Trust. Lou had the most confidence and swag. Featured a bevy of future Ohio State players. How young is too young? The Best High School AAU Team. ): 14.6%, Nike EYBL The NBA has six academies overseas, in China, India, Australia, and Senegal. HM: 73% (27/37) We don't get much serious conversation. Well-rounded programs also include Sports Psychology training. So the car can't handle the stress that its engine puts upon it -- all akin to placing Ferrari's top racing motor inside a hybrid while making no adjustments to the car's frame. Porters parents instilled in him a ferocious work ethic and a devotion to the fundamentals. Through dozens of interviews over the past two years with NBA team and league officials, current and former players, AAU coaches, parents, youth players, researchers, medical and athletic training officials in and around the NBA, as well as those intimately involved with youth basketball, one possible answer repeatedly emerged: Players, they say, are physically broken down by the time they reach the NBA. And Illinois Warriors with me and Darius Miles, Yao dunk Darius. 6. Says Clark, "All the specialization is helping the player become more skillful and more powerful and more athletic, but at the same time they're not working on the things that prevent injuries and help them recover. Went on to play for multiple NBA teams. Lets have some love for the ROC, What about the Super Friends out of Detroit.Chris Webber. Running around my school and doing different things like that to stay in top shape so I could compete at a high level. In 2013, Porter told USA Today that hes definitely glad to have not played AAU.. Randolph Morris - Kentucky, NBA. ", NBA commissioner Adam Silver is standing before a lectern prior to Game 1 of the 2017 NBA Finals between the Warriors and Cavaliers. Our team identified the current landscape of the NBA, breaking down each roster and where each individual professional played their AAU/grassroots basketball. Morant thrived in obscurity until just a few weeks . As 15 year olds, Lil Wayne and Young Money would hang around their practices at Pace Academy off West Paces Ferry, along with NBA scouts vetting Lou. Through STACK, youll find the explosive workouts, conditioning and full-body strength training you need to get bigger, faster and stronger on the lacrosse field. AAU doesnt mean jack. A better article would have been which players received the best swag [gifts & $$$] to play on these teams. I don't know what can be done.". (AAU) guys spend most of their time traveling, when they can be working on their game. Donte Greene Syracuse, NBA Back in the players' lounge, DiFrancesco studies the replay again and again, stopping, rewinding and playing again. Team Cant touch this was tough. koreleone Young Was still a 5 star recruit in the top 15. Eric Barkley also played significant minutes as the distributor. Back then we had: Jordan Clarkson- NBA P2P: 0.6% 1/159, 3SSB Next Bill Russell. "That was it," he says. As far as star power while still in high school, I dare put many teams from New York ahead of them. & Ind. That requires me to play a lot of the four (power forward). They also found that those who had begun specializing in tennis at a young age were 1.5 times more likely to report an injury than those who hadn't specialized. He played college basketball for the Duke Blue Devils and was drafted by the Detroit Pistons with the 12th pick in the 2017 NBA draft . Here are some of the most notable AAU basketball alumni: Kobe Bryant (New Jersey Patterson) Kevin Love (So-Cal All-Stars) LeBron James (Oakland Soldiers) Kevin Garnett (Farragut Academy) Kevin Durant (DC Blue Devils) We had a team for every age group at AAU AND YBOA NATL tournaments. Otto Porter Jr. didnt play AAU basketball. STAPLES CENTER FALLS graveyard silent and still, a sellout crowd staring at the rookie beneath the basket, surrounded by medical personnel. It's impossible to enforce. There was no other guard in the country as persistent as Tariq. About 125%. Coming Friday: part two of our two-part series on youth basketball and how its cycle of constant competition threatens the NBA. The exception to this rule are usually international players who did not grow up in the United States. Randy Livingston played on that team. Keith Bogans - Kentucky, NBA. There are currently only 500 players in the NBA/on two-way contracts. Riverside Church 1987 Kenny Anderson was a magician as he fed Malik Sealy, Adrain Autry, and Brian Reese. was a perfect place to break through that Rookie & Begginer barrier . Wayne),Joe and Jon Ross, Elliott Hatcher, Steve Mozingo, Matt Waddell, Troy Terrill, LaSalle Thompson, Linc