Robert Horry speaks out on his displeasure for AAU Basketball

 AAU is just a hype machine that builds stars out of Amateur basketball players for the NCAA, The shoe companie and the NBA to exploit plus they never teach the kids how to actually play fundamentally sound basketball. Steph Curry never played AAU. te best hooter in he NBA

 AAU is just a hype machine that builds stars out of Amateur basketball players for the NCAA, The shoe companie and the NBA to exploit plus they never teach the kids how to actually play fundamentally sound basketball. Steph Curry never played AAU. te best hooter in he NBA

How the game played in AAU is already covered and it makes it hard for the game to be taught in HS by coaches because all the glory is in AAU, so why would a kid listen to his HS coach when he knows his chance at a scholarship is going to come from AAU related play. Almost all D 1 scholarships come from the results of AAU play. Remember how remarkable the draft announcers were that Otto Porter Jr didn’t play AAU.  

 I think the AAU system of traveling basketball is one of the most corrupt and exploitive institutions we have. I have coached HS and AAU and I was ashamed at some of the actions and scenario’s that exist. The higher levels are more about money, noteriety and athlete influence. Colleges and companies, basically shoe companies, will "aid" anyone who yeilds influence over a kid to steer them in college choice. For example, rarely does a player from a Nike sponsered AAU team go to a college sponsered by another shoe company. It was bold and revolutionary when Lebron left an Addidas sponsered HS and AAU team to sign with Nike. It cost him and Addidas a lot. A former AAU coach is the one who blew the whistle on him for those throwback jersey’s that cost him a chance at a state championship game, just for flirting with Nike and leaving his Addidas AAU sponsered  team for another Addidas sponsered team. The kids are not the most important thing in the AAU scenario at all. 

Playing on different teams a kid can play 10 games a weekend, I would think that to much and stresses the body. It also means that kids play organized basketball from November to March in HS and from April/May to July/August in AAU. 

Kids get recruited and dumped all the time to, a kid could travel three states and get 4 minutes of playing time. 

In defense of AAU, it is the summer and summer vacation. Why do these kids need instruction they should just be free to play however they want which is what AAU basketball lots like, fast break dunks, TO’s, one on ones and pull up 3’s off the dribble. 

Best vs best. HS coaches don’t like losses and don’t have the budgets to put the best talent vs the best talent. D 1 prospects should have never played against me in HS, me guarding Jawad Williams was a waste of everybodies time. 

How the game played in AAU is already covered and it makes it hard for the game to be taught in HS by coaches because all the glory is in AAU, so why would a kid listen to his HS coach when he knows his chance at a scholarship is going to come from AAU related play. Almost all D 1 scholarships come from the results of AAU play. Remember how remarkable the draft announcers were that Otto Porter Jr didn’t play AAU.  

 I think the AAU system of traveling basketball is one of the most corrupt and exploitive institutions we have. I have coached HS and AAU and I was ashamed at some of the actions and scenario’s that exist. The higher levels are more about money, noteriety and athlete influence. Colleges and companies, basically shoe companies, will "aid" anyone who yeilds influence over a kid to steer them in college choice. For example, rarely does a player from a Nike sponsered AAU team go to a college sponsered by another shoe company. It was bold and revolutionary when Lebron left an Addidas sponsered HS and AAU team to sign with Nike. It cost him and Addidas a lot. A former AAU coach is the one who blew the whistle on him for those throwback jersey’s that cost him a chance at a state championship game, just for flirting with Nike and leaving his Addidas AAU sponsered  team for another Addidas sponsered team. The kids are not the most important thing in the AAU scenario at all. 

Playing on different teams a kid can play 10 games a weekend, I would think that to much and stresses the body. It also means that kids play organized basketball from November to March in HS and from April/May to July/August in AAU. 

Kids get recruited and dumped all the time to, a kid could travel three states and get 4 minutes of playing time. 

In defense of AAU, it is the summer and summer vacation. Why do these kids need instruction they should just be free to play however they want which is what AAU basketball lots like, fast break dunks, TO’s, one on ones and pull up 3’s off the dribble. 

Best vs best. HS coaches don’t like losses and don’t have the budgets to put the best talent vs the best talent. D 1 prospects should have never played against me in HS, me guarding Jawad Williams was a waste of everybodies time. 

