No when the NBA allowed to be physical, allowed bumping Euro Basketball can't match the NBAbeven though they are much better in shooting and playing in a system. Once the physicality was gone the best players in the world came from Europe.
@@zinjgreen3398 I beg to differ...Dirk nowitzki exist...Pau exist...Kukoc exist...Just because athleticism been removed didn't mean they can't dominate...At that time, NBA barely went international so there are smaller sample that European player can't play in that era...If Giannis exist in that era , he for sure dominate a lot of top player especially with no offensive foul
Kobe said a lot of things, he spend the last decade of his career and his unfortunately short retirement giving his opinion about absolutely everything, but for some reason we dont often bring up is shit takes tho
Their is a lot of reasons why Europeans dominate the NBA. The American AAU basketball system is broken in Europe they don’t have 5 star recruits or 4 star recruits also in Europe they practice unlike AAU just pull up to a game with no practice in Europe they develop them and teach them the fundamentals of the game in Europe.
This: USA great on ball skill, EU great off ball skills. AAU kids learn how to create highlight reals and huge box scores, EU Club kids learn how to play as a team and how to win.
The problem that Americans have is that they don't use the collective tools of basketball because in the NBA the players don't need them. The players are far too strong individually and beat their defenders 1 on 1. So why use the pass if 2 dribbles are enough to create your shot or lay up.
Yeah. Trying to say it was “too tough” for the European players. European players weren’t successful in the NBA became basketball was a tiny sport in Europe, the standard of play was mediocre and the NBA barely looked for talent in Europe. Basketball has grown in Europe, the standard of play has improved and the talent pool has grown massively. The NBA reduced defence so fans would enjoy high scoring games. Nothing to do with European players.
Quite so! Who invented the idea of "illegal defence" or "defensive 3-second rule?" And when were those ideas invented? The assertion that the NBA softened defensive rules to accommodate European players is just plain stupid.I know that Americans want to think of basketball as being an American game, but that ship has sailed; it's a genuinely international game now it's hilarious to listen to the parochialism of Americans who assume that if anyone from outside the US can't play unless the rules are stacked in their favour. I played in the 1986 World Champs and I can remember that execrable asshole Bobby Knight asserting in an interview at that time that there were ZERO players from any non-US teams who would be able to play in the NBA. And there's your problem. Accept that the game has moved on, that the rest of world now actually likes it and plays it in a serious fashion and, as a consequence, the US has ceased to be the only pool of genuine talent. Or go and and play "football" or baseball where you can be safe in your knowledge that you're the best given that the rest of the world cares not a jot.
Its crazy how Adam Silver sat down with Kevin Garnett and straight up told KG to his face that defense is boring, too physical, and takes less skill than offense.
I mean with a lot physicality it for sure will add injury..With no physicality still a lot of player got injured, imagined when physicality exist it would at more injury
Adam Silver spoke for what fans think, not for what he thinks. And he's right. The new generation doesnt appreciate defense and physicality. He simply adjusted the rules to make offense easier for casual watchers so they'd be interested.
@@Herosennin its too easy to blame the consumer imo. Happens everywhere. We assume people are too lazy or stupid to want a quality product. Even if they are, its not their fault, just a product of their environment.
Bro, did you watch 90s NBA? The illegal defence rule made it an iso heavy game. European basketball is very team defence oriented, something that wasnt possible with illegal defence. I dont understand why you think 90s NBA was anything like European basketball...
@@maartenvz They've never really watched any European leagues like Eurobasket. They just use times like these to validate the opinions they already had. The motion offenses are far more complex and they use screens far better than any team did in any era in the US. Now that basketball players make real money in those countries, they have programs that nurture talent like the US does, and GASP now they have comparable talent. Shocker
The NBA and NFL have decided to remove a significant portion of defense from their games…for the sake of scoring to draw in more fans…but it makes the games boring at times because there seems to be little resistance on the defensive end. The NBA brought NBA Jam and 2K to life with the defensive settings on rookie.
