Kobe Bryant on AAU ball: It's stupid. It doesn't teach our kids how to play the game

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Kobe goes off on AAU ball:

"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."

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/...ean-players-more-skilled-americans-blames-aau

Go Gophers!!
 

Agreed. But it's surprising to hear that from Kobe.
 



afurry91 said:
Agreed. But it's surprising to hear that from Kobe.
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He's been saying that for years, he grew up in Europe though and learned basketball over there where fundementals are emphasized
 


I've been on that train for a bit. AAU is cool in that it brings top players together but that's about it. Its not good team ball and its entire purpose is for recruiting and marketing, not development
 

Well he's right.

IMO it's more a problem of the culture created by AAU ball rather than individual coaching deficiencies. Lots of well meaning people coach AAU, some are even great coaches, along with some not so good.

I had forgotten that Kobe grew up in Europe.


Edit: Oleboy said it better while I was typing.
 

That's why I don't pay much attention to the EYBL stats, it's the best against the best, sure, but in garbage ball.
 

From twitter Evan Daniels ‏@EvanDaniels Jan 3

Former player says he worked the Kobe Bryant Academy camp: "He charges $750 there was no stations. There was absolutely no skill work.
 



oleboy41 said:
I've been on that train for a bit. AAU is cool in that it brings top players together but that's about it. Its not good team ball and its entire purpose is for recruiting and marketing, not development
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Are we talking about the same guy who would purposely tank games at Lower Merion in Pennsylvania (where he played all 4 years of HS ball) just so he could take the game over late and be the hero?

The same asshole who demanded that he would not play for the Hornets if they drafted him and forced a trade?

The same jack-hole who has been about nothing but himself his entire career?

**** that rapist. I hope he shreds a knee and never plays again.
 

Unregistered User said:
Are we talking about the same guy who would purposely tank games at Lower Merion in Pennsylvania (where he played all 4 years of HS ball) just so he could take the game over late and be the hero? The same asshole who demanded that he would not play for the Hornets if they drafted him and forced a trade? The same jack-hole who has been about nothing but himself his entire career? **** that rapist. I hope he shreds a knee and never plays again.
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So guessing you are sort of luke warm on Kobe Bryant? Lol
 

Unregistered User said:
Are we talking about the same guy who would purposely tank games at Lower Merion in Pennsylvania (where he played all 4 years of HS ball) just so he could take the game over late and be the hero?

The same asshole who demanded that he would not play for the Hornets if they drafted him and forced a trade?

The same jack-hole who has been about nothing but himself his entire career?

**** that rapist. I hope he shreds a knee and never plays again.
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Don't really care about Kobe himself, more about the point regarding AAU ball.
 

HOOP DREAMS said:
That's why I don't pay much attention to the EYBL stats, it's the best against the best, sure, but in garbage ball.
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I think there's some benefit to the stats. If you're a scorer that never scores or whatever. That said you're right its garbage ball. Basketball has a rep for being really freewheeling but in reality most shots for most teams come from actually running offense and not just standing around making 1 on 1 moves. I've always thought it would be better for guys to spend their summers working on skills individually and practicing with their high school teams learning team O and D. There are camps all summer long where guys can compete against other top players.
 



It's a good comment by a person who is the epitome of why people watch college more than the pro's. He shoots while triple teamed, is a bad teammate, and he will not play second fiddle even while his skills have eroaded.
 

march madness said:
It's a good comment by a person who is the epitome of why people watch college more than the pro's. He shoots while triple teamed, is a bad teammate, and he will not play second fiddle even while his skills have eroaded.
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He's also one of the most skilled players ever and he's saying that he developed those skills learning in Europe.
 

march madness said:
It's a good comment by a person who is the epitome of why people watch college more than the pro's. He shoots while triple teamed, is a bad teammate, and he will not play second fiddle even while his skills have eroaded.
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Excellent summary.
 

march madness said:
It's a good comment by a person who is the epitome of why people watch college more than the pro's. He shoots while triple teamed, is a bad teammate, and he will not play second fiddle even while his skills have eroaded.
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I couldn't find a source, but I believe the NBA is actually more watched than NCAAB with a huge driver of that being the very franchise Kobe plays for.

Maybe you meant to say why you watch college more than the pros?
 

High School coaches have been saying the same thing for at least 15 years about AAU. AAU is for exposure to obtain a scholarship.
You don't have any time to teach fundamentals to a team. Difficult to get gym space in many cases and more difficult to get the group together with everyone's schedules. So have to concentrate on team. You can't fix a shot during this time or you'll wreck somebody's opportunity as generally in breaking a habit it is worse rather than better to begin (or not a habit for sure) so the player tries to compensate and no longer can do it the old way and hasn't learned the new way yet. Fundamentals you can do one on one but that still requires two willing people and a space top do it.

To the camp issue. You are not learning any skill in a week's time.
 

Having never been to an AAU game I can only imagine it's one step above the And1 tour.
 

I would say Kobe is one of the best athletes to play the game. He is one of the best one on one players of all time. He is a below average passer. He doesn't make his teammates better. Also I find it funny that he is ripping on AAU with its inflated offensive numbers when he has the most missed shots in history!


oleboy41 said:
He's also one of the most skilled players ever and he's saying that he developed those skills learning in Europe.
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Kobe Bryant on AAU ball: It's stupid. It doesn't teach our kids how to play ...

LongLiveMilesTarver said:
Having never been to an AAU game I can only imagine it's one step above the And1 tour.
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They're actually pretty entertaining for the most part. More enjoyable than MN HS basketball in my opinion simply because there are only a handful of D1 players in this state and the better AAU teams have and entire starting 5 of D1 talent. If I lived in Indiana, I'd probably enjoy HS ball more than AAU.

AAU strictly feeds a players ego and doesn't promote team ball, but it is way better than an all star game and more entertaining than MN HS ball aside from the state tournament.
 

60's Guy said:
To the camp issue. You are not learning any skill in a week's time.
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The point to learn technique and how to practice the skill, so you can master it on your own after the camp.
 

march madness said:
I would say Kobe is one of the best athletes to play the game. He is one of the best one on one players of all time. He is a below average passer. He doesn't make his teammates better. Also I find it funny that he is ripping on AAU with its inflated offensive numbers when he has the most missed shots in history!
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I'm not a Kobe fan but this is just laughable. Kobe is well known for having some of the best footwork of any guard ever. He's great at creating space and is a great ball handler for being 6-7". He's also a fine passer, no where near below average passing. Dude averages about 5 assists per game per his career which is well above average for a 2 guard and a leading scorer. Right now he's 5th in the league among non PGs in assists behind only LeBron, Wade, Harden and Tony Wroten. Also he's shooting 45% from the field for his career which is a solid number. You're just spewing opinions as facts and they're simply not true
 

Kobe has dominated the ball especially when they had the triangle. The Lakers like the Bulls before them played a pg who shot 3's as a spot up shooter (Fisher, Bj, Kerr, Paxson). Kobe has decent assist numbers but has always been known to jack up shots with wide open players around him. He is shooting 37% FG this season which is the worst of the top 8 players on the team. Yet he is taking 20 shots a game. Look I think he's talented but I hate his game. I much prefer a Lebron, Bird, Magic type player who likes to get his teammates involved.
 

NBA is the professional wrestling of basketball. Rigged, fixed and entirely unwatchable. I can see more spirited games with more effort and intensity at Lifetime Fitness. I have to question anyone who actually watches, cares about or thinks that more than 20% of actual NBA players actually care about the NBA.
 

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