I can’t speak for AAU at the highest levels. I played with a school team for a few years and we almost always went against teams with players made up from at least 6-8 different schools. We got together basically because of how much politics played a part of teams in our town. A lot of us were not playing or getting very few minutes during our 6th grade year so one of the parents decided to start up a team. In our situation is was great for us because we got court time/more experience and played against better talent so that helped us improve. 

The next school year I think maybe one person from the 6th grade team stayed in the starting lineup. Our AAU team filled in the rest of the starting lineup and basically all of the playing bench spots except one. By the end of 8th grade we lost only 2 or 3 games and Freshman year we started off 16-0 despite basically having a 6 man roster because of a few guys transferring. We kept improving, but I believe we stopped having an AAU team after freshman year of highschool because it would have been an absolute waste of time playing against rosters full of NBA and D1 prospects. It was bad enough we were only drawing talent from one school. Playing against the super teams wasn’t going to help us and it wasn’t going to help the super teams. If anything it probably hurt the really good teams by inflating how good they think they are and making them think they could get away with a lot more than they could.

From what I have heard and know, it can definitely be corrupt. As far as coaching goes, I know for a fact I have had some of the worst coaching possible throughout various sports, so to be honest I’m not sure a lot of these American players get decent coaching until college if they make it that far. From what I am getting AAU seems like more of a feeder system for the shoe companies, coaches/people that hang on and some of these universities that hire them. I think basketball and other sports in this country would improve greatly if it was set up more like what they have with the academies in Europe, but it is going to be hard for that to happen because so many people are raking in money off the current system.

I can’t speak for AAU at the highest levels. I played with a school team for a few years and we almost always went against teams with players made up from at least 6-8 different schools. We got together basically because of how much politics played a part of teams in our town. A lot of us were not playing or getting very few minutes during our 6th grade year so one of the parents decided to start up a team. In our situation is was great for us because we got court time/more experience and played against better talent so that helped us improve. 

The next school year I think maybe one person from the 6th grade team stayed in the starting lineup. Our AAU team filled in the rest of the starting lineup and basically all of the playing bench spots except one. By the end of 8th grade we lost only 2 or 3 games and Freshman year we started off 16-0 despite basically having a 6 man roster because of a few guys transferring. We kept improving, but I believe we stopped having an AAU team after freshman year of highschool because it would have been an absolute waste of time playing against rosters full of NBA and D1 prospects. It was bad enough we were only drawing talent from one school. Playing against the super teams wasn’t going to help us and it wasn’t going to help the super teams. If anything it probably hurt the really good teams by inflating how good they think they are and making them think they could get away with a lot more than they could.

From what I have heard and know, it can definitely be corrupt. As far as coaching goes, I know for a fact I have had some of the worst coaching possible throughout various sports, so to be honest I’m not sure a lot of these American players get decent coaching until college if they make it that far. From what I am getting AAU seems like more of a feeder system for the shoe companies, coaches/people that hang on and some of these universities that hire them. I think basketball and other sports in this country would improve greatly if it was set up more like what they have with the academies in Europe, but it is going to be hard for that to happen because so many people are raking in money off the current system.

 I completely agree with the assessment that AAU basketball stunts kids basketball growth.  The one thing that drives me absolutely crazy and I don’t know how much of it is the AAU’s fault but kids coming into college that have no jumpshot whatsoever.  I’m all about the elite athleticism, the guys with 40 plus inch verticals who can run and jump like elite track stars, but you cannot get away with just doing that at the college and NBA level.  The number of guys who come into college with absolutely no idea how to properly shoot a basketball is astounding.  Michael Kidd-Gilchrist has one of the ugliest jump shots in the history of basketball.  He never had to shoot outside in high school obviously because he much more physically gifted than guys he was playing against.  Now he is in the NBA and is just an embarrassing jump shooter.  Not even Mark Price can fiz that form.  One other guy who is a perfect example of this failure is JP Tokoto.  Elite run and jump athlete who never had to develop a shot.  He gets to Carolina and shoots 3-15 from the line in an embarrassing loss to Belmont at home.  I don’t know if you can fully blame AAU for lack of fundamental basketball skills such as shooting, but they definitely don’t help matters any.  