For very casual watchers it might be exciting but after watching for some time it becomes boring, like watching an exhibition match. And this isn't coming from me, this is the reason my a friend gave on why she stopped watching the NBA after just 1 season
@@ThatLampTho I miss the days when taking it to the rim was important. Also it doesn't make sense there is a 3 point line. It is a strange rule where you get more points for shooting further away.
1:10 Do you realise how small a sport basketball was in Europe? It wasn’t that the NBA was “too tough”. It was because it was a tiny sport in Europe. The player pool was tiny and the standard of play was mediocre. It has grown. And with that you get a bigger pool of talent player better basketball. Sure, tell yourself the only reason is you aren’t allowed to be a tough guy but that’s weak BS.
True. Football (soccer), field hockey, rugby, baseball, volleyball and even water polo are still bigger team sports than basketball in large parts of Europe today.
Even in Australia we are looking to Europe not the USA on how to improve our juniors. Europe keeps the rings lowered for much longer to focus on fundamentals. COVID has made a huge impact and we can see obviously what young people missed out on developing fundamentals during that period and it shows. Just my experience as an Australian coach of young men/boys in particular FWIW
It's interesting to think about how much of an impact Kobe growing up in Italy had on his overall game and career. Who knows, maybe if LeBron grew up in EU, he might learn to play basketball without traveling and charging every possession!
You say that like his Body type isn’t hand in hand with his style same for Giannis. If you’re built like that you better fucking drive it, travel or not
That's one of the things that made Kobe so unique as an NBA player -- raised by an NBA player, trained in Europe in his youth. That's why he was able to objectively call out the AAU circuit many years ago in a way somebody who's stayed in America all their lives wouldn't know.
Kobe learned nothing from the collective game of basketball in Italy! He just learned to work on his dribbling and his use of footwork. But Kobe played exactly the NBA game perfectly, 1 against 1 against his defender and even often 1 against 2.
Once i saw the title, my answer was : your AAU system. In Europe, coaches of youngsters have the priority to teach the game. In the US it seems the priority is to identify future stars the earliest possible. When i see AAU i usually see one guy soloing to the basket with no collective defense. Kobe warned you years ago.
I really respect Dražen Petrović because I know that a lasting part of his athletic legacy will be that he paved the way for other international players to compete successfully in the NBA. His contributions to the sport of basketball were enormous.
Please, this comment adds nothing to the discussion. What rule are you talking about? The main problem is not the rules but the fact that refs often wont call by the rules...
Was always moving towards that (allowing gather step) hand-checking being taken out (moment prime Shaq was no longer a major factor eased on things lol. Not to mention palming, travelling rarely being called NBA is pretty lax now.
The three second league is what I learned to play basketball with in middle school during the physical development lessons (what gym/PE was called basically). That was 20 years ago. In Europe the three seconds rule is standard. Always has been. It’s to keep tempo in game, in sense that it keeps players moving and timing their positioning.
One of the reasons why the NBA struggles in international competitions like FIBA and Euro league. Because these international leagues follows the NBA rules established since 1992, so it is full court hard press physical defense on inbound. Most people don't realize is that these bumps throughout the course of the game, causes you to wear out. The lane is also crowded, centers are allowed to roam the paint, the shorter 3 point distance made it quickers for defender to cover the shooters, NBA had to mentally visualize the distance where they shoot. The are more motions and cutting unlike the NBA where there are overused 1 to 3 plays. Giannis and Jokic explained that there is so much space in the NBA, that they feel they're always open. The 2010 Lakers and 2014 Spurs championship teams struggled and were beaten by EuroLeague champion teams and the NBA have ducked these "friendly" exhibitions ever since. Now they are sending collections of their best superstars to avoid the embarrassment, if they want to make a fair competition, because Europe has smaller area per talent, then have the whole Europe select the best players to represent the whole continent.
@@JRRM97And look at the teams their team beat. And talk about the MVPs that the Europeans have won since 2019. Talk about the 4 out of the 5 players that made first team all nba are European/international players.
