This is the historical view on the exchange of money for talent in the NBA.

The NBA has thrived for many years.  Before the NBA, there was the old basket-ball.  The game we all know as basketball was invented by Dr. James Naismith.  Dr James Naismith stated, "Basketball was never meant to be coached, anyway, only to be played," when he was the coach of the men's basketball team at the University of Kansas.  At first the game of basketball had a mere 13 rules and was just a recreational indoor game for fun.  These rules included foul transgressions, no traveling, the five second rule, and, amazingly, one of these rules included a primitive form of goaltending.  The game has changed some since its creation, but has kept its principles, unlike the people who play and make money off the sport.  Teams such as the Rens, the first all-black men's basketball team, got the basketball craze started and this particular team dominated for about three decades starting in 1922.  Celtics were also there as well, playing the game with great expertise.  Then, with the popularity of the game soaring, the NBA had its very first league game in Toronto, Canada, November 1st, 1946.  7,090 people watched as the Huskies hosted the New York Knickerbockers.

Beginning where I left off is where the all the exchanges in this sport really began.  The NBA revolutionized how the game was played, now offering adequate salaries for the equal in talent.  With the new addition of the 24-second clock in the 50s, more people became interested in the entertaining sport, and as fans grew, the NBA grew as well.  There was the early salary cap that was fairly simple and didn't have all these figures to deal with because no one made multi-million contracts before like they do know.  The NBA grew at the same pace as the rest of the United States and its bursting economy-if not, faster.  Soon enough, the NBA would be the multi-billion dollar corporation that we know and love to this day.  But despite all these new and wonderful things, it was known that a player usually could not support himself and a family with the NBA salary and players often had to get jobs during the off-season. 

With this going on in the NBA, a new face revolutionized the sport at the college level.  John Wooden coached his UCLA Bruins to win 8 NCAA National Championships in a row.  That was unheard of, with teams lucky to win even a single college championship in their school history.  Considered the greatest coach of any sport of all time, John Wooden had never told his players to win, but to do the best that they were capable of.  John Wooden created the well known Pyramid of Success and also coached the NBA All-Time leading scorer, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.  His practices were dull and filled with boring drills.  John Wooden taught his pupils to focus on what truly gave you success in life and that it would carry onto the basketball court.  John Wooden has inspired many people, including myself, and he was offered several coaching jobs in the NBA but he refused them all.  They even have an NCAA event named after John Wooden (The John Wooden Classic) because of his impact on the world of basketball. 

With the arrival of Ervin Johnson and Larry Bird in the beginning of the 1980s, the NBA changed for good.  More and more blacks started to "color" the NBA and this created much controversy.  A three-point-line was added and in 1984 Micheal Jordan entered into the picture.  But with the good, comes the bad, and men such as Dennis Rodman and our modern version, Ron Artest (he came into the NBA later), created diversions for the NBA and the media with many fines and suspensions to go around.  With the revolution inevitably taking place, so the environment around this little world is changing as well.  More money and more technology.  With the new era creeping up behind them, the NBA adapted making the necessary arrangements in the salary cap and other minor things.  Basketball's popularity kept rising, and with this the NBA thrived.  The entertainment from the games was new and exciting and many anticipated what would happen in the years ahead.  Too bad, though, because NBA's counterpart, the WNBA, was not producing the adequate revenues the NBA was; this being due to the lack of interest in women's basketball back when the concept of women playing such physical sports as basketball was beginning to be socially accepted in the United States.  This association (the WNBA) struggles economically to this day because there is still that same lack of interest.

The 1990s brought the ongoing changes of the NBA into perspective. With contracts becoming worth millions more each year, the NBA had to take the obvious precautions.  With Ervin Johnson leaving due to his contracting AIDS and with Larry Bird leaving due to back problems, the NBA needed some leaders.  Michael Jordan and his Bulls proved just how good they really were and their success was rampant.  Shaq also pitched in by braking the boards, literally!  Hakeem Olajuwon contributed to the development of the NBA and with all these new stars, the NBA overcomes the loss of two of their greatest athletes that will always be remembered.  The NBA was ready for the expected change and welcomed the new millennium with open arms.

So far, so good.  The new millennium added new digits to their equations, but the NBA is still on top of its game.  Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'neal, Tracy McGrady, Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, etc. These players are here to stay and have made a huge impact on the game as well as many others unmentioned.  Basketball has surely grabbed my attention.  Now, the NBA has no where to look but forward, where many opportunities and obstacles will present themselves.  Who knows what the future holds.  Higher rims?  Maybe even robotic refs so that the calls even out every game?  Or perhaps I will make the NBA.  Wouldn't that be something? As I come to a close in this passage, I have to say that basketball rules!