An interesting take on modern basketball (link to a video clip on FB)

The select AAU model is terrible for the develop of kids. Combine that with unqualified middle school/high school coaches that just run 5 out and hope for the best and you have a weakening of the game. I've watched entire high school games where a single off ball screen wasn't set. How is that even possible.

The marketing of Michael Jordan was the start of the path down that road. Nike marketed Jordan as a superhuman athlete who essentially just dunked over everyone. "Be like Mike" was the pitch...despite the fact there was only one Mike and very few players could actually "be like him". But, kids everywhere saw the marketing and wanted to style their games like what they saw. A player whose only ability was to be able to ferociously attack the rim and dunk. Ignored was the fact that Jordan was an incredible defender and very skilled at other aspects of the game besides just raw dunking ability.

Then AAU started to overtake HS as the prominent recruiting forum. AAU is nothing but a marketplace for auctioning talented players organized and run by grifters. The coaching is often terrible because the focus of the coaching is not to teach the kids to play a team game. It's to showcase their INDIVIUDAL attributes to attract high "bids" for their services in college, G-League, NBA. Those guys ultimately get recruited because of their athleticism and individual skill. But they have never had any real coaching teaching them the nuisances of playing a team game and having a diverse skill set. That's why many of them are truly awful defenders as young players...because they've never been taught or had anyone demand they play defense...ever.

The only thing that has changed things somewhat for the positive is (1) the rise of Golden State as the marquee team over the past 10 years or so, led by a superstar who is not simply a better athlete than everyone else, but an incredibly skilled player and (2) the influx of European players who are far more skilled early on than their American counterparts. It has started to change the mantra from "be like Mike"...which almost no one can, to "be like Steph, Jokic, etc"....guys who are incredibly skilled players

In the video, Geno also seems to be placing a lot of blame on the players themselves with the player empowerment culture that is in basketball today. If a coach decides to hold six practices for every game like they do in Europe, players are going to rebel and threaten to transfer to another school or move to another team. So they can't just copy what Europe is doing.

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The select AAU model is terrible for the develop of kids

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try to make highlight defensive plays, but don't actually play real defense.
get the ball back as quickly as possible and sprint down the court and shoot a 3 in the first 5 seconds.

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2) the influx of European players who are far more skilled early on than their American counterparts. It has started to change the mantra from "be like Mike"...which almost no one can, to "be like Steph, Jokic,

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I applaud your post.

Just got finished saying to someone the other day when we were talking about the NBA and how there’s no so much street ball played in it anymore. Teams are drafting European players more and more for a reason. Because they were brought up playing the game more fundamentally than American players, IMO

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Steph might not be a better athlete than everyone else, but he's the best shooter to ever play and that's not a discussion. Yes shooting is a skill, but for what Steph does it's well beyond what the average elite shooter can do.
Now we have kids thinking they can shoot from 5' behind the line and that they should come down the court and just pull 3's with no passes ever made.

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Very good point.

The NBA analytics when it comes to shooting has changed the way the game is played. If you are a 7'0 who can't shoot 3's you largely have no place starting in the NBA. Now, the NBA bigs "learn" to shoot over time. But that mindset in college often leads to a lot of ugly offense because you have guys shooting 3's who have no business doing so.

I guess it would be more appropriate to say the Warrior's success has led to more of a preference for a team oriented game with ball movement moreso than what was marketed in Jordan's era which was "get out of the way and give Mike the ball". That's a great strategy...if you have Michael Jordan. Unfortunately, last I checked. There's been only one of those guys.

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he change has nothing to do with drafting Euros.

Has everyone forgot the early-mid 00s when Euros were over-drafted due to elevated skill level and were unplayable?

The change is due to better schemes based around analytics/efficiency. That's why the NBA is more skilled than ever. The #2 Euro player currently is one of the biggest hero/iso/street ball guys in the NBA the past 10 years (only Harden may be worse).

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Finally, someone who actually watches the NBA says something.

The idea of Iso ball has been largely dying the slow death around the league since about 2008; right now there is really one true Iso player-- Harden-- and a couple of Hybrids like Luka and Dame to a lesser degree.

Yeah the first 2 paragraphs nailed it I didn’t even need to read the 3rd although I bet it nailed another point.

I disagree about the first part about MJ. Maybe that had a small impact, but I think a much larger impact on basketball were the And 1 Mixtapes.

That opened the door for a certain street ball culture to become mainstream.

Even the NBA as a brand has shifted a bit to basketball being portrayed as an urban, street, hip hop sport. It never used to be marketed that way.

I played basktball when AAU was getting big, and when And 1 Mixtapes were big. I remember that culture well. It had nothing to do with Michael Jordan. Allen Iverson was a bigger influence in this regard than Michael Jordan.

I just wish these entitled bastards could hit more than 60% of their free throws in college. You’ve been shooting the same distance for 10 years.