High school baller looking at Europe

How are you a flashier defender? That makes no sense. And how are they better passers in light of Chris Paul, Jason Kidd, Lebron james and others who are good distributors?

I could cherry pick all day, but I simply don't see how European players have the upperhand in producing better all around players than what we've seen coming out of the U.S.

 

Smart kid.

 

Ok, you've showcased your knowledge on the rules and the evolution of the game. I'm still wondering who are these all around european players that are dominating basketball. I can almost gurantee you that the ones you mention have games that mirror most American players who get faulted for playing in the same manner.

 

Americans do what the American culture of basketball encourages them to do. For example, where a European player is trained to understand where the help is coming from and funnel an offensive player to the help, an American is trained to "lock-down," go for the ball, etc. Where a European may be more apt at negotiating through screens and getting in position in front of an offensive player, Americans are more apt to play passing lanes to create turnovers.

Offensively, where an American is trained to beat somebody off the dribble then make the no-look dump-off pass when the help comes, the European is trained to throw the long skip pass over a zone or penetrate and kick back out to an open shooter.

You develop the skills that are valued in your culture. It's not a matter of what culture is superior, it's a matter of what is considered "good" basketball in your culture.

Again, if you want to see American basketball culture in full bloom, go check out the next AAU tournament. All these kids want to show off their skills and what they consider "skills" are elements of one-on-one basketball. Nobody sets screens. Nobody moves without the ball. Nobody rotates on defense. It's because the players are doing what they think is valued by the scouts and coaches.

 

You're still not telling me WHO these all around European players are that are exhibiting these stark differences you've been speaking on.

WHO are they?

 

Nobody said European players are dominating basketball. In fact, the culture of European basketball discourages players singularly dominating a game because it's always been easier for Europeans than their American counterparts to gimmick against singularly talented offensive players. The value is on team play, balance and understanding what all five players are doing instead of just one.

The notion that any one player "makes his teammates better" is such an American concept. No, playing with Lebron James or Chris Paul does not "make you better." That statement puts an the responsibility on one player's performance unfairly on another player.

All "making a teammate better" means is the guy is unselfish enough to pass to the wide-ass open guy so he can take shots he can make. Shawn Marion is the same player for the Heat as he was for the Suns. But he may look better with the Suns because with the Suns, if he was open, he got the ball with a chance to knock down a shot. With the Heat, he might not. The Suns didn't "make him" better, they just played better team offense.

It takes an American frame of mind to take the observation "He plays on a team that executes its offense" and turn it into "(Name your superstar) makes his teammates better."

Different frame of mind.

It would go to reason that the Americans, with their hoops culture, would produce players that have such a highly-developed sense of individual will that they can single-handedly dominate a game. See Kobe. See MJ. But that culture also works against you because you have a lot of players who aren't that good and try to be to the detriment of their team. You also have the warped perception that the only way to be successful is to be individually dominant as opposed to an all-around team player.

 

Thanks for not answering the question.

If what you say is true, we'd see it come into fruition through the attributes of European players who have some advantage. I'm still wondering who these players are and all I get is the bashing of the American ball player.

 

I'd find it hard to think that a kid who can't get the minimum grades to play NCAA hoops os going to be able to handle playing in Europe, especially because they know that he's going to be 1 and done there.

 

A flashier defender in my mind is a player who will jump the passing lane for a steal, but will get beaten for a back door while trying to make this play.

A flashier defensive move is also trying to swat a shot into the fifth row on every shot attempt instead of contesting the shot with a straight arm and altering the shot to a miss.

Team passing is what I am looking at. An assist generated by 3-4 consecutive passes to find an open man. Not breaking down a defender with a dribble then kicking it out.

 

Chee, Griffin is spot on with what he is saying.

Five players acting as a unit will always beat one dominating player.

How many times has the greatest of the great players won a title (NCAA or NBA) on their own taking 1/3rd to 1/4th of their team's shots.

MJ is the only player to do this with any success, and we will never see another MJ. Never.

So players need to stop trying to copy what he did.

 

He's spot on by bringing up the names of American ball players yet the names of the European players benefitting from their experience overseas is null and void.

The only thing I'm seeing is how good people are at regurgitating the tired talking points surrounding the American ball player but little point of reference regarding the pipeline of players who have succeeded because they played overseas.

Who ARE these players?

 

He's a Oak Hill player so traveling and being away from home shouldn't be his biggest issue. Most of those kids are far away from home and have been since they with 8th, 9th graders.

He'll probably been hooked up with one of the agent/caretakers that Oak Hill provides for their top players too.