The main reason is club basketball in Europe. Every country has is its own leagues. Compare that to every state having their own NBA. All the champions of each state would then go to the national level NBA. That’s basically what the Euroleague is. There is 100s if not 1000s of professional basketball teams in Europe. Young talents get to play in these teams and can progress up the ladder all the way to the Euroleague. They get to play with other professionals, but more importantly are taught to win. The teams they play for don’t want to develop players, they want to win their league and go to Euroleague. That’s why European players are much more well rounded than American players these days.
Who would have thought that training to be better at dribbling, jumping and acrobatics will make you better at dribbling, jumping and acrobatics while training to be better at basketball (as a team sport) will make you better at basketball right? Mind-blowing stuff.
As a European I really looked forward to my first NBA game but honestly it was completely underwhelming. The amount of time outs, deafening music spliced with childish entertainment made me feel like I wasn't really watching a game but a show. I know the NBA faced an uphill battle to survive as a league at many times in history and America is the most capitalistic country on earth where entertainment MUST be constant and flashy dunks and high scores are easier to sell than fundamentals and tight, defence heavy, low scoring games but it needs to learn some lessons from the the Euro game and that in itself IS a problem for a lot of Americans. Conceding that a non American product is superior to theirs. Unless that attitude changes American Basketball will start to lose fans if the product promotes being a flashy winner over teamwork and modesty
The pace of the game is not catered to defense. The game has become a track and field meet and all they play is iso ball. 15+ years ago teams were running designated plays which allowed the defense to play because it was less back and forth which is why we see more injuries. This new style of back and forth just teaches kids to be fast and not learn on new skills.
And yet. This years Celtics won on primarily defence and moving the ball to an open shooter or driving to the hoop on offence. People call it "boring" :)
in europe you learn to play all 5 positions so you can defend all 5 positions and generaly understand them plus if you are a star player the other coach will smother you with defencive schemes something you dont see in the nba
The issue with AAU is the competition is hit or miss. A lot of the US player rely on athleticism which everyone is athletic in the NBA. Europeans don’t post their highlights on social media.
They need to get rid of the defensive 3 second rule & the hand checking rule. It's as simple as that. The game is already so advanced that rules like that only hinder it not help it.
No, that would be denying the history of the NBA! These rules were not created for fun! Everything is a consequence of the past. If you remove the 3 second rule then for someone like wembanyama of 7.5 it would be too easy to stay and wait for the ball. In Europe this is the case but the collective game is much more advanced and the ball moves much more than in the NBA which is an individual game league
Silver did a great job of making the NBA much worse. He changed things to make it more "exciting" but ended up making it a boring 3-point shooting contest. No one wants to watch sloppy games with no defense.
Look it isn't just the defensive 3 seconds rule. It is also that EuroLeague only plays 34 games and mostly only play one game per week. This means that more effort is put into each game, each game means more as only 6 of those 18 teams make the playoffs (there's is a play-in for 7-10). EuroLeague teams generally practice most of the week game planning for their opponent that week. As most nations only have one or two EuroLeague teams they can use games in the National Leagues a little freer, don't want to say as scrimmages but far less pressure as they tend to be player far weaker teams. There's more like how the rules are enforced and EuroLeague officials very much not wanting to be a factor in the game. Less general athleticism meaning team defense, off ball defense, offensive rebounding... become the fore of defense.
You do know that all Euroleague teams play in their national leagues as well... right? Thats another 30+ reg season games + playoffs... Euroleague Teams play around 75-100 games each season as well...
@@Smido83 exactly! i.e. in serbian basketball best teams play euroleague (minimum 34 games+p/o min 5g). then they play the regional "champions league", the aba league (minimum 26 games+p/o min.7g). then there is the state league and cup with the minimum of 7 games. other non regional countries play more in their own state league and cup because they dont have a joined league - the aba league. so yeah about 75 games per season is a minimum.