 I completely agree with the assessment that AAU basketball stunts kids basketball growth.  The one thing that drives me absolutely crazy and I don’t know how much of it is the AAU’s fault but kids coming into college that have no jumpshot whatsoever.  I’m all about the elite athleticism, the guys with 40 plus inch verticals who can run and jump like elite track stars, but you cannot get away with just doing that at the college and NBA level.  The number of guys who come into college with absolutely no idea how to properly shoot a basketball is astounding.  Michael Kidd-Gilchrist has one of the ugliest jump shots in the history of basketball.  He never had to shoot outside in high school obviously because he much more physically gifted than guys he was playing against.  Now he is in the NBA and is just an embarrassing jump shooter.  Not even Mark Price can fiz that form.  One other guy who is a perfect example of this failure is JP Tokoto.  Elite run and jump athlete who never had to develop a shot.  He gets to Carolina and shoots 3-15 from the line in an embarrassing loss to Belmont at home.  I don’t know if you can fully blame AAU for lack of fundamental basketball skills such as shooting, but they definitely don’t help matters any.  

 AAU is all based off what the kids can do for the companies and not so much developing kids. I know the Harrisobs twins father was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by under armoire for their AAu program. Only to steer them towards Maryland. I coach AAU and the higher u get in talent the less they develop. Most major teams don’t practice but once a month because most kids don’t live anywhere near each other or even in the same state. But with that being said u can’t buy that type of exposure. If u wanna your kids to place against the best or get a scholly u almost have to play AAU. I think they’re doing better with development with all the camps they have now those really help the kids but only the best of the best get invited to those 

 AAU is all based off what the kids can do for the companies and not so much developing kids. I know the Harrisobs twins father was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by under armoire for their AAu program. Only to steer them towards Maryland. I coach AAU and the higher u get in talent the less they develop. Most major teams don’t practice but once a month because most kids don’t live anywhere near each other or even in the same state. But with that being said u can’t buy that type of exposure. If u wanna your kids to place against the best or get a scholly u almost have to play AAU. I think they’re doing better with development with all the camps they have now those really help the kids but only the best of the best get invited to those 

 Its funny…The Australian system is pretty much the opposite. Basically there isnt much School related ball, what there is is ‘Rep Basketball’ and ‘State Squads’. For instance i grew up playing ball for the local rep team which is [similarly to europe] affilliated with a pro [NBL] team. Basketball is much more team orientated however the athleticism is nowhere near that of America. The major advantage of AAU ball from what i see is that ‘talented’ or standout players are more clearly identified for development. Very often talented players in Australia are not given the oppurtunity to shine.

 Its funny…The Australian system is pretty much the opposite. Basically there isnt much School related ball, what there is is ‘Rep Basketball’ and ‘State Squads’. For instance i grew up playing ball for the local rep team which is [similarly to europe] affilliated with a pro [NBL] team. Basketball is much more team orientated however the athleticism is nowhere near that of America. The major advantage of AAU ball from what i see is that ‘talented’ or standout players are more clearly identified for development. Very often talented players in Australia are not given the oppurtunity to shine.

I can only speak from my personal experience, and that was in the late 1990’s when things were a lot different, but I can’t really say I learned anything from AAU basketball.

It was "cool" to go to AAU tournaments, and say you were an AAU player, and although I didn’t pick up any bad habits, I can’t honestly say it advanced my skill as a player, other than maybe getting exposed to higher levels of talent that weren’t present in my high school’s league and region.

I think AAU can be a factor in the high school equation, but so should coaching camps, and I think it can be a bad environment for players who may play for a shady coach, or elite players that can pick up bad habits, especially a lack of defensive effort, and poor shot selection.

I can only speak from my personal experience, and that was in the late 1990’s when things were a lot different, but I can’t really say I learned anything from AAU basketball.

It was "cool" to go to AAU tournaments, and say you were an AAU player, and although I didn’t pick up any bad habits, I can’t honestly say it advanced my skill as a player, other than maybe getting exposed to higher levels of talent that weren’t present in my high school’s league and region.

I think AAU can be a factor in the high school equation, but so should coaching camps, and I think it can be a bad environment for players who may play for a shady coach, or elite players that can pick up bad habits, especially a lack of defensive effort, and poor shot selection.