TailOverTeaKettle.com

There’s really no excuse for the Atlanta Hawks. The franchise is in ruins… the ownership battles even needed a judge to settle the issues. Over the last couple of years they traded away anyone who had any value for little or nothing in return, except for mythical “cap space”… only to realize that they could not really sign any marquee players willing to wade into such a mess.

But there was an interesting article in today’s AJC: NBA’s youth movement a painful adjustment. Basically it’s a story that tells about what the NBA had become… a place where kids, unschooled about the game of basketball, now have to learn their craft. It’s symptomatic of the things that have ruined the NBA — the players don’t know how to play anymore. Of course LeBron James has a ton of talent… but every time one of these high-school players or college freshmen are drafted, it means that the league suffers just a little bit more.

On the Hawks’ practice court at Philips Arena on a given day you could find a college basketball coach’s dream. Josh Smith guarding Marvin Williams on one block. Esteban Batista and John Edwards trade elbows on the other. Salim Stoudamire and Royal Ivey guarding each other at the top of the key, all in a half-court scrimmage that Hawks coach Mike Woodson uses to teach his youngsters the nuances of the passing game and spacing.

Ten years ago drills like these would have been an anomaly at an NBA practice. There was no need for such trivial pursuits since most, if not all, of the players in the league had several years in college programs where the fundamentals of the game were as routine as baggy shorts and black socks.

But that was when the NBA truly was a player’s league, where only the best of the best made it. Since Kevin Garnett did something very few before him did — go directly from high school to the NBA in 1995, rosters have gotten younger and younger.

During that same span the league has gone from the polished product that mesmerized the globe during the golden era of Magic, Bird and Jordan to what is on display now, a league where teaching and player development is far more prevalent than ever before.

Is it any wonder that USA Basketball doesn’t really have a “Dream Team” anymore?

Anyone watching the NBA’s so-called “All Star” game a few weeks back could see that the players are much more interested in seeing their dunk highlight replays that playing basketball.