@@jordanjenkins1671 Yes it's just obligatory to have fewer games to increase the level of a game. Today in the NBA no teams train 5 vs 5. They spend their time traveling and preparing for games. The only training that the players do is training alone in front of the basket with personal trainers and in addition for the players who play the game, it is often 1 to 2 hours before the game. They therefore do not have any collective training except the 2 to 3 week training camp which is physical preparation training.
Considering how basketball is pretty much a second class sport in Europe it is kind of crazy. And by second class i mean its not the sport to become rich in your country. Usually its football sometimes ice hockey.
American players in general rely way too much on their athleticism and natural talent but many don’t put in the necessary work anymore. European players are very fundamentally sound. I love Luka but the man is so slow when he moves with the ball that it boggles my mind how good he is.
They play real b-ball in Europe, not the exhibition style adopted by LeSilver for Lebron to shine. If you listen to Luka, Giannis etc, they play 90’s style b-ball. MJ averaged 30+ pts in that era. The 90’s stars would kill this soft as Charmin leleague.
Also these American born players don’t spend enough time in college to learn team basketball, how to break down defenses, setting screens, pick and rolls etc
@@Manus_0813Because back then players actually wanted to stay in college for multiple years to work on their game and weaknesses. These players nowadays are money driven to get to the league.
Funny thing was during the early 2000s and late 90s European players were all seen as soft. But not it’s the opposite. Luka himself said it’s easier to score in the NBA than in the Euroleague. Says a lot about the NBA.
F.I.B.A rules are like 90's rules. Today's NBA is soft af. The European players are HUNGRIER than American players. They WANT to win. American players WANT money #FACTS There's the difference
@@javonestephens7856 Bro I keep telling people that. European players WANT to be the best. American players WANT to get paid. It's 2 COMPLETELY DIFFERENT things. That's why American players are ok with losing because at the end of the day, they're still rich
stop with the "Doncic ain't athletic" narrative already ffs some of y'all 6'2-6'5 strong lookin americans with good muscle def can't dunk HE CAN "huhhh but i have more bounce than him" bro has cardio noone of us will ever have fucking hell STOP IT ALREADY...... '-'
His defense makes it close but I wouldn't put Giannis over Luka. Luka's a slightly better scorer, a much better shooter, almost as good a rebounder (although mostly defensive), and a much better passer. Also, Luka already owns a ridiculous number of NBA records while I'm not sure if Giannis owns any. It's definitely the three of them in some kind of order, depending on what traits you value most.
Differences between NBA and European basketball. 1. The coach is the leader of the team. There are no divas. You play bad you warm the bench. 2. Eight minute less playing time 3. Smaller court. Less space. 4. Fundumentals in Europe are the most important. 5. Defence is tighter. 6. Refs are stricter. Especially in travel violation. 7. 3PT distance is different. But i don't consider this big. A good shooter can shoot. 8. The 3sec rule. Always the bigman in the paint. Fewer layups. 9. The handcheck rule. And proof about no1. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vXvnW2AVni4.html
In Europe, nobody cares about high school or college sports, except for the parents maybe. Soccer and basketball and tennis games between schools are held at the local communal mixed sports grounds. The sports clubs youth groups are a different story. There they are trained and taught, some join just for fun, some with the serious mindset of going pro. The talents are honed and polished in those youth clubs. And when some players turn out to be outstanding, THEN they are coveted by other clubs, once they are old enough. At that time, nobody but the pro clubs talent scouts even knows your name. Our best players become famous AFTER going pro, not beforehand. Here in Germany you aren't taught to entertain and to impress in such a youth sport club, you are taught the actual sport. Skill over bling.
Luka is a generational talent he’s not some random joe. mvp of the second best league in the world at 18. 16 ppg is crazy in euro basket, plenty of ex nba players that can’t sniff 10 ppg
I mean, if we're just lumping Europe together, then the emergence of European stars was bound to happen as basketball becomes more global. Just look at the populations of Europe and the US. Maybe it's not all about the "American basketball is so soft now" narrative. More foreign stars just means that basketball has become more popular. It's a good thing.
