Gerald Green "the poster Child" for what's wrong with AAU basketball

What I'm saying is once we stop being hypocritical about the student athelete, then we can move forward. Who do you think has a bigger advantage, a guy like Dirk or Yao who get a personal tudor for classes and get to work on their game for 8 hrs a day, or a guy like Roy that has 12 semester hrs then practice for 3? Tony Parker was playing against pro's getting paid at 15. Most American atheletes have to go to class, stay elgible, go to college, then go pro. The only reason most even go to college is to play ball. So why are we focing college down their throat when we know that's not in their long term goals?

John Henrik Clarke had a 8th grade education and has forgotten more books than most people have read. You can be well read and spoken without ever stepping foot on campus. If you are a "dumb" person, then both you parents are probably dumb also. Its not like intelligence is strictly a heriditary trait, but the iq of a child will not be any lower than the lowest parent. Green's has a low bbiq because he didn't learn the game correctly. BTW, Pietrus isn't the smartest guy on the court either. Boki looks lost a lot too. So does Darko.

 

Is it common for young players to go pro? Or was Parker an exception?

 

I think the real beef about this kind of system is that the real odds for a kid to make it to the pro are pretty slim. In fact, the odds of them actually improving in academic and getting a decent job are better.

By giving them false hope thereby encouraging them to abandon the "normal life" future, they are throwing these kids to a poorer state.

 

Exactly. Proponents will say that it gives the kids a chance to make millions in the NBA or overseas, which it does, but it's such a slim chance to pay off for even a single kid, and it never pays off for the group. I'm sure the potential money lost by these kids through their abandonment of education is more than enough to balance out the salary of that one that makes it big.

 

Kirilenko played pro at 15, same for alot of euro players.

 

Agreed...However, the focus is on athletics and not acedemics which in the long run, doesn't help the kids...Green is just one example as there are many other who didn't land the big contract...That's what I have a problem with...

 

I coached against teams Green was on in summer leagues for a couple of years. I know kids that went to school with Green at Dobie. Green didn't want to do his school work plain and simple.

Gulf Shores is a joke of a school. It's a way for a kid to circumvent doing the right thing and that is getting an education not playing ball. If Gulf Shores gave them a quality education it would be different.

Dobie tried to do the right thing for this kid and Gulf Shores undoes all that by pampering this kid.

FWIW.... I actually know his former AAU coach as well.

I'm sure you guys remember Alton Ford. I know someone who worked in the office at Milby High School when Ford went there. Ford hardly ever went to school and passed only because the coaches talked to his teachers in to passing him anyway. Ford went to U of H for a year and then the pros for a short time, who knows where he is now. He's out of the league, probably broke and has a poor education. His coaches would have been doing him a favor by holding him to the rules and learn how life really is rather than bending them to keep him eligible.

 

uhhhhh i'm sure 99% of nba players played AAU ball........accept responsibility, it aint AAU ball, it's you Gerald Green........dont you think AAU coaches told kobe, lebron, etc that they were the *****?

 

Good points. I think a lot of people that have commented missed the boat.

 

They've been doing this with many high schools for decades. Usually it's so not to cause confusion among similarly-named schools. For example, I think there is or was a Dobie in Austin, too. You'll see it most when referring to athletics, especially during sports tournaments.

 

This Alton Ford?

http://www.eurobasket.com/player.asp?Cntry=BIH&PlayerID=30192&AmNotSure=1

 

Yeah that Alton Ford. It still looks like the guy is aimlessly wandering around. If he had taken his education seriously in High School and College, he may have developed in to a legitimate NBA player by staying at U of H and playing for more than a year.

 

A big part of the problem is that coaches at schools get paid to win rather than mentor kids. If a coach has to make the playoffs this year or be replaced and his most athletic player doesn't want to do any school work, he's in a pretty tough spot.

 

You could write the same article and insert the name Deandre Jordan. I don't even think his "high school", which was run out of a shopping center, still exists.

 

The Dobie coach didn't cave in to Green and I give him props for that. Too bad this jackass at Gulf Shores Academy didn't try to be a real mentor to Green.

 

I'l risk a future appearance in Clutch Classics by offering Gerald Green two words of advice:

Harlem Globetrotters