Kobe says European players more skilled than Americans, blames AAU

This is common knowledge. That Euros are more skilled.

[QUOTE=Sharmer]This is common knowledge. That Euros are more skilled.[/QUOTE]


It is a fallacy. Most people only see the top percentile of European players.

If you look at all the NBA rejects who go on to star for teams all over the globe you'd realize that Americans are superiorly skilled.

If Euroleague used only the top 40 US players and that was the global perception of American basketball, it would be a whitewash.

Look at what the US did in the WC with their Gamma squad. Faried ran wild, Curry and Thompson couldn't miss, they were never even pushed.

To say another part of the world is more talented is nonsense.

[QUOTE=JtotheIzzo]It is a fallacy. Most people only see the top percentile of European players.

If you look at all the NBA rejects who go on to star for teams all over the globe you'd realize that Americans are superiorly skilled.

If Euroleague used only the top 40 US players and that was the global perception of American basketball, it would be a whitewash.

Look at what the US did in the WC with their Gamma squad. Faried ran wild, Curry and Thompson couldn't miss, they were never even pushed.

To say another part of the world is more talented is nonsense.[/QUOTE]

I've played pick up games in Serbia. Firstly everyone's at least 6'5 and these are just amateurs in the park. They can dribble both hands and they can all shoot from long range.

In contrast a lot of these Americans are short and lack skills. I've played against a lot of college players and I was surprised how many short point guards are in the American system. Point conceded they are more athletic. But still lacking in the skill department.

Just my experience around the world.

[QUOTE=Sharmer]I've played pick up games in Serbia. Firstly everyone's at least 6'5 and these are just amateurs in the park. They can dribble both hands and they can all shoot from long range.

In contrast a lot of these Americans are short and lack skills. I've played against a lot of college players and I was surprised how many short point guards are in the American system. Point conceded they are more athletic. But still lacking in the skill department.

Just my experience around the world.[/QUOTE]

Why do most European teams start a black American who was cut from the NBA at center then?

[QUOTE=JtotheIzzo]Why do [b]most European teams[/b] start a black American who was cut from the NBA at center then?[/QUOTE]

what the hell are you talking about? literally..

do you even realize how many leagues are in Europe?

where did you read these claims?

[QUOTE=SpanishACB]what the hell are you talking about? literally..

do you even realize how many leagues are in Europe?

where did you read these claims?[/QUOTE]

Yes most of them have American rejects as their key player :rolleyes:

[QUOTE=JtotheIzzo]It is a fallacy. Most people only see the top percentile of European players.

If you look at all the NBA rejects who go on to star for teams all over the globe you'd realize that Americans are superiorly skilled.

If Euroleague used only the top 40 US players and that was the global perception of American basketball, it would be a whitewash.

Look at what the US did in the WC with their Gamma squad. Faried ran wild, Curry and Thompson couldn't miss, they were never even pushed.

To say another part of the world is more talented is nonsense.[/QUOTE]

I think he said skilled not talented. One thing we have an advantage though is supreme athleticism. Plus Euros are soft.

More skilled, more intelligent, and cleaner as well.

[QUOTE=fandarko]He did play in Italy for four years before joining the NBA.[/QUOTE]
who cares, at that point he was already a pro. Kobe talking about the AAU years and at that time Manu was back in South America.

[quote=BigMacAttack]You write like an AAU produced ball player. You can spell and do flashy things like hyphenate words but you have no idea about the basics such as full stops and capital letters.[/quote]

oowwww

[QUOTE=JohnMax][url]http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/12114523/kobe-bryant-says-european-players-more-skilled-americans-blames-aau[/url]


Kobe Bryant believes European basketball players are more skillful than American basketball players, and says it's a growing trend that can be blamed on the greed and coaching at the AAU level.

[COLOR="Red"]"I just think European players are just way more skillful,"[/COLOR] Bryant said Friday night after the Los Angeles Lakers' 109-106 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. [COLOR="Red"]"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."[/COLOR]

Bryant was quick to point the finger for the decline of skilled players in the United States.

[COLOR="Red"]"AAU basketball,"[/COLOR] Bryant said. [COLOR="Red"]"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."[/COLOR]

Bryant was born in Philadelphia, but when he was 6, his father, former NBA player Joe Bryant, moved the family to Italy to continue his playing career. Kobe spent his childhood in Europe until Joe retired in 1991 and moved the family back to the United States.

[COLOR="Red"]"When you have limitations and you understand your limitations and you stay within yourself, you can be great,"[/COLOR] Kobe Bryant said. [COLOR="Red"]"You know what you can do and what you can't do. In America, it's a big problem for us because we're not teaching players how to play all-around basketball. That's why you have Pau and Marc [Gasol], and that's the reason why 90 percent of the Spurs' roster is European players, because they have more skill."[/COLOR]

Bryant smiled when asked what type of player he would have become if his family had never moved to Italy and he hadn't learned how to play the game in Europe.