The American players individually learn great defense if they apply themselves, the one-on-one situation just is what it is, and years of instincts apply themselves. But the overall game these days is also very individual in America, whereas in Europe that same idea of instincts over years applies to their team-oriented style and how the game is best played. Their best players produce a Bird, and ours produces a Lebron.
bird isnt european nor are there any good europeans that play like him, and 2 of the best european players luka and giannis play like bron/harden(luka) and shaq(giannis)
@@christopheb.6121 european players are not complete tho, jokic and luka cant defend, giannis and wemby are the only european players that are good at everything, and his analogy is dumb because lebron is a more complete player than bird
Its like US basketball is obsessed with creating players that would win 1on1 and less on the fact that its actually 5v5. Warriors were special as they didnt have a ball hog mentatlity and played as a team.
Its fundamentals over athleticism... simple as that. Thats why guys like luka and jokic are dominating the league. For some reason americans think as long as they are athletic, then they dont need to work on their game and fundamentals. High athleticism isnt nearing as important to the game as theyd want u to believe...
I fully believe Silver effectively made defense illegal primarily so LeBalco could keep posting his inflated stat line. Yeah, it's totally just LeBalco's SKILL that 39 year old LeBalco's stats are nominally equivalent to his 28-year old one's!
What nonsense are you even talking about lol. Shaq (hand-checking was pretty much a must against him during his prime), gather step (allowed way before Lebron entered the league), allowing carry's/palming (Iverson says hi), so on and so on. Oh and very key incidences kind of helped change the league going forward *(malice in the palace)* being a prime one, also the emergence of Steph Curry. Oh yeah it's just Kareem's SKILL that his old ass self was able to utilize an unstoppable move for his whole career, has Lebron dropped in mass? nope how about his speed (slowed down a bit but still a tank), shooting? Actually shoots better (especially from 3 than his younger self) An old Lebron adapting how dare he lol.
Tim Duncan and David Robinson played 4 seasons before the defensive 3 seconds rule was implimented. I´d put them a bit below Hakeem and Sampson but still very tough for the opponent.
It’s ironic how Luka is basically saying the NBA is soft when he embodies everything that makes it soft. He foul baits, constantly whines because he thinks he should get free throws every time he’s touched, and he usually doesn’t play defense
that's why he and Slovenia had lost to Croatia few days ago, and got crushed by Greece and Giannis an hour ago. He was whining and looking towards the refs, but they just waved him away
USA has become more individual and less fundamental. AAU and 1 and done positionless basketball. We have no centers or point guards. Mostly stretch 4s and shooting guards it's bad basketball.
Lots of these guys are groomed from an early age. I know Bronny is the worst example of this but a lot of the U.S. pipeline are players with connections to the league. It's no longer a meritocracy, it hasnt been for a while. Notice a lot of players don't have that dog in em, that's been bred out. Im not saying its a shoe in but all of these guys play on stacked AAU teams, go to the best prep schools, don't even have to perform well in their 1 year in college, they're almost guaranteed a lock to be drafted.
Man, i can't imagine what Drazen would do in today's NBA. That would be a a tear in the ahole. Well, tbh any player from 80s and 90s would be a superstar or a star today. Bit some were just built for today Drazen, Mark Price, Bird, Miller
Its because in europe they play basketball like we did in the 80s and 90s, now in america everyone wants to be the curry/harden/westbrook of their team.
@@hashbrown4278 Indeed. We just have superior talent aquisition and kid training facilities, with a lot of local team's facilities supported by the local governments. Sport is a social policy here. It's a luxury in the US.
@@hashbrown4278 Not on our level, nor with clubs being fully integrated with the youth training academies. There's a reason why we're producing with more regularity than any other countries some of the best players in football, rugby, basketball or handball every year in the world. There's a reason for why even amongst afro-american players, the share of NBA players coming from a poor background is lower than the percentage of poors in the US. Families have to invest in their kids, much more so than here.
