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By Brian
McCormick
The Europeans Are Coming! The
Europeans Are Coming!
Watching the 2002 NBA Draft with
some coaches at a camp was hilarious. I have lived and will coach in
Europe. I know there are players there and that the game at its highest
levels is closing the gap on American hoops. However, these coaches
stuck in the seventies were hysterical. I had a coach tell me that it
was unfair to allow foreigners to take away American jobs in the NBA! He
was outraged at the number of foreigners drafted and it put him in a
foul mood all day as he steamed about know-nothing NBA GM’s.
Sure, guaranteed contracts in the
NBA are nice, but they are not a right. One does not become a great
college (high school) basketball player and automatically step into an
NBA contract. If the NBA wants to continue to call the NBA Champions,
“World Champions,” the best players from throughout the world need to
play in the L. If players like Nowitski, Kirilenko, Divac, Kukoc, etc.
were still toiling in Europe, could the NBA honestly call its champion
the World Champions?
Instead of a Euro-backlash,
Americans should appreciate the game of these players and try to learn
why NBA GM’s are so enamored with Europeans. One reason frequently cited
is their ability to play in domestic professional leagues from an early
age, where they play against better competition. American players, the
argument continues, are trapped in high school playing against lesser
players. However, what is the summer club circuit but semi-professional
club basketball much like the lesser European pro leagues? Would a
player face better competition at the Vegas Big Time, AAU Junior
Nationals and ABCD Camp, or by playing in the Czech First Division? Club
basketball presents the opportunity for players and coaches to work on
individual and team skills that will enable players to reach the next
level. Unfortunately, in the quest for wins and scholarships,
development is forgotten, as teams roll the ball out and play. This
opportunity for development and improvement is squandered because
coaches seem content to play general manager and compile talent rather
than teaching and developing skills.
Besides creating an environment
where club basketball is more about instruction and development and less
about wins and shoe contracts, Americans must learn from their European
brethren in the NBA. The question is: why do American players enter the
NBA with a significant skill deficiency, which leads GM’s to desire
Europeans? There are thousands of reasons, from endorsement contracts,
to the Internet’s ability to create 8th
grade superstars. The following are my top four reasons why Americans
fail to develop sufficient basketball skills.
1) American basketball is
defensive-minded, while Europeans stress offense. European players are
knocked for their defensive deficiencies, but lauded for their overall
offensive games. This results because European coaches stress the
offensive end much more than their American counterparts. I traveled all
summer to basketball camps and every coach I met instantly boasted that
he is defensive-minded, like it is a coach’s honor badge. I am scoffed
at when I say defense is overrated. Again, overrated and not
unimportant. American coaches rely on defense, and, as such, offensive
skill development suffers, making the superior defensive teams even
better. Geno Auriemma, the successful coach of UConn’s Women’s program,
says, “Defense is important, but offense is more important.” I agree
wholeheartedly. There is a reason why UConn went undefeated and had 4 of
the top 6 picks in the 2002 WNBA Draft.
Offense is skill-oriented, while
successful defense is predicated on communication and effort. I watched
really great defensive drills and sessions this summer at camps:
breakdown of proper footwork, stance, positioning, etc. However, the
offensive skills sessions lagged. Some were downright poor while others
instructed half way. Where an hour was spent learning the proper first
step for a closeout from help position, an offensive player’s first step
was left untaught. I disagree with this emphasis: I would rather spend
five minutes teaching a closeout and tell my players to get there
quickly, dedicating more time to offensive nuances. I believe this
approach will help defense by forcing players to practice against better
players who possess more confidence and better moves with the ball.
Better defense is a product of better offense.