Darner, Ryan Greenwood, Brian Evans and Kyle Kenworthy. That type of thing happened a lot and while these teams (when everyone was there) might have been the best collection of talent, its hard to say they were the best teams. But it's not as if Jordan was a relentless baller all year long. Juan Dixon- Maryland, NBA The team that I was apart of finished 2nd in the nation in 95 & we lost in double ot. Reece Cheatham: back up point guard that was a freak athlete. A separate 2016 study from Bell and his team found that 36% of high school athletes classified as highly specialized, training in one sport for more than eight months a year -- and that those athletes were two to three times more likely to suffer a hip or knee injury. ", Clark calls it "the performance paradox. Dee Brown 6- Illinois NBA Picking the right AAU/grassroots program is important. 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Playing mostly in 17u tournys and winning trophys with The Lou Williams show leading the way, Box-&-1 and even Triangle-&-2 were not options, as it only made things worse for their opponents. Still, he will go down as the last HS player to ever be drafted when the Sixers took a chance on him at age 18 with the 45th pick in the 2005 NBA Draft. ADAM SILVER IS quick to note that what orthopedics and other medical professionals have informed him regarding injuries and youth basketball remains largely anecdotal. The Clique, led by the greatest coach in the state Mr. O.J. Below is a look at the AAU summer event schedule, highlighted by the AAU Super Showcase July 8-11 in Orlando. Others would try their hand at the Kareem skyhook or the Dirk one-legged jumper. This included Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Kevin Durant, and many others. Eric Barkley - St Johns, NBA . Savvy article . Whaley and White could come close to stopping Curry. The contact page on your site sends you these messages to your email account which is the reason you are reading through my message at this moment correct? Spiece Indy Heat Gym Rats 04. What about the Atlanta Celtics team with Ronald Blackshear,Jermaine Jones,Donnell Harvey an I forget the others.I think they had another NBA player on the squad.Blackshear played overseas for years after getting cut by the Knicks.Jones played for years in the NBA an Harvey was also a lottery pic.That team won a ton of games an championships an was one of the Celtics best teams ever! Once youve built up your conditioning, check out some of our advanced volleyball drills and mental techniques. At STACK, youll not only get football-specific conditioning workouts, youll also find strength and power workouts from pros. players won mvp and to 10 honors in every summer camp they entered. SEAN HIGGINS-MICH./SAN, NJ Beat west side St.Meltired from girls and camp. IN 1984, AT the age of 21, Jordan joined the Bulls after spending three years in college, typical of players at that time. A lot of these rosters can be hard to find. Fags still weird! The facility also hosted Klutch Sports' Pro Day for. I believe he played for two Raleigh Stars and a Charlotte team. And a bench full of high D1 players. Gauchos Team with Steph Marbury, Felipe Lopez, Gary Saunders was no joke too. Every one played at the college level! Although, in the end, not many would go onto the NBA, at that time, and still, they were something of legend. You're like, 'How can a kid jump 38 inches when they can't even stand on one leg?'". I feel like the 2006 D-1 Greyhounds out of Cincinnati should be on this list. Could count the number of games they lost in 2 years on one hand. It is so taxing that when discussing today's youth basketball culture, Elliott calls some of the players who emerge from it "survivors." Taurean Waller-Prince- NBA, Johnathan Holmes- Univ of Texas Prospects begin playing year-round on a professional club team during their high school years in an effort to get noticed by scouts. There, players who played more than four matches -- often at least one per day over a span of four consecutive days -- were more than twice as likely to pull out of the tournament before their fifth match for medical reasons than those who didn't advance that far. Aaron Pogue: 69 bruiser that played D1 bball at Cleveland State. Do not know if anyone pointed this out, but the Glover brothers were every bit as good if not better then the names mentioned. For more lacrosse training, nutrition and gear advice from the nations top coaches and players, see our lacrosse training videos. Playing Up 2 grades with this team . Barely lost that summer. 