Even since Bronny was drafted controversially, a lot of people have been joking that he will end up going overseas if he doesn't pan out in the NBA. I think that might actually benefit him, especially if he goes go to the EuroLeague given what we know about the way they operate. What about the college system? You covered the EuroLeague and the NBA, but maybe the college system also has a role in why basketball has become more individualistic and players are not as fundamentally sound as they once were. I could be wrong, but that's something to think about. I've always been against the one-and-done rule; I think that it should be a 2-and-done rule at best.
Bronny can't play for the Euroleague. If he averages 4 points in college , he won't make it half-court in EUroleague. Don't forget that Pat Bev was a bench rider for Olympiacos Maybe if he plays for China or something , i don't know how good their league is
People keep saying Luka is slow, but he has a 38-inch vertical leap, Kobe had a 38-inch vertical. Never met anyone with a 38-inch vert that was slow, and before you call Luka slow you need to go to a Mavs game and watch him live. I am telling you that you don't have to guard him you don't see the speed because you're at home. That dude is shifty AF and gets to the front of the rim quickly. I'm telling you... just because he's a Caucasian doesn't mean he's slow, he's athletic.
There always will be such thing as "average level". Here's the thing: NBA is the best and most profitable basketball league. But, it's still a domestic, not international league. So, that means, you have vast majority of average domestic players, but you don't have an average international players. Each one that comes to NBA from abroad is already outstanding athlete by definition. That's why you see so many mismatches, when your average domestic players facing players from Europe. You simply seeing top-tier athlete against an average one
@@urbaindelva7869 FOH w/ that BS. It was a non-contact injury. Nothing could've prevented his injuries. The point is refined, or even more skills doesn't automatically mean better. Sometimes pure unbridled freakish athletic ability transcends the sport and supercedes any skill level. Pre-injury Rose was so special he created so many unprecedent plays at such a breakneck speed, brutal power, and had as much hangtime as any player his size ever had to improvise on the fly, pun intended. Remember his double-pump pass to Noah ad he floated in midair? That's superskills only possible because of his athleticism. Rose was like the Mike Tyson or Bruce Lee of shorter NBA PGs. I used to say Rose was a better, next-level Westbrook but with a Brain and way more clutch control over games. Players were scared of Rose. Recently, Giannis was the undisputed best player on the planet using his freakish athletic ability even though he wasn't as skilled as others. The Best that Basketball ever gets is when the freakish 1% of it's athletes do things we've never or rarely seen. At it's purest Basketball is the one sport where the possibilities of athletic ability pushing the boundaries of human physicality can be realized. It's what allowed Jordan to take the Game global and captivated the imagination of so many people worldwide.
@@heirrose1606"Non contact injury" that nothing could prevent? Bro, you just showed that you don't know what you're talking about. His worst injury was the result of awful fundamentals. He was reckless. Completely out of control. On top of that he didn't even take the time to learn how to land from his jumps
@@TheJinjo75 You're lame af asking players to hold back their athleticism. He did it on a fundamental simple 2 footed jump stop. Tf are you talking about? Ja is reckless, Westbrook was reckless, but Rose was in control and balanced as he went 100mph. That's what made him different. Rose was like a cat on his landings and rarely fell off balance. Go back and do your homework because most of his awkward falls were a result of fouls or contact with Bigs.
@@heirrose1606 Did you even watched Bulls games back them? They constantly talked about his recklessness on those broadcasts. Rose in the Bulls was more like Iverson in the sixers. Almost exactly alike. Both of them shaved years from their prime thanks to their reckless style of playing. Is not holding back. Its protecting their body.
It's not just the rules but how the rules are enforced. For example, illegal screens. There are so many moving screens that aren't called these days even though the rules on setting screens hasn't changed. And don't get me started on the new interpretation on traveling.
