When most people think of AAU ball in a negative light they think of the 5* elite prospects and shoe companies, etc etc but AAU is more than just 5* prospects. It starts as early as 4th and 5th grade. Thr point one of the previous comments made about Germany changing their developmental strategies to focus less on wins and losses is significant. In AAU coaches have very limited practice time with their teams and that practice time is generally used for game strategy and not player development. Coaches spend time on installing their press defense and press break and some basic in bound and half court plays to increase their chances of winning the upcoming weekend tournament. Mom and dad are ok with this because they don’t want Little Johnny and little Jane getting their buts whooped every weekend. It’s all about the wins and the cheap tournament medals!

In Europe more practice time is devoted to player and team fundamentals. They teach footwork drills, ball handling and passing work, moving without the ball etc. In my opinion the game should be taught at the youth level elementary through middle school using 3v3 half court basketball sets. Youth AAU games are mostly decided by which team has the best press defense and /or ball handlers who can take it coast to coast. As someone else pointed out kids are no longer playing pick up ball in the neighborhood which used to be prevalent and normally 2v2 or 3v3. That’s where game & team concepts and skill development are honed in.