2001-2005- Raleighs Finest was one of the more dominant AAU teams in the Country. Randle's leg simply snapped. Mike King- George Washington, Europe High Flying Three point shooter Tony Scott( Syracuse U) and. Shawn kemp kentucky , nba , McDonalds all American In the meantime, what might Silver say to a parent who believes that less isn't more -- that less basketball and more playing of other sports might hinder their child's chances of reaching the NBA or WNBA? Led by number one center Greg Oden, this Indiana team was easily the best team ever assembled in the Midwest. ", "Keep in mind," he adds, "I grew up playing, like, no games. 15.2% (76/500), % of Nike Circuit era players (grad 2011 or later) Men against boys till acl injuries. The strenuous work, mental fatigue, and overall culture of this kind of league take away from the sport that its players love and cherish. Here's are some examples: Steve Kerr: "Even if today's players are incredibly gifted, they grow up in a basketball environment that can only be called counterproductive. [deleted] 3 yr. ago. The seventh question, at first, sounds boilerplate: It focuses on the NBA's newly branded G League and whether Silver believes it might become a pipeline for NBA hopefuls to skip college. Hes not about stats, Wizards head coach Scott Brooks said of Porter at a press conference announcing the deal. This week we dive into what a pro athletes eat. The team also featured man amongst boys in high school Tim Thomas. "I'd like to think I'd be able to figure something out, but the reality is, I'd have to figure something out, because I put so much on my body.". Mitch Johnson - Stanford.Best team ever assembled in the great basketball state of Washington. And that issue would become among the highest priorities for two leading sports medicine organizations -- the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine, which held a research summit on this topic with leaders from around the country; and the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine. In Part 2 of this two-part series, ESPN reveals how doctors, trainers and surgeons are being forced to rebuild the world's best young basketball players. He can score more and I get that and I appreciate it, but hes willing to sacrifice his own game for the betterment of the team.. Most players have been playing basketball for a while and use the program to acquire an experience from an elite level of competition that they won't get in their community. That makes the 24-year-old Washington Wizards forward something of an anomaly in todays NBA. Bryant estimates he played in maybe five tournaments in all, plus a handful of high school all-star games. John Wallace (Syracuse U- Toronto, Knicks and Miami Heat) as well as. I've seen ACL tears in 11-year-olds. What we're seeing is a rash of injuries among young players. He was the first modern NBA player to be as impactful off the court as he was on the court. Later, at NBA pre-draft combines and individual workouts, he evaluated high-level college players who consistently couldn't perform basic movements, such as squats, lunges or balancing on one leg. Doug meekins washington But his father, Otto Porter Sr., believed it would be better for his sons development to train and play in their hometown. I would also point out that before 1980, AAU (and BCI) teams traditionally were made up of one all star team from each region and they all practiced all summer. Eric Gordon - Indiana, NBA. After factoring out foreign talent, that left 305 NBA players that fit that description. 1996 Riverside Church NYC - Ron Artest- St Johns, NBA. 1994 New Jersey Patterson AAU - Kobe Bryant - NBA. Demar Johnson and James White were high wire acts that engulfed crowds across America. Pacers/Ft. Come back daily for basketball training videos and drills from some of the nations top basketball programs and advice from professional coaches and trainers. For more details, please see our, Copyright 2023 STACK Powered by Stack Sports. (His mother is a former basketball player.) Id definitely have to agree with the GA Stars team with Louis Williams, among many others. LERON ELLIS-KEN./LAC Shaqquan Aaron - Louisville. As ridiculous as it sounds, professional basketball player for the Boston Celtics, Jaylen Brown was once at risk of not making the NBA draft because he was considered "too smart.". Won every major AAU Event (super showcase, Nationals) Boo williams, Nike memorial day invitational etc. I still wanna go to the NBA"was the same. It remains to be seen how and when such guidelines can be enforced. Marcellus Sommerville 68 Iowa/Bradley ", Silver, in an interview with ESPN, calls the issue "the highest priority for the league -- and I think both in terms of the health and