dawkins isn't afraid to sound off on the "big difference between black basketball and white basketball."

Growing up poor (but happy) near Orlando, Fla., Dawkins learned the former before he learned the latter. "Black basketball is much more individualistic," he says. "With so many other opportunities closed to young black kids, the basketball court in the playground or the schoolyard is one of the few places where they can assert themselves in a positive way. So if somebody makes you look bad with a shake-and-bake move, then you've got to come right back at him with something better, something more stylish. And if someone fouls you hard, you've got to foul him even harder. It's all about honor, pride, and establishing yourself as a man."

Once the black game moves indoors and becomes more organized, the pressure to establish bona fides increases. "Now you're talking about high school hoops," says Dawkins. "So if you're not scoring beaucoup points, if your picture isn't in the papers, if you don't have a trophy, then you ain't the man and you ain't nothing. Being second-best is just as bad as being last. And if a teammate hits nine shots in a row, the black attitude is, 'Screw him. Now it's my turn to get it on.'"

If young black players usually cherish untrammeled creativity, white hooplings mostly value more team-oriented concepts. "White basketball means passing the hell out of the ball," says Dawkins. "White guys are more willing to do something when somebody else has the ball — setting picks, boxing out, cutting just to clear a space for a teammate, making the pass that leads to an assist pass. In white basketball, there's a more of a sense of discipline, of running set plays and only taking wide open shots. If a guy gets hot, he'll get the ball until he cools off."

Why is white basketball so structured and team-oriented?

"Because the white culture places more of a premium on winning," Dawkins believes, "and less on self-indulgent preening and chest-beating. That's because there are so many other situations in the white culture where a young kid can express himself."

As the twig is bent, so grows the tree. When Dawkins and the Sixers squared off against the Portland Trail Blazers for the NBA championship in 1977, Philadelphia's most dynamic players were Julius Erving, George McGinnis, World B. Free, and Dawkins.

"They beat us in six games," Dawkins recalls, "and the series marked the most blatant example of the racial difference in NBA game plans. We were much more flamboyant than Portland, and certainly more talented. We had more individual moves, more off-balance shots, more fancy passes, more dunks, and more entertaining stuff. But everybody wanted to shoot and be a star (including me), and nobody was willing to do the behind-the-scenes dirty work."

Meanwhile, the white players at the core of Portland's eventual success were Dave Twardzik, Bobby Gross, Larry Steele and Bill Walton. Dawkins notes that "Even the black guys like Lionel Hollins, Mo Lucas, Johnny Davis, Lloyd Neal played disciplined, unselfish white basketball. Credit their coach, Jack Ramsay, for getting everybody on the same page."

As much as Dawkins respected Portland's game plan, however, he was never crazy about Walton. "The guy was a good player who could really pass and had a nice jump hook," Dawkins opines. "What made Walton so effective was that he was surrounded by talented players who wanted to win and weren't concerned with being stars. Personally, I think that Walton was, and still is, full of baloney. Back then, he had this mountain-man image, he smoked lots of pot, and I don't think he bathed regularly. And the league let him play with a red bandana tied around his head. To say nothing of his involvement with Patty Hearst.

"If a black player ever tried any of that kind of stuff he would've been banished from the NBA in a heartbeat. Yet in spite of all the messed up things Walton did as a player, now that he's a TV announcer all he does is tear down everybody else. The guy still ticks me off."

During his 15-year tenure in the NBA, Dawkins' signature move was bulldozing to the basket and smashing the Plexiglas backboard to smithereens. He was brash, outlandish, funny, and irresistible. He called himself "Chocolate Thunder," claimed to be from the planet Lovetron, and devised names for his more awesome dunks — among the most noteworthy were In Your Face Disgrace, Cover Yo Damn Head, Sexophonic Turbo Delight, and his classic If You Ain't Groovin' Best Get Movin'-Chocolate Thunder Flyin'-Robinzine Cryin'-Teeth Shakin'-Glass Breakin'-Rump Roastin'-Bun Toastin'-Glass Still Flyin' Wham-Bam-I-Am Jam!

For the past four years, the 6-foot-11, 285-pound Dawkins has been coaching the Pennsylvania Valley Dawgs in the summertime United States Basketball League. In so doing, he's won two championships (2002 and 2004) and distinguished himself as a superior motivator and big man coach, as well as the kind of on- and off-court teacher who can help transform wild young hooplings into mature gamers. As a by-product of his own maturation, Dawkins can also see the pluses and minuses of both black and white basketball.

"The black game by itself," he says, "is too chaotic and much too selfish. No one player is good enough to beat five opponents on a consistent basis. The black style also creates animosities among the players because everybody ends up arguing about who's shooting too much and who's not shooting enough."

But the white game also has its drawbacks: "It can get too predictable and even too cautious because guys can be afraid to take risks and make mistakes."

Dawkins believes that the best NBA teams combine the best of both. "In basketball and in civilian life," Dawkins says, "freedom without structure winds up being chaotic and destructive. Only when it operates within a system can freedom create something worthwhile."

And, according to Dawkins, this is the most difficult task at hand for Larry Brown. "Only Tim Duncan and Carlos Boozer are willing to play white basketball. All the other guys on Team USA really want to go off on their own.

"Unless Brown can bleach some of the selfish funk from their game, they'll be lucky to win the bronze."

