Carrying the Game Through Time

“Which three books would you take to help rebuild civilization?”

That’s the haunting question left behind in the 1960 film The Time Machine, after the inventor, H. George Wells mysteriously vanishes into the future. His loyal friend, David Filby, returns to the lab to find the time machine gone, along with three missing books from the inventor’s library.

The camera lingers. The question lands.

“Which three would you have taken?”

It’s a brilliant question, because it’s not really about books. What do we carry forward when the world resets? It’s about what truly matters. Culture, values, and legacy. The essentials worth persevering, when all else is gone.

So let’s put a twist on this concept. Let’s say the time machine was real. But instead of saving civilization, your mission was to save something smaller…

You are to rebuild basketball culture.

No stats. No records. No history of what the sport is (or was). Just a blank slate. Basketball culture itself would be starting from a fresh hardwood floor or patch of dirt somewhere in the far distant future.

Instead of taking three books, the time traveler takes three NBA Entertainment VHS tapes. The NBA Entertainment vault holds more than fifty-five videos over a twenty year period, but only three can survive to teach the next generation what this game once was, and what it could be again.

What do you bring to teach the future how to build the game again?

For a generation raised on rewind buttons and magnetic tape, the NBA Entertainment collection was our history book. Each tape didn’t just show the game, it taught it. These weren’t just highlight reels. They were stories frozen in time. And if you’re picking just three to carry the spirit of basketball forward, the choice matters. Pick wisely.

Here’s what I’d bring.

NBA Jam Session (1993)

If you’re going to teach the future what basketball felt like, you start here. NBA Jam Session was pure hip-hop from Naughty by Nature, Kris Kross, and Bell Biv DeVoe rattling under the highlights. It was Shawn Kemp cocking back a tomahawk, Larry Johnson spinning into a rim-shaking two-hander, Dominique Wilkins unfurling a windmill. It was Magic whipping a no-look pass, Isiah threading the needle, Stockton lobbing it up for Malone and Shaq bringing down the entire stanchion. This was the NBA as a mixtape, a language of style and sound. Those names may not echo in a new civilization, but if the game ever had to begin again, NBA Jam Session would. Because it wasn’t just about the game being played, it was about the rhythm, the creativity and the feeling it gave us.

Come Fly With Me (1988)

Michael Jordan wasn’t just a player, he took the game to new heights that inspired a future generation of players. Come Fly With Me documented the rise of a cultural icon who redefined gravity. Future civilizations will need this tape to understand what it means to dream big and hang in the air just a little longer than anyone else. Because if you’re trying to rebuild basketball from the ground up, you’ll need something or someone to inspire to.

Dazzling Dunks and Basketball Bloopers (1988)

Because no culture is complete without joy.

Hosted by Marv Albert and Frank Layden, this wasn’t just a blooper reel, it was a reminder. That for every dunk, there’s a missed layup. That for every game-winner, there’s a slip on the floor. The game isn’t just glory, it’s grace in the face of failure. 

You can almost see it. 

Those three tapes spinning again in some distant future, each one shaping the game’s rebirth in its own way.

One teaching how to rise. One showing how to move with soul. And one reminding us how to laugh, how to miss, and how to try again.

The time traveler didn’t go back to fix the past. He went forward.  Not just to teach the game but to make sure they remembered how it felt.

Because those three tapes weren’t just about basketball. They were about what it means to be human.

And in watching them, they wouldn’t just relearn how to play. They’d remember why it was ever worth playing at all.

So now the question is yours:

Which three tapes would you take?