Kobe: European players 'more skillful' and it's AAU ball's fault
One of the things that has made Kobe Bryant more likable as he's aged is his outspokenness, and on Friday, he didn't hesitate to offer his opinion on the difference between European and North American basketball players.
"I just think European players are way more skillful," he told media in something of a diatribe following the Los Angeles Lakers' 109-106 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. " ... We have to teach our kids to play the right way."
Kobe cited Pau and Marc Gasol and why "90% of the Spurs roster is European players." Called it "a big problem" AAU teams don't teach skill.
— KEVIN DING (@KevinDing) January 3, 2015
When asked where the shortcoming was in the American developmental system, Bryant set his sights on AAU teams, which now at least help develop the vast majority of NBAers.
"Horrible, terrible AAU basketball. It's stupid," he said, as relayed by Arash Markazi of ESPN. "It doesn't teach our kids how to play the game at all so you wind up having players that are big and they bring it up and they do all this fancy crap and they don't know how to post. They don't know the fundamentals of the game. It's stupid."
Bryant, of course, while born in the U.S., spent a chunk of his formative years in Italy while his father played basketball there.
He went on to further criticize AAU culture, which many believe is solely driven by the goal of profiting off the raw talent of youngsters.
"Teach players the game at an early age and stop treating them like cash cows for everyone to profit off of," Bryant said.