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ARE SPREWELL AND IVERSON THE NBA'S ANSWERS OR ITS QUESTIONS

          The NBA's image problem can be traced to "some of the
     sneaker companies," who have taken players like Knicks G
     Latrell Sprewell and 76ers G Allen Iverson, both of whom
     "have had checkered pasts, and played up those parts of
     their personalities," according to CNN/SI's Phil Taylor. 
     Taylor adds that "maybe the problem is that the advertisers
     are looking at a narrow group of people.  The NBA wants to
     appeal to everybody."  Taylor: "A lot of the NBA's image
     problems would be solved if the sneaker companies and the
     people who put those commercials out there ... concentrated
     on some of the guys who are good guys both on and off the
     court and don't have these checkered histories" (CNN/SI,
     6/26).  But Iverson's Reebok rep Que Gaskins said that
     "Madison Avenue is finally starting to see that the urban
     consumer is powerful."  In an Op-Ed, NBA author Larry Platt
     wrote that "a new generation of companies realizes that the
     American consumer has changed," and added that the AND 1
     "American Dream" ad featuring Sprewell is "as socially
     groundbreaking as it gets in the insular world of pro
     sports."  More Platt, on Sprewell: "Like the in-your-face
     music that informs the game, Spree is here to stay, saying
     in effect ... 'Deal with me.'  And kids would have it no
     other way" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 6/27).  
          FREE OF SPREE? ESPN's Mike Lupica, on Sprewell's impact
     in N.Y.: "If you consider the fact that Latrell Sprewell
     comes into the season as public enemy No. 1 and ends the
     season in New York as the people's choice, so much happened.
     ... But as far as basketball was concerned, it happened on
     merit" ("Sports Reporters," ESPN, 6/27).

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