1. Welcome! Please take a few seconds to create your free account to post threads, make some friends, remove a few ads while surfing and much more. ClutchFans has been bringing fans together to talk Houston Sports since 1996. Join us!

Kobe: Europe players more skillful

Discussion in 'NBA Dish' started by T_Man, Jan 3, 2015.

  1. T_Man

    T_Man Member

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2000
    Messages:
    6,760
    Likes Received:
    2,766
    http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/...ean-players-more-skilled-americans-blames-aau

    Kobe: Europe players more skillful

    LOS ANGELES -- Kobe Bryant believes European basketball players are more skillful than American basketball players, and says it's a growing trend that can be blamed on the greed and coaching at the AAU level.

    "I just think European players are just way more skillful," Bryant said Friday night after the Los Angeles Lakers' 109-106 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. "They are just taught the game the right way at an early age. ... They're more skillful. It's something we really have to fix. We really have to address that. We have to teach our kids to play the right way."

    "AAU basketball," Bryant said. "Horrible, terrible AAU basketball. It's stupid. It doesn't teach our kids how to play the game at all so you wind up having players that are big and they bring it up and they do all this fancy crap and they don't know how to post. They don't know the fundamentals of the game. It's stupid."

    Bryant was born in Philadelphia, but when he was 6, his father, former NBA player Joe Bryant, moved the family to Italy to continue his playing career. Kobe spent his childhood in Europe until Joe retired in 1991 and moved the family back to the United States.

    "When you have limitations and you understand your limitations and you stay within yourself, you can be great," Kobe Bryant said. "You know what you can do and what you can't do. In America, it's a big problem for us because we're not teaching players how to play all around basketball. That's why you have Pau and Marc [Gasol], and that's the reason why 90 percent of the Spurs' roster is European players, because they have more skill."

    Bryant smiled when asked what type of player he would have become if his family had never moved to Italy and he hadn't learned how to play the game in Europe.

    "I probably wouldn't be able to dribble with my left and shoot with my left and have good footwork," Bryant said. "I was kind of fortunate because when I was growing up in Italy, the Red Auerbachs and the Tex Winters and all those great coaches were doing clinics and camps in Europe. They were teaching all the club coaches, and the club coaches were following their advice and their fundamentals like the bible, and they were teaching all of us kids that type of stuff. Me, Manu [Ginobili] and all these guys that grew up around that same time, we're a product of that. It's a big difference."

    Bryant had a simple solution to the problem.

    "Teach players the game at an early age and stop treating them like cash cows for everyone to profit off of," he said. "That's how you do that. You have to teach them the game. Give them instruction."

    But Bryant, who holds an annual summer basketball camp, also was quick to point out that any solution involving changing the current culture of AAU basketball won't happen overnight.

    "That's a deep well because then you start cutting into people's pockets," Bryant said. "People get really upset when you start cutting into their pockets because all they do is try to profit off these poor kids. There's no quick answer."

    A lot of AAU coaches are a freaking joke.. You get the father with the the son team, the coach who have played some college ball and trying to make some quick money on the side or the ex-nba player that uses his name to get the best of the best without teaching the boys how to play.

    Unfortunately I couldn't agree more... My son is 14 in the 8th grade and he's 6'4... I was blessed to find a trainer for him that is old school and teaches nothing but fundamentals...

    The first day I met him he stated if you're looking for me to teach your child to be Kobe Bryant then you have the wrong trainer... I teach kids basic fundamentals to be more like Tim Duncan.

    T_Man
     
  2. tinman

    tinman Member
    Supporting Member

    Joined:
    May 9, 1999
    Messages:
    100,906
    Likes Received:
    43,694
    What about China or Taiwan or Palo Alto California? Are Europeans better than them??

    Marco..

    Polo..
     
  3. Steve_Francis_rules

    Joined:
    Dec 11, 1999
    Messages:
    8,467
    Likes Received:
    300
    By my count, the Spurs have three European players, so Kobe's off by about 70%. Or does he think that everything outside the US is "Europe"?
     
  4. heypartner

    heypartner Member

    Joined:
    Oct 27, 1999
    Messages:
    62,973
    Likes Received:
    57,283
    he means Euro schooled; hence his comment about him and Manu in Europe.
     
  5. Amel

    Amel Member

    Joined:
    Mar 4, 2006
    Messages:
    10,611
    Likes Received:
    5,681
    not because I'm European, but couldn't agree more
     
  6. what

    what Member

    Joined:
    Dec 4, 2003
    Messages:
    14,607
    Likes Received:
    2,562
    European players are certainly better and more skilled fundamentally. It's been that way for a while.
     
  7. Space Ghost

    Space Ghost Member

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 1999
    Messages:
    16,409
    Likes Received:
    7,302
    Sounds like its the NBA too
     
  8. T-Mike

    T-Mike Member

    Joined:
    Jun 29, 2006
    Messages:
    90
    Likes Received:
    96
    We have the best examples on our team: DMo and Dwight...
     