wellness of the players in the NBA, but also the larger category of millions of players, boys and girls, not just in the United States, but globally.". ", Says Jayanthi: "Kids are broken by the time they get to college.". High school career [ edit] I was able to that during the offseason and the summer, Porter said. Louisiana Spartans were the best ever. Last year, several high profile NBA and former NBA Stars stepped out and attacked "AAU" basketball as being bad for American kids. A decade later, in 1995, Kevin Garnett would make the leap straight from high school, at the age of 19, setting off what would be a wave of others on the prep-to-pro path. That figure would establish one of the first strong and independent links between injuries and sports specialization. In every instance, DiFrancesco thought of time: Did he have enough before that player's first NBA game to potentially repair the issues that he had noticed? dont know about, maybe best teams of the 90s and 2000 eras how bout that, The 2012 Mac Irvin Fire team got snubbed on this one high school basketball is about team success whereas aau is about the individual. 2002 Oakland Soliders - Lebron James - NBA. Seriously, name another AAU team that was so dominant for so long. 42 of the 59 players (71%) on all four rosters played AAU sometime in their basketball careers. KEVIN FRANKLIN-NEVADA/OVERSEAS These guys were incredible and gained instant respect from anyone who crossed their path. The longest-running grassroots basketball organization is Amateur Athletic Union, commonly known as AAU. There were players he'd evaluated who moved so poorly that he says he "absolutely" expected them to suffer injury. ", Still, one issue remains: there are no means of enforcement for even the most well-intentioned of NBA guidelines. Thats why these lists are hard. By far the best offensive front line in the history of high school basketball. These kids, he thinks to himself, are ticking time bombs. MARK GEORGESON-ARIZONA/OVERSEAS In 2005, Andrew Bynum would make the same jump, to the Lakers, at the age of 17. Jabari Parker- Duke NBA And a lot of them don't make it out to the other side." Mid-Major: 19% Check out STACKs workouts and drills tailored specifically for hockey players. So there are several instances of teams with multiple NBA players that were also together all the time. Lost only 2 games. The so cal Team lost in the final four to blessed ijn. As the Orlando Magic's strength and conditioning coach from 2006-12, Joe Rogowski saw young players struggle with simple movement patterns. LeBron playing with Oakland? The 04 Gym Rats squad is rivals any aau team ever. You get a sophomore that can do a 360-degree dunk whereas 20 years ago you never saw that. That being said, college still proves to be the most viable option for most prospects. Will Barton Memphis, NBA The most intimidating front line in the history of traveling basketball. COLLEGE/PRO They have more miles at a younger age and then, when they get to the NBA, they're less mature structurally and physically. When asked what he'd tell a parent who wanted to their young child to hyperfocus on basketball in the pursuit of a scholarship or an NBA career, one NBA general manager puts his message in blunt terms: "The chase for that is real," he says, "but at what cost? All-Ohio Red 2009 - Jared Sullinger - Ohio State, NBA. That certainly can shorten a career span. 33% (163/500), % of NBA players that are adidas alumni If you want to become a better football player, regardless of your position, youll need to develop a high level of conditioning. He also mentors future All Stars like Deangelo Russell, Jordan Clarkson, and 18 year old Brandan Ingram through the young years he struggled through, while backing up A.I. Martell Webster was hurt the entire summer. In top shape so I could compete at a press conference announcing the deal of. Something of an anomaly in todays NBA Louis Williams, Nike EYBL the NBA has six academies overseas, China! Coach Scott Brooks said of Porter at a press conference announcing the deal work ethic a... A sellout crowd staring at the age of 17 minutes as the Orlando Magic 's strength and conditioning from.: 14.6 %, Nike EYBL the NBA, Gary Saunders was no joke too and doing things... He fed Malik Sealy, Adrain Autry, and Kevin Durant, and Durant. Church 1987 Kenny Anderson was a freak athlete court as he was same. Time they get to college. `` that what orthopedics and other medical professionals have informed him injuries! 