Many of the white players who have done well in the past few decades
under the Caste system were not high #1 picks. Mark Price did not have
to live up to the same expectations that Ferry had. Another small
guard, John Stockton, came into the NBA even more unheralded than
Price, and we all know what he accomplished. Even as far back as Larry
Bird, he was not a high #1 pick, and no one really expected him to
dominate the way he did. Kevin McHale was not even a wel-known college
player, and he developed into a true star, with little or no pressure
on him, because no one anticipated anything like that from him. Ferry
is similar to another great player who followed him at Duke, Christian
Laettner. Laettner was nevef even given a chance to be a "franchise"
player, in spite of being one of the most successful college players of
all time. No black player with a similar pedigree in college, with the
exact same physical tools, would be treated like that. Any black with
Laettner's skills wouldl be given a chance to be "the man." Compare how
Ferry and Laettner were treated with how Sean May, North Carolina's
chubby, plodding star, is treated by whatever team drafts him. I
maintain that, if a white player acomplished what May did, but looked
and played like he does, he would never, ever have a chance at becoming
a star in the NBA. He would be bound for a Rafe LaFrentz-type of career
at best. Nobody is saying that the racists (and yes, they are
unquestionably bigoted against white players) who run these sports can
keep all white players from succeeding. They just make it extra hard on
them, especially the few, like Danny Ferry, who are potentially
"franchise" types of players.