You know the basketball world is upside-down when the Canadian city of Toronto and surrounding areas in the province of Ontario can lay claim to producing nearly the same number of players on NBA rosters as an established basketball factory like New York City.
For as long as the NBA has been in existence, the New York City metropolitan area has flooded the league with talented players, including several Hall of Famers. You know the names: Bob Cousy, Dolph Schayes, Richie Guerin, Charlie Scott (SHOULD be in the HOF), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Julius Erving, Tiny Archibald, and many others.
And in basketball circles around town, the stories you’ll hear about players even more skilled than the aforementioned, but – for a variety of reasons – never made it to the NBA, are endless.
Where Brooklyn At?
In recent years, Gotham has fallen off in producing transcendent NBA players, although there is plenty of talent still around and some bright prospects rising through the high school ranks.
The borough of Brooklyn, NY has about 2.6 million residents; standing alone it would be the 4th largest city in the United States behind the rest of New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago.
For the 2016-17 NBA season, you could count Brooklyn’s NBA representation on one hand and still have fingers left over.
Brooklyn has always had strong representation in the NBA (Lenny Wilkens, Bernard and Albert King, World B. Free, Billy Cunningham, Roger Brown, Connie Hawkins, Chris Mullin, Vinnie Johnson, John Salley, Rolando Blackman, Mark Jackson, Pearl Washington, Stephon Marbury, etc.), colleges all over the country are still loaded with talent from the borough, and there are many theories attempting to explain the slump…perhaps the hard-driving, take-it-to-the-hoop style of play in the area doesn’t jibe with the perimeter-oriented direction the NBA game has taken.
So where is all this NBA talent coming from?
For the 2016-17 season, in terms of both quality and quantity, metropolitan Los Angeles, California is the clear leader, boasting the top three vote-getters for the league’s Most Valuable Player award: Russell Westbrook, James Harden and Kawhi Leonard, as well as all-stars Paul George, DeMar DeRozan and Klay Thompson. Future Hall of Famer Paul Pierce was born in Oakland, but also calls L.A. home.
Others include Jrue and Justin Holiday, Alan Crabbe, Amir Johnson, BrandonJennings, Trevor Ariza, Darren Collison, Tony Snell, Arron Aflallo, and more.
And of course, we can now add Lakers’ rookie and Summer League MVP Lonzo Ball to the list.
The So-Called “Urban Centers”
The usual suspects, metro areas such as Philadelphia (Kyle Lowry, Dion Waiters, Marcus and Markieff Morris), the Baltimore/DC area (Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Victor Oladipo, MIchael Beasley, Rudy Gay, Thomas Robinson, Jarrett Jack, Ty Lawson, 2017 NBA Draft 1st overall pick Markell Fultz), Chicago (Anthony Jones, Derrick Rose, Dwyane Wade, Jabari Parker, Jahlil Okafor, Patrick Beverly, Evan Turner, Tony Allen, Tyler Ulis), Houston (Jimmy Butler, DeAndre Jordan, Justise Winslow, Jonathon Simmons, Gerald Green, Kings’ rookies DeAaron Fox and Justin Jackson), Dallas (Marcus Smart, Deron Williams, C.J. Miles, LaMarcus Aldridge, Myles Turner, Emmanuel Mudiay, Julius Randle, Darrell Arthur), Atlanta (Lou Williams, Dwight Howard, Al Farouq-Aminu, Jaylen Brown, Malcolm Brogdon, Jeremy Lamb, Jodie Meeks, Derrick Favors) and New York City (Lance Stephenson, Kemba Walker, Tobias Harris, Isaiah Whitehead, Joakim Noah, Kyle O’Quinn, Danny Green, Mo Harkless, Taj Gibson, Metta World Peace along with New Jersey cats Karl-Anthony Towns, Kyrie Irving, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Kyle Anderson, etc.) continue to populate NBA rosters year after year.
Conspicuously absent is the city of Detroit, with its rich history of producing NBA talent (such as George Gervin, Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Dave DeBusschere, Mel Daniels, Johhny Davis, etc.). Cavs’ backup PG Kay Felder is one of a handful of current NBAers from the Motor City. They’ll be back as the city continues its renaissance.
