That's the view in this column -- some black players feel more free to do their own thing instead of listening to the coach, when the coach is black. This stems from the situation with Sixers coach Randy Ayers and Glenn Robinson, who is complaining about his minutes and having to play defense and basically wants out.

Racism has a way of becoming internalized in any group that suffers from it. Basketball is hardly an exception. But I think players play harder for a coach they respect and admire. Every coach or leader has to earn that. Being black or whatever does not give one an automatic bye.

BTW I wouldn't wish Allen Iverson on any coach, least of all a decent guy like Maurice Cheeks.

[ February 10, 2004, 05:03 PM: Message edited by: sportinlife ]

When I saw this column today and heard Randy Ayers was fired, I wondered if the timing of the column was coincidental or if Stephen Smith knew Ayers was about to be canned, so wrote a column largely sympathetic to Ayers.

So I guess this gives fair skinned guys like Jason Kidd carte blanche to get coaches of either color fired. Stephen Smith is a blowhard who is confrontational and controversial for the sake of being confrontational and controversial. Most fo these coaches were coaching bad teams, period.

I think it's much more about American players vs. foreign players. Most of the white players in the NBA are foreigners who are still playing the team concept and respectful of the coach. Most of today's American players, a large majority of whom happen to be black, are about "me, me, me" and much less respectful of authority figures.

[ February 10, 2004, 09:09 PM: Message edited by: George_vikingfan ]