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Kobe rips AAU basketball
Posted on 1/3/15 at 12:17 pm
Posted on 1/3/15 at 12:17 pm
I would post this on the MSB, but it would devolve into crap very quickly, and I'd rather have a conversation on here about it.
LINK
thoughts?
LINK
quote:
“I just think European players are just way more skillful,” Bryant said Friday night. “They are just taught the game the right way at an early age. … They’re more skillful. It’s something we really have to fix. We really have to address that. We have to teach our kids to play the right way.”
The main culprit, Bryant believes, is AAU basketball:
“AAU basketball,” Bryant said. “Horrible, terrible AAU basketball. It’s stupid. It doesn’t teach our kids how to play the game at all so you wind up having players that are big and they bring it up and they do all this fancy crap and they don’t know how to post. They don’t know the fundamentals of the game. It’s stupid.”
But Bryant went even further. He knows that the American youth basketball model isn’t going to change overnight, so he lamented on how the players are often treated as “cash cows” and how everyone is trying to profit off of them. He has some ideas on how to change the model:
“Teach players the game at an early age and stop treating them like cash cows for everyone to profit off of,” Bryant said. “That’s how you do that. You have to teach them the game. Give them instruction.”
“That’s a deep well because then you start cutting into people’s pockets,” Bryant continued. “People get really upset when you start cutting into their pockets because all they do is try to profit off these poor kids. There’s no quick answer.”
thoughts?
Posted on 1/3/15 at 12:21 pm to quail man
He didn't offer a real solution, but I agree with him in that AAU is a problem.
Posted on 1/3/15 at 12:28 pm to quail man
In my experience, Kobe is very rarely wrong with his social and basketball opinions and obsessed with the game as much as anyone.
It's really nothing ground breaking as an opinion, but I certainly am happy Kobe used his name and platform to get the problem out there.
I really respect the guy and will be sad when Kobe has to hang up the sneaks. He's a positive ambassador for the game and about as genuine as you'll see because he doesn't give 2 shits who he pisses off.
Who knows though, the guy breaths being in basketball shape. This dumbass might make it another 4-6 years somehow.
It's really nothing ground breaking as an opinion, but I certainly am happy Kobe used his name and platform to get the problem out there.
I really respect the guy and will be sad when Kobe has to hang up the sneaks. He's a positive ambassador for the game and about as genuine as you'll see because he doesn't give 2 shits who he pisses off.
Who knows though, the guy breaths being in basketball shape. This dumbass might make it another 4-6 years somehow.
Posted on 1/3/15 at 12:29 pm to TotesMcGotes
quote:Exactly. We all know the problems stemming from AAU. "Teach them fundamentals" is not a solution.
He didn't offer a real solution
How do you break the strangle hold? He offered nothing. Maybe it's helpful that someone with his stature and name recognition is bringing attention to the problem. Maybe more big names need to speak up and bring about a real exchange of ideas on how to solve it.
Posted on 1/3/15 at 12:31 pm to Jamohn
quote:
How do you break the strangle hold? He offered nothing. Maybe it's helpful that someone with his stature and name recognition is bringing attention to the problem.
i think it's huge that someone of his stature is saying something. and kobe has such a basketball mind, like SP said, that one can hope he can start working with the league post-retirement to help find solutions to these problems. plus, he's such a valuable league ambassador i don't see how Silver isn't offering him a job. shite, he could be commissioner one day.
Posted on 1/3/15 at 12:37 pm to TotesMcGotes
quote:
He didn't offer a real solution
He offered part of what would need to be a larger solution. Stating that an actual Opposite AAU essentially needs to pop up that needs to teach kids the fundamentals first, name exposure second. The problem is that AAU is so massive and a brand now.
Posted on 1/3/15 at 12:42 pm to Jamohn
Amen, Kobe!
In an ideal world USA Basketball would take over the AAU. There would be an advisory committee of respected basketball minds, like George Karl and Coach K, to help restructure the organization. Heck, maybe even appoint Coach K as the president whenever he decides to stop coaching.
In an ideal world USA Basketball would take over the AAU. There would be an advisory committee of respected basketball minds, like George Karl and Coach K, to help restructure the organization. Heck, maybe even appoint Coach K as the president whenever he decides to stop coaching.
