Total lack of Cognitive dissonance by Kobe. Does he give these interviews in a vacuum outside the realities of his season? Lol Also Manu didn't grow up in Italy. He went to Italy as a 21 year old pro. Kobe should stfu.
Couldn't agree more... Look at the fact that Howard has all the athletic gifts in the world, but his fundamentals are very poor, Barkley and Shaq were pointing this out on TNT. With my son playing AAU also I see so many athletic kids, but have such bad fundamentals it's just sick to look at... These coaches don't give a crap about these kids, they are trying to get the most athletic kids to win games and charge parents 300.00 to 600.00 a month so their child can say they play for them. Back in the day there was the Pete Newell Big man school that big men such as Hakeem, Ralph and Kareem went to.. Now there's just rec ball.. T_Man
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>This isn't a new theme for Kobe Bryant. Talked with him about European vs. American development back in 2010: <a href="http://t.co/oX2zBmKh59">http://t.co/oX2zBmKh59</a></p>— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA/status/551462482905423873">January 3, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
If things keep going on the current path, I can see the NBA having 80% none american's, just like baseball.. T_Man
I never said Shaq was more skilled. I specifically talked about shooting and assists. Shooting isn't something that takes supreme athleticism. It's a skill. And American players can shoot. Passing is a skill. No Europeans are dishing the rock like some American players.
I don't think you can prove this point by anecdotal comparison of two specific players. Who is more skilled, James Harden or Omer Asik? There are countless examples of extremely skilled American guards. In fact I would bet almost all of the top 10-20 most skilled guards in the NBA are American. What might be true is that European big men are more skilled than American big men.
His technique is fine though. When you watch some us bigmen free throw shooting form... <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/rhWbo1obAF8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
High number of assist doesnt mean better passing skill (same goes about scoring). European bigmen can be very good passers, they dont make a lot of them, but look at DMo or Marc Gasol. Also u forgot Rubio? Guy is walking passing machine. Also look at someone like Sarunas Jasikevicius guy was incredible shooter and passer, but he just couldnt play in nba to un-athletic. But his skills are obvious to anyone. Same could be said about Teodosic, who is has extreme passing and shooting skills, but is lacking in athleticism. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/4xKiTPQvH1Y" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I think this is more true for big men than anything else lot of big men that make it out of college can't even do a jump hook properly let alone shoot a jump shot, they only know how to dunk and maybe block a few shots. how can someone as physically gifted as deandra jordan, or Hasheem Thabeet be absolutely clueless on offense.
But you implied it: Basically Americans are better at every facet of the game, right? Passing? Yes, PGs are better. However, frontcourt players not (Marc and Pau Gasol, Noah, Sabonis etc.). Your post implies American players are better at everything - they may be better at more things, but surely not all. Foreign players can pass the ball just as well as American ones, but since speed and strenghth are so important at PG position, foreigners don't have a shot at it. Meanwhile, Euroleague has some great passers. However you must not look at average numbers of assists - not only because games are shorter, but also because we count assists differently (shall I say "correctly") than you.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>More damage is being done to impressionable kids watching Kobe Bryant jack up bad shots every game to get some dumb record than playing AAU.</p>— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) <a href="https://twitter.com/DraftExpress/status/551429058014494721">January 3, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Ironically, Kobe's style of play is the most anti-European ever possibly.Guys that play like him is what gives American basketball a bad rap</p>— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) <a href="https://twitter.com/DraftExpress/status/551429447736635395">January 3, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
in basketball, you don't have to be skilled, just athletic europe = emphasis on skills usa = emphasis on athleticism
Skill is required as well though. Dirk was never very athletic but definitely skilled. Just imagine if he would be both. Ginobili is from Argentina, South America. But don't worry, you're just about 7500 miles off. He did play in Europe though but I dont think you tried to say that, or did you? Because you said "Euorpean" and that he is not. Furthermore the amount of European players in the NBA is small, simply because basketball is not very popular in Europe and ranks far behind other sports. Hence the total amount of players within the NBA is low and the amount of players within the top 50 or top 100 of any ranking is flawed, you just can't use that as an argument for either side. If only 1 out of 10 or out of 20 is European, obviously they will be in the minority in a top 50 ranking of any category.
coz jump hooks n shots dont make diesel top 10 dunks n posters... but they dont realize many ball fans appreciate low post moves alot coz they can try to learn them since most cant dunk n block alot...
This is the problem that Kobe is talking about... I am not even close to being a Kobe fan, really hate his attitude on and off the court... But he is telling the truth about aau... I have seen kids shooting with no fundamentals at all and the coach is not trying to change or help them... Over half of the kids that play aau or the coaches have no ideal of what watch your [L] and [C] mean... BMD.. Man you're so wrong about the shooting of american players... American players are scores, they are not shooters. This issue was majorly discussed when the 2004 US Basketball team lost in the Olympics. In the 80's all of us wanted to be like Bird or Magic.. basically passing, shooting doing all the fundamental skills that it takes to be an all around player... In the late 80's and on all of that changed when David Stern, ESPN start promoting MJ and Dominique dunking then their all around game, so now you have the "I want to be like Mike". Now the skills have been lost and more and more kids focus on athleticism... On the NBA channel I believe it was the show "Open Court" they were discussing the lack of fundamentals that most of the NBA players are lacking and they were talking about the so called superstars... T_Man
it's because the goals at junior level is different In the US, they want to win even as kids, so basically they do what wins rather than what makes them better in the long run In Europe, you're essentially in a junior training system whose goal is to win when you become an adult and make their main team, so they do what makes you better in the long run, not necessarily what wins early on. That being said, Marc went to high school in Memphis, Pau was his guardian for those years.
I know Manu is from Argentina... I don't know why I mentioned him. I guess I was just scan I g he list for the first non-American I saw. As for your other point... if Europeans are more skilled, then that means they would be better shooters. Yet they aren't. He didn't say "equally skilled in regards to population size and number of kids who play basketball". He said they are more skilled. And that's not true.
I want to see DMo shoot a jump shot for once. (Not those stand still shots he takes behind the 3pt line) Seriously, it seems all European big men shoot like that. The only exception I can think of is Dirk. Are they being taught to shoot long ball standing still, not leaving their feet?
