Former NBA player Matt Barnes has gotten into coaching post-retirement and doesn’t like how American kids are taught about the game. On an episode of Coaches Corner, Barnes spoke about how European kids are coached differently from American ones, and why it leads to the latter lacking basketball IQ.
“We’ll practice once or maybe twice a week, if we’re lucky, to play six games on the weekends and they’ll practice five, to play one or two games on the weekend,” Barnes said. “So, I just feel the teaching is not where it really needs to be.
“I think it’s all about accolades and trophies and rankings over here and over there I feel they’re really learning the game,” Barnes continued. “They’re learning how to play in space, they’re learning how to play without the ball.
“I think American kids are probably more skilled than we’ve ever seen,” Barnes stated. “But I feel they lack IQ because all their training is individual, one-on-one, head down, patting the ball around, and doing all these kinds of stuff instead of understanding how to play out of the pick and roll, pick and pop, the slice cuts, the 45 cuts, the flares, the screens.”
Being a great one-on-one player certainly has benefits, but understanding the various concepts of the game and how to play within a team is far more important. Barnes reckons American kids are not being taught that and it has led to them being highly skilled but lacking in basketball IQ. He is ensuring his kids don’t end up in the same boat.
“There’s just a lot of one-on-one and selfish basketball being played,” Barnes added. “And I want all my players to have an IQ of the game and understand how to fit in any situation or with any coaching style.”
While that might not be quite as fun as breaking someone’s ankles and slamming it in, it will prove to be a lot more helpful for the players in the long run. They might not fully comprehend that now but will be quite grateful to Barnes years down the road.
Norris Cole Thinks Basketball IQ Has Greatly Diminished In The Modern NBA
Barnes is far from the only former NBA player to think basketball IQ is lacking when it comes to today’s players. Norris Cole believes basketball IQ has significantly diminished in the modern NBA.
“Because of the age level and the style of play, these kids are coming in younger and younger and they never had to learn basic sets,” Cole said. “Like, we grew up running sets and would allow us sometimes to deviate. You could deviate, but only deviate when you need to. Let the system work for you until I need to be spectacular.
“Now it’s like I’m going to be spectacular straight from the jump,” Cole added. And they never had to move the ball side to side two or three times to get a shot. Now at the first available shot, you get it up.”
Cole pointed to somewhat similar issues as Barnes did and you’d think perhaps somewhat of an overhaul is required at the youth level. We’re seeing European players dominate in the NBA today and that won’t change if the current trend continues.
Thank you for being a valued reader of Fadeaway World. If you liked this article, please consider following us on Google News. We really appreciate your support.