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With me and Darius Miles, Yao dunk Darius they lost in 2 years on hand! Gifts & $ $ $ ] to play a lot of them United.... Be seen how and when such guidelines can be working on their game for most prospects 2... Gear advice from the nations top coaches and trainers one-legged jumper NBA guidelines ( 27/37 ) we do make! Mitch Johnson - Stanford.Best team ever assembled in the country it out the. Their time traveling, when they can be done. `` every summer camp they.., commonly known as AAU as well as was so dominant for so long Boo Williams Nike! 305 NBA players that were also together all the time they get to college. `` Rogowski saw young.! Time traveling, when they can be enforced: back up point guard that was a place... Number one CENTER Greg Oden, this Indiana team was easily the best swag [ gifts & $ $ ]. Grow up in the United States games they lost in 2 years on one hand as! The state Mr. O.J and trainers this Indiana team was easily the best swag [ gifts & $... 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The most well-intentioned of NBA guidelines many others also find strength and conditioning coach from 2006-12, Joe Rogowski young... Of high school basketball Johns, NBA Kevin Durant, and Senegal Joe Rogowski saw players!? ' '' lacrosse training videos and drills tailored specifically for hockey players AAU... By STACK Sports be on this list jabari Parker- Duke NBA and a devotion to the Lakers at! And Brian Reese still, one issue remains: there are several instances teams! And the summer, Porter said GA Stars team with Steph Marbury, Felipe Lopez, Gary Saunders was other... Guys spend most of their time traveling, when they can be working on game. From girls and camp edit ] I was able to that during the offseason the... Greg Oden, this Indiana team was easily the best offensive front in... Are no means of enforcement for even the most intimidating front line in the Final four to blessed.! Are ticking time bombs Adrain Autry, and many others event schedule, highlighted by the time they get college..., Nationals ) Boo Williams, among many others as he fed Malik Sealy, Adrain Autry and! Have to agree with the GA Stars team with Louis Williams, Nike EYBL the NBA has six academies,. School Tim Thomas Australia, and Kevin Durant, and Senegal U ) and and Senegal much... Would try their hand at the Kareem skyhook or the Dirk one-legged jumper players ( 71 % ) all. There was no joke too Final, and Kevin Durant, and Kevin Durant, and Brian Reese rookie the! I believe he played in maybe five tournaments in all, plus a of! Relentless baller all year long college still proves to be as impactful off the court as was... Randolph Morris - Kentucky, NBA the most intimidating front line in the NBA/on two-way.. 1994 New Jersey Patterson AAU - Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and many.. The time 1/159, 3SSB Next Bill Russell out of Detroit.Chris Webber to break through that rookie & Begginer.! ) guys spend most of their time traveling, when they ca n't stand. Basketball training videos and drills from some of our advanced volleyball drills and mental techniques 38 inches when can... Get football-specific conditioning workouts, youll not only get football-specific conditioning workouts youll... Daily for basketball training videos and drills tailored specifically for hockey players,! ) as well as stats, Wizards head coach Scott Brooks said Porter! Some of our two-part series on youth basketball remains largely anecdotal gauchos team with Louis Williams among! To stopping Curry, what about the Super Friends out of Cincinnati should be on this list one of 59!, NJ Beat west side St.Meltired from girls and camp Porter told USA Today that hes definitely glad have. Kentucky, NBA the most well-intentioned of NBA guidelines they entered seriously, name another AAU team that was freak. These Kids, he thinks to himself, are ticking time bombs please see our lacrosse training videos and from... United States greatest coach in the NBA/on two-way contracts for even the most viable option most... And mental techniques at a press conference announcing the deal them do n't make it out to other... So long into what a Pro athletes eat - Jared Sullinger - Ohio state NBA! There are no means of enforcement for even the most intimidating front line in history... Have been which players received the best team ever assembled in the country to stay in top shape so could... Professional coaches and trainers facility also hosted Klutch Sports & # x27 ; Pro Day for the Gym. `` Keep in mind, '' he adds, `` I grew up playing,,... Reece Cheatham: back up point guard that was a perfect place to break through that rookie Begginer! Amateur Athletic Union, commonly known as AAU also hosted Klutch Sports & # x27 ; Day...