Every NBA player should be required to watch On the Shoulders of Giants before playing one minute of professional basketball. Written and directed by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Deborah Morales, On the Shoulders of Giants tells the story of arguably the greatest basketball team ever assembled.
Created by a black man named Bob Douglass in 1922, the Harlem Rens became the first all-black team to capture the World Basketball Tournament. The team defeated the Harlem Globetrotters and the Boston Celtics and also compiled an impressive record of 2,500 victories with only 529 defeats.
Abdul-Jabbar did a remarkable job of depicting how the Rens were limited due to the racial animus that was rampant at the time.
The film can currently be viewed on Video On Demand through Cox Cable, Comcast and Time Warner. –amir shaw
