The
Lost Art of Basketball FUNDAMENTALS
By Benny Sin
exclusive to The Dish
Whatever happened to fundamentals basketball? You know, simple stuff like footwork, jab steps, pump fakes, etc, etc. All kids wants to do nowadays are practice And 1 moves. Well newsflash, little kids... AND 1 MOVES ARE USELESS IN REAL BASKETBALL. Rafer Alston is probably one of the greatest playground ballers ever, but why is he sitting on the bench in the NBA? Hmmmm...maybe cause the best juke moves in the world won't get you no where if you don't got some real fundamentals.
It's pretty sick and depressing to watch today's NBA. Young players come in the league with extremely gifted physical attributes. Guys like Darius Miles, 6 foot 10, long arms, hops, speed, and the PERFECT basketball body. But he can't do anything but dunk, dunk and dunk some more. Has he ever thought about learning the simple fundamental of shooting or dribbling the ball? Look at Larry Bird, no hops, no muscles, no speed. He looks like a damn insurance salesman. But he is one of the greatest players of all time. He was able to burn guys left and right, grab rebounds and score at will. Why? Because he had fundamentals. Little things like tipping the ball to yourself, jab steps, pump fakes. Those things can get you more success in basketball then any "Iverson crossover" or "swat blocks".
Just look at today's pick up games and you will see what is wrong with
basketball these days. A guy can swish three after three, and the crowd won't
care. A guy can pick someone clean everytime down the court. Yet no one cheers. But if
some tall guy happens to swat a layup into the stands, the crowd goes crazy and
cheers. If some guy does a crossover and the other guy falls, the crowd goes
crazy and cheers. Has anyone actually realized that a "steal" and a
"three pointer" are way more useful in a real game over a "swat
block"? A lot of times, players that get high enough coulda just grabbed
the ball but instead they choose to swat it so hard it flies outta bounds. Well
genius, when you swat the ball outta bounds, you're just giving the ball back to
them. Grab that son of a bitch for once. It'll actually help your team MORE!
The Europeans whupped our asses in the world tournaments last year, but Americans are making excuses left and right saying it's because the guys we sent out were bad. That's bullshit. We got whupped because Europeans are catching up to us in basketball, because Europeans got more fundamentals. We got beat because the other team played better team defense, better team basketball and made open jumpers. European kids learn about footwork, basic shooting techniques and basic moves. American kids are learning about "Iverson crossovers" and "no look passes". I wish Larry Bird was in his prime today, because he would walk into Rucker Park, looked all those street ballers in the face, and then proceed to ball EACH AND EVERY ONE of them up and talk trash too. Yeah, the streetballers will probably get a few juke moves in. "Hot Sauce" might juke Larry a few times. "50" might dunk on Larry a few times, but in the end, Larry woulda bombed more threes in their faces and stripped them more then they would have even scored. Fundamentals basketball will always beat out flash. Jordan is flashy, Kobe is flashy, but those guys have ultimate fundamentals. Even Shaq has very good footwork for his post up game. Kids don't notice that, all they care about are dunks and crossovers. That's just so sad. Look at guys like Darius Miles, Larry Hughes, Ricky Davis, so much talent, so much physical gifts, but they stink. Steve Nash, John Stockton, Gary Payton have HALF the athleticism of a Darius Miles or a Gerald Wallace, but those guys can whup their asses any day of the week. Michael Jordan proved that even without hops or quickness he can still school most players on earth because he has fundamentals. That is why the man is the G.O.A.T. It's so sad to see Sportscenter everynight. All I see are dunks, dunks, swat blocks, dunks. What about John Stockton's PERFECT bounce passes? What about Gary Payton stripping clowns left and right? What about Jordan faking guys left and right with a SIMPLE shoulder fake, head fake?
The NBA advertises Reading is Fundamental, but they forgot to mention that Basketball is Fundamentals too.