2) Many European teams
struggle to find qualified assistant coaches; therefore, the head coach
must teach everything, and all players must learn all skills, as there
are few post/guard breakdown sessions. In the USA, too many coaches see
a tall youngster and stick him in the post and tell him not to dribble;
however, this youngster may never grow again and if he does not develop
guard skills, his career will be very short. In other countries, coaches
do not have a choice and must force all players to work together,
picking up a full range of skill sets and not just position specific
skills. This creates seven footers who have guard-like skills. Once
criticized as soft because these seven-footers are not typical post
players who like to bang, they are now lauded for their individual
all-around game, and their lack of post game is a small blemish. By
creating versatile players who can go inside and out, shoot the ball and
put the ball on the floor, Europeans blur the line between positions,
and instead, play five basketball players. No longer is a player like
Larry Bird, a 6’10 forward who can shoot and pass, an anomaly: that is a
player every NBA team needs and desires and scours the earth to find.
In the same vain, European coaches
devour basketball knowledge. With the fall of the iron curtain and the
explosion of the Internet, European coaches are privy to the same
knowledge as American basketball coaches. They are able to watch and
emulate NBA or college coaches due to broadcasts in their country. And,
while I’m not going to say that American coaches don’t work hard,
International coaches certainly have an intense thirst for knowledge.
They know they don’t know everything, while many American coaches figure
they know it all when they become head coaches. I see it with my
friends; one, a National coach in his country, emails me frequently for
any kind of information or tape I can send. My American friends,
however, who once worked countless camps and attended clinics, now
rarely attend camps and go to clinics only to drink and gamble. While
their desire to teach and win is strong, and they are knowledgeable,
they do not continue to learn and get better, while my friends overseas
cannot possibly read too many articles or watch too many tapes.
The inability of NCAA coaches to
coach during the summer months. The old adage reads: “Players are made
in the summer. Teams are made in the winter.” If NCAA coaches, possibly
the best collection anywhere in the world, are not allowed to train
players during the summer months, how exactly are players supposed to be
made? By playing pick-up games? Working individually? This is one way,
but without a coach to push and teach, a player may develop bad habits
just as easily as the proper ones. By restricting coaches’ ability to
teach, players are unable to use the universities’ resources. Many
publications bemoaned this fact this summer; as they indicated,
rightfully so, chemistry or biology students are encouraged, and not
prevented, from working with world-class professors during the summer.
However, in athletics, the NCAA prevents players from spending time with
their coach. By allowing players and coaches to spend the summer working
on individual skills, the play at the college and professional levels
would increase exponentially, and no longer would NBA GM’s be forced to
automatically look to Europe for a well-rounded player. College coaches
would develop home grown talent. And, furthermore, coaches would truly
earn their paycheck as teachers, and not as recruiters, as is college
basketball’s current state.
4) Americans increasingly
fail to learn the most important skill in basketball: shooting the
basketball. Too many kids rely on athleticism alone, and see success, so
basketball skills are ignored. International players, who often lack
their American counterparts’ athleticism, must develop the ability to
shoot the ball. While Americans are enamored with the dunks of Vince
Carter and the crossovers of Allen Iverson, Europeans learn to shoot.
Basketball is a team game, and within a team’s structure, a player is
most open when he immediately receives the ball. He generally has one or
two dribbles to score. However, these countless plays do not grab the
attention of American players; Ray Allen lags in popularity because he
is the most efficient offensive player in the league, while AI grabs the
headlines because of his signature crossover. While Vince Carter’s dunks
intro “SportsCenter,” Paul Pierce quietly performs, exhibiting one of,
if not the best all-around offensive game in the league. While American
players enter a gym and immediately work on their And 1 moves, Europeans
typically work on their shooting, and their ability to put the ball in
the basket, which is secondary to looking good while making a move to
the “And 1 Generation” of players.
Writer Brian McCormick contributes frequently to
coaches’ magazines and web sites. He coaches professionally in Europe
and runs the High Five Hoop School and Hard 2 Guard Camp in Sacramento,
CA. His first book The Art of Ball
Handling: Get a Handle on Your Game,
will be available shortly from
www.basketballsense.com.
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