A fundamental basketball problem is taking center stage

Shhhhhh…if you’re really quiet you’ll hear that buzz. It may not be very loud yet but it’s a buzz that hasn’t been heard in our country, probably ever. You may ask, where’s that buzz coming from?

Well, let me tell you. The buzz is beginning to build in basketball circles across the United States. The NBA. The NCAA. The WNBA. The major shoe companies. They’re all finally beginning to buzz about the problem with the game of basketball in our country. And although the buzz may still be small, the problem is big!

As you look at the game of basketball on an international level, it’s easy to see over the past 10 to 15 years that the rest of the world has caught up with us. During the 1992 Olympics, when we unleashed arguably the greatest basketball team ever assembled, the original Dream Team steamrolled its way to the Gold Medal. Even Dream Team II, easily took home the title at the 1994 World Championships. But in the years to follow, the tide has changed. There is no more 70-point victories for Team USA and certainly no reason for the United States to think that a Gold Medal is a given.

The skill level of basketball in our own country at all levels has certainly diminished. The NBA is full of the greatest athletes in the world but these same great athletes lack the fundamental skills necessary to be more than just great athletes who happen to play basketball. Although the problem has infiltrated our system at the highest level, it is the end result of the lack of fundamental basketball development in our young players. The skill level of players being sent from high school to college isn’t good, therefore, the skill level being sent from the college ranks to the professional ranks continues to suffer.

Our young players in this country are being brainwashed into thinking that winning at all levels, be it, recreation league, church league, AAU or middle school is all that matters and the fundamentals of the game have been completely lost. The days of passing and cutting, squaring up the basket and the pick-and-roll have been replaced with one line of thinking…win at all costs. This means give the ball to the best player and let him or her go one-on-one to the basket while everyone else stands around and watches. Or put your mature 12-year-old who is 6 inches taller than anyone else on the court under the basket and pass him/her the ball for a lay-up. You get the picture.

Now that I’ve vented somewhat, I do have good news! There is a solution and it’s time for our basketball coaches, players and influencers from across the United States to catch the buzz. Let me know what you think.

Be on the lookout for my next blog, as we begin to attack this problem and look at the solution.

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