05.18.09 2009: THE YEAR OF THE WHITE GUY?
You realize it’s been a strange night when Pau Gasol–not Kobe Bryant–was your leading scorer in a pivotal Game 7, but amazingly the leading scorer in the day’s other Game 7 came from another pigmentally fair power forward–Orlando’s Hedo “The Turk” Turkoglu with 25 points (and 12 assists). Sure, we knew that the white man was good for applause from the bench and the occasional twirl of the towel, but this year the crackers seem to be making some headlines of their own.
ASYLUM POLL: Does the NBA absolutely need a Kobe-LeBron finals?
The Nuggets’ “Birdman,” Chris Andersen, has made his presence felt, and was a PTI favorite before Kenyon Martin’s mother tried to convince everyone that her thug son wasn’t really a thug. But the Cavaliers’ “Big Z” is not to be outdone. Zydrunas Ilgauskas, the cagey Lithuanian with a heart of gold, is averaging double figures per game in these playoffs, and getting help on the defensive end from Brazil’s Anderson Varejao. Each is averaging over a blocked shot per game.
Perhaps the most notable contributing Caucasian in these playoffs is no longer with us: Boston’s Brian Scalabrine. The red-headed forward looks like he’s related to the other notable white guy in the Celtics organizaton–the mascot from the logo at center court. Scalabrine saw his playing time nearly double in the playoffs, playing nearly 35 minutes in the Celtics’ win against Orlando in Game Two. Any way you cut it, Whitey seems to be in the NBA to stay. There goes the neighborhood.
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2009: THE YEAR OF THE WHITE GUY?
Don’t forget JJ Reddick, who’s been playing 25 mins a game in the playoffs, or Luis Scola, who was a big part of the Rockets pushing the Lakers to 7.
In the end though, people will still see the conference championships as being Lebron vs. Howard and Melo/Billups vs. Kobe.
Is it racist to only consider Chris Anderson the only true white guy here?
Even more amazingly, none of these guys played at Duke.
No mention of Shane Battier? He’s another white guy that played well.
Best NBA white guys
John Stockton – greatest pt. guard of all time. Magic has AIDS
Rik Smits- dunking Dutchman.
Chris Mullin
Arvydis Sabonis – possibly my favorite player of all time.
The East will be great with Z/Wally/Pavlovic going up against Hedo/Redick/Gortat…someone get out the sunscreen!!!
Larry Bird?
Kevin McHale?
Of course Bird and Mchale, but everybody remembers them. Don’t ask me why but I have a signed Scalabrine picture of him getting his shit swatted by Shane Battier when he was at USC. Why did he sign it? No idea. Why do I have it? Im still coming to terms with that.
@Upstate: Agreed, foreign NBA players don’t count as white.
Wait, did I just say that out loud?
“Perhaps the most notable contributing Caucasian in these playoffs is no longer with us: Boston’s Brian Scalabrine. ”
Thanks a lot for getting my hopes up that Scalabrine had passed away.
@UU – Excellent point. If they can’t attend a Klan event then technically it’s not a white guy.
@Dimpie – Rambis
Laimbeer?
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