Author Topic: will basketball as we know it exist with exposure to africa  (Read 5139 times)

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Re: will basketball as we know it exist with exposure to africa
« Reply #15 on: August 02, 2015, 05:11:21 PM »

Offline rollie mass

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the dutch are the tallest nation in world at avg 6 foot-taken from the 10 tallest nations as it was number one-

Re: will basketball as we know it exist with exposure to africa
« Reply #16 on: August 02, 2015, 05:23:14 PM »

Offline hpantazo

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the dutch are the tallest nation in world at avg 6 foot-taken from the 10 tallest nations as it was number one-

Serbia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Germany, many of the countries in that region are all at the top of the list, which is why they have so many NBA players in comparison to other countries.

Re: will basketball as we know it exist with exposure to africa
« Reply #17 on: August 02, 2015, 05:33:04 PM »

Offline BDeCosta26

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I don't know about your OP, but I do think the court should be widened. The players are so much bigger and faster than they used to be.

I could roll with this.  I think widening the court would really help open up the half court game. Or they could just go back to making zone defense illegal.  Either option would really help half court basketball, specifically post offense.  Right now it is too easy for perimeter defenders to san**** on D and still be able to recover on the perimeter if the post player kicks it out.

I think widening the court, by itself, would make it easier for a fast-paced style of game, no?

I never understood why zone defense was ever illegal. It's like the first defensive minded thing they teach you when your learning to play. Totally valid basketball strategy, making it illegal in the way you describe seems like it would really skew things in favor of the bigs, and since the vast majority of people are under 6'7, don't you not want that? I'd rather the rules be slanted away from big men so the best athletes in the world choose to play basketball.

Re: will basketball as we know it exist with exposure to africa
« Reply #18 on: August 02, 2015, 06:22:52 PM »

Offline KG Living Legend

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Re: will basketball as we know it exist with exposure to africa
« Reply #19 on: August 02, 2015, 06:24:47 PM »

Offline KG Living Legend

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Re: will basketball as we know it exist with exposure to africa
« Reply #20 on: August 02, 2015, 07:29:11 PM »

Offline BornReady

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I think basketball will never be as big as soccer as equipment wise
Bball requires a ball and a hoop
While soccer only requires a ball to play

This is the same reason why baseball is less popular in poorer neighbourhoods as there are no baseball fields to play the game properly

Plus Africa has less exposure to basketball stars
Both nba and own country league that kids can look up to

In other countries outside of USA, Spain, Serbia, Russia and some other European countries, some South American countries, Argentina, Brazil , China, Korea, Philippines
Basketball is not as popular as it has not developed in their own country's league
Leagues are small and less entertaining, players less developed

Re: will basketball as we know it exist with exposure to africa
« Reply #21 on: August 02, 2015, 10:27:16 PM »

Offline Gainesville Celtic

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I think a big part of the reason the NBA game went to small ball is that the rules , and they way they are enforced, just kept being adjusted to force it to go this way for the purpose of increasing high paced scoring and shooting for entertainment. Stan Van Gundy alluded to this a number of times when he was coaching Dwight Howard in Orlando. The league kept adjusting the rules to allow defenders to get away with more when guarding big men in the post.

Another contributing factor imo is that the league lost many of the top big men prospects, like Greg Oden, Yao Ming, Andrew Bynum, etc. It will be interesting to see if the era of big men returns with the new crop coming up, like Anthony Davis, Andre Drummond, Towns, Okafor, maybe Embiid, or if the league will continue to adjust rules to inhibit low post scoring and promote shooting and fast paced small ball style of play.


TP... never really thought of that, that the generational big man talent (you could toss in Bogut too) has suffered a lot of injuries and that this may just be a tipping point moment.
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Re: will basketball as we know it exist with exposure to africa
« Reply #22 on: August 02, 2015, 11:36:23 PM »

Offline Hemingway

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I had no idea African tribes were so tall.   ;D. They aren't.  Some are a little taller than the average... I don't know... European tribes?  Seriously, no one, no tribe is as tall as you point out.  I'll ignore the 12 ft comment, there is no group, no small group of people any where in the world where 7' men and 6' women is anywhere close to normal.

