[Chron'] Harden returns, speaks on new starting lineup

rocketsfan4 · Apr 4, 2013

sirbaihu said: ↑

Well, we survived the ballstopping of Francis/Mobley and ballhogging of Mike James, who shot more shots per minute than Yao Ming did! The good part is, I think Harden will grow out of it as he improves his overall game.
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When I ran my NBA Live simulations, Mike James, Jon Barry, Sura, and basically all of the Rockets guards (yes, even Tmac) would chuck up a low percentage shot almost every time before giving Yao a touch. Drove me crazy.

Codman · Apr 4, 2013

HadToDoItCF said: ↑

Well honestly I saw a lot of corruption in AAU basketball - we had kids who were living with the top level coaches as their legal guardians and having newspaper articles written about them when they were in 6th grade. None of them panned out - the coaches just inflated their egos to the point that they didn't have a chance of humbly learning from anyone at higher levels.

I should say it's not ubiquitous, there are people who realize they are coaching kids and try to help them grow and learn the game the proper way, but too many teams rely on athleticism and just shoot every gap, full court diamond press, and tear teams apart with absolutely no basketball skill or philosophy. They field a team of strong safeties and get 40 points a game on turnovers that lead to run outs. The principles of good basketball are not there in the AAU game anymore, and from the time that I spent in AAU (9 and under to 18 and under) I saw so many kids who had great potential fall off the cliff when other kids just matured and got to be the same size as them. It's more of a race to get kids who have already matured in to men instead of growing their skill sets and making them better basketball players despite their level of maturity.

I remember one kid who had a huge article of him in the paper - he was 5'9" in 5th grade. The article was saying how he was going to be the next whatever and this and that, and I'll never forget my mom saying that he'll be 5'10" his whole life - her quote was "The kid already has chest hair... He's done growing" haha. He ended up being 5'10" and never even played college basketball.

I had a positive AAU experience overall, but I was lucky to have a guy who played high level D1 basketball who treated us with respect and commanded (not demanded) the mutual respect in return. It was a pleasure playing for him, but I also had a couple very bad coaches that tried to win at all costs, stole players from other teams, were arrogant and condescending toward other teams and just ass holes to the kids.

In terms of my signature, I have it there just to remind people that there are a lot of coaches out there, and what works on the AAU circuit does not apply to the NBA in most cases. It was always funny going from summer ball to high school ball, just the focus was so much more on fundamentals and real basketball - not shock and awe on the small white kid who is too scared to dribble it up against the press.

I feel many a AAU coach has ruined a kid's basketball development by never making them better at their weaknesses - for example, when a kid matures early, they would put him in the post and never think about what will happen to him when he's 17 and everyone else is 4 inches taller than him at that same position. Teach the poor kid to dribble and let him be a guard every now and then, even if he ****s it up horribly. The wins and losses in AAU are waaaaay too important to many of the coaches so they never do that stuff, when it should be a lot more about growing the kids' potential for their basketball journey.

Sorry the post got long, but I hope you can hit me back on what you see on your end. I have a lot more thoughts on it, but I think you can get my gist.
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Cool perspective. We should talk. I coach AAU ball...gold level. I agree with the majority of your claims. Actually, I'm the last of a dying breed in terms of teaching fundamentals and not promoting one player with the hopes of attaining recognition when he goes pro.

Are you coaching right now?

sabonis · Apr 5, 2013

All you people calling Harden a ballhog - get over it. This isn't college or high school. Harden is the man and I would rather follow his lead over just about any other player in the league. He's a fantastic shot-maker and a willing passer.

raskol · Apr 5, 2013

sabonis said: ↑

All you people calling Harden a ballhog - get over it. This isn't college or high school. Harden is the man and I would rather follow his lead over just about any other player in the league. He's a fantastic shot-maker and a willing passer.
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Hardens not a ball hog. He's a shooting guard, people are misunderstanding that. And he's got good vision and passes well. I doubt people dispute that as well.

Z-Ro&Trae · Apr 6, 2013

^^^ this is clutchfans. i already proved that alot of these guys on this forum don't know what their talking about when it comes to rockets basketball.

quadsas · Apr 6, 2013

still doesn't make sense to post up Smith and not DMo

HadToDoItCF · Apr 6, 2013

quadsas said: ↑

still doesn't make sense to post up Smith and not DMo
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You watch the last couple games? He has gotten bullied out of post position like 3 times each game. On another one he didn't seal his guy and Jeremy got a TO for throwing the ball (not the one last night where Jeremy made a horrrrrrrrible post entry that got stolen). At the next timeout, Jeremy was going up to Dmo specifically to tell him to keep his man sealed.

You think the coaches are saying to their guys "run our read and react offense where we don't try to control you from the sidelines, but NEVER POST ENTER THE BALL TO DMO."

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[Chron'] Harden returns, speaks on new starting lineup

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