DID THE SPURS KILL THE NBA STAR?

As time passes we forget what made the NBA what it is today. We forget about the great, the talented and the awe inspiring NBA Star.  The NBA Star of yesteryear was dominant, smooth and more than anything else, creative. When he had the ball he would do something different with it and when he scored your jaw would drop. It wasn't enough to get the ball in the basket, but instead the star making quality was how you put the ball in the basket.Flying through the paint, cradle rocking and weaving in front of the backboard and behind it creating a beautiful finger roll for two.  An effort so technical, and so powerful it is a shot that only God could make.  The crowd would go wild and the NBA Star was made and he was truly the one and the only.. A set shot, a lay up or a jumper wasn't good enough.  These tools were too fundamental to be considered professional basketball, and more than anything else they lacked excitement.

The rise of the San Antonio Spurs in the last decade has completely changed professional basketball.  After sitting courtside and watching the Spurs win championship after championship I realized that they were winning  by violating the cardinal rule of early NBA Basketball.  They were winning by playing fundamental basketball.  Pass pass, set shot or take the lay up.  I have watched the success of this new strategy take hold of one  NBA Team after another.  The result is the absence of the Human Highlight, the sky hook, the magic man, the open air flight of Michael Jordan and the original creative NBA Player, Julius Erving.  We are losing the athletic creativity and the foundation of what made the NBA such a great game to watch.  It should still matter how many points you score, but even more, how you did it.  There is only two places in the world that play ball like the spurs.  One is called international basketball and the other is called.....1950's Basketball..