It can be understood in simple terms........... In Europe they are taught and play team Basketball...................................... Here in America individual performers and showtime are accepted as the norm to the detriment of fundamentals and team basketball. You can get a good picture of this watching the lack of team basketball to the MAX. at the NBA All Star Game! Against this tendency you have Coaches Like Coach K at Duke who concentrate on fundamentals and team basketball with superb results in the NCCA. NBA Coaches do their best to blend showtime with team players. In the USA Basketball is a major Entertainment and Showtime will outdo Purity, unlike in Europe where it is still a pure sport.
Tozai, to be honest I'm not sure I'd go that far yet... I'd say a signifigant part of the criticism about the fundamentals of current US prospects comes from the somewhat twisted basketball system we have in place currently. Comparing HS American players to potential european draftee's is a little unfair IMO. While the fundamental aspects of basketball do get taught in some part on the Highschool level. I'd say a greater majority of the learning occurs in the college game. It's just too easy for a player with obscene ammounts of athletecism to dominate before he gets to college. I'd equate College Basketball to be very similar to the good Euro leagues, maybe slightly better The problem is becoming that we don't let our own players get through the pre-existing developmental system. We're picking up an increasing ammount of the potential talent before it ripens. It's not that the European system is better but just shorter. It's also that European players don't skip steps like more and more American players are. For example.... take the majority of the Highschool players drafted last year. How many of them had a signifigant impact on any of their teams? How many highschool players have ever had an impact in their first year? I look at players like Lonny Baxter or Carlos Boozer, both very fundamentally sound big men who played College ball at a high level. In just summer leagues alone they've shown they're light years ahead of guys like Chandler, Curry and Brown. And while in the future they'll not likely be the players that the HS crop will become they are better now though; not because they're any more talented athletically, but simply because they've learned how to play the game by going through the complete developmental system in place in the US. The question is where does the fault lie too... In my opinion the majority of it falls upon the NBA itself. I'm not convinced that the NBA is all that great a developer of talent in and of itself. Then the desire of GM's to maximize their team's potential leads them to compromise the entire developmental system. You asked about those US players who got drafted and could list shooting as their strengths. I'll look at this year's draft class..... Gooden - Consistant Shooting just past the midrange game Jay Williams - Good overall shooter; a little streaky Mike Dunleavy - Good overall shooter Caron Butler - Good overall shooter Jared Jefferies - Consistant shooter past the midrange, questionable 3pt range Juan Dixon - Good overall shooter Casey Jacobsen - Good overall shooter Kareem Rush - Good Distance shooter, not so sure about midrange Tayshaun Prince - Good overall shooter They were all drafted in the first round, and they all have something in common. They all played more than one year in a good college program. Unless the whole HS system elevates it's teaching of basketball fundamentals, I think there will always be complaints about the skills of our young players. Simply because the NBA is looking to draft potential more and more often.
For fundamentally sound jump shots, look no further then Allan Houston's. I could watch a video of that shot for hours and not get bored, it's perfect!
