Should American high school big men consider Europe?

90sgoat · Post #1 » by **90sgoat** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 9:10 pm

Jokic, Porzingis, Zubac, Nurkic, there is no shortage of hyper-talented European bigs, but American centers, in particular white American centers usually turn out to be nothing but screen and defend guys (Zeller brothers).

Should (white) American centers consider going to Europe for 2-3 years instead of college to learn what they can learn their big men there but not in US?

Post #2 » by **penbeast0** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 9:24 pm

Interesting idea. I don't know enough to comment but I'd like to hear from people who know the Euroleagues about it (I'm going to put the topic on the Euro board as well as here since they would be the experts).

HeartBreakKid · Post #3 » by **HeartBreakKid** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 9:41 pm

What does being white have to do with anything?

There are plenty of good centers who come from America, I don't get this at all. The best center in basketball is American...

DoubleO8 · Post #4 » by **DoubleO8** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 9:44 pm

Nah dude it's too late by then imo. Most of those guys you named have been working on the fundamentals from a very young age. It's really messed up the way we develop players in the states.

Mickey8 · Post #5 » by **Mickey8** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 9:50 pm

There are plenty of white American players playing in the European leagues, they are solid but nothing special. Kaleb Tarczewski of Arizona just signed with Armani Milano.

sp6r=underrated · Post #6 » by **sp6r=underrated** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 9:50 pm

HeartBreakKid wrote:What does being white have to do with anything?

There are plenty of good centers who come from America, I don't get this at all. The best center in basketball is American...

I'll admit I've always wondered why such a high percentage of White players in the NBA are foreign.

HeartBreakKid · Post #7 » by **HeartBreakKid** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 9:51 pm

sp6r=underrated wrote:
HeartBreakKid wrote:What does being white have to do with anything?

There are plenty of good centers who come from America, I don't get this at all. The best center in basketball is American...

I'll admit I've always wondered why such a high percentage of White players in the NBA are foreign.

Because Europe produces a lot of good basketball players, and most people in Europe are white. It's not rocket science, it's not like there aren't good black players who come from Europe either.

sp6r=underrated · Post #8 » by **sp6r=underrated** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 9:59 pm

HeartBreakKid wrote:Because Europe produces a lot of good basketball players, and most people in Europe are white. It's not rocket science, it's not like there aren't good black players who come from Europe either.

"Entering the 2015-16 season, the NBA had 42 white American-born players."

https://theundefeated.com/features/white-american-nba-players/

To be clear, I don't think there is an conspiracy keep white americans out of the league. But the ratio of black-americans to black-foreigners is very different than the ratio of white americans to white foreigners. It is interesting if you find demographics interesting.

eminence · Post #9 » by **eminence** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 9:59 pm

HeartBreakKid wrote:What does being white have to do with anything?

There are plenty of good centers who come from America, I don't get this at all. The best center in basketball is American...

*French

90sgoat · Post #10 » by **90sgoat** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 10:00 pm

HeartBreakKid wrote:
sp6r=underrated wrote:
HeartBreakKid wrote:What does being white have to do with anything?

There are plenty of good centers who come from America, I don't get this at all. The best center in basketball is American...

I'll admit I've always wondered why such a high percentage of White players in the NBA are foreign.

Because Europe produces a lot of good basketball players, and most people in Europe are white. It's not rocket science, it's not like there aren't good black players who come from Europe either.

No, it is because American basketball with AAU as main culprit has become increasingly focused on athleticism alone, while European basketball is still mainly focused on skill from a young age and because of that few white Americans get enough skill training to compensate for lesser athleticism in general.

HeartBreakKid · Post #11 » by **HeartBreakKid** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 10:01 pm

90sgoat wrote:
HeartBreakKid wrote:
sp6r=underrated wrote:
I'll admit I've always wondered why such a high percentage of White players in the NBA are foreign.

Because Europe produces a lot of good basketball players, and most people in Europe are white. It's not rocket science, it's not like there aren't good black players who come from Europe either.

No, it is because American basketball with AAU as main culprit has become increasingly focused on athleticism alone, while European basketball is still mainly focused on skill from a young age and because of that few white Americans get enough skill training to compensate for lesser athleticism in general.

Take an anthropology class for Christ sake.

Sent from my iPhone using RealGM mobile app

sp6r=underrated · Post #12 » by **sp6r=underrated** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 10:03 pm

HeartBreakKid wrote:
90sgoat wrote:
HeartBreakKid wrote:
Because Europe produces a lot of good basketball players, and most people in Europe are white. It's not rocket science, it's not like there aren't good black players who come from Europe either.

No, it is because American basketball with AAU as main culprit has become increasingly focused on athleticism alone, while European basketball is still mainly focused on skill from a young age and because of that few white Americans get enough skill training to compensate for lesser athleticism in general.

