Quote:
Originally Posted by thaskalos
That was the worst game that I've ever seen in my life. I spent the day with a cousin who just came from Greece...and he drove me nuts by continually telling me about how improved European basketball has become. To silence him once and for all, I invited him to watch tonight's game with me...so he could see how basketball is really played when the truly ELITE teams step on the court. And then he aggravated me anew, by staring at me throughout the game as if I were the dumbest guy that he ever saw.
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The Europeans have improved -- Australians, too.
Check out college rosters -- they're filled with Europeans and Aussies.
Even the prep schools are now attracting Euros and Aussies because the young foreign players want to come here to learn American-style basketball.
The foreign players are brought up learning solid fundamentals in training schools, whereas, Americans tend to learn to play streetball on the schoolyard and city courts.
A lot of American kids play too many AAU and "grass roots" basketball games where the goal is to win, not to become a better player. Too often the coach makes it about himself rather than about the players.
American NBA players are physical and athletic, but not necessarily as skilled as the foreigners.
My older son got recruited to play on a couple of AAU teams when he was in fifth grade. He played a lot of games, but noticed he wasn't getting better. So I called the best high school coach in the area -- a former NBA player. He told me about skill and conditioning clinics run by his cousin who was also a former NBA player. My son started to get good his sophomore year after going to the clinics where the focus was on fundamentals -- not games.
My son became a starter on varsity by the end of his sophomore year and by his senior year his team had the most wins in 60 years at his school.
He stopped playing AAU altogether after his junior year. He continues the skill clinics and hopes to play in college.
My younger son is a freshman. We are not going to have him play AAU until he is a junior. He just goes to the skill clinics and plays on the high school winter team. Without ever playing a single AAU game he was named captain of his freshman team because he has the most skill and knowledge of the game of anyone on the team -- probably in the entire league -- except for the other kids who attend the same clinic.
The unfortunate thing for the kids who come from families who can't afford professional trainers is that they are falling behind skill-wise. I see a lot of amazing athletes who play basketball, but they're not basketball players. I can see that they're frustrated when they get beaten by smaller kids with less athletic ability, but who have more skill and understanding of the game.
The greatest players have both world-class skills and world-class athleticism. Those are the Michael Jordans, Larry Birds, and Steph Curries of the world.
