Basketball is one of the most popular sports in the world, and the NBA offers the highest
and most exciting level of play.
After being around for more than seven decades, a great deal of lore and legend has grown
up around the NBA, which has led to a number of misconceptions.
Here are some false facts about the NBA you always thought were true.
Major distractions
Fans sitting behind the opponent's basket scream, shout, and wave their arms or objects
to psych out free throw shooters.
It's a fun ritual…but it doesn't really do any good.
Neuroscientist Daniel Engber told The New York Times
"Fans might think they're doing something by crazily waving their ThunderStix, but to
the players it's all just a sea of visual white noise."
But at least it's still fun.
"Take two of these, smack em together!"
Kobe Bryant was always a Laker
In a league where free agents jump from team to team in the hopes of landing the most lucrative
shoe contract, Kobe Bryant was a rare throwback, playing his entire 20 year career with the
Los Angeles Lakers.
But while it's true he never suited up for another team, he was actually a member of
the Charlotte Hornets for a very brief time.
In 1996, it was the Hornets who selected Bryant with the 13th pick in the draft before turning
around and immediately trading him to the Lakers.
"With the 13th pick in the 1996 NBA Draft… the Charlotte Hornets select, Kobe Bryant,
from Lower Marion High School."
End of a dynasty
The '90s-era Chicago Bulls reached legendary status when they "three-peated" — winning
three titles in a row — twice.
Led by Michael Jordan, the Bulls won it all from 1991 to 1993, and from 1996 to 1998.
But then, before the 1999 season started, Jordan re-retired, and Bulls fans still ponder
what might have been if he had continued playing.
However, statistics indicate 1998 was likely the end of the era either way.
After all, Jordan did return for the Washington Wizards in 2001 and delivered the lowest points
per game of his career.
Scottie Pippen was also on the downswing, with each year successively worse until his
retirement in 2004.
And Dennis Rodman only played 35 games after Jordan's retirement.
With an aging core, what the Bulls needed to keep going was strong young players, but
they didn't have them.
The 1998-99 Bulls had rookies like Corey Benjamin, Cory Carr, Kornel David, and Charles Jones.
None of them played more than four seasons in the NBA or amassed a lifetime points-per-game
average above 5.5.
In short, their time was up either way.
Sam Bowie vs. Michael Jordan
On paper, it looks like one of the dumbest decisions in the history of professional sports.
In the 1984 NBA Draft, the Portland Trail Blazers had the #2 pick and picked center
Sam Bowie rather than shooting guard Michael Jordan, who went with the next pick to the
Chicago Bulls.
"Portland selects...Sam Bowie, University of Kentucky."
"(Booing)"
Bowie's promising career was derailed by injuries, while Jordan went on to become someone who
many regarded as the best player in league history.
But did the Trail Blazers actually make a mistake?
Not only did they need a center, they already had a promising young shooting guard by the
name of Clyde Drexler.
Drexler, like Jordan, was a member of the 1992 Olympic "Dream Team" and is a member
of the Hall of Fame.
And after the Blazers acquired center Kevin Duckworth to replace Bowie in the lineup,
Drexler led the team to the 1990 NBA finals, a year before Jordan managed to make it.
Hindsight may be 20/20, but in this case, it's also wrong.
Jay Z owns the Brooklyn Nets
It seems like Jay Z has everything.
Mad flow.
Platinum records.
Millions of dollars.
Beyoncé.
He even owns the Brooklyn Nets!
Except that's one of the few things Jay Z actually doesn't have.
He may be an extremely wealthy musician and entrepreneur, but professional sports franchises
are too rich even for his blood.
At one point, Jay Z owned just one-fifteenth of 1 percent of the Nets, for which his buy-in
was reportedly a relatively paltry $1 million.
Jay Z sold his share in 2013, and while he no longer owns a piece of the team, he does
have a piece of the place where it plays.
The Brooklyn Nets take the court at Barclays Center, of which Jay Z owns one-fifth of 1
percent.
Disney Magic
The Orlando Magic hit the court in 1989, the first major American pro-sports franchise
in the Orlando area, a place which is famous worldwide as the home of Walt Disney World's
Magic Kingdom.
But the Magic aren't actually named for Disney.
Nope.
In the mid-1980's, Orlando businessman Jim Hewitt and ex-Philadelphia 76ers GM Pat Williams
were looking to drum up support for a possible franchise, so they got the Orlando Sentinel
to hold a contest to name the team.
The finalists from over 4,000 entries were The Tropics, The Juice, The Heat, and The
Magic.
Before the naming committee met to pick a winner, Williams' daughter Karyn, who was
7 years old at the time, came to Orlando for a visit and told her dad that she liked Orlando
because it was "like magic."
Williams passed this anecdote on to the committee, and the rest is NBA history.
Sorry, Mickey!
"The Flu Game"
With the 1997 Finals tied at two between the Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz, Game 5 was crucial.
Jordan came through, leading all scorers with 38 points in the win despite telling reporters
that he was "really tired and very weak" after suffering from dehydration and difficulty
breathing.
Jordan was visibly ill throughout the game, and with symptoms pointing to the flu, the
performance has gone down in league history as "The Flu Game."
But Tim Grover, Jordan's personal trainer at the time, blames another culprit, claiming
Jordan was actually poisoned!
Well, maybe.
According to Grover, Jordan had a pizza delivered at 2 AM the night before.
Suspiciously, it was delivered by five guys rather than the usual one.
Only Jordan ate the pizza, and he became immediately sick, "curled up in the fetal position" all
night.
Whether or not he was intentionally poisoned, just had some bad pizza, or was suffering
from something else like altitude sickness, one thing everyone agrees on is that Jordan
didn't have the flu.
"it's all about desire you just got to come out here and do what you gotta do.
We wanted it real bad.
And you know, me as a leader, I had to come out and do my best."
100 points
On March 2nd, 1962, the Philadelphia Warriors hosted the New York Knicks in Hershey, PA
and beat them 169 to 147.
Wilt Chamberlain led all scorers, with a record-setting 100 points.
It certainly seems like an impressive feat.
But was it really?
The game wasn't particularly competitive, as the Warriors were an elite playoff team
and the Knicks were bottom dwellers.
Once the Warriors realized Chamberlain had a chance at setting the scoring record, they
began feeding him the ball on nearly every possession, leading to Chamberlain taking
an insane 63 shots, in addition to an equally ridiculous 32 free throw attempts.
And neither team played any defense, with the teams combining for a ridiculous 316 points,
in what amounted to more of an exhibition game than a true sporting event.
Sorry, Wilt.
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