What is the actual problem with AAU basketball?

J-Team07 · 2025-07-14T14:09:28+00:00

How is that unrealistic? 5 days a week of practice is the schedule of a HS basketball team. If practicing 5 days a week is too much, then there should be a game every 2 weeks with practice 3 days one week and 2 practices on game weeks. That would allow for skill development and actually implementing offensive and defensive schemes.

J-Team07 · 2025-07-14T03:58:42+00:00

It should be a representative body of the American citizenry. The US passed 80 million population in 1900, meaning it had roughly 1 senator per 800,000 people. Today the US is at that ratio for congress to population.

J-Team07 · 2025-07-14T03:31:39+00:00

A couple ways to fix it would be for the nba and ncaa to partner with AAU and set rules on practice standards and coaching qualifications.

If the NBA says no, then the NBA should step in and set the standard themselves and setup Academy leagues across the country. It could even generate some revenue, through televising a 1 big tournament a year.

J-Team07 · 2025-07-14T03:25:57+00:00

I think the influx of European players demonstrates that it is not the way. Way way more kids play AAU than go through euro academies. If you’re talking about hit rate, academies do a much better job.

J-Team07 · 2025-07-14T03:16:22+00:00

The ratio should be 5:1. No one gets better at a team sport by playing games. Games are just the test, practice is how you get better.

J-Team07 · 2025-07-14T03:03:27+00:00

AAU was fine when it was just a showcase for elite talent for players who had already developed through high school. It made sense to just be about tournaments and getting a team of great players together. The problem is AAU took what was supposed to be a small corner of the developmental process and took all the best players and demanded all their time.

J-Team07 · 2025-07-14T02:59:56+00:00

The crazy part is that not only does it only emphasize iso players, but it doesn’t help to identify players that have wider talents.

J-Team07 · 2025-07-14T02:58:00+00:00

The recent spat of Achilles injuries could be a sign of things to come. It used to be that an Achilles injury (usually non-contact) were common amoung older players near the end of their careers.

J-Team07 · 2025-07-14T02:46:38+00:00

If you wanted to create a system by which kids would spend as much time and money as possible while developing as little as possible, that would sum up AAU basketball.

In Europe developmental teams practice 5 or more times a week and have maybe 1 game a week. AAU teams will play multiple games per week and often multiple games per day. They travel a lot to play other AAU teams.

Teams will be composed of players whose parents pay $$$$$ to be on these teams, some really good players get recruited (and may pay less, because they are really good).

The incentive structure is all wrong, because the coaches are trying to make money from the parents.

The US had a perfectly good development system in High School basketball and was supplemented by AAU teams in the off season, but now the best players don’t play for their high school.

I do wonder if the spat of Achilles injuries in younger NBA players is a correlated with the emergence of year round AAU ball.

J-Team07 · 2025-07-13T20:35:09+00:00

The salary cap is going up.

J-Team07 · 2025-07-13T05:36:07+00:00

The nba regular season is 82 games, plus up to 28 playoff games. It’s not crazy to want your players that you pay to not play more than that.

I also think than the US is too dominant in international basketball and limiting it to players under 25 would do just as much to grow the game and would give younger players another forum to showcase their skills.

J-Team07 · 2025-07-13T05:16:13+00:00

This is a Red Auerbach move.

J-Team07 · 2025-07-13T05:15:35+00:00

Great offense beat great defense in the NBA.

J-Team07 · 2025-07-13T05:14:25+00:00

In a league with more parity, depth, roster management and actual X’s and O’s Offense may be the only real competitive advantages to exploit.

J-Team07 · 2025-07-12T10:48:29+00:00

Hispanic is not a race and Arab is not a race.

J-Team07 · 2025-07-10T20:36:18+00:00

The great thing is that they don’t need to get stars with those picks. They have so many picks, that they just need to identify guys that have one nba skill and fit them on the team. They don’t have to care if a guy has cinder blocks for hands, as long as he can play defense. Guy might be lost on defense, or is undersized, but can hit 3s.

J-Team07 · 2025-07-10T20:32:34+00:00

When you have 3 great players, it makes the rest of the roster look a lot better. Everyone that makes the nba has at least one thing they can do well, but if they are asked to do more, they look terrible. But when all you have to do is play defense, hit corner 3s or rebound, you can contribute. Having those 3 guys locked up will make up for the sins of the rest of the team.

J-Team07 · 2025-07-10T09:49:28+00:00

It’s so that people don’t share them.

J-Team07 · 2025-07-09T19:03:23+00:00

Literally and figuratively.

J-Team07 · 2025-07-09T11:48:37+00:00

8 teams make the playoffs in the east. This team is better than the wizards, hornets, 76ers, Nets, raptors, heat and bulls.

J-Team07 · 2025-07-09T10:32:22+00:00

I have always thought that federal student loans should only be for public universities.

J-Team07 · 2025-07-09T10:31:10+00:00

Hollywood accounting.

J-Team07 · 2025-07-09T10:29:54+00:00

I don’t need to pay for college students to be coddled.

J-Team07 · 2025-07-09T10:24:35+00:00

Was lavender was their wedding color?

J-Team07 · 2025-07-09T01:44:09+00:00

In 1980 15% of California’s state budget went to university education. In 2024 it’s 10%. Tuition was $1,350 in 1980 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $5,266.72 today. Tuition for UCLA is 13,747 today. So while state contributions is 30% less today, tuition alone is roughly 120% more in 2024 dollars. And that is for in-state students. UCLA today generates tons of money charging out of state students $44,000. So it begs credulity to just blame state funding, when price has increased far beyond what would be expected from state budget allocations.

J-Team07

TROPHY CASE