Earl Monroe was cool.

So was Walt Frazier.

And the Pearl and Clyde had that quiet kind of cool.  They would just let the smooth silkiness of the game come to them.  In the creative spaces that dot the frenetic action of a basketball game, they would pick their spots to do their thing.  They were Miles Davis and Charlie Mingus on the hardwood, and they got to do their thing at the epicenter of basketball cool back in the day, MSG.

Monroe had exceptional quickness and body control.  He could flash to the hoop in an instant or weave his way through a defense by twisting and spinning, all the while fully controlling the rock.  His pump fake was deadly, and he had enough of a scorer's touch to ring up 18 per for his career.  Like Miles, the Pearl could push the pace, exploding with energy or he could back way off and let the action happen in slow, easy riffs.     

Frazier had a steadier game.  His quick hands and even quicker defensive instincts allowed him to become a premier defender.  His suffocating defense was relentless.  He would simply place himself between an opponent and the basket and not let that opponent rearrange that order for the remainder of the game.  His play was steady and powerful and fast.  Like big Charlie Mingus on the upright bass, Clyde Frazier's game rang out its bass line in quick, rumbling notes from the opening tip to the final buzzer.

And the two New York Knick teammates ran the backcourt at the Garden for six seasons together, one of which netted the Knicks their last NBA title in 1973.  The Pearl and Clyde were the Kings of New York in the early 70's.  The Yankees were suffering through one of the very few down periods in franchise history (in 1973, the team went 80-82 and was still trying to find its way after Mickey Mantle's retirement in 1968).  The NFL Giants were a non-factor for the entire decade of the 1970's.  Likewise, Joe Namath was playing on broken knees, and the Jets similarly disappeared for most of the decade.

So, the Pearl and Clyde brought excitement to the city but also did so with style.  Like their jazz counterparts, they simply understood the flow of the game, gauging the pace of a game and then creating within that pace.  Similarly, jazz musicians need to balance the flow of the group with opportunities to dot a piece of music with their own solos.  Like any great jazz artist, Miles Davis and Charlie Mingus understood this.  They simply went with the music until it inspired them to build on it.  They fed off of it and, in turn, it grew with what they gave back to it.

But the days of Earl the Pearl and Clyde Frazier are long gone as are the days of Miles, the Big Man on the Bass, and the Haitian Fight Song (one of Mingus' signature pieces).  Monroe is now a restaurateur, and Frazier hawks hair dye with Keith Hernandez.  No play for Mr. Grey, indeed.

Of course, times change, and today's NBA is a marvel of athleticism. It is strictly a speed and power game now.  Thundering slams and vicious blocks.  The Pearl and Clyde's quiet cool has given way to the volume of the Diesel.  The game is now a hip-hop soundtrack for a hip-hop generation.  And with LeBron, Mello, Kobe, and Wade leading the way, the future of the NBA is, as they say, bright enough to warrant shades.

However, I sometimes wonder if the price paid for all of that above the rim play is the loss of style.  And at the risk of sounding like a grumpy old man with an axe to grind, style should still count for something.  When athleticism trumps all else, the game misses out on a remarkable kind of flow.

Of course, there are some supremely talented players in the game right now.  And each does have his own style.  However, if assessed in jazz terms, the following active NBA'ers look this way to me:

Nash - Creativity a plus, but cannot wait for tempo changes.  Must always play up tempo.

Kobe - Throws too many notes.  Tries to create own energy too often instead of reading the game.

Shaq - Plays same note over and over and over again.

LeBron - Potential is there, has great feel for flow of game.  Fits game to flow and shines individually when necessary.  Rough edges need to be refined a bit but will be a virtuoso soon.

And while there is much to be said for the electrifying power game now in play in the NBA, there is also something to be said for the quiet cool of two guys who ran the show at the Garden back in the day.

And it's that kind of music that seems to be missing from the game today.