Never before has a player been so loved for doing so little. Never before has a player had a gold mine of Youtube videos that do nothing but elicit laughter and smiles. Never before has a player gotten his name chanted throughout the arena when the game was out of hand. There is only one player who can accomplish this feat, and his name is The White Mamba aka Brian Scalabrine.
Beloved league wide, Scalabrine looks like he should be a store manager at a Home Depot, not balling on an NBA basketball court. His popularity is puzzling, however, due to his questionable decision making on the court and less than impressive career stats. For his career, he's averaged 3.1 points per game, 13 minutes per game, and 2 rebounds per game (he's a 6'9" power forward). 99% of the people that just read that line are probably thinking to themselves, "I could do that." And yeah, you probably could. But could you get over 154,000 views on Youtube for a video that simply shows you sitting down? Probably not. That was literally an 18 second clip of Scal telling Kyle Korver to move so he can sit down. 18 seconds, 154,000 views, 301 likes, 6 dislikes. Comments feature things ranging from "When the team MVP tells you to move, you move," to "Korver is lucky to still be alive." To go along with these random shenanigans, The White Mamba actually has gotten some accomplishments and accolades during his career.
In Scal's first year with his college team, USC, he actually led them in scoring, rebounding, and field goal percentage! He was All-Pac 10 first team in 2000 and led the Trojans to the elite 8 in 2001. He actually got drafted in the second round by the New Jersey Nets. Since then, he has played for the Boston Celtics and the Chicago Bulls. He won a NBA Championship with the Celtics in 2008, which is probably what Kevin Garnett was referring to when he yelled out, "Anything is possible!" Scal now has more rings than Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing, and is tied in a dead heat with Lebron James. Despite his less than impressive numbers, Scal is still better than your average scrub. He proved that with The Scallenge, where he took on people that thought they could beat him 1 on 1. He trounced the competition, proving that even the scrubs on pro teams just clown on us civilians. If you ever see him ballin in the gym, it's probably best to not challenge him.
The thing that has always puzzled me about Scal is that he has terrible stats and does hilarious things on the basketball court, yet he gets thunderous applause when he comes into the game. Bring your earplugs if he makes a shot. I've seen a couple Bulls games where the cheering for a Scalabrine easy lay up during a blow out, is louder than a Derrick Rose twisting, spinning lay up when the game is close. Most players that are scrubs people either hate or simply don't care enough about. Look at a guy like Adam Morrison.
Morrison was a beast in college at Gonzaga and was selected 3rd overall by the Charlotte Bobcats. He only lasted 4 years in the league, but was fortunate enough to be riding the pine for two of the Lakers' Championships. His career numbers are slightly better with a 7.5 PPG average even though he got more minutes than Scal (20.4 MPG). He also looked like he belonged nowhere near an NBA court with his floppy hair and ridiculous mustache. So fans cheered for him right? Wrong. He didn't get cheered when he came in or get MVP chants on the road. People reading this might not even remember who Morrison is/was. He never had a cool nickname or hundreds of awesome videos on Youtube. No, Morrison was your typical NBA scrub that will hopefully be forgotten in due time or as a cautionary tale to NBA executives when it comes to drafting. Scal seems to defy the typical scrub NBA lifestyle.
With one NBA title, millions of fans, and his share of bloopers, Scal finally decided to call it quits this past season. He's now doing broadcasting, covering his old team, the Celtics. As awesome as it would be for him to come out of retirement (a la Air Jordan), I doubt it will happen. It was fun while it lasted as Scal will probably be remembered by Bulls, Celtics, and NBA fans everywhere for quite some time. Here's to you Brian Scalabrine, or as Stacey King would say, "The man, the myth, the legend, The White Mamba!"
Matty O
Scal has got to an excellent locker room player though. A lot of NBA teams have those players that are way too old to play, yet provide veteran knowledge and spark to the game. The most recent example I can think of is Juwan Howard. He was on the Heat's championship roster last year and they just resigned him recently to a 10-day contract, but will likely play throughout the rest of the season. Supposedly, these players help focus the locker room on winning the title and settling for no less. I think Rasheed Wallace could even be categorized in this area after his out-of-retirement Knicks signing. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like he's made much of an impact especially after his injury.
ReplyDeleteI think that's what the Bulls were trying to accomplish when signing Scal last season. Admittedly, I don't think these players actually do much to help the teams win championships. However, I do believe a player like Scal helps add fan excitement and involvement. As you said, there are very few players, if any, that get MVP chants on the road that are not actually superstars of the game today. If any of that helps the team win a title, then so be it.
I do hope Scal ends up becoming a commentator for TNT or NBATV. I listened to a podcast between Bill Simmons and him and he seemed incredibly knowledgeable about the game and had some funny quirks that could make for great TV. Plus, he's got to be one of the best fan known players in the game. So, here's hoping that he gets a better gig... or signs with the Heat.
Hughes
Yea, Scal is definitely your typical supportive locker room guy. Even when he was playing, he was always the first one off the bench to high five the players coming off. He's great from a marketing standpoint because of his popularity. Also, I saw Scal in his interview with Simmons and was also pretty surprised how much he knew, truly, about the game.
ReplyDelete