High school baller looking at Europe

Hell, he might develop an outside shot while he's there...

 

He could do that here as well.

Seriously, European players don't come here any more equipped with a shot than the guys already here.

 

You're high right?

 

A couple of things:

*Europe is not for all Americans. I cover mid-major college basketball, so that's usually the career path for the better players coming out of this league. In fact, I can count about eight from the school I cover playing at various European stops. But several have gone and could not stand the cultural change and came home, often mid-season.

* Not all European countries are equal. If the player gets on in Italy, Spain or Greece, he's probably doing great. If he winds up in Eastern Europe, he'll be poor. If he's in other Western European countries — even countries like Germany and France that have produced good NBA players — he'll likely labor in obscurity.

* Americans don't dominate the European leagues like they used to. There are still a lot of American players who do very well in Europe, but 20 years ago, the top two players on most European teams were the American imports. That's not true any more. More Americans are going overseas as role players and are no longer expected to carry the load. So some hotshot prep star many have another thing coming if he thinks he's going to waltz over there, average a triple-double while everybody else on his team stands around and watches him in awe.

Perhaps this kid has thought all this through and great for him if he has. But I don't think you'll ever see Europe become AAA for the NBA because of these reasons. I do think it would be a better alternative than the one-year college rule.

 

And you're a doctor?

 

Not all kids are cut out for college. I'm not talking just about basketball players, but kids in general. If a kid has no interest and doesn't have the grades/apptitude then why play this stupid charade of going to college.

 

I was wondering when this would happen. A co-worker thinks it's horrible for kids to even think about this because, he says, "They'll have no chance to become superstars if they go to Europe." I'd rather see them sacrifice their chance of becoming a superstar (whatever that is) in the name of being a better all-around basketball player. To the aforementioned co-worker those two things are mutually exclusive.

 

I don't see European ball players as being all around players. I don't know why people keep buying into that myth while denegrating the U.S. players.

 

Who is an all-around player anymore? Shoot, how many have there ever been?

If I grouped 100 American players and 100 European players, I would have the following assumptions about the groups.

The Americans can rebound and drive to the basket better, and they are better one-on-one players. They are the flashier defenders, but not the consistant defenders.

The European players are better shooters, move without the ball better and are better passers. They play better team defense, but block fewer shots. They will have trouble rebounding against the American players. They might be better defensive rebounder, but the Americans would be the better offensive rebounder.

Sorry if that is too assumptive, and I know there will players in those 100 that are a 180 from their peers, but that is how I would look at them.

 

That could make road trips to Toronto very interesting for some NBA types.

 

It's not a myth. It's the result of NBA rules and the culture those rules fostered. With the old illegal defense rule, one-on-one basketball was encouraged because it was illegal for the defense to cheat over and help. You can't run iso plays in college, high school or in international ball the way you used to be able to in the NBA because of the ability to rotate, take a charge, etc. But in the NBA, the norm in the 1990s was to either isolate a weak defender or a superior offensive player on one side of the floor, put everybody else on the other side of the floor and let that player go one-on-one. If the defense cheated over without fully committing to the double team (thus allowing somebody to be WIDE-ASS open), it was illegal.

That created a whole culture of one-on-one basketball in this country. Even at lower levels, where there was no illegal defense rule, you saw the young players wanting to emulate what they saw on TV with the NBA. This culture did not exist in Europe because the understanding there was that it was easy to guard a guy trying to go 1-on-1 with helpside defense. The ballhandler had to become a good passer and be able to understand in what way the defense was rotating to help. The other players on the floor also had to recognize what the defense was doing and make cuts to the right spots.

One rule — plus the 24-second shot clock — profoundly changed the culture of the game in this country for the worse.

 

New meaning to home court advantage.