Posted on 1/3/15 at 12:58 pm to quail man
He just had to talk shite on AAU to even further demonstrate he's joined basketball's ole men's club.
Posted on 1/3/15 at 1:01 pm to saintsfan22
That would be worth mentioning if he were wrong and he was just saying this because of the old guard, but he's right.
Posted on 1/3/15 at 1:06 pm to TotesMcGotes
He's 100% right. It's a money making scheme. A showcase to play one on one street ball where coaches have taken over and taken advantage of the system with recruiting.
Posted on 1/3/15 at 1:12 pm to TheZaba
The problem is that the AAU and its sponsors generate $$$ and it will be difficult to change. These AAU events and "teams" don't produce particularly skilled players. They get by on raw talent and showmanship.
The other problem is that it seems all parties (including coaches) are complicit from junior high to college.
The other problem is that it seems all parties (including coaches) are complicit from junior high to college.
Posted on 1/3/15 at 1:13 pm to quail man
I'm going to be sad when Kobe retires and the new NBA totally takes over
Kobe is the last of an era, the era before the AAU and Lebrons of the world made everything gross in basketball. Before all the players are best friends and hug and kiss before games and everyone forms super teams nobody hates anyone anymore.
I'll miss you Kobe
Kobe is the last of an era, the era before the AAU and Lebrons of the world made everything gross in basketball. Before all the players are best friends and hug and kiss before games and everyone forms super teams nobody hates anyone anymore.
I'll miss you Kobe
Posted on 1/3/15 at 1:17 pm to ShamelessPel
quote:
an actual Opposite AAU essentially needs to pop up
Impossible, AAU is where all the money and recognition is and it's because of the way it's run (player before the team mentality).
It's sad because it is hurting the game.
Posted on 1/3/15 at 1:19 pm to VOR
One of the things about AAU, and I forgot where I read this but it makes sense, is that anyone in the US that comes up with NBA level ability is taught the same way to shoot, to dribble, to pass, to move without the ball etc etc
Everyone learns the same skills the same way, and it ends up looking generic. No one has unique attributes like they used to. Weird moves around the basket, bounce passing, funky looking jumpshots. Nobody does that anymore, because everyone has that same AAU background. They're all robots.
No one grows up on street courts playing all day every day to get better, they have AAU coaches and play in tournaments year round. It pounds out any of the uniqueness that players used to bring to their game. It makes everything bland and generic.
You watch old games and there is FLAIR out there. You can tell every player apart because they play differently. It's just...it's just not quite the same anymore. Like the rest of society basketball went corporate. It sold out.
Everyone learns the same skills the same way, and it ends up looking generic. No one has unique attributes like they used to. Weird moves around the basket, bounce passing, funky looking jumpshots. Nobody does that anymore, because everyone has that same AAU background. They're all robots.
No one grows up on street courts playing all day every day to get better, they have AAU coaches and play in tournaments year round. It pounds out any of the uniqueness that players used to bring to their game. It makes everything bland and generic.
You watch old games and there is FLAIR out there. You can tell every player apart because they play differently. It's just...it's just not quite the same anymore. Like the rest of society basketball went corporate. It sold out.
This post was edited on 1/3/15 at 1:21 pm
Posted on 1/3/15 at 1:27 pm to danman6336
If sacrificing the "uniqueness" of NBA players of yesteryear gives me the much more talented NBA players of today, I'm 100% for that.
Posted on 1/3/15 at 1:39 pm to TotesMcGotes
quote:The NBA is more talented now than the late 80's/early to mid 90's?
If sacrificing the "uniqueness" of NBA players of yesteryear gives me the much more talented NBA players of today, I'm 100% for that.
Posted on 1/3/15 at 1:39 pm to TotesMcGotes
I think there should be a test to be an NBA player. Beginning with the ability to consistently make a layup with your left hand (and vice versa).
Posted on 1/3/15 at 1:45 pm to TotesMcGotes
huh...
well we are all entitled to our opinions
well we are all entitled to our opinions
Posted on 1/3/15 at 1:48 pm to danman6336
quote:
huh...
well we are all entitled to our opinions
I would guess there may be more innate, physical ability than in the past. Skill is another question.
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