News - Grizzled veterans

Too bad the NBA isn't the league plotting contraction. There are far, far too many young, inexperienced, inept players cluttering the hardwood.

What a chore to sit through the majority of the NBA's dreary games. When the Memphis (Memphis?) Grizzlies were in town last Monday night, they tossed up shots so short, the ball wasn't even hitting the rim. Defense? Ha!

Shane Battier deserves better. I watch him doing everything right and recall that five players were chosen ahead of him in last summer's draft. Ridiculous, that so many teams fell for high school kids — three of them went ahead of the polished, articulate Duke graduate — afraid to pass on potential (potential?) that might be greater than the reality Battier had already worked so constantly to produce.

Insanity. And the NBA wonders why attendance is down. Fans are so scarce in Philips Arena it's possible to make out individual cell phone conversations in the stands.

Meanwhile, in the Hawks locker room, both Jason Terry, 23, and DerMarr Johnson, 21, refer to Battier, 24, and his fellow Grizzlies rookie Pau Gasol, 21, as "young guys". Well, they do have less NBA experience, being in their first year while Terry is in his third and Johnson his second. I don't notice that either of these old Hawks has managed to learn much about defending in all their many, many years as professionals.

I'll give this to Terry, though: Since Lenny Wilkens left and Lon Kruger arrived, he has taken it upon himself to lead the Hawks in ways large and small. Everything from hosting a summer charity game to high-fiving honorary ball kids to facing the press after every game, even when he has played dismally. Any time the team needs a face to show up for some event, he does. And sure, he's paid to tape all those radio shows that add to his appeal and give him the opportunity for endorsements that benefit him greatly. Even so, after games when the Hawks really stink (don't say it), when Terry is deeply disappointed in his performance, he ducks neither the show nor his responsibility for the Hawks' failure. He is a personality on a team that sorely needs one.

Would that that lack of personality were the only shortcoming plaguing the NBA's youngest players. And no, I am not suggesting they all need to stay in school. Or go to one, for that matter. (See Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett.) But somehow, somewhere, these guys have to learn to play the game. Preferably before the only spectators left in the seats are the families these guys are supportingu??