[COLOR="Red"]"I probably wouldn't be able to dribble with my left and shoot with my left and have good footwork,"[/COLOR] Bryant said. [COLOR="Red"]"I was kind of fortunate because when I was growing up in Italy, the Red Auerbachs and the Tex Winters and all those great coaches were doing clinics and camps in Europe. They were teaching all the club coaches, and the club coaches were following their advice and their fundamentals like the bible, and they were teaching all of us kids that type of stuff. Me, Manu [Ginobili] and all these guys that grew up around that same time, we're a product of that. It's a big difference."[/COLOR]

Bryant had a simple solution to the problem.

[COLOR="Red"]"Teach players the game at an early age and stop treating them like cash cows for everyone to profit off of,"[/COLOR] he said. [COLOR="Red"]"That's how you do that. You have to teach them the game. Give them instruction."[/COLOR]

But Bryant, who holds an annual summer basketball camp, also was quick to point out that any solution involving changing the current culture of AAU basketball won't happen overnight.

[COLOR="Red"]"That's a deep well because then you start cutting into people's pockets,"[/COLOR] Bryant said. [COLOR="Red"]"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."[/COLOR]

[img]http://i.imgur.com/79c7dOg.png[/img][/QUOTE]

The European players are no better in general than the US born players. What they have (and what Kobe said) is that they learn the fundamentals of the game.

There is no college leagues like NCAA in Europe (I am not saying that students in Europe doesn't play team basketball). I mean that in Europe you start training with a team as a child, go trough the junior teams and when became 18 you sign your first processional contract with that team. So at 18 you are already professional and start earn some money. In US you go to college but you are young talent and you are not paid for it (I am not talking about payments from "agents and sponsors") and instead of polish your skills in college (footwork, shooting and where the system in general is similar to Europe/FIBA) and where there are coaches who are very good tacticians and game is more team orientated you jump straight to the pros where you showcase your talent, but you missed the fundamentals. And NBA is a lot more about the individual talent, big stars, multimillion contracts, marketing, one to one match ups and so on. You are the franchise player and you can clash with your coach or ... even fired him.

It is no secret that the Afro-american players (the majority of NBA players) are superior to the white guys (most European players are white) in terms of athleticism, their bodies are better suited for that sport - the same as Brazilians are better suited for football (soccer). They had basketball instilled in their DNA. The lack of fundamentals they compensate in every other aspect of the game, individual skills, one to one plays, individual defense intensity level, higher hoops and so on. The level of competition is the highest as there are thousands of gifted players in US. The pool of talent is still the biggest in the world and by far.

- what US basketball suffers a lot is the lack of quality dominating big men.
And just looked at the 2012 Olympics final and Spain with Gasols brothers badly exposed their front line. Good for US team that Marc Gasol played only 17 minutes as he was in foul trouble for most of the game, because the US team was basically perimeter team. Now there is a new generation of big men who could score and rebounds and dominate the paint. Not to extent of his predecessors - but just look how comfortably they won the 2014 FIBA WC with 2 true centers (and Davis) although they lacked the star power of 2008 and 2012 Olympic teams.

An electrifying players like Eving, Jordan, Nique brought a lot of popularity to the game - they become idols for milions, future generation copied their moves on the playground. But their highlights had also detrimental influence in some way as young players copy their fancy moves, they go straight to the basket dunking over people, they forgot to pass, forgot to defense, forgot the team play, forgot the footwork - they played for the highlights. And that's why players now are less and less versatile players, we have shot blocking experts, rebounders who could not shoot, PG who could pass but could not shoot, SG who could shoot but could not pass.

Believe or not (young fans) when Shaq enters the league in 1992 I've heard people saying that only thing he could do is dunking, he is some fat big guy who could not move his ass from the paint, that he lacked skills, that he can't shoot. Although in my opinion he was sufficiently skilled for a seven footer (and is more skilled than DW for example). In reality he do what a person with his physique shall do - he had the power game, low post domination and he exploit all of his abilities. And he excelled at it. What he needed to do was to be a little more professional. He should took more care of his body - this is where he underachieved to some extent. He really came to preseasons overweight and missed a lot of games even in his prime years.

[QUOTE=julizaver]The European players are no better in general than the US born players. What they have (and what Kobe said) is that they learn the fundamentals of the game.

There is no college leagues like NCAA in Europe (I am not saying that students in Europe doesn't play team basketball). I mean that in Europe you start training with a team as a child, go trough the junior teams and when became 18 you sign your first processional contract with that team. So at 18 you are already professional and start earn some money. In US you go to college but you are young talent and you are not paid for it (I am not talking about payments from "agents and sponsors") and instead of polish your skills in college (footwork, shooting and where the system in general is similar to Europe/FIBA) and where there are coaches who are very good tacticians and game is more team orientated you jump straight to the pros where you showcase your talent, but you missed the fundamentals. And NBA is a lot more about the individual talent, big stars, multimillion contracts, marketing, one to one match ups and so on. You are the franchise player and you can clash with your coach or ... even fired him.

It is no secret that the Afro-american players (the majority of NBA players) are superior to the white guys (most European players are white) in terms of athleticism, their bodies are better suited for that sport - the same as Brazilians are better suited for football (soccer). They had basketball instilled in their DNA. The lack of fundamentals they compensate in every other aspect of the game, individual skills, one to one plays, individual defense intensity level, higher hoops and so on. The level of competition is the highest as there are thousands of gifted players in US. The pool of talent is still the biggest in the world and by far.