NBA has made the game into straight entertainment. The neutered defense is also made worse by players not wanting to get on highlights reels while trying to make a play. Getting 'ankles broke' or 'posterised' is like kryptonite to these guys.They just say oh well next play.
Seventh Woods is even worse. There was a time early in their high school careers where there was a debate if he was better than Dennis Smith Jr. Dennis Smith flamed out in the NBA and Seventh Woods flamed out even sooner.
I agree with Gil on his assessment! The league is way softer than it was when it was at it's best in the 80-00's! There's no defense allowed in the NBA! The Europeans are more skilled not more talented or athletically gifted! American born players are more talented by far not even close the game here is just softer because of the lack of physicality allowed!
One day the coach is not going to listen to the GM period a player built like Karl Malone play light Rasheed Wallace aggressive like Rodman and Kevin Garnett and start punking everybody again and we're right back to Old NBA basketball
I think the defensive 3 second rule helps in increasing entertainment value of the sport by increasing attempts at the rim. If there is a 7 ft parked in the paint no one is going for a fancy layup/dunk. And let's be real, without entertainment aspect sport loses most of its value.
Energetic, persistent, coordinated defence is a thing of beauty and highly entertaining. But you damn well have to know the game to appreciate the beauty of D. D takes sustained effort. Silver, with his unravelling of the rules, has spared far too many of today's players of the need for that kind of intense effort.
@@douglasreid7330 With the 5 out modern offense I think the value of defense has surely gone up. And teams have started to recognise that. You can't send help anymore without giving up a good look to a decent shooter.I think nba defense is far more beautiful and physically taxing if executed properly..It's just that players think they can get those points back on the other than and put in less effort.
@@kishorhegde7218 agreed. When it is played. However, the space to be covered, the moving pucks with all the attending extra-curricular activities, and the refs have softened the league and the players.
Jokic and Giannis are pretty much the only players who have “taken over the NBA” these days. People always cite Doncic, but he is a wash, virtually a net zero in terms of impact because he cannot defend whatsoever, as proven by the Celtics exploiting him in the Finals. Don’t even mention Gobert- he is the most overrated piece of all time, if he dribbles once his FG% instantly drops like 25% or something ridiculous. He’s also overrated as a defender; the Mavs had no problem with him. The Wagner Bros utterly disappeared vs the Cavs; Banchero barely managed to keep them fighting. (Though Franz will be a fairly valuable player for sure.) If Wembanyama can improve his defensive awareness (he gets a lot of blocks off of length, but often looks lost defensively out there), he could be the next great European player, for sure. A unicorn like Giannis (different styles of course). But it isn’t like there aren’t just as many and as great American players. It’s really cool Europe has a few really big stars finally. Let’s not over blow it or give credit to lousy defenders (or in Gobert’s case, impotent scorers). Without putting them in any order, 3 of the NBA’s top 6 players are American and one is Canadian, 2 are European. If you look at the top 20, the ratio of Americans increases exponentially.
thats why i say ray allen was better than curry. the defense in currys era was way worst. allen had to shoot mostly close guarded shots. curry just increased his range because defender are not on you way behind the arc
people overreacting . its cool to watch top players being european but USA has way way deeper roster . sure luka giannis , wemby and joker are in top 10 and after that you got Porzingis , rudy , lauri , sabonis and then nothing ... (ok maybe Vucevic but thats where it ends ) if u look at that list they almost all centers (except for luka - whos still rly big for a guard ) my point is the list of good USA players is way way way deeper . (im european , im not saying that to downplay anyone just stating my opinion)
Maybe they softend the rules for europeans, but they lowered under the european standards, so of course over 25 years the europeans players are stronger. But NBA takes the Top-Talents and players from europe, BUT all talent from the USA
I find the NBA a bit boring to watch - its trying to be all glitz and glamour instead of a sport. Feels like watching WWF vs Boxing (boxing has some showmanship, but if your all show you are KO'd in 1 round). Also looks like its hard for ppl to break into bBAll in the US if they are not already a great player aged 13.
