Youth Basketball is not NBA...

Youth basketball has as much to do with NBA as soccer with football. Yes in soccer and football there are goals and the fields are pretty much the same size, but the sports are completely different.

First of all the physical capabilities of youth players are different than the pro’s, and that dictates everything else. From the type of offense, the type of defense, to the type of shots players will be taking and angles they will be taking them from.

A deep corner three over the backboard is bread and butter for Kobe but unfortunately not for most young players.

An east-west Kyrie crossover will work in the NBA because of the wide spacing, but will very rarely work in high school or middle school because the players aren’t as spread - and they shouldn’t be because their three point range isn’t as developed due to their physicality.

Compering youth players to the pros makes as much sense as making a pumpkin pie out of squash.

There’s a place and time for everything. Trying to do an Ironman without any preparation can lead to serious injuries or even death. Fortunately trying to make deep threes without first mastering mid range shots won’t cause death but can discourage young players from playing basketball in the future at the very least.

I’ve been fortunate to be a part of development of players who have received about 8 million dollars in athletic scholarships so far. That is a lot of money and a great indicator to me that the program I’ve been building for the past 8 years is going in a good direction.

Building a solid foundation based on fundamentals will leave long lasting results that will let players fit in every possible system in the future.

Training how to split a hard hedge like D. Wade can only be beneficial if a player knows how to use a screen properly first, then learns different ways to guard screens, then works on decision making, and then finally maybe tries to replicate Wades moves.

Working on NBA moves makes only sense if a player has learnt the theoretical foundation of basketball first, otherwise a D. Wade like training session will only lave a pile of sweated laundry without any long lasting knowledge or skill.

I know for a fact that a player with a solid fundamental foundation has a greater chance of receiving an athletic scholarship than a “mr. crossover” who doesn’t know how to move without the ball.

Just keep in mind that crossovers don't pay for college, your intellect does!