Lords of the ring

Free agents now prefer to ride coattails to championships

Maybe my thinking is simply too old school for today's tastes. But when I hear an NBA, NFL or major league baseball player declare, "I want a ring!" I interpret that to mean, I want to earn a ring!

My bad. From what I've witnessed thus far during the early days of the NBA's latest free-agency season (players cannot actually sign -- wink, wink -- with their new teams until next Wednesday), today's players really mean, I want a sliver of somebody else's ring!

Something does not sit quite right with me as I watch many of the league's greatest players chase their own championship ring by essentially signing up as caddies on someone else's already successful tour. I can appreciate how much Gary Payton and Karl Malone -- perennial All-Stars and among the league's true warriors -- desire to be ultimate winners, owners of championship jewelry. But I just can't see myself getting all misty-eyed next spring if Payton and Malone are dancing about the floor as members of the 2003-'04 NBA champion Lakers.

Sure, amid today's twisted sports economy, one admires that each of these players would leave a few nickels on the table (a few million nickels, really) to chase their championship dream. But is a dream truly fulfilled when it's realized on someone else's pillow?

We all know by now that Payton and Malone will join Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant as Lakers. L.A., of course, won three straight championships before being eliminated by the Spurs in the Western Conference finals this spring.

There was always something admirable about the great player who came to a downtrodden or mediocre franchise -- or one well past its previous championship seasons -- and extended every fiber of his being to lift it to greatness. From George Mikan carrying the Minneapolis Lakers to that storied franchise's first titles during the league's near-peach-basket days to Michael Jordan's glorious run with the Bulls; from Bill Russell and Bob Cousy creating the Celtics dynasty to Larry Bird's revival of the franchise years later; and from Moses Malone helping Julius Erving get his ring with the 76ers to Hakeem Olajuwon leading the Rockets to back-to-back titles in the '90s, many players not only earned their rings but also were recognized as leaders who guided their franchises to greatness.

There is also, of course, a veritable Hall of Fame of NBA greats who retired without having won a ring. Elgin Baylor. Bob Lanier. Dave Bing. Pete Maravich. Nate Thurmond. Lenny Wilkens. Sidney Moncrief. Dominique Wilkins. Bernard King. Charles Barkley. Patrick Ewing. To name just a few. No doubt each wishes he had experienced an NBA title. But members of this group also share a pride in knowing that none spared a single bead of sweat in his effort to help his franchise achieve that elusive goal.

Moreover, is the legacy of any of these players tarnished by his lack of a ring? Not at all.

Unlike a lot of prognosticators, I don't think the 2003-'04 NBA championship is a lock for the Lakers, aka Dream Team II (I refuse to call any of the post-1992 Olympic teams "dream" anything). It seems too easy. Too much can happen. Heck, Tim Duncan can happen.

Of course, the predictable could happen and the Lakers could win the title and championship jewelry for Payton and Malone.

But would those baubles truly be their own?

Perhaps those rings should carry the inscription: "Glad you could join us. Love, Shaq and Kobe."

Roy S. Johnson is an assistant managing editor for Sports Illustrated. His "Pass the Word" column appears on SI.com every Friday. Catch Johnson on CNN Headline News every Thursday at 3:40 p.m. ET.

 

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