AAU vs. High School Basketball

For some reason, I could not embed this on my wordpress blog, so I'll put it here. I am not going to comment on the argument, as I have written on the subject numerous times before, and the argument and animosity on each side is one of the major reasons why I advocate the Elite Development League. It's not that high school is right and club basketball is wrong, or vice versa. It's that the combination of the two is a less than ideal situation and a sanctioned EDL could prevent many of the problems discussed.

For what it's worth, I was consulted and spent several hours on the phone in the writer's research for this piece, though I am not mentioned in the story.

This is the discussion that followed on OTL:


I agree with some of the comments by Dru Joyce II and Gary Charles, especially in regards to ego and the coaches needing to work together for the best interests on the players, not their own personal interests. I suppose the problem is that each side typically differs on its opinion as to the "best interests."

As for shoe companies involvement with young kids, what's the adidas Phenom Camp if it isn't an attempt to get the top 5th and 6th graders clothes in adidas gear?