American Kids Flunking Basketball 101

In 2009 the Wall Street Journal published a very interesting piece on the decline of American basketball, and the influence of AAU.   This article is a bit old, but five years later it may apply more today than ever.   I still think that America has the best athletes in the world, as far as natural athletic ability (running, jumping, etc).   But unlike other sports such as football, basketball requires more than this raw athleticism.   With AAU taking over the summer basketball circuit the American game of basketball is changing, and not necessarily for the better.   This article was written 5 years prior to the San Antonio Spurs completely dismantling the star-studded Miami Heat with their fundamental team play (and predominate foreign roster).  Some very good points from coaches and NBA players alike who have experienced the effects of AAU basketball.

Excerpts from the Article:

“It’s a bad system for developing players,” says Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy. “They aren’t learning to handle the ball, they aren’t learning to make plays against pressure. The emphasis with our high-school players is to get exposure and play as many games as you can and show everybody how great you are. If I can win the 11-and-12 year old league and tell all my friends about it, that is a whole lot more important than if my kids actually get any better or learn anything about the game.”In Europe, Mr. Van Gundy says, “those guys are doing five or six practices for every game. They are spending a lot of time in the gym working on individual skills. It’s reversed here.”

By the middle of the last NBA season, as concerns build about his dwindling playing time and rough transition to the NBA, last year’s No. 2 overall pick, Michael Beasley of the Miami Heat, finally conceded a fundamental flaw: No one, at any level in his basketball career, had asked him to play defense. And especially not in AAU. “If you’re playing defense in AAU, you don’t need to be playing,” he says. “I’ve honestly never seen anyone play defense in AAU.”

 Personally, I hope that another trend will soon take flight in American basketball, as players realize their is more to the game than high flying acrobatic dunks and mix-tapes.