- what US basketball suffers a lot is the lack of quality dominating big men.
And just looked at the 2012 Olympics final and Spain with Gasols brothers badly exposed their front line. Good for US team that Marc Gasol played only 17 minutes as he was in foul trouble for most of the game, because the US team was basically perimeter team. Now there is a new generation of big men who could score and rebounds and dominate the paint. Not to extent of his predecessors - but just look how comfortably they won the 2014 FIBA WC with 2 true centers (and Davis) although they lacked the star power of 2008 and 2012 Olympic teams.

An electrifying players like Eving, Jordan, Nique brought a lot of popularity to the game - they become idols for milions, future generation copied their moves on the playground. But their highlights had also detrimental influence in some way as young players copy their fancy moves, they go straight to the basket dunking over people, they forgot to pass, forgot to defense, forgot the team play, forgot the footwork - they played for the highlights. And that's why players now are less and less versatile players, we have shot blocking experts, rebounders who could not shoot, PG who could pass but could not shoot, SG who could shoot but could not pass.

Believe or not (young fans) when Shaq enters the league in 1992 I've heard people saying that only thing he could do is dunking, he is some fat big guy who could not move his ass from the paint, that he lacked skills, that he can't shoot. Although in my opinion he was sufficiently skilled for a seven footer (and is more skilled than DW for example). In reality he do what a person with his physique shall do - he had the power game, low post domination and he exploit all of his abilities. And he excelled at it. What he needed to do was to be a little more professional. He should took more care of his body - this is where he underachieved to some extent. He really came to preseasons overweight and missed a lot of games even in his prime years.[/QUOTE]
Man stop increasing the general IQ level of this board... We only need something alpha beta lebronytes stuff... That's what hot here.

[QUOTE=julizaver]The European players are no better in general than the US born players. What they have (and what Kobe said) is that they learn the fundamentals of the game.

There is no college leagues like NCAA in Europe (I am not saying that students in Europe doesn't play team basketball). I mean that in Europe you start training with a team as a child, go trough the junior teams and when became 18 you sign your first processional contract with that team. So at 18 you are already professional and start earn some money. In US you go to college but you are young talent and you are not paid for it (I am not talking about payments from "agents and sponsors") and instead of polish your skills in college (footwork, shooting and where the system in general is similar to Europe/FIBA) and where there are coaches who are very good tacticians and game is more team orientated you jump straight to the pros where you showcase your talent, but you missed the fundamentals. And NBA is a lot more about the individual talent, big stars, multimillion contracts, marketing, one to one match ups and so on. You are the franchise player and you can clash with your coach or ... even fired him.

It is no secret that the Afro-american players (the majority of NBA players) are superior to the white guys (most European players are white) in terms of athleticism, their bodies are better suited for that sport - the same as Brazilians are better suited for football (soccer). They had basketball instilled in their DNA. The lack of fundamentals they compensate in every other aspect of the game, individual skills, one to one plays, individual defense intensity level, higher hoops and so on. The level of competition is the highest as there are thousands of gifted players in US. The pool of talent is still the biggest in the world and by far.

- what US basketball suffers a lot is the lack of quality dominating big men.
And just looked at the 2012 Olympics final and Spain with Gasols brothers badly exposed their front line. Good for US team that Marc Gasol played only 17 minutes as he was in foul trouble for most of the game, because the US team was basically perimeter team. Now there is a new generation of big men who could score and rebounds and dominate the paint. Not to extent of his predecessors - but just look how comfortably they won the 2014 FIBA WC with 2 true centers (and Davis) although they lacked the star power of 2008 and 2012 Olympic teams.

An electrifying players like Eving, Jordan, Nique brought a lot of popularity to the game - they become idols for milions, future generation copied their moves on the playground. But their highlights had also detrimental influence in some way as young players copy their fancy moves, they go straight to the basket dunking over people, they forgot to pass, forgot to defense, forgot the team play, forgot the footwork - they played for the highlights. And that's why players now are less and less versatile players, we have shot blocking experts, rebounders who could not shoot, PG who could pass but could not shoot, SG who could shoot but could not pass.

Believe or not (young fans) when Shaq enters the league in 1992 I've heard people saying that only thing he could do is dunking, he is some fat big guy who could not move his ass from the paint, that he lacked skills, that he can't shoot. Although in my opinion he was sufficiently skilled for a seven footer (and is more skilled than DW for example). In reality he do what a person with his physique shall do - he had the power game, low post domination and he exploit all of his abilities. And he excelled at it. What he needed to do was to be a little more professional. He should took more care of his body - this is where he underachieved to some extent. He really came to preseasons overweight and missed a lot of games even in his prime years.[/QUOTE]

I'll comment on this later on when I have more time, but I just had to...

:applause: :applause: :applause:

a lot of aau is shit but my son's coach stresses fundamentals and they are expected to be students of the game and its a top notch aau team

Spot on Kobe. Can't speak for himself but spot on, Europeans are also taller players on average.