Don't let me dissuade you though, I love most of the threads you create. I mean that for real, you are an asset here.  You just swung and missed on this one.
sorry but i googled it and i was just as shocked- netherlands is one of the tallest average height as a nation-i must have misread it somehow--time to back track-again sorry-

You were "shocked" to learn there are no 12 foot people? Here are some other shocking things: oatmeal, time zones, the Moon orbiting the Earth, exc.

Re: will basketball as we know it exist with exposure to africa
« Reply #23 on: August 02, 2015, 11:42:52 PM »

Offline Hemingway

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The game went small because of MJ. Everyone grew up watching and idolizing him, copying his game. Kobe too. Kids now will model their game after LBJ. My point is very few kids are growing up wanting to be a 4 or a 5.

I've been living in China for the last 3 or 4 years and the interesting thing here is there really in no MJ, it's Yao Ming. kids grew up watching him. I play pick up games all the tim and while the talent isn't great here, people post up. Who really posts up in the states in a pick up game? Who is practicing post up moves? For every 1 kid in America practicing post up moves there are 100 ids practicing some sort of cross over or fancy dribble move. 

Re: will basketball as we know it exist with exposure to africa
« Reply #24 on: August 03, 2015, 12:42:05 AM »

Offline BornReady

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i think the game goes small also because of the lack of big man talent
the last dominant back to basket C was shaq
every team then saw that they needed a C to guard him so they started trying to get one

right now there is not one big man that can dominate the game like mikan, russell, chamberlain, kareem, malone, olajuwon, robinson, ewing

closest i would say is cousins but he sometimes has issues and is on a bad team that doesnt pose enough of a threat

i used to think dwight howard would be it considering his size and athleticism but he is not a natural scorer and is mainly a defensive C

i dont consider davis as a big man
i think big man refers to C with back to basket game

if the best player was a C with a back to basket game
then the big men will come back

Re: will basketball as we know it exist with exposure to africa
« Reply #25 on: August 03, 2015, 01:24:48 AM »

Offline Hemingway

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Good point. There are lots of reasons why there are less good big men now. Another is the all around improvement of ball handeling skills. Look at kids on a playground now vs 20 years ago. Look at the ball handeling. A long time ago, being very big was a bigger advantage than it is now becasue everyone the world over has gotten better

Re: will basketball as we know it exist with exposure to africa
« Reply #26 on: August 03, 2015, 02:54:57 AM »

Offline Smartacus

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I remember hearing in discussions about Hasheem Thabeet that African prospects are often viewed as less desirable because they typically don't have the fire and determination that you see in the American prospects.

The physical tools are there but they are often found to be too carefree on the court, and get pushed around by more assertive western players.

I've always thought that if a more developed infrastructure could be installed like the kind that Masai Ujiri is trying for, more players will start coming out possessing that competitive fire. Get these kids excited, give them something to play for. Show them how to truly utilize their otherworldly gifts.

Re: will basketball as we know it exist with exposure to africa
« Reply #27 on: August 03, 2015, 03:04:46 AM »

Offline Smartacus

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The OP's numbers are wrong. Norther Europeans are the tallest. The average height in the Netherlands, and Denmark too I think, is over 6 feet. In general the colder the climate the bigger the animals are who develop there. There is a nutrition component too, which is why people with African genes in the US are taller than those in Africa on average.

The height discrepancies have been going down over time. Now the difference between Northern and Southern Europe is only a couple inches. Back in the days of Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire the difference between "Germans" and southerners was around 7 inches and more than 50 pounds.

Africa has huge potential for players, but it will be limited by relative poverty, nutrition and disease. West Africa, the part with the best raw potential for prospects, is also the part with the most problems. Increased exposure to basketball will take a long-time to show real progress. I suspect these problems are why the NBA is pushing more in Southern Africa, which doesn't have as many problems as other parts. Enough wealth exists for clubs so prospect can be identified and funneled toward local development.

Your not wrong, however it's possible those numbers could be somewhat skewed. I think alot of the prospects are currently tribal and might not be counted by traditional census data unlike The Netherlands and Denmark which are both first world countries.

Masai Ujiri wrote this in an Op Ed piece for CNN.com a few years ago

http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/13/opinion/masai-ujiri-africa-basketball/

Quote
Some tribes in Sudan and Senegal have an average height of 6-foot-6, which also happens to be the size of the average NBA player. People in Nigeria, Mali and Congo tend to be very big and physical. We need to build a strategy to go into these regions and cultivate the talent through infrastructure and instruction.