Could someone please explain this obsession with Boki?

Well you see... he's white.

Actually, I think it's because everyone just likes to see draft picks pan out and is rooting for the young guy to make it. I do think the whiteness plays a factor, though.

 

I think Rockets fans have an obsession with "potential." We wanted Griffin to realize his, we want Nachbar to realize his. I think everyone gets a bit scared of the idea of trading away a young player with potential and then seeing them realize it on anothe team.

I like Boki, but let's not lose sight of our goals.....Get Yao and Tmac to be the foundation of this team and go from there.

 

He instantly became a fan favorite the game he took out Karl "I'm a little b****" Malone.

 

Because his name is Boki..he's like a mascot sort of and that thing about potential

Boki needs minutes

 

The thing about Boki is, he was definitely one of Rudy T's picks.

Rudy T had an obsession with drafting the next Rudy.

Dan Langhi. Mirsad Turkcan. Bostjan Nachbar.

Gangly white small forwards.

Boki can play, but he needs some work. We have no small forward to speak of, anyway.

Besides, Boki is Yao-in-Houston insurance. They're best friends on the team.

 

You think this is a race issue?

Where were you when we were devoting page after page to Badiane, who has shown even less ability to play in the NBA than Boki?

Besids, a draf study showed that while players arw acutally underrated in the draft; ie perform above expectations, so if there's a racial bias, it;s that we assume white players are less capable, not more.

 

I thought he was joking lol

I get excited when Boki comes on to the floor because I always expect something BIG to happen, never does but I still get excited everytime.

actually something BIG did happen in the playoffs to Boki

 

Boki - tried to kill Karl Malone

Eddie - tried to kill his girlfriend

Need I say more?

 

Are you denying that his ethnicity and his background are a factor at all in the bizarre obsession that people seem to have over him?

Trust me, if he's a black guy from South Carolina with no cute nickname like Boki or exotic "euro" pedigree, named Terence Johnson or something, his fanbase here is cut considerably,especially when one views that his major contribution has been 100 or so DNP-CD's and fewer points than Pig Miller in a Rockets uniform.

His ethnicity is definitely a factor, as was/is Badiane's, when people started bringing up "just like hakeem!" when he was drafted. You think the thread about him would have been as long if his name was Steven O'Connor and he was from Duke?

 

Boki is the embodiment of Rockets team spirit. He's very enthusiastic. He doesn't complain about his time on the bench. He's the guy who gets everyone rowled up before every game. He plays hard at practice and keeps his mouth shut. And, yes, he stuck it to Malone. Jason COllier and Dan Langhiu lacked those qualities (not to mention skills).

 

And as for this race issue BS, we did the same thing for Chucky Brown when he was played Boki's role. Chucky...Boki...not that different.

 

I would explain it this way:


In the past 3 or 4 years, we have had exactly 2 1st round picks. Drafted players are mother's milk to basketball enthusiasts, and we have had an extremely limited flow. Now of those picks there was Yao, who I think we will agree garnered much more attention before he had accomplished anything, and Boki. Additionally, Boki is capable, as he occassionally demonstrates, of very athletic, exciting moves. Given the derth of youngish athletes with promise on the team, it seems inevitable that Boki, like Badiane, will get more attention than his accomplishments warrent. Add to that the fact that both were deemed projects early on, and it seems that you don;t need to use colored glasses to explain the ssmingly disproportionate excitment either garners.

I would be very wary of bringing serious issues such as race into discussions like this, if for no other reason than it diminshes the issue of racism itself, and that's good for no one.

 

WRONG

at least as far as I am concerned...

I love to root for the underdogs...the guys that have a little talent, and great enthusiasm for the game.

I was a HUGE fan of Hawk, Rhoderick Rhoades, Mike Dickerson...all those guys.

I was a big fan of Amigo, Chucky Brown and Mario before he became a cult fav..

Race aint got nothin to do with it for me.

 

Word

 

Not insofar as it's a black vs, white issue, but in that he;s our first serious venture into the apparently verdant fields of Eurotalent, with the novelty and sense of future that that encompasses, sure, it's a minor factor. I don't think that was the issue raised when Bird was mentioned, however.

 

I would say it has nothing to do with anything. Moochie was a fan favorite for his crazy hair and play early on. Elie was a fan favorite because he was always grumpy and played hardnosed D. Boki is a fan favorite because he hard fouled Malone in the playoffs. Why bother bringing race into the equation when that has hardly anything to do with the NBA? If you insist on talking about racial differences, I would say Boki's Eastern European origin has more relevance in NBA terms than having white skin. I think there is a very distinct line in the NBA between American-White and European-White.

 

Excellent point.

Also, Boki is very good friends with Ming and they seem to play well together, another part of the reason why he is liked, I would think.

Also, Moochie was a fan favorite for a long time until he really played SO bad that it made it really hard to still like him.

 

Boki was a fan favorite/ obsession long before he fouled Malone, despite the fact that he did little if anything on the court.

Why bother bringing race into the equation? Because you just did in pointiing out the distinciiton between "American-White" and "European White". That acknowledges that ethncity is a factor in the way players are perceived.