Phil Jackson on Women in NBA: No Way
The Zen Master vehemently disagrees with David Stern’s prediction that a woman could play in the L within the next 10 years. And it all stems from a game that took place decades ago: “When Jackson ran a youth basketball camp in Montana early in his coaching career, he recalls pitting a state champion high school girls team against a group of middle-school boys who had never played together. The outcome of the game was so one-sided in favor of the boys that it has stuck in Jackson’s mind ever since. ‘(The girls) were all four to six inches bigger than these boys, and they got beat by 40 points,’ Jackson said. ‘It was one of those things that opened my eyes to the differences. Even though the girls had skill and knowledge as a group and the boys hadn’t played together, they just trapped and pressed and did all kinds of things that changed the game … That’s not going to happen,’ he said. Without a doubt, women’s basketball has made great strides, but I can’t see it in 10 years. I think the boys are going to increase as much as the women do in those 10 years. That’s the way we’re evolving.’”
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20 years: maybe a close game
A low-centre-of-gravity, 5’8″-6′ ball handler with a top-5 turnover-to-assist ratio would always be welcome.
Ditto a 6′ fast release sharpshooter who can hit the trey when cold from riding the bench after 45 minutes.
Neither of these positions require anything a woman can’t provide, and there are several of these guys in the NBA right now. Not unrealistic.
But you have to remember that the WNBA players have spent their whole lives training to fill WNBA roles. What will take time is a woman willing to walk away from a lead role on a WNBA team to a 11th or 12th option in the NBA. That’s what will take time to arrive.
And again, before people call me misogynistic, I don’t have anything against women basketball, I’m just stating FACTS.
And again, before people call me misogynistic, I don’t have anything against women basketball, I#m just stating FACTS.
If he has to do that to survive in the league, I don’t see a small female guard making it.
lol get real!
Oh, er uhm, but the bottom line is, I could drop twenty-thirty on these girls and I suck at basketball. So Phil’s right.
> of a wnba game
Pretty much sums up the level of discussion here. I was prepared for school-boy omg-ing, but the level of ignorance here actually surprises me.
First, there are numerous examples of women playing in men’s pro leagues, back to the seventies. Mentioning that you once played a girl in a pickup game as evidence women can’t make the NBA is just embarrassing.
Second, Earl Boykins can bench 315 and Rajon Rondo can do the 40 in however-many-seconds – they’re exceptions, not standards. What do you think Ammo can bench and do the 40 in? Arguments that he sucks are not the issue – he’s in the L and that’s what we’re discussing.
Third, if the league relies on hops and physicality too much? Reggie Miller was an All Star five times.
Stern was probably thinking about a slashing point guard or spot-up shooting guard. No one thinks a 5’11 WNBA center is gonna make the NBA.
> even two!
Ummm…..
But let’s not start there– do you know any woman as fast as Miller? I don’t. I also don’t really see anyone who has the dribbling skills as the top guards in the NBA. Really, I don’t. They are probably about equal shooters, but that’s where it ends.
Of course, the counter-point to this debate is the existence of Chris Quinn.
Here, read this… it’s about a championship women’s basketball team that helped become ‘better’ by going against a group of male High School ballers at every practice. These males never trained together, and were told to not be overly physical or charge in wildly for layups… and yet they were an even match.
If he has to do that to survive in the league, I don’t see a small female guard making it.” Early Boykins is 5’5 155 LBS, shit I shoulda worked my way into the NBA by playin; in Europe… I’m only 5’9 165lbs… there are bigger girls then that in the WNBA…would they be able to keep up… I doubt it, but it would be fun to watch… good entertainment for maybe one night… like that movie Juwanaman or whatever haha
I mentioned Earl Boykins bench press because he is 5’3″. That means he faced many of the same hurdles that a woman would have to face to get into the NBA because of his size. To compensate for his lack of size, he is freakishly athletic and he is a fiend in the weight room.
The easiest position for woman to transition from would be guard. But, guard is an incredibly physical position in the NBA which requires tremendous strength on offense and defense.
Sure, you have players like Iverson and Nash who can’t guard anyone, but they also are freakishly talented on offense which offsets some of their weaknessess. I have yet to see a woman at the guard position who possessesed the prerequsite strength and athletic ability to play guard in the NBA.
And for the record, Jukai, I meant Reggie never did a workout that involved a hundred pound press, not can-he-move-the-bar. I’ll put money on that, because I’m the same playing weight and height as Reggie and can’t do a workout with it.
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