College hoops, NBA must be repaired

[Renew Deal]

This is an interesting perspective on the state of American basketball. It reminds me A LOT of this article about the problems that US Soccer is dealing with.

<snip>
This year, the madness hasn’t waited for March. The hoop heads have taken notice and they’re quite pleased.
<snip>

I don’t share their joy or optimism. I see the parity and inconsistency found within the college game as yet another sign of American basketball’s ruination.

Greatness — team greatness — has been devalued by the popularity and influence of summer (AAU) basketball. Our youth basketball feeder system no longer promotes a culture of winning because summer basketball has replaced high school basketball as the most important route to a college scholarship and the attention of NBA scouts.
<snip>

Look at the NBA. LeBron James and the Heat, given the weakness of the Eastern Conference, had a chance this season to pursue team greatness and quite possibly Michael Jordan and Chicago’s 72-10 regular-season record. The Heat have no real interest. They’re saving themselves for the playoffs. They’ve lost 14 games before the All Star break. The truth is only the Spurs, a team led by a core (Duncan, Parker, Ginobili) not raised on traditional American soil, have a legitimate interest in the regular season, and their coach leaves his veteran players in street clothes or at home whenever he feels they’re physically taxed.
<snip>

http://msn.foxsports.com/collegebasketball/story/indiana-hoosiers-illinois-top-ranked-upsets-college-hoops-lebron-james-nba-basketball-broken-020813

[trumad]

1. Possibly---no scratch that--- this is the biggest pile of shit piece I've ever read in this forum

I thought it was an Onion parody then I realized it was the Ann Coulter of sports journalism, Jason Whitlock.

Has he even watched the Heat the last couple of weeks? They've been beating the shit out of teams and are now being accused of maybe peaking at the wrong moment---that's how good they are playing with 30 games left.

LeBron's last 5 games has been out of this world---- he is averaging 31 points and making 71 percent of his shots. That ties an NBA record (held by Moses Malone and Adrian Dantley) for 30 or more points and 60 percent or better shooting in five straight games.

Jason Whitlock is nothing more than a douchebag twit.

nuff said.

[Renew Deal]

2. I think you missed the point

The article really has nothing to do with the Heat and very little to do with he NBA. The article is about the state of youth basketball in America. He's saying that kids today are taught to play for the scholarship, not the skills and that they lack skills and killer instinct.

I'm not involved in youth basketball enough to know if he's right, but I know it's a problem in American soccer too.

The article was published a few days ago before Lebron tied the record. Lebron is getting to the point as an athlete where he is moving into legend status. No one can take that from him if he keeps it up.

[trumad]

3. Yeah to make his point he spews bullshit

That's my point.

[joeybee12]

4. There's parity in college largely because of one and done...

Kids don't stay in college long enough for schools to create powerhouses...good one year, everyone's gone and it's rebuilding all over again.

[JonLP24]

5. The biggest reason why the Bulls won 72 games and why

the Heat never will (or any other team along the coasts) is because the Bulls played in the Central time zone. It makes trips to the coasts less taxing, plus their primary opponents are in the central time zone.

Phil Jackson said so himself when he was a coach of the Lakers explaining why the Lakers will never win 72 games.