quote:
Kevin Garnett was a paradigm shift. Chris Webber was a paradigm shift. Neither guy was a 3PT shooter and neither guy was watching Dirk, but they changed what a traditional PF body type could do on the court. If you can handle like a guard, then why not be able to shoot like a guard? How many kids were watching them? Were influenced by them? What's more feasible: emulate Shaq's game or emulate Garnett's game?

Thats true. And i've heard Webber say he was really influenced by Magic, growing up. Now i'm sure you have really long kids growing up wanting emulate Durant, which might be on par with trying to be Shaq. So yeah, its not all on the Euros.
And yeah I'd like to see more old school back to the basket guys, but I don't have a problem with where the league is going. Almost all of the league's best big men are jumpshooters. And the one's who aren't, are probably working on it. So "blame" the NBA for that not AAU ball or bad HS coaches.

This post was edited on 1/4/15 at 2:42 pm

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Posted by Suntiger

BR or somewhere else

Member since Feb 2007

33346 posts

Posted on 1/5/15 at 7:00 am to eyeran

Yeah, everyone knows AAU is a problem. The solution? Not sure there is one. Even if USAB took over, those handlers would just switch over to be USAB coaches to sell the kids out.

As for post guys now, the rule changes have changed the game more than anything. Guys like Ewing, McHale, etc would be useless players. There's no defense in the NBA anymore. It's just guards and athletic forwards running into the lane, throwing up prayers and getting fouled.

As for fundamentals, I agree that CBB is so damn terrible now. I'd like to see them put in the baseball draft format. Kids can be drafted out of high school, but if they aren't, then they go to college for three years. That would actually attract better college coaches and make for a better brand of basketball. Rather than having a roster of one and dines that no one will follow into the NBA.

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Posted by corndeaux

Member since Sep 2009

9634 posts

Posted on 1/5/15 at 9:41 am to eyeran

quote:
Almost all of the league's best big men are jumpshooters. And the one's who aren't, are probably working on it.

Yeah. It's interesting because Karl Malone was vocal about how much he loves 4s facing up. About how much pressure it puts on a defense. Rare to see an old guy praise the new guys, but also a good point.

That said, Davis turning into a jump shooter like Aldridge would be a tragedy. I think he probably takes too many already.

quote:
That would actually attract better college coaches and make for a better brand of basketball. Rather than having a roster of one and dines that no one will follow into the NBA.

Not too sure about that. The problem with CBB is that the infrastructure isn't there to develop pro players. 20 hrs (or whatever the limit is) of practice a week? 35 total games? Add to that coaches who care about winning to secure their jobs and their big dollar salaries just as much, if not more than, as developing pros. That set up plus a game that is played quite differently than NBA ball and I'm not sure how much pro skills development happens. Why make a talented player play inferior ball for a longer period of time?

Clearly some guys need NCAA experience and benefit from it, but I bet keeping guys in school longer just means 22 year olds with a steep learning curve instead of 19 or 20 year olds.

And remember, USAB is the current world champion at every level of international basketball. They just won the senior World Championships, easily, with a B or C squad. Things to be improved, for sure, but there's not exactly a problem with development right now.

This post was edited on 1/5/15 at 9:43 am

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