Charley Rosen, former CBA coach, author of 12 books about hoops, the next one being A PIVOTAL SEASON -- HOW THE 1971-72 LA LAKERS CHANGED THE NBA, is a frequent contributor to FOXSports.com.

[kg_veteran]

That's a great read, Evil. Thanks for the article.

[LRB]

Love the article Evil. Wonder if we could get Dawkins as an assitant coach. He'd have to be a better big man coach than what we have IMO. And he sure as heck would provide some entertaining quotes.

[dalmations202]

This is one of the more factual articles I have read in a long time. I guess my opinion of the situation is about the same as his.

I think he is pretty well "dead - on" on his evaluation.

[Simon2]

That was a great read. I didn't know Dawkins was so inciteful. I still disagree with categorizing black basketball vs white basketball. Where do Asians fall into? Yellow?

[Dirkenstien]

That was an interesting and insightful read, thanks Evilmav.

[Big Boy Laroux]

wow! chocolate thunder speaks the truth!

thanks for the article, evilmav. a very worthwhile read.

[SeriousSummer]

I think there is certainly some truth in Dawkins' argument, but the difference in styles is as much the difference in learning to play in organized games as on the playground as any Black/White difference.

I'm white, but I learned the playground game and never played much organized ball. So I played by taking guys off the dribble--crossover, spin, hook them, shooting the pull up jumpshot and use the pump fake and separate through contact. No picks, no screens, no give and gos, no set shots and not much passing (unless you could go behind your back or throw a 40 foot bounce pass or whatever).

The team game has to be taught. I don't think anyone naturally plays that way. The problem is you don't see a lot of players, Black or White, who have both the individual skills and know how to play team ball.

[FreshJive]

Some players change.
Michael Finley: Black or white? I say he use to play black but has become white.
Dirk? He's becoming increasingly black.

[NBAGnome]

Interesting article.

But on the subject of team USA, I would disagree with him, i watched the last 4 exhibition games and they were playing in a much more team oriented way. Wade and Marion especially have sacrificed their offense and are doing the other things you need. Marbury is trying to distribute the ball, takes few shots, and mostly defers to Iverson. You have Duncan and Iverson who are taking the most shots, thus far Iverson has provided their perimeter game, hitting 3s, and Duncan is being the go to guy. At first LeBron was taking too many perimeter shots, and he still takes a few he shouldn't, but hes reeled in quite a bit and i've seen the growth from one game to the next in him accepting his role. Odom is playing good defense, though he lacks the bulk to play center and hes seeing a bit of time there. Overall 8 out of 12 players are shooting over 50%.

Actually, the only person who is playing out of control is Carmelo Anthony, hes been coming off the bench, but has taken the 2nd most shots next to Duncan for a combined .385% over 6 exhibition games. In the last game, he only played 7 minutes after missing a number of ill advised shots. I'm curious to see how much time he gets in the real deal. LeBron and Marion may get more of Carmelo's minutes, especially in tough games.

[dirno2000]

All I see is a lot of over generalizations. While the international game may still be a little different than the US game, the distinction between American black and white basketball” isn't nearly as clear cut as he makes it out to be. For that matter, foreign players are much closer in style to Americans than they once were. Manu Ginobli, for example, doesn’t have a typical foreign game.

The reason that our international teams keep struggling is that we won’t put any pure shooters on the team, while the Euro teams are filled with them. The Euro guards keep getting better, and our decided advantage in the paint is lessened by the fact that our bigs start further from the basket when they’re down low. That has nothing to do with black or white basketball.

Even the black guys like Lionel Hollins, Mo Lucas, Johnny Davis, Lloyd Neal played disciplined, unselfish white basketball.

So if you play "black basketball" you're selfish and undisciplined, and if a black player happens to play with discipline, he's playing "white basketball". Ok, so Wally plays black basketball while Jason Kidd's unselfishness comes from his white half...and Magic Johnson played "white basketball" his whole career"

This article is racist B.S.

[Big Boy Laroux]

eh... i agree that calling it "white" vs. "black" basketball may be going a bit far. but it's darryl freakin' dawkins. that man is as outspoken as they come. serious summer is correct in that it is more of a "street" vs. "organized" argument.

[Dirkenstien]

Originally posted by: Big Boy Laroux
eh... i agree that calling it "white" vs. "black" basketball may be going a bit far. but it's darryl freakin' dawkins. that man is as outspoken as they come. serious summer is correct in that it is more of a "street" vs. "organized" argument.

I agree with that

[Max Power]

For the past four years, the 6-foot-11, 285-pound Dawkins has been coaching the Pennsylvania Valley Dawgs in the summertime United States Basketball League. In so doing, he's won two championships (2002 and 2004) and distinguished himself as a superior motivator and big man coach, as well as the kind of on- and off-court teacher who can help transform wild young hooplings into mature gamers. As a by-product of his own maturation, Dawkins can also see the pluses and minuses of both black and white basketball.

I've always admired Dawkins power inside game. I wonder if Cuban has considered getting him to come to the Mavs training camp and help out DJ and Pavel.

[birdsanctuary]

NCAA rules are detrimental to our overall national youth basketball program. By not allowing talented youth in HS play with top level coaches this "Racial" divide if you will, will continue. In my opinion the gap has become wider with the influx of European basketball players, playing team basketball. If conditions continue we may see a steady decline in the number of African-American players in the NBA and an increase in Asian and European born players. What do you think?