Race and the Hoop.

"For years, black ballplayers were stereotyped as not being interested in playing defense. When black players became very good at defense and began to dominate the league on the defensive end, the NBA loaded the dice. And this is precisely where the Euro players stepped in." Dan McGraw talks about race and the foreign invasion of basketball in the Village Voice. I'm not sure I buy the zone defense conspiracy theory being promulgated, but there's some interesting food for thought here nonetheless. And it is pretty sad to see how far the league will go to pander to white people -- For example, the Frank Sinatra ad mentioned, or the ridiculous soft-focus Finals ads ("This is old school basketball.") on ABC right now.