Take an anthropology class for Christ sake.

Sent from my iPhone using RealGM mobile app

You seem genuinely annoyed.

90sgoat · Post #13 » by **90sgoat** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 10:03 pm

sp6r=underrated wrote:
HeartBreakKid wrote:Because Europe produces a lot of good basketball players, and most people in Europe are white. It's not rocket science, it's not like there aren't good black players who come from Europe either.

"Entering the 2015-16 season, the NBA had 42 white American-born players."

https://theundefeated.com/features/white-american-nba-players/

To be clear, I don't think there is an conspiracy keep white americans out of the league. But the ratio of black-americans to black-foreigners is very different than the ratio of white americans to white foreigners. It is interesting if you find demographics interesting.

There's been anti-white sentiment in the NBA since the 70s, even Maravich talked about it and you'll find plenty of guys on record talking about "white boy" Bird and despite him being white that he could play and so on. In the past, teams were ran by coaches so this kind of bias didn't translate, but players run the game today, so there is more bias.

Just my perception, for the record I think it's normal to have such idiosyncratic thinking, but that's why a coach and management is needed. Likewise you see it in Europe in football, north and south Europe have a lot of bias towards each other.

sp6r=underrated · Post #14 » by **sp6r=underrated** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 10:05 pm

90sgoat wrote:
There's been anti-white sentiment in the NBA since the 70s

if there was this massive anti-white Sentiment the recruitment of white europeans never would have happened.

DoubleO8 · Post #15 » by **DoubleO8** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 10:10 pm

sp6r=underrated wrote:
HeartBreakKid wrote:What does being white have to do with anything?

There are plenty of good centers who come from America, I don't get this at all. The best center in basketball is American...

I'll admit I've always wondered why such a high percentage of White players in the NBA are foreign.

Hockey Lacrosse baseball

90sgoat · Post #16 » by **90sgoat** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 10:13 pm

sp6r=underrated wrote:
90sgoat wrote:
There's been anti-white sentiment in the NBA since the 70s

if there was this massive anti-white Sentiment the recruitment of white europeans never would have happened.

Euro's are not part of American racial politics.

Xherdan 23 · Post #17 » by **Xherdan 23** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 10:21 pm

Absolutely not.
18 year old kids won't get playing time in Europe at good teams.
They need to play people their age and size.
Sometimes it seems like Americans really underestimate pro basketball outside of US. I mean, none of the players in Europe is Lebron, but they are still grown men with skill and experience.
In the few times players tried going to Europe instead of NCAA it ended badly. Brandon Jennings didn't get enough playing time and looked really raw when he did play. I don't think that year helped him get better as a player and it certainly didn't help his draft stock.
Remember a guy named Jeremy Tyler? He was the #1 prospect for the 2010 class. He was so good that he decided to go pro at what should have been his high school senior year.
The guy went to Maccabi Haifa, a below average team in the Israeli league, got bullied by really bad players for two years and was drafted in the second round in 2011.
Trying to learn the fundamentals at age 18 in a foreign country on a team that's trying to win now and doesn't consider you a piece for the future is not a good idea. Stay in school.

90sgoat · Post #18 » by **90sgoat** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 11:29 pm

Another thing is I think centers in US could benefit from playing soccer as youth. All Euros play soccer as kids and soccer is all about footwork.

90sgoat · Post #19 » by **90sgoat** » Wed Mar 15, 2017 5:09 pm

sp6r=underrated wrote:
90sgoat wrote:
There's been anti-white sentiment in the NBA since the 70s

if there was this massive anti-white Sentiment the recruitment of white europeans never would have happened.

Parsons: Being white in the NBA, there are a lot of stereotypes. It’s almost like a joking thing among guys in the league about the stereotypes, whether it’s music or food or the way we dress. It’s just stereotypes that are kind of like an ongoing thing that goes on in the NBA …

There’s stuff where people call me, ‘white boy,’ or things like that. Same thing with stereotypes. Obviously, I’m a shooter because I’m white or I’m slow and less athletic because I’m white. But not hate. When I dunk on somebody, it’ll be like, ‘Oh, Chandler Parsons is deceptively athletic.’ Why wouldn’t I just be athletic?”

https://theundefeated.com/features/white-american-nba-players/

sp6r=underrated · Post #20 » by **sp6r=underrated** » Wed Mar 15, 2017 5:14 pm

DoubleO8 wrote:
sp6r=underrated wrote:
HeartBreakKid wrote:What does being white have to do with anything?

There are plenty of good centers who come from America, I don't get this at all. The best center in basketball is American...

I'll admit I've always wondered why such a high percentage of White players in the NBA are foreign.

Hockey Lacrosse baseball

this seems like the most plausible explanation.