i dont like when people fall back onto "players coming into this league arent ready" crap....true, most players coming into this league arent ready to play fantastic NBA ball. they're not supposed to. players drafted into the league are expected to be ready to LEARN how to play in the NBA, not take over teams and grab starting spots all the time - very few picks can enter the league and start at their position and excel. drafted players are supposed to take a few years before they become anything special. look at corey maggette....elton brand.....shawn marion...all players who have been in the league 5 or fewer years and are only now starting to do really well.
as for euro players, its dead on that they're taught the fundamentals....fundamentals of pure shooting and general offense. defense isnt really emphasized there, and if you took a european player and put him on the court with an NBA defense, he'd most likely get ripped up.
defense is what's killing the NBA.....so many defensive-minded teams out there, with every team getting so efficient at running a good defensive set, reading the offense, going over screens, collapsing on great offensive players, forcing turnovers and bad shots. people think so much stock is placed in players making that dunk....players take just as much pride in swatting down a jumper or forcing their man to throw up a horrible shot. teams and coaches see that defense wins championships.....sucks that viewers wanna see points first, rings later.
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