The Unsung
Other strong entries include Indianapolis (Mike Conley, Jeff Teague, Josh McRoberts, Gordon Hayward, Yogi Ferrell, Courtney Lee, Eric Gordon, George Hill, Gary Harris, Trey Lyles, E’Twaun Moore), the very underrated Seattle area (Isaiah Thomas, Avery Bradley, Marvin Williams, Rodney Stuckey, Jamal Crawford, Jason Terry, 2016 Slam Dunk Champion Zach LaVine, Dejounte Murray. Aaron Brooks, and a personal favorite who’d still be playing were it not for knee issues, Brandon Roy), Portland (Kevin Love, Terence Ross, Terrence Jones, Domantas Sabonis, Kyle Singler), Phoenix (Richard Jefferson, Channing Frye, Jerryd Bayless, Alan Williams), St. Louis (Bradley Beal, Otto Porter, David Lee, Ben McLemore, Patrick McCaw, Willie Reed, Celtics’ rookie and 2017 3rd pick overall Jayson Tatum), Sacramento ( Matt Barnes, Marquese Chriss, Ryan Anderson, Bucks’ rookie, D.J. Wilson) and New Orleans (Kelly Oubre, Greg Monroe, D.J. Augustin).
Small Ball
And, of course, there are the smaller to mid-sized cities with NBA homeboy counts disproportionate to their populations, such as Baton Rouge, Louisiana (Marcus Thornton, Brandon Bass, Langston Galloway, Garrett Temple, Damian Jones), Birmingham, Alabama (DeMarre Carroll, Eric Bledsoe, K.J. McDaniels), Little Rock Arkansas (Joe Johnson, Archie Goodwin, Bobby Portis), Boston, Massachusetts (Nerlens Noel, Wayne Selden, Shabazz Napier), Minneapolis, Minnesota (Alan Anderson, Kris Humphries, Rashard Vaughn), Canton, Ohio (C.J. McCollum and Kosta Koufos), and yes, even Ames, Iowa (Doug McDermott and Harrison Barnes).
The States
Several states usually have strong representation scattered thoughout, such as North Carolina (Chris Paul (Winston-Salem), John Wall, P.J. Tucker, Ryan Kelly (Raleigh), Stephen and Seth Curry, DeAndre Bembry, Ish Smith (Charlotte), T.J. Warren (Durham), Brandon Ingram, Reggie Bullock (Kinston), Kent Bazemore (Kelford – pop. 251), Hassan Whiteside (Gastonia), and Mavs’ rookie sensation Dennis Smith, Jr. (Fayetteville)), South Carolina (Chris Middleton (Charleston), Ramon Sessions (Myrtle Beach), Trevor Booker (Newberry), Ray Felton (Marion), Brice Johnson (Orangeburg)), Ohio (Lebron James, Larry Nance, Jr. (Akron), Jared Sullinger, Trey Burke, Caris Levert (Columbus), Terry Rozier (Shaker Heights)) and Mississippi (Monte Ellis (Jackson), Al Jefferson (Monticello), Isaiah Canaan (Biloxi), Johnny O’Bryant (Cleveland), Rodney Hood (Meridian) and Devin Booker (Moss Point)).
And we can’t forget basketball hotbeds Wyoming (James Johnson (Cheyenne)) and South Dakota (Mike Miller (Mitchell)).
Oh, Canada!
And finally, good things are happening in the Toronto area. The fan support for the Raptors (“We The North”) is among the league’s best and the city is now sending many gifted players to the NBA, such as Andrew Wiggins, Tristan Thompson, Cory Joseph, Nik Stauskas, Andrew Nicholson, Jamal Murray, Tyler Ennis. And although he didn’t pan out, the first overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, Anthony Bennett, is from Toronto as well. You can toss in Mavs’ forward Dwight Powell, also born in Toronto.
No longer is Toronto strictly a hockey town, it is a strong sports town. And remember, Steve Nash grew up in British Columbia, and there’s plenty of talent from Canada that has filtered down through the years (Rick Fox, Bill Wennington, Jamal Magloire. etc.).
You Can’t Hide, even in Ames, Iowa
No longer are the top players found primarily in the larger cities; good players and basketball hoops are everywhere. Soon we’ll examine the international impact on the NBA as well as the American impact on hoops overseas.
The game of basketball has truly gone global, but the NBA is still the league where the best players compete, and they come from all corners of the continent (and beyond).
Nice piece. I think you are spot on with the thought that one of the reasons could be the style of play now versus the “old days”. Everyone wants to go to the flashy perimeter and avoid the bump and grind “mano-a-mano” style that played out around The City. It’s much easier to release one three feet behind the line and away from the opponent than to mix it up with him. And you’ll have a few seconds to play to the crowd, do your shimmy shake and get your social media reel going.