As good as this year's NBA Finals were for the images of David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Allan Houston and even Latrell Sprewell, that's how bad they were for the image of Larry Johnson.
Athletes discuss quasi-political causes in public at their peril.
Bill Walton and Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf are just two of those who can testify to this fact. Johnson, who will officially join the Nation of Islam this summer, started the series badly, cussing out a league official and a passel of reporters who tried to get him to participate in the interview period. He followed that up with one of the more unusual characterizations of a basketball team you'll hear. We don't have a lot of mainstream guys. We've got a lot of guys that don't go along with the masses.