Kobe Bryant rips AAU basketball | CollegeBasketballTalk

“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.”

 

But Bryant went even further. He knows that the American youth basketball model isn’t going to change overnight, so he lamented on how the players are often treated as “cash cows” and how everyone is trying to profit off of them. He has some ideas on how to change the model:

 

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

 

“That’s a deep well because then you start cutting into people’s pockets,” Bryant continued. “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.”

 

I think he's spot on and even more spot on about how hard it will be to change it.

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Edited January 3, 201511 yr by True blue (and gold)
Rule 8

1,000,000 % AGREE with KOBE and he backs it with knowledge

A lot of it depends on the program but for the most part I agree with him. A majority of programs aren't doing things the right way.

I agree as well. AAU ball is horrible.

I will say this as props to them, the Shining Stars program in NKY and Ohio does a very good job starting at a young age and in both boys and girls

If you're enamored with dunks and not so much with defense, AAU ball is your cup of tea.

I will say this as props to them, the Shining Stars program in NKY and Ohio does a very good job starting at a young age and in both boys and girls

 

Hoop Dreams does a good job of that as well. I'll also add that their practices consists of lots of drills and development as opposed to just rolling the ball out and saying go play.

Hoop Dreams does a good job of that as well. I'll also add that their practices consists of lots of drills and development as opposed to just rolling the ball out and saying go play.

 

This is the key. Is the team doing on-on-one instructional or are they just running through plays and defenses for their assembled all star team?

This is the key. Is the team doing on-on-one instructional or are they just running through plays and defenses for their assembled all star team?

 

One on one instructional. They do drills at game speed for a majority of the practice. Any kid that goes 100% all of the time will get better and develop skills playing with them.

Agreed for the most part. AAU basketball is a very good thing for low college level or only high school players in the sense that it allows them to play against competitive and elite athletes.

 

But yes, in terms of running offensive sets and playing solid defense, it doesn't do too much.

Sorry PP, I assumed that was the case. My point was that their way is doing it right vs just running thru plays.

For all the grief he's taken on here lately, I think Coach Szabo at Trinity is trying to teach the fundamentals of basketball and not the star/AAU system.

High school ball is every bit as bad for development as AAU. There I said it...