Kyrie Irving And The Death Of The Ghetto Superstar

[Chelm]

Interesting read:

http://theshadowleague.com/articles/kyrie-irving-and-the-death-of-the-ghetto-superstar

[KGs Knee]

First thought

Ghetto Superstar....what does Kyrie have to do with ODB?



Second thought

Read the article now, and I see the distinction.  Kyrie is the Anti-ODB of the NBA.  Interesting article.  Although, I've never had the proclivity to consider "street cred" as anything meaningful as it relates to basketball.

[Brendan]

save yourself the trouble and skip the article.

[ManUp]

Stern has made a conscious effort to move the NBA away from that "Ghetto" image. From what I understand the mostly white fans of the NBA weren't a fan of it. That and styles have changed a bit being "Ghetto" isn't as cool as it used to be.

[Chelm]

First thought

Ghetto Superstar....what does Kyrie have to do with ODB?



Second thought

Read the article now, and I see the distinction.  Kyrie is the Anti-ODB of the NBA.  Interesting article.  Although, I've never had the proclivity to consider "street cred" as anything meaningful as it relates to basketball.

It is very meaningful as it pertains to shoe sales, at least historically.

[Eja117]

save yourself the trouble and skip the article.

this......it was horrible

[Celtics18]

save yourself the trouble and skip the article.

this......it was horrible

I didn't agree with everything the guy had to say, but I thought it was a fairly interesting and well written piece. 

To each his own, I guess. 

[ManUp]

save yourself the trouble and skip the article.

this......it was horrible

agreed.

[Chelm]

Stern has made a conscious effort to move the NBA away from that "Ghetto" image. From what I understand the mostly white fans of the NBA weren't a fan of it. That and styles have changed a bit being "Ghetto" isn't as cool as it used to be.

I've always found the whole concept interesting.  My dad (a pseudo-traditionalist) always HATED the ghetto culture/mentality in basketball, but it almost seemed players NEEDED it to land huge endorsement deals (why Iverson always made more money than Kobe early last decade).

[Eja117]

I just can't buy the notion that Starbury was a more popular player than Shaq or even Grant Hill for that matter. I can't buy that Iverson was more popular than Jordan.

And who really drives the sport? Who really has the marketing power? Bird and Magic? Was there street cred there or not?

And Bron was rich when he was 16.

[GreenFaith1819]

I found the article to be an interesting read...not horrible, at all.

[GreenFaith1819]

Those who found it..."horrible"....may I ask why?

Just curious.

[bdm860]

I just can't buy the notion that Starbury was a more popular player than Shaq or even Grant Hill for that matter. I can't buy that Iverson was more popular than Jordan.

Was that in the article?

(I couldn't get through it either, that thing was garbage).

Now I realize we're not marketing guys, and we don't have access to figures/calcutions to determine how popular somebody is, at least the way the professional do.

But All-Star voting (which can be seen here), generally points to Iverson/Marbury not being more popular than Jordan/Hill/O'Neal.  Iverson was near the top in votes for a few years, but never had the most overall.

Also, jersey sales, while tough because I know of no running list, according to this source, as of 2008, the top 3 all time jersey sales was Jordan, Bryant, Iverson, in that order.  Sure Jordan has been around loner, but Bryant and Iverson came into the league at the same time.  Would love to see the full list/supporting numbers though if anybody can find them.  Again though, doesn't support the notion that those guys were more popular.

Although I do admit, I think guys like Iverson and Marbury have sort of a cult-like following, independent of how well they perform as basketball players,  more so than a lot of other players.

[Chelm]

I just can't buy the notion that Starbury was a more popular player than Shaq or even Grant Hill for that matter. I can't buy that Iverson was more popular than Jordan.

Was that in the article?

(I couldn't get through it either, that thing was garbage).

Now I realize we're not marketing guys, and we don't have access to figures/calcutions to determine how popular somebody is, at least the way the professional do.

But All-Star voting (which can be seen here), generally points to Iverson/Marbury not being more popular than Jordan/Hill/O'Neal.  Iverson was near the top in votes for a few years, but never had the most overall.

Also, jersey sales, while tough because I know of no running list, according to this source, as of 2008, the top 3 all time jersey sales was Jordan, Bryant, Iverson, in that order.  Sure Jordan has been around loner, but Bryant and Iverson came into the league at the same time.  Would love to see the full list/supporting numbers though if anybody can find them.  Again though, doesn't support the notion that those guys were more popular.

Although I do admit, I think guys like Iverson and Marbury have sort of a cult-like following, independent of how well they perform as basketball players,  more so than a lot of other players.

I think Iverson being in the top 3 of all-time says something (as he is nowhere NEAR a top 3 all-time talent).

[fairweatherfan]

I thought the most interesting point was in the comments - that rural and suburban kids are more easily able to develop their potential now because AAU lets them play against a higher level of competition, and social media lets them watch other players and learn from them.  A generation ago those factors were tilted toward inner-city players; now it's much more even.  The cultural argument didn't really do anything for me, but I'm far outside those circles so it'd be hard for me to refute it.

BTW don't read the comments, it pretty much immediately turns into a stupid political wankfest over a throwaway line about Reaganomics.