  9. Easy

    Easy Boban Only Fan
    Supporting Member

    Joined:
    Jul 23, 2002
    Messages:
    36,323
    Likes Received:
    26,408
    It's racist. ;)
     
  10. bmd

    bmd Member

    Joined:
    Feb 16, 2012
    Messages:
    7,747
    Likes Received:
    3,517
    I don't think European players are more skillful... I mean, pick a category.

    3-point shooters: The highest ranked European shooter is Serge Ibaka at #20 in 3pt%. There are only 6 in the top 50.

    Assists: Wall, Lawson, Rondo, Paul, Curry, Lowry, etc. The highest-ranked European is Manu Ginobili at #29 with 5 assists per game.

    Points, rebounds, etc... you can go down the list.


    And Europeans are known for not being great on defense.


    So are they more fundamental? Sure... you can make that argument. You can say they use the "proper" techniques and you can even make the argument that they are smarter.

    But more "skillful"? You'd have a tough time making that argument.
     
  11. t_mac1

    t_mac1 Member

    Joined:
    Jan 10, 2008
    Messages:
    26,614
    Likes Received:
    211
    Old age sucks for Kobe.
     
  12. Carl Herrera

    Carl Herrera Member

    Joined:
    Feb 16, 2007
    Messages:
    45,153
    Likes Received:
    21,574
    McHale needs to listen to Kobe and start the skilled European PF over the athletic AAU PF.
     
  13. Major

    Major Member

    Joined:
    Jun 28, 1999
    Messages:
    41,476
    Likes Received:
    15,922
    I think it's just semantics here. When Kobe is talking about skills, he's talking about the things that can be taught - that's fundamentals, technique, smarts, etc.

    Points/rebounds/etc are outputs. The inputs are skills and athleticism. Skills can be taught, but athleticism is (mostly) natural. What Kobe is suggesting is that our players simply rely on the latter more. Marc Gasol could never have the physical gifts of Dwight Howard. But what if Dwight trained for basketball like Gasol from a young age? How dominant could he be in that scenario? I don't know the answer to that - maybe it wouldn't work at all - but that's what Kobe is talking about.
     
  14. Amel

    Amel Member

    Joined:
    Mar 4, 2006
    Messages:
    10,611
    Likes Received:
    5,681
    Spot on Major! Its about semantics in Kobe's statement
     
  15. Koperboy

    Koperboy Member

    Joined:
    Mar 21, 2012
    Messages:
    1,683
    Likes Received:
    810
    I think you're missing the point entirely. You are talking about present exclusively and you're looking at nothing more but the box score. How short sighted is that.

    Shaq had better stats than Sabonis, does this mean he is more skillful?
    Jordan had better stats than Dražen Petrović, does this mean he is a better shooter?
    Wall, Rondo etc. have more assists than Parker...
     
  16. glenadyll

    glenadyll Member

    Joined:
    Dec 18, 2013
    Messages:
    401
    Likes Received:
    764
    The main difference to me is not skill or fundamental related, but rather it is about the goals of playing. AAU ball in general has almost no loyalty. Players bounce around from team to team for different tournaments, almost never practice, and use the AAU stage as a platform to be seen as an individual. AAU ball is focused as much as anything else on making yourself look as good as possible so that you can have a nice YouTube video. You need to have ahigh level of skill to get noticed of course, but you don't need to develop a team friendly game or style to be successful. In reality, the only reason to win is so that you can get more games in the tournament, beyond that winning or losing is all superfluous.
     
  17. hooroo

    hooroo Member

    Joined:
    Oct 16, 2003
    Messages:
    19,091
    Likes Received:
    1,657
    So what's Capela's problem?
     
  18. dback816

    dback816 Member

    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2003
    Messages:
    4,506
    Likes Received:
    160
    Being more skilled doesn't mean you're going to magically put up meaningful production all the time.
     
  19. mr. 13 in 33

    mr. 13 in 33 Member

    Joined:
    Oct 23, 2010
    Messages:
    10,617
    Likes Received:
    636
    Hes not lying about that
     
  20. Remix

    Remix Member

    Joined:
    Sep 14, 2003
    Messages:
    5,117
    Likes Received:
    3,557
    At the very least most international players can hit FT's including the big men. Meanwhile we have players on our team like Dwight, Josh Smith, and Joey Dorsey can only dream of ever shooting above 60%. Sad
     

Share This Page

  • About ClutchFans

    Since 1996, ClutchFans has been loud and proud covering the Houston Rockets, helping set an industry standard for team fan sites. The forums have been a home for Houston sports fans as well as basketball fanatics around the globe.

  • Support ClutchFans!

    If you find that ClutchFans is a valuable resource for you, please consider becoming a Supporting Member. Supporting Members can upload photos and attachments directly to their posts, customize their user title and more. Gold Supporters see